Archive for the ‘Misuse of Words’ Category

Wayne Rooney & His Nasty Ankle

Posted: December 4, 2015 in Football, Manchester United, Misuse of Words
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Wayne Rooney

(Wazza can’t quite reach the nasty ankle to check for injury!)

Apparently Wayne Rooney has a nasty ankle. I don’t know which ankle, but one of them is not too nice an ankle.

Having scoured the newspapers I cannot discern which it is because the great British press don’t deem it important that we have this knowledge. Suffice to say that one of the ankles belonging to Wayne Rooney is nasty.

This is the headline that says it all: “Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney will miss West Ham and Wolfsburg with a ‘nasty ankle injury’ confirms van Gaal”. Not, you will notice, a nasty injury to his ankle. There is a world of difference!

Maybe we should be glad that the injury is to his nasty ankle, rather than his nice ankle, assuming that his other ankle actually IS nice.

Anyway, enough speculation. Whichever ankle it is and however nasty it is, the injury has arrived at a very opportune moment for Louis van Gaal. (more…)

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Splitting Hairs

Posted: September 4, 2015 in Misuse of Words, Opinion
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Is wanting The English language to be spoken and written correctly being pedantic? Am I being over fussy by wanting to hear children pronouncing their “h’s” at the beginning of words, their “g’s” at the end of words and “th” as it is meant to be not as “ff”?

Please feel free to comment if you think I am wrong because I sometimes have my doubts. I occasionally think I take the whole thing a little too seriously and, as the majority of people don’t seem to care, I wonder whether I should or not.

I was brought up to speak correctly. Not the Queen’s English with the plum in the mouth, just to pronounce words as they were intended to be pronounced. My mother would immediately pounce if she heard any dropped “h’s” or missed “g’s”, it wasn’t right in her eyes. (more…)

Convenience English, Not Correct English

Posted: August 1, 2015 in Misuse of Words
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Just to continue my polite little dig at the incorrect use of the English language and in particular the media who generally misuse it. The standard of English being screened to which our children are listening is, for want of a better word, diabolical.

The examples I will use are taken from watching Sky Sports and Sky News, but I am sure they are also commonplace on other channels.

Firstly, may I remind anyone old enough to remember and inform anyone not old enough to remember that at one time, to appear on TV, (admittedly there were only 2 channels at the time), one was required to wear a suit and tie and have an Old Etonian accent at least. This was never something I particularly agreed with as there are plenty of people for whom English is an art form, who didn’t attend Eton and who look terrible in a suit. (more…)

How Much Do Legends Earn?

Posted: July 24, 2015 in Misuse of Words
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image Read the above question and see if anything comes to mind that could be wrong with it. Nothing? You’re right, until you start adding people to the equation. Here’s a fictitious example using a Football player but it could easily be another profession.

“Manchester United legend Quinton Fortune earned 10,000 pounds per week while playing for the Red Devils” The figure quoted may or may not be true but, for the sake of this discussion, let’s assume it is true. (more…)