When did X become Y?

I agree with you Jane10 about "park up". Why do so many people now say "meet with" or even "meet up with"(!!) instead of the simple "meet"?

I reserve the right to say that I hate this and some of the other misuses of language mentioned on this thread because it is in Pedants' corner, where we have a licence to express our inner pedant, and that that does not detract from my quite different (and genuine) hatred of injustice, cruelty, etc.

And another thing... why do we apparently 'park up' these days. I just used to park my car!

On a late nineteenth century census I was impressed to see my Grandad then aged about 6 being recorded as a 'scholar'. Much more grown up than pupil or student I thought!

I think the older pupils/students, at least, probably think the word 'student' is more cool.

I remember first being confused in America when asked if I wanted my sandwich to go.

Oooh, thanks, love choc brownies ?

I dislike children being called 'kids' - there was an advert for somewhere on the TV that said 'kids eat free!' I said to my OH I'd love to go in there with a few baby goats! And while I'm in full moan mood, what is wrong with 'pupils' why do they have to all be 'students' now?

Made some squidgy brownies earlier. Peace offering...

Well, a virtual one.

gettingonabit, and I get your point, now. It just never occurred to me that hate, loathe, really irritate, etc were light-hearted. In future I'll bear that possibility in mind.

But nobody mentioned being light-hearted further up thread or I might have understood sooner. Seemed to me everyone was getting in a right stew over nothing.

The only insult I'm aware of is the Pollyanna one. I don't think the person using it likes me. Shrug.

thatbags I get your point. Yes, "hate" is a strong word, I suppose, but it's about context, surely?

Of course I don't "hate" the word "guys" in the real, serious sense of the word. That'd be daft. Which is why using it and similar words on a forum such as this is well..a bit flippant? Not intended to be serious? Just a bit of fun?

Not you, gettingonabit, and no offence either. Nor me neither. Straightforward is (one of) my middle names

Xpost again*bags*. Sorry for any offence caused.

Who's throwing insults round?

Plenty of other people used the word hate as well, gettingonabit.

Easy to misinterpret the use of a word like hate that I would only use of things like cruelty and dishonesty. I don't hate merely irritating things. However, if a lot of people use the word hate, and similarly strong ones, light-heartedly, then I've learned something.

Sorry x-posted with thatbags.

It was me who used "hate*, by the way. In a lighthearted way, I'd hoped, as befits what I thought was a good place to vent about these totally inconsequential things.

I think I'll stick to "the other side" in future. . Much friendlier...

Nothing wrong at all, gettingonabit, but "hate, hate, HATE" and similarly stressed comments don't come across to me as particularly light-hearted. Face to face, they might have but I didn't have that benefit. The words by themselves seemed very far from light-hearted to me.

I was never intending to be amusing, btw, just straightforward, as usual. It was other people's comments I took to be amusing. Perhaps they weren't meant to be but they could be interpreted as such. I don't think anyone resorted to name-calling until your comment, atqui. Name-calling is unfriendly, and deliberately too.

Thanks both (now someone must hate that one !). She sounds just like me, always positive and happy (I don't think)

gandtea I think it means a person who does not see negativity, and is perpetually bright and breezy, regardless of the circumstances.

What's wrong with a good old lighthearted moan, anyhoo? It's only an anonymous internet forum after all...

Well it wasn't intended to be unfriendly. I'm honestly bemused, if that's the right word, by anyone hate, hate, HATING (can't remember who said that but someone did and a few have used the word hate, which I regard as quite strong) something so trivial as 'train station', or 'guys'. And I would seek some way of getting over such strong feelings about something of so little importance if I were afflicted. So what I said was straight down the line in a detached, non-personal way.

I do get the feeling that some people don't 'get' detachment and looking at a subject unemotionally, philosophically. That's all I was doing. It's rare, in Gransnet discussions, that I do anything else. At least that is what I consciously make an effort to do.

So none of my comments need be taken as anything else than philosophically bemused or puzzled. None that is until someone started throwing insults around.

gandtea, I'm not very familiar with the Pollyanna character but I understand she was a little girl who, whatever happened, always tried to be cheerful and positive. So the name is used as an insult by some people when they think someone's philosophical detachment (not getting all upset and going about HATING stuff because they don't think it's worth it) about something is contrived rather than genuine.

thatbags Mon 16-May-16 15:56:08
"Think I'd go for some help if I was getting in such a stew about a word (guys). Save your hate for things that really need it, like cruelty."
The two are not mutually exclusive. I didn't think that comment was friendly or amusing.

Could someone explain "pollyanna" to me please, it has obviously been missed out of my education.

I recognised the username, atqui, from the long distant past is all and wondered why what seemed to me to be a sniping comment was what brought you back to comment. I thought the thread had been friendly before that, even though a few people had politely and/or amusingly commented that they didn't want to be disagreed with.

Well, I'm sorry if I misinterpreted Pollyanna. I've only ever heard it used negatively and insultingly. If my paraphrasing of your post was wrong, I'll happily withdraw it.