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For the pedants

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JackyB Sun 14-Jul-19 20:42:14

www.bbc.com/ideas/videos/its-not-rocket-surgery-the-art-of-mangling-your-wo/p079j4sl?playlist=get-a-taste-of-bbc-ideas-short-films-for-curious-m

The above is a little film summing up many faux pas that people make and giving them names (I love the word "malaphor"!)

I usually avoid threads here in Pedants' Corner (because after about the fourth post the comments are usually the same time after time), although I consider myself a pedant - and am proud of it!

I like the way this little clip balances the pointing out of mistakes while explaining that if a mistake is made often enough, it can become accepted usage.

So we pedants should just grin and bear it!

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sodapop Sun 14-Jul-19 21:43:19

Can't use the link JackyB computer says no.

I'm not going to grin and bear it. If its wrong its wrong.

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MaizieD Sun 14-Jul-19 22:05:49

Piffle!!

There's got to be a happy medium, surely?

It brings to mind this twitter thread that I saw today.
It's a bit long but some of you might enjoy it

twitter.com/CarolBlymire/status/1149805563674583040

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BradfordLass72 Mon 15-Jul-19 07:43:30

I went to the link, it was about table manners. Very interesting.
What they didn't mention, which I feel many people dislike, is eating with your mouth open.

Incidentally, Lucy Kellaway's articles on usage, abusage, gobbledegook in language, is a pedants dream.

Btw: when I was 13 and had just learned the word 'pedant', having had to look it up, I saw it was near to the word 'pederast' the definition of which I did not read.

Later, when my Mother was being picky about something, I said, 'That's what my English teacher calls being a pederast.'
My mother almost fell off her chair with shock. smile

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ninathenana Mon 15-Jul-19 10:02:59

BradfordLass Ashamed to say I had to Google that one smile

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Squiffy Mon 15-Jul-19 10:59:34

Me, too, Nina !blush You learn something every day on GN!

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Farmor15 Mon 15-Jul-19 16:24:20

Link worked for me - interesting, shows how language evolves?
Bertie Ahern , former Taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland was famous for mangling language. Here are a few examples:

It’s all smoke and daggers.

We shouldn’t upset the apple tart.

I don’t think it helps people to start throwing white elephants and red herrings at each other.

There are kebabs out there plotting against us.

We’re not gonna hang anyone on the guillotine.

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BradfordLass72 Tue 16-Jul-19 07:17:19

Farmor15 grin

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sodapop Tue 16-Jul-19 08:51:13

Love it Farmor15 bet his speeches grabbed everyone's attentiongrin

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Fennel Tue 16-Jul-19 09:34:17

So funny Farmor grin.
Another souce is Mrs Malaprop, a character in a play by Sheridan.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malapropism

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