You'll probably end up thinking that I don't care...
In the words of Daniel Powter, who unfortunately turned a perfectly good term into a perfectly mediocre song, I have had a bad day, only not the kind of bad day where on the way home you discover that a kindred spirit whom you're destined to meet under an umbrella has defaced a shop window to cheer you up. I have had a properly bad day, mostly because I pulled a muscle in my neck and have been wandering round in a permanent state of head-on-one-side quizzicalness all day, and because it hurts. As a result, I am in a ranting mood, and therefore feel it necessary to air this week's petty grievances. And it's only Tuesday!
"Women vicars" and "lady doctors"
First off, I should point out that I don't object to these groups of people in general. In fact, I'm quite in favour of them, since vicars and doctors are supposed to be sympathetic and good at listening, which are traits many (though unfortunately not all) persons of the female persuasion have. No, "women vicars" and "lady doctors" are merely common examples of the usage of "woman" and "lady" by the media as adjectives, which they are not, and never have been. What is wrong with saying "female vicar", aside from the fact that it takes up one extra precious letter of column space? This is all quite apart from the fact that nobody talks about "male vicars" and "male doctors", but that rant strays a little too far onto feminist grounds for my liking, so I'll stick to being an anti-feminist grammar nazi. Don't get me started on calling people killed in tragic circumstances "tragic"...
"Dispatch" vs. "despatch"
For many many months now, I've been wondering what the difference is between these two words. I would use "dispatch", but e-mails confirming internet orders seem to use "despatch". The fluoro jackets worn by the guards at Nottingham station say "train despatch". Since it was starting to drive me up the wall, along the lines of the difference between "difference" and "differance" (see the works of Derrida, or rather don't), I looked it up. Turns out they mean exactly the same thing, which is completely and utterly pointless. I'm all for having lots of words meaning the same thing, but when there's only one letter different and they plainly come from the same stem, why not just remove one from the dictionary? Please? I really don't care which one, though I'm voting for "despatch", since in my dictionary at least its entry just says "see dispatch". It's a waste of good space, which could be used to emphasise the fact that "woman" and "lady" cannot be used as adjectives.
Over-rated
I'm very sick of people disliking, or, even worse, dismissing things simply because the media have declared them to be the new best thing since sliced bread. Why do some people feel the need to dislike popular things on point of principle? Is it because enough other people like those things already, and they want to share out the appreciation? If someone in the newspaper or on the radio says that something is brilliant and fantastic, that makes me want to listen to it/see it/find out more about it. If I disagree with the person in the newspaper or on the radio once I've done that, then it's down to a matter of personal taste. But if something's "over-rated", then it tends to be because lots of people like it, and that tends to be because it's good. So what if everyone else on the planet thinks so? So what if Martians and the man in the moon think so too? Like things or dislike them because you like or dislike them. Otherwise you're going to be missing out on an awful lot of good things on principle.
Right, it's midnight now, and therefore officially tomorrow. Bad day over. I might be able to sleep now, you never know.
"Women vicars" and "lady doctors"
First off, I should point out that I don't object to these groups of people in general. In fact, I'm quite in favour of them, since vicars and doctors are supposed to be sympathetic and good at listening, which are traits many (though unfortunately not all) persons of the female persuasion have. No, "women vicars" and "lady doctors" are merely common examples of the usage of "woman" and "lady" by the media as adjectives, which they are not, and never have been. What is wrong with saying "female vicar", aside from the fact that it takes up one extra precious letter of column space? This is all quite apart from the fact that nobody talks about "male vicars" and "male doctors", but that rant strays a little too far onto feminist grounds for my liking, so I'll stick to being an anti-feminist grammar nazi. Don't get me started on calling people killed in tragic circumstances "tragic"...
"Dispatch" vs. "despatch"
For many many months now, I've been wondering what the difference is between these two words. I would use "dispatch", but e-mails confirming internet orders seem to use "despatch". The fluoro jackets worn by the guards at Nottingham station say "train despatch". Since it was starting to drive me up the wall, along the lines of the difference between "difference" and "differance" (see the works of Derrida, or rather don't), I looked it up. Turns out they mean exactly the same thing, which is completely and utterly pointless. I'm all for having lots of words meaning the same thing, but when there's only one letter different and they plainly come from the same stem, why not just remove one from the dictionary? Please? I really don't care which one, though I'm voting for "despatch", since in my dictionary at least its entry just says "see dispatch". It's a waste of good space, which could be used to emphasise the fact that "woman" and "lady" cannot be used as adjectives.
Over-rated
I'm very sick of people disliking, or, even worse, dismissing things simply because the media have declared them to be the new best thing since sliced bread. Why do some people feel the need to dislike popular things on point of principle? Is it because enough other people like those things already, and they want to share out the appreciation? If someone in the newspaper or on the radio says that something is brilliant and fantastic, that makes me want to listen to it/see it/find out more about it. If I disagree with the person in the newspaper or on the radio once I've done that, then it's down to a matter of personal taste. But if something's "over-rated", then it tends to be because lots of people like it, and that tends to be because it's good. So what if everyone else on the planet thinks so? So what if Martians and the man in the moon think so too? Like things or dislike them because you like or dislike them. Otherwise you're going to be missing out on an awful lot of good things on principle.
Right, it's midnight now, and therefore officially tomorrow. Bad day over. I might be able to sleep now, you never know.