Could this really be the end of the United Kingdom?

Does anyone know if Brown has any backing for his ideas?

I fear so - but hope not!

Sooo...

Could this be the end of the United Kingdom?

I wondered for a while whether the usual meaning of empirical ("knowledge based on experience") is derived from a tenuous conection with the word and concept of Empire, and so could the word actually have been the right one in the context?

I have now looked up the derivation (while enjoying my coffee and eating my ginger biscuits) and discovered that "The English term empirical derives from the Ancient Greek word ἐμπειρία, empeiria, which is cognate with and translates to the Latin experientia, from which are derived the word experience and the related experiment. The term was used by the Empiric school of ancient Greek medical practitioners, who rejected the three doctrines of the Dogmatic school, preferring to rely on the observation of "phenomena"

So now we know! #anotheruselessfactforpedantscorner

Oh for goodness sake.

Taking offence and going into outraged defence mode because someone asks for clarification is silly.

Correcting spelling errors is wrong but GG doesn't hesitate to tell posters how to word their posts or make personal remarks

Sometimes a post needs clarification.

My thoughts too Elegran I had supposed that GG had got the wrong word, but wasn't entirely sure.

. . and received enlightenment.

It IS confusing, though, when someone uses a word in a context where its meaning doesn't make sense. It took me a while to understand that post too, and realise that she was referring to empire. Asking mildly for it to be explained is quite reasonable - others have asked elsewhere for explanations of things which were not clear to them, and received. Jalima's posts were not nasty.

If GG2 has not made readers aware that she is dyslexic and prone to getting words slightly off, then I don't think she can complain when asked to clarify (and even if everyone knows she was dyslexic, they are still entitled to ask politely what it was that she meant to say)

I'm sorry but it was obvious, and making an issue of it was unacceptable. As you say though, enough said.

I did not correct, I merely asked as the term was confusing nigglynellie and not at all obvious what was meant. I did not correct but gave the OP the opportunity to correct it herself. However, the OP turned it into a defensive argument.

I'm off.

I think most of us would agree that correcting people for spelling grammar, punctuation and mis use of words is not only extreme bad manners, but unkind, patronising and embarrassing for the recipient, and just not the thing to do. It can well be that someone has a disability or as I sometimes do, just get it wrong!! It was perfectly obvious what GG meant and I answered accordingly. If you're unsure as to what somebody means its best not to comment till it becomes clearer, but never never correct someone.

Hey ho gg

I really don't want anyone eating humble pie ww but it would be nice if the small group on here who will attack anything but the topic would think when they make it a personal attack that they do not actually know the person.

I know my posts can sound stilted and a bit impersonal; it takes too much energy to start adding the sort of aside or joke I would put in if I was talking to you. When I read some of them later I think they sound as if I am writing for an academic type purpose with just getting facts down at times rather than a forum post but it takes me all my time to do what I do and I don't want to exclude myself because of silly nonsense like this.

I'm afraid it is obvious that is still more important to Jalima that I get the word right (sadly none of my software would tell me that) than that she has a discussion about the topic. I will never be able to change that now so what's done is done.

ah - you mean like another poster who is dyslexic but was given no quarter?

You could be the bigger person though

I don't see why really, whitewave. I am sure that, as some of GracesGranMK2's posts to other people are not always as kind as they could be, she quite understands someone calling a spade a spade.

Or empirical imperial.

gg I expect jalima will eat a bit of humble pie, I know I would.

Sadly, Luckygirl, although I really don't blame you for feeling like that, it is what the politicians anxious for power, rely on.

Jelima I am dyslexic - not as severely as my daughter but I was tested, in my late 20s, when she was as a child and there were the answers to the problems I had. Up until then, when I wrote I had to use words like nice because I couldn't spell beautiful, etc., but because I could read without real problems I grew to love and want to use language. This was all discussed by quite a few GN posters on the dyslexia thread some time ago. Sometimes I get things wrong - but actually so do most people at some time.

However you have made me feel like I have been stood in front of the class because I didn't get it right. That is most certainly unkind and quite unnecessary as you really are intelligent enough to understand what I meant.

I have truly got the point where I shrug my shoulders and say "What will be, will be."

I do not feel I have any power to influence what pans out.

I concentrate on what I can have a positive influence on: my family, my local community, my musical outreach. Little acorns and all that.

Apparently Brown is expected to say:

"The third option, a patriotic Scottish way and free from the absolutism of the SNP and the do-nothing-ism of the Tories, is now essential because post-Brexit realities make the status quo redundant and require us to break with the past.

"The status quo has been overtaken by events because unless powers now with the European Union are repatriated from Brussels to the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the regions, Whitehall will have perpetrated one of the biggest power grabs by further centralising power. employment and energy.

"The patriotic way means that Scotland is not caught between a die-hard conservatism that denies the Scottish Parliament the powers it needs and a hard-line nationalism that throws away the resources we secure from being part of the Union."