Hallway decorating

[Penners]

i just don't like the term second hand or used!

Oh dear - you're determined to get me started, aren't you?

Nowadays, there's no such thing as a "small" cup of coffee - there's only "regular".

There's no such thing as "no smoking" - there's only "thank you for not smoking".

There are no old people, only "senior citizens".

There's no "hello" - there's only "Good morning. Smith, Jones, Brown and Finknottle. How may I direct your call?"

There's no "now" - there's only "at this moment in time".

There's no "use" - there's only "utilise".

The English language is drowning under the weight of its own PC prissiness.

And for the sake of my own blood-pressure, I hardly dare mention "must of", "fed up of" and their ilk.

Aaaaaaaaaaah! :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:




Phew! That's better. Time for my pills, I think.

 

[ilona73]

i just don't like the term second hand or used!

Oh dear - you're determined to get me started, aren't you?

Nowadays, there's no such thing as a "small" cup of coffee - there's only "regular".

There's no such thing as "no smoking" - there's only "thank you for not smoking".

There are no old people, only "senior citizens".

There's no "hello" - there's only "Good morning. Smith, Jones, Brown and Finknottle. How may I direct your call?"

There's no "now" - there's only "at this moment in time".

There's no "use" - there's only "utilise".

The English language is drowning under the weight of its own PC prissiness.

And for the sake of my own blood-pressure, I hardly dare mention "must of", "fed up of" and their ilk.

Aaaaaaaaaaah! :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:




Phew! That's better. Time for my pills, I think.

I was born to be annoying.... with a name like mine i have a lot to live up to so i apologise for getting anyones goats up... I am me ... deal with it hahahahah :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Flyfisher]

And for the sake of my own blood-pressure, I hardly dare mention "must of", "fed up of" and their ilk.

I find this sort of thing a genuine dilemma. One part of me decrys bad grammar and/or sloppy spelling, the other part says that language is only for communication so spellin mistaks, like, don't reely matter, duz they m8, and that the message is more important than the delivery.

Hmm. On balance, the former part of me is in the majority. But language, both written and spoken, was a process of gradual change to its present form, so I don't expect it will suddenly stop here and now. For good or for bad. Innit.

 

[Moo]

I will not get involved in this part of the thread I will not get involved in this part of the thread I will not get involved in this part of the thread I will not get involved in this part of the thread I will not get involved in this part of the thread I will not get involved in this part of the thread I will not get involved in this part of the thread I will not get involved in this part of the thread I will not get involved in this part of the thread I will not get involved in this part of the thread I will not get involved in this part of the thread I will not get involved in this part of the thread I will not get involved in this part of the thread I will not get involved in this part of the thread I will not get involved in this part of the thread I will not get involved in this part of the thread

 

[Gareth Hughes]

The English language is drowning under the weight of its own PC prissiness.

Oh - you've set me off now. England is drowning under the weight of people lazily claiming that "PC", whatever that is, is the cause of all our woes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB9qJ3yQeVc

 

[Flyfisher]

I will not get involved in this part of the thread . . . .

Admirable restraint Moo. I now wish I hadn't posted; thanks to Gareth's contribution, I'll be spending the next couple of hours watching old Fry & Laurie sketches on YouTube.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Go on Moo, respond to my addition to Penners list of aggravations:

The phrase used most on the phone ' Bear with me'---- I have started responding with either a growl or ask if it's a syncronised stripping session, that usually produces a stunned silence.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Go on Moo, respond to my addition to Penners list of aggravations:

The phrase used most on the phone ' Bear with me'---- I have started responding with either a growl or ask if it's a syncronised stripping session, that usually produces a stunned silence.

I have a young colleague who makes me grind my teeth with that, when transferring a phone call.

I, of course, say, "connecting you now, caller."

 

[LadyArowana]

The phrase used most on the phone ' Bear with me'---- I have started responding with either a growl or ask if it's a syncronised stripping session, that usually produces a stunned silence.

I am just so pathetically grateful to reach a human being as opposed to a voicemail programme that tells me to "Press one for ......" . Although some species of call centre operator barely rise to the intellectual level of human, I suspect most are running covert anger management programmes for anyone unwise enough to phone in. I did discover that there are some companies/ utilities where the operators are not supposed to hang up on you unless you become abusive, so as long as you keep calm and just keep going over the facts and requesting a supervisor etc they have to deal with you. They are often monitored on how many calls they deal with, so the longer you delay them the more you are messing with their statistics and the more likely they are to find someone who has the power to actually do something :twisted:

 

[Penners]

the message is more important than the delivery.

I recommend a read of Marshall McLuhan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan). According to him, the delivery (or, as he expresses it, the medium) is the message.

 

[Penners]

I will not get involved in this part of the thread I will not get involved .... etc.

Now, Moo, what on earth brought on this sudden and severe attack of diplomacy? I felt sure that if there was one person I could rely on....

 

[Penners]

The phrase used most on the phone ' Bear with me'---- I have started responding with either a growl or ask if it's a syncronised stripping session

Believe it or not, Joss, I did consider including that one in my rant above. But I decided it would make me sound grumpy. :wink:

I'm always tempted to reply to it by saying, "Are you telling me that you'll show me yours if I show you mine?"

 

[Moo]

this sudden and severe attack of diplomacy?

Oh, Penners, it was cowardice, not diplomacy. I knew that if I started I would find it very hard to stop and would end up spluttering incoherently as my blood-pressure climbed yet further up the scale.
But (just to show solidarity, you understand) I will mention in a very restrained way a couple of things that could be changed: euphemisms of all sorts, and "bored of".

xxx M

 

[Penners]

That sounds to me suspiciously like moaning on tiptoe.

It never really works.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Dearie me, what are we coming to?
As I howled with laughter at our telephone antics most of 'im indoor's s folders fell off (of) the shelf in our cupboard with a resounding crash. Not a very good fixing so that's another job to do-- our motto is 'try it the wife's way if you wish to succeed'

 

[Flyfisher]

the message is more important than the delivery.

I recommend a read of Marshall McLuhan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan). According to him, the delivery (or, as he expresses it, the medium) is the message.

Hmm. At least we are denied the opportunity of wandering into the minefield of font selection.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1348871.stm

 

[Nigel Watts]

Watts of W don't give a history of their pre-printed papers

To understand the company you should look at this, especially if you like traditional ecclesiastical gear:

http://www.wattsandco.com/

and their history is on:

http://www.wattsandco.com/index.php/aboutwattco

W of W came out of W & Co when they realised that there was a market for their products in domestic furnishing.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh, I see. Thanks so much for that Nigel, the fabrics are extraordinarily beautiful and that Gothic one I commented on earlier is explained as being derived from the famous Ranworth Rood Screen, which must be medieval

I've now got my gothic/ Gothick//Gothic Revival periods completely nailed. BC is Gothick. Here's marvellous Osbert Lancaster on the style:

"Towards the end of the eighteenth century there was a noticeable... craving for Romance. In architecture this nostalgia was particularly marked, and took the form of a polite enthusiasm for the styles of far away and long ago. Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, and Gothic methods of building all enjoyed a remarkable vogue among the cognoscenti, but it was the last style which proved most popular and the revival of which was to prove, though not at once, most disastrous for English architecture. So long as the traditions and conventions governing the thought and manners of the eighteenth century remained in force, all was well. The patrons of architecture were enlightened and well-educated men who were perfectly aware that a wholesale revival of Gothic methods of building would be intolerable, but regarded, quite rightly, the building of a cottage or two in what they hoped was a medieval but were quite certain was a picturesque style, as perfectly permissable. Thus the gazebos, the cottage ornés and the summer houses which formed the principal output of Gothick architects of the period, bore little relation to any known Gothic style; they remained, in fact, perfectly ordinary eighteenth-century cottages on to which had been tacked a row of castellations and a couple of plaster gargoyles*. Ninety percent of these productions had little connection with architecture at all but were simply the work of smart interior decorators trying their hand at landscape gardening, or literary amateurs of exhibitionist tendencies creating a suitable backdrop for their carefully cultivated personalities. Nevertheless, out of the this innocuous and rather charming chrysalis would one day come blundering the dreary great moth of Victorian revivalism."

So I will definitely be attending this Walpole exhibition at the V & A http://www.friendsofstrawberryhill.org/, and heartily wish they would hurry up and finish Strawberry Hill so I can go and have a look at the wallpapers!

*I wonder if this explains the medieval stone gargoyle built into a wall in the garden?

 

[JoceAndChris]

My link doesn't really work but it's this:

"FUTURE EXHIBITIONS & DISPLAYS
6th March - 4th July 2010

Admission charge will apply

This will be the first major exhibition on Horace Walpole, the most important English collector of the eighteenth century, and will bring together many of his most remarkable objects. Walpole was the first to systematically assemble the visual evidence of English history, and the first to recognise the importance of the portrait miniature to the history of British art. This exhibition will recreate Walpole's pioneering collection in the context of the rooms at Strawberry Hill, where visitors experienced a journey through ancient and modern British history and European art."

Anyone else like to come?

 

[Nigel Watts]

Anyone else like to come?

Count me in!