Beefy's corner- the place for off topic stuff

I have never used aeroplane either, I always use airplane. Agree with Joe tho I won't start using alot of their words. The most annoying for me is how Americans saw herb.

 

It must be an age thing as i just can't imagine me ever using airplane - it just sound's daft and well, American !
Trying to think if i have heard Americans say herb but can't say i have.

 

Most Americanisms annoy the hell out of me (see what I did there?) but as David Crystal, one of the foremost authorities on the English language points out in his book "the Story of English", the vast majority of English speakers in the world neither live in Britain or have ever been here. It's one of the relics of our empire-building days that is coming home to roost and we'll just have to accept it.

Personally the one I hate most is "concerning" as used instead of "a cause for concern". Horrible, but almost universally accepted now.

 

Never even knew that about "concerning". I must be young.

 

Well, I would estimate that it's been used in that context for certainly less than 10 years. If I had said 10 years ago "Southampton's current form concerns me" people would assume I meant I was somehow responsible for it, whereas now most people, like yourself Joe, would just think I was worried about it.

 

They miss the h in herb making it erb, they also say flan as flarn. I could go on about the American words I hate(and the way they say them) but it would get boring.

 

Only certain Americans say "'erb" and that one really does annoy me. The most annoying of all, though, is "I could care less". That makes me want to break stuff.

 

OK i will listen out for these in future, never noticed before. I had an American girlfriend in the late 70's when i worked on Cunard passenger ships and i never noticed it then either, but i have to say that we didnt discuss herbs and flans too often !
I remember the first time that she turned up at my parents house in Shirley and whilst there she asked my mother could she use the john and mother just stood there with a blank look on her face !

 

Surely someone over there must have realised that it doesn't make sense.

 

It's all about offense and defense, like in American Football. I now can't help saying aw-fense and deee-fense.

 

Maybe they have, but could care less about it.

 

Never heard that saying before, but you saying it twice is already annoying.

 

Here, David Mitchell covers it nicely, among many other annoying phrases.

[video=youtube;om7O0MFkmpw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7O0MFkmpw[/video]

 

Ha ha very good !

 

He certainly does the comical rant very well indeed. There's always a little moment on QI when [if he's a guest] he'll open up with some personal tirade against something. He's found his comedy niche.

And incidentally, for what it's worth, I agree with him. But if you're going to be cavalier with the English language, by speaking something that merely approaches it [I think they call it Inglish] please don't have a direct conversation with me, as a fist in the gob often offends.

 

This is pretty cool. Some guy in Denver went to CNN and told them he had filmed a UFO that had been flying around every day around noon. A skeptical () CNN crew decided to check it out and filmed the exact same thing. No one has been able to come up with a decent explanation. Probably not aliens, but still, it's pretty weird.

http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2012/11/13/co-ufo-sightings-in-denver.kdvr

 

Jeremy "do the math"
Mark "sss!"

 

I wish David Mitchell was my friend.

 

Clay pigeons don't change direction with little bursts of propulsion. Which kind of takes birds like swifts out of the equation as well, because they fly in pretty much the same way, only slower, it appears. To me they look like little experimental remote controlled aircraft. Creative possibilities are out there and people are trying it. Of course, unless someone positively identifies them, they are UFOs. They don't need to be extra terrestrial in design to be in that category.