I also am interested in the way English has evolved but still get furious when the way it is NOW is misused. Some battles appear to be lost - ‘I was sat on the sofa’ rather than ‘sitting’; don’t even get me started on the two DIFFERENT verbs ‘to lie’ and ‘to lay’ (both of these frequently wrong on national news);and, my Covid-19 favourite, ‘deaths are down’. No, they’re not! The NUMBER of deaths is down.
When I trained as a local newspaper journalist in the ‘70s, we were corrected loudly and publicly by a fierce editor whenever these sorts of blunders were made. I would love to know whether any of our current crop of journalists are ever corrected.
Pronounciation is a whole other matter. I scream every time Beth Rigby (otherwise excellent Sky News journalist) leaves the ‘g’ off any word ending in ‘ing’ but then Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, also does it with the result that I never listen to anything she says. I can’t believe no one has ever told her about this infuriating habit.
Or is it just me?!
Can You Name 5 More Songs? (number 2)
Being moved along by someone who "wants your place".
To obliterate your address on packaging
How much do you spend on yourself?
Is there anyone who still thinks that Israel's actions in Gaza are justifiable?