Nice people thread part 8 - worth the wait

lostinrates

Well, I just got a memorable letter from the nhs.....I have an all clear from my cervical smear....we found the bit left that works!!

MiddyMum

Hello everyone, long time no speak! I have been busy preparing myself for my course that starts in a few months, and I am now a single mum (my decision) so things have been a bit difficult but I am feeling very hopeful for the future. I hope everyone is OK and enjoying this lovely sunshine. Will go back a few pages and have a read....
x

lostinrates

MiddyMum wrote: »

Hello everyone, long time no speak! I have been busy preparing myself for my course that starts in a few months, and I am now a single mum (my decision) so things have been a bit difficult but I am feeling very hopeful for the future. I hope everyone is OK and enjoying this lovely sunshine. Will go back a few pages and have a read....
x

Commiserations and congratulations both middy mum. Difficult but exciting decision to be single again.

I hope you and your daughter are enjoying life. . Good to see you here.

neverdespairgirl

I am making a short list of dresses to try on for 3 upcoming weddings. Then I can go and try them, and discover they look awful on me.

What do NP think of these two?

lostinrates

I dislike the first one certainly . It would be better if it were sleeveless (to be worn with a suitable thing for covering arms). I think its a bit ageing ndg.

neverdespairgirl

You might well be right - a bit too seaside B & B eiderdown made dress?

Brallaqueen

ooooh purple one is pretty

thought the first one was blood splatter (too much NCIS?)

congrats on the all clear LIR and hugs to MiddyMum, going through a lot at the moment!

lostinrates

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

You might well be right - a bit too seaside B & B eiderdown made dress?

I think its a bit older lady to church on a Sunday. I like the cowl sort of thing going on, but with those sleeves (which really are a difficult length on a younger woman) its too much going on too near each other with the neck and the pattern. It's difficult to tell because its not shown very well....they both look a it shapeless in the way they have been displayed.


I thought you were looking for pink ....on my screen the second looks purple?

tomterm8

lostinrates wrote: »

I am about to try making a no added sugar and fat free flapjack recipe. Hmmm, Usually I am an advocate of just doing without, but I am looking for something summery to have for breakfast instead of porridge.

BLASPHEMY!

It's there in the bible:
1. THOU SHALT HATH NO GOD BUT ME...
(Edit, for boring commandments no one remembers, particularly the fifth)
11. THOU SHALT NOT MAKETH FALSE FLAPJACKS

Almo

Generali wrote: »

TBH to -ise or to -ize has never bothered me. IIRC the OED reckons both are correct anyway. A lot of what people think of as Americanisms are either dialect words (e.g. 'Fall' for Autumn which I think is from Norfolk) or archaic constructions (e.g.using the old verb conjunction in 'gotten').

I quite like using those sorts of words as nothing puts the blood pressure of a pompous fool more than hearing that sort of thing, calling it out and then being told he's (almost always he IME) wrong.

The thing that gets my goat is the way that people in corporations 'jargonise' the language. 'The xxx space' is quite annoying for example. Anyway I think I've gone on about this before.

The one I don't know whether or not to be upset by is the thing of adding 'ise' (or 'ize') to a noun to make it into a verb. Verb/noun interchangeability has a venerable history apparently. My favourite is 'to burgle' which became a noun ('burglar') and now is in the process of being turned back into a verb ('to burglarize').

Ultimately, one of the great things about English is that it's free to develop in the way that users see fit, despite what Lynn Truss will have you believe there is no right and wrong. Nobody talks about how bits of the Great Vowel Shift were wrong for example, usage simply changed (e.g. Chaucer would have gotten his wool from a 'shape' whereas we get it from a 'sheep' and the word 'sight' would have rhymed with our modern 'meet', the sound has literally moved to made in a different part of our mouths, generally higher up).

Some changes bother me. I find split infinitives clunky (putting a word in the middle of the infinitive 'to xxx', e.g. 'to brazenly split an infinitive', 'to split' being the infinitive, the root of the verb) and it saddens me that so many accents are being killed off. Most accents in SE and Central Southern England seem to be being replaced by 'Mockney' (or 'Estuary English' for the polite) and Cockney seems to be being replaced by this bizarre faux West Indian accent (I use 'West Indian' as there is no such place as the West Indies really). You can fight against it or roll with it, the outcome will be the same. People will talk how they want, innit.

Language change and historical linguistics is one of my great interests. It sounds like you might share that!

Funnily enough, split infinitives have never bothered me although I'll avoid them in formal writing. I think some avoidances sound worse than the split (to boldly go vs to go boldly) although I know it's familiarity as much as anything.

One thing guaranteed to get me on my soap box is 'utilise'. Almost without exception I want to scream 'USE! You mean USE!'. I also find incorrect use of the reflexive 'myself' irritating - Tony Blair was a frequent offender. Generally I wish people would just speak and write simply and not try and use big words (often inaccurately) to make themselves sound more intelligent.