Topic: Cato's Grammar Grumble

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

Columbia is proud to advertise this as a nonbeakable record (bottom right). Aren’t records supposed to be broken ?

Shellac records were, not the newfangled vinyl LP's, apparently.

[Ken B]

Shellac records were, not the newfangled vinyl LP's, apparently.

Shellac was better than vinyl! So much warmer. 

[Cato]

Shellac was better than vinyl! So much warmer. 

Riiight!!!    I will take the lack of scratches, blips, bloops, and static of CD's any day!

Speaking of which, my first CD (London label: Ashkenazy conducting Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht and Wagner's Siegfried Idyll is now over 30 years old, and sounds great!

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

Shellac was better than vinyl! So much warmer. 

I just read that the first gramophone records Emil Berliner tried to market were made of rubber.

[Ken B]

I just read that the first gramophone records Emil Berliner tried to market were made of rubber.

You haven’t lived until you’ve heard gutta-percha cylinders.

[Mandryka]

Motivated by a post from Facebook.
Are people actually using "chef" as a verb? As in "Norma's Diner has been cheffed by Harvey for the last ten years."

A similar thing happened in French when Jacques Chirac said, to the astonishment and amusement of everyone, un chef c'est fait pour cheffer

[Cato]

From last year: Wall Street Journal sports reporter Jason Gay on the curious phrase from American football on whether or not a player had caught the football, namely, "survive the ground."  Video "Instant Replay" is now used to adjudicate a disputed catch! 

Which things came to mind when we are at a movie theater yesterday and saw a preview for Liam Neeson's latest revenge epic.

W.S.J. Dec. 21, 2017:

Then the Replay Overlords intervened, and what very much looked like a catch became…

Not a catch.

The ruling on the replay was that the ball did not “Survive the Ground,” which sounds like the title of a Liam Neeson movie.

BAD GUY: No! No don’t throw me off this rooftop, Liam Neeson.

LIAM NEESON: If you don’t tell me where she is, you’ll never…survive the ground.

 

[JBS]

A bit ago, SimonNZ posted a book by Antonia Fraser, Perilous Question, which prompted me to get a copy to read from the library.

The illustrated plates begin with a portrait of William IV  in the full robes of the Garter, captioned thus:

William IV by Sir Martin Archer Shee, who came to the throne in July 1830, aged 65.

[Cato]

A bit ago, SimonNZ posted a book by Antonia Fraser, Perilous Question, which prompted me to get a copy to read from the library.

The illustrated plates begin with a portrait of William IV  in the full robes of the Garter, captioned thus:

William IV by Sir Martin Archer Shee, who came to the throne in July 1830, aged 65.

OY!  Good ol' antecedent and ending problems! 

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Clause without a verb.

Lock control at foot of bed when oxygen administering equipment.

[André]

Clause without a verb.

Lock control at foot of bed when oxygen administering equipment.

You are getting fluent in Hospitalese, my friend  .

[Cato]

Clause without a verb.

Lock control at foot of bed when oxygen administering equipment.

You are getting fluent in Hospitalese, my friend  .

 

This reminded me of the old complaint about doctors' indecipherable handwriting.

The Ohio legislature recently voted to bring back penmanship instruction, because the latest research shows penmanship in the "digital age" is still crucial for eye-hand co-ordination, concentration, and reading.

See:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956797614524581


And:

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2018/12/06/more-cursive-schools-ohio-bill-encourages-penmanship/2227029002/

[Mandryka]

If you look at premont’s posts there’s a fabulous thing he got from a hospital in Denmark

Tiden læger alle sår,
heldigt nok at tiden går.

Anyway it’s very good to see these posts from Karl, long may the recuperation continue.

[zamyrabyrd]

This reminded me of the old complaint about doctors' indecipherable handwriting.

Now of course, they use computers. There was some mumbo-jumbo in Latin on prescriptions back in the Old Days.

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Now of course, they use computers. There was some mumbo-jumbo in Latin on prescriptions back in the Old Days.

And the challenge now is training the voice -recognition software

[Cato]

Today in an antique shop I saw an actual Balalaika for sale.



Or was it?  Because the tag said it was...




BAKLAVA!!!      

[Ken B]

Visiting Cleveland?

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Another road where maybe I
Could see another kind of mind there.

Okay so I've only just noticed that "there" is superfluous.

[NikF4]

Another road where maybe I
Could see another kind of mind there.

Okay so I've only just noticed that "there" is superfluous.

I often notice the same thing when people compose an image. 

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

YMCA Childrens Center