Language Barbarism

Who is to blame for the horrible verb "pickpocketing?"  Why has this disgusting construction been foisted on us - and by whom?  

I presume by the same sort of people who would say "mother-in-laws" - and militant cyclists, and global-warmists.

Who would say "pickstrawberrying" or "pickcherrying"?

The word of course should be "pocket-picking" - WITH the bloody hyphen.

Grrr.

Until the next time

More Ranting

As far as this writer is concerned there are always suitable subjects for rage, angst, grief etc.

First, how I loathe the clichés used by politicians viz: "In real terms since 1979/1997/2010;" in response to any question: "What is important..." and currently, the infuriating expression "Hard-working families."  Grrr.

Second, bloody religion.  The Sunni versus Shia battles - these people are even worse than the Prods and Caatholics in Ireland.  Stupid, stupid people.  Grrr.

Third, the decline and progressive emaciation of the English language.  The Daily Telegraph seems no longer to be able to distinguish between the noun "licence" and the verb "to license," and also the difference between "complimentary" and "complementary."  Pathetic.  Grrr.

Fourth, with the wonderful exception of the excellent Catherine Edwards ("Roman Women" BBC4) the apparent enthusiasm of the BBC to recruit and employ persons who are incapable of speaking clearly.  Dreadful accents abound and also other solecisms - e.g. some "live" correspondent referred the other day to "several cup-of-teas."  Such people are as unsuited to appearing on broadcast media as say, Lord (John) Prescott.  

We have:

• the appalling Americanism "impact" meaning "affect" (why?) 
• the irritating expression "leverage" pronounced incorrectly (meaning what?)
• weather forecasters who warn us about "claads" and "shaas," others referring to "yeees."
• the horrid term "going forward"

Fifth, sentimental treatment of little furry animals - e.g. the badger cull row.  I do enjoy "Springwatch" on the television (despite the grating accents of the very highly expert presenters) but their glamorisation of foxes makes my blood boil.  Had I land of my own, I would certainly devote a meadow to wild flowers to encourage the bees etc. and take care of my woodland, but I would also have a shot-gun and any fox that stuck its murderous head up would have it blown off.  Sadly that traitor Blair banned hunting.  I have never forgiven these horrible creatures for the slaughter of my beloved hens in France.

Grrr, grrr, grrr, grrr, grrr.

Until the next time.

Miscellaneous Rants

Typically, the older I get the more annoying life becomes.  Once upon a time one might meet lefty females who would ask "Why are you so angry, Paul?"  There is a simple answer to this: "Because there is so much that gets on my tits."

Last night, the BBC on Newsnight interviewed famous lefty George Monbiot who is a sort of activist for "environmental" and ecological issues.  This crackpot wants wolves to be re-introduced into this country; cretin.  This has already happened in south-eastern France where the shepherds have to stand idly by whilst their flocks are decimated by these vermin.  The sheep-farmers are not permitted to shoot the wolves.

Pathetic.

And I'm bloody annoyed (as always) about the slackness that is causing a steady decline in the English language.

Why do the railway companies insist on addressing us as "customers?"  We are NOT customers, we are passengers.  I suppose that before long patients will be referred to as "customers" of the health service.  Rubbish.

And pronunciation!  Why cannot anyone pronounce the words "for" and "to"?  Why have they become "fer" and "ter?"  Slackness.  The BBC is very guilty: their people cannot pronounce "formidable," controversy," or "centenary" correctly - these just being examples.  Here are the BBC pronunciations, followed by the correct versions:

forMIDable - FORmidable

conTROVersy - CONtroversy

cenTENary - centeenary

The last has suffered from what I call Kenya trouble - ever since the pronunciation of that state's name was modified in honour of former terrorist Jomo Kenyatta.  Today I see that Mount Everest has to be referred to by some jaw-breaking name.  Nonsense, same as Myanmar for Burma, Mumbai for Bombay, Innuits for Esquimaux, etc., etc. ad nauseam.  The worst example arguably, is referring to Red Indians as "Native Americans."  John Wayne or Ronald Reagan or Martin Luther King were every bit as "native American" as Geronimo.  More cosy PC rubbish.  I would not of course object to "aboriginal Americans" or even at a pinch "indiginous Americans."

I watched a terrible film the other day: Sword of Sherwood daing from 1960 and featuring Richard Greene as Robin Hood.  A Hammer production, it was truly pathetic except in one respect: every actor spoke beautifully.  It was balm for my long-suffering ears.

I hate change.

Grrrrrr.

Until the next time.