Pedants' Corner

[Penners]

I love it - a thread on pedantic grammar (already pretty tangential to period properties :roll: ) strays on to fundamental particle physics by its third page! This surely must be a record for us?

I'm not sure whether it's a record, but it's undoubtedly a notable intellectual achievement. If we allow the traditional six stages of separation, I wonder where else it will take us.

Perhaps I should specify a target. From sub-atomic particle physics to ... er... morris dancing, in no more than six steps (no pun intended).

 

[Flyfisher]

Perhaps the target should have been Kevin Bacon. :wink:

But I'll give it a go and try to include something of relevance to PPUK along the way:

1. Quark - a subatomic particle
2. Quark, Strangeness & Charm - an album by Hawkwind
3. Harris - a type of hawk
4. Thomas Harris - a British architect of the Victorian era
5. William Morris - renowned Victorian founder of the Arts & Crafts movement
6. Morris dancing.

Although, looking at those connections, I think I could have gone straight from 'strangeness' to 'morris dancing'.

 

[Penners]

I'm mightily impressed, FF!

In my own simple-minded way I had envisaged some sort of vague association between up and down (two of the flavours of quarks, as I'm sure you know) and Morris dancing. But I bow readily to your much more elegant progression.

 

[Moo]

In today's Telegraph - not one, but two instances of "bored of".

I despair.

 

[Penners]

Regrettably, Moo, despair seems to be the ambient condition of all those with even a modest command of our native language, nowadays.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

In today's Telegraph - not one, but two instances of "bored of".

I despair.

I'm surprised you didn't get bored of searching through every page for those, and give up!

 

[Penners]

Wiggs!

Detention!

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Oh dear Penners; call yourself a grammar pedant?

Those were two completely verb-less sentences with overly exuberant punctuation!!!!!

 

[Penners]

I believe I recently expressed the view that grammar can be abandoned on occasions, for dramatic effect. This is acceptable, provided it's done intentionally.

You've just earned yourself an extra half-hour learning log tables.