BRFR Cake Stop 'breaking news' miscellany

[First Aspect]

I suppose a third option is that you think I'm an unrepentant pedant with no sense of humour.

The two character traits are separable. You could be an unrepenting pedant with a sense of humour, or PP, for example.

 

[briantrumpet]

The two character traits are separable. You could be an unrepenting pedant with a sense of humour, or PP, for example.

FWIW, being careful and critical about language usage isn't pedantry in my book. 'Pedantry' has always been a pejorative term... from the OED "Mere academic learning, without judgement or discrimination; excessive reverence for or display of learning or technical knowledge; intellectual conceit" and "Excessive or undue concern for petty details; slavish adherence to formal precision, rules, or literal meaning" for example.

Being careful and critical about language means you can both mourn when a subtlety of meaning disappears or when an ugly expression becomes mainstream, but accept that a lot of the stuff that pedants go on about are merely expressions of taste, or 'rules' that were invented to make the less educated know their place (less/fewer, split infinitives, etc.) – a bit like all the cutlery that posh people understand how to use, and the associated 'table manners'.

tl;dr caring about language usage is partially hypocritical, as you are aware of all the conventions, can appreciate a lot of them (and think they kind of matter), but know when to let them go, as the linguist David Crystal admits. He knows much more about it than I ever will.

Can I stop being serious now?

 

[First Aspect]

Can I stop being serious now?

Please.

 

[briantrumpet]

Please.

 

[briantrumpet]

Maybe I'll try that next time I try to be humorous. It's not an emoji, after all. Maybe that's the 'third way'.

 

[briantrumpet]

The Telegraph's Fraser Nelson has made a graph. With gaps, admittedly. But still he seems to be making a non-Telegraphy point.

 

[Dorset Boy]

The gaps are due to Covid

 

[briantrumpet]

FWIW, being careful and critical about language usage isn't pedantry in my book. 'Pedantry' has always been a pejorative term... from the OED "Mere academic learning, without judgement or discrimination; excessive reverence for or display of learning or technical knowledge; intellectual conceit" and "Excessive or undue concern for petty details; slavish adherence to formal precision, rules, or literal meaning" for example.

Being careful and critical about language means you can both mourn when a subtlety of meaning disappears or when an ugly expression becomes mainstream, but accept that a lot of the stuff that pedants go on about are merely expressions of taste, or 'rules' that were invented to make the less educated know their place (less/fewer, split infinitives, etc.) – a bit like all the cutlery that posh people understand how to use, and the associated 'table manners'.

tl;dr caring about language usage is partially hypocritical, as you are aware of all the conventions, can appreciate a lot of them (and think they kind of matter), but know when to let them go, as the linguist David Crystal admits. He knows much more about it than I ever will.

Can I stop being serious now?

See, it turns out that being curious about language, and interacting with others about it, can be a positive experience. Two of us learnt something this morning, as a result of someone else tempting me to look up a contested word.

 

[First Aspect]

I think people are nicer to you because they think you are an aggressive rugby player with a low centre of gravity and no pain receptors.

 

[PurplePenguin]

See, it turns out that being curious about language, and interacting with others about it, can be a positive experience. Two of us learnt something this morning, as a result of someone else tempting me to look up a contested word.

View attachment 17929

Was this a joke? I didn't see any yellow blobs or explanations about the punchline, but it's always worth checking.

 

[Dorset Boy]

I think people are nicer to you because they think you are an aggressive rugby player with a low centre of gravity and no pain receptors.

He was soft as, never as good a Graham Dawe, and too scared to put his fancy shirt on and play against Dawe!

 

[briantrumpet]

Was this a joke? I didn't see any yellow blobs or explanations about the punchline, but it's always worth checking.

The context (no suggestion of eugenics to pretend to ignore in favour of outraged pedantry) suggests it wasn't a joke, but you can take it as a joke if you like. I'm happy if people find my utterances unintentionally amusing. Equally, I don't insist that people laugh if they can't find any humour in something I think is absolutely hilarious (or even just moderately drole).

 

[First Aspect]

He was soft as, never as good a Graham Dawe, and too scared to put his fancy shirt on and play against Dawe!

Dunno never watch Rugby. Just a lot of thigh grabbing as far as I can tell.

But Brian Moore always struck me as searingly intelligent (not ours, obvs), but willing to heabut anyone without warning, as and when required.

 

[briantrumpet]

I think people are nicer to you because they think you are an aggressive rugby player with a low centre of gravity and no pain receptors.

Sadly I can no longer access the series of tweets where the two of us agreed that he was the better rugby player and I was the better trumpeter.

 

[The Crofted Crest]

Aint no nown that can't be verbed!