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.

The Elgin Marbles

It is not really a very good time for prime minister Mr David Cameron, with the embarrassment at Eastleigh on Thursday with the burgeoning UK Independence Party beating the Conservatives into third place.

How anyone in Eastleigh could have voted for the useless, corrupt and pathetic Liberal Democrats is beyond my imagination, but that as they say is democracy - i.e. what we have to put up with from our brilliant fellow-subjects.

Anyway Cameron has redeemed himself a little in my eyes upon my discovering that he does not intend that the Elgin Marbles (now known by the politically-correct as "The Parthenon Marbles") be returned.  Good.

Does it annoy any of you that names and pronunciations are constantly changed?

So to make myself clear:

"Mumbai" is Bombay

"Myanmar" is Burma

"Innuits" are Eskimos - or more properly Esquimaux

"Romania" is Roumania - that's how my Roumanian ex-girlfriend spelled it.

And Kenya is pronounced "Keenya" as I was taught

I can just about stand "Tanzania" and Zimbabwe, but they are horrible names.

Until the next time