[Gllug] Monthly GLLUG grammar report (Seriously OT now!)

[Pete Ryland]

On Wed, Nov 27, 2002 at 01:14:42PM -0000, Adrian McMenamin wrote:
>    John Hearns wrote:
> 
>    Free drink from me at the next GLLUG for the person who spells and
>    correctly explains the spelling of the major teaching hospital across
>    the Thames from the Houses of Parliament.
> 
>    I replied:
> 
>    Well, it is St. Thomas' because that is what they call themselves, ergo
>    that is their name spelt correctly.
> 
>    But did they spell it wrongly? Of course they did.

English, like other languages, is constantly changing.  But[1] since the
invention of the dictionary and rising literacy rates, it has changed at a
much slower rate.  I'm sure "St. Thomas'" was the accepted practice when it
was named.

With this in mind, usage actually dictates the 'rules' which are only
derived anyway.

<mumbles mode="stuff off chest, please ignore">
And while I'm posting to this thread again, I may as well mention some other
pet peeves like usage of hyphons specifically when an adjective describes
another (e.g. well-deserved break) and how people then say "that means that
'well-deserved' should always be hyphonated, right?"  Wrong.  Then there are
words I hate for no apparent reason, like 'demonstrable' (in AU we usually
use 'demonstratable' for some reason which I'm sure grates even more to
britons since it's theoretically wrong) and 'practicable' (an (IMO) archaic
term used a lot in law; but these days we use 'practical' instead, despite
the subtle difference).

As for 'innit?', I've heard a lot of ESL South Africans say "isn't it?" at
the end of sentences where the verb is not 'to be' (e.g. "This beer tastes
good, isn't it?") so maybe Dutch use this form too?  I know in portuguese
you say "nao e?" in this fashion.
</mumbles>

[1] Oh yeah, another thing I hate is people trying to pass off subordinate
clauses as full sentences but then this is done *very* often in literature
(usually stylistically to affect 'pace') and newspapers, so I guess it's now
acceptable.

Ok, I feel better now I've said all that.  Sorry to inflict said mumblings.

Pete

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