Cato's Grammar Grumble

[Cato]

True, but I have some sympathy for the people writing the Wikipedia entries (not that I'd ever want to contribute).
I wouldn't be at all surprised if the "principal" was added after legions of Internet pedants noisily objected "What about <so and so>...?"

Aye, I see it ....

"...Internet pedants..."  Good phrase to describe such a "pinkelig" (as they would say in Germany) person!

Recently there has been a surfeit of jobs here in Ohio, which has led to Help-Wanted signs sprouting on street corners and telephone poles.  Many of the jobs are in warehouses....or are they?

"WEARHOUSE WORK $19.00 AN HOUR TO START!"

Now there is a clothing store chain called The Men's Wearhouse, but this sign was not from them!  Given that the sign is one of dozens, if not hundreds, around town, and was professionally printed, it is sad that nobody caught the error.

On television news, a station often slopping over with grammatical errors in its news broadcasts, we recently heard:

"Is the Tokyo Olympics in danger of being postponed or canceled?"

The Olympics as a collective singular?  "Physics," all right, but...?

The report was consistent in keeping Olympics singular.   

[North Star]

"...Internet pedants..."  Good phrase to describe such a "pinkelig" (as they would say in Germany) person!

Recently there has been a surfeit of jobs here in Ohio, which has led to Help-Wanted signs sprouting on street corners and telephone poles.  Many of the jobs are in warehouses....or are they?

"WEARHOUSE WORK $19.00 AN HOUR TO START!"

Now there is a clothing store chain called The Men's Wearhouse, but this sign was not from them!  Given that the sign is one of dozens, if not hundreds, around town, and was professionally printed, it is sad that nobody caught the error.

On television news, a station often slopping over with grammatical errors in its news broadcasts, we recently heard:

"Is the Tokyo Olympics in danger of being postponed or canceled?"

The Olympics as a collective singular?  "Physics," all right, but...?

The report was consistent in keeping Olympics singular.   

Are the Tokyo Olympics a multi-sport event, or is the Tokyo Olympics a multi-sport event?

[Cato]

A new phrase caught my eye today, apparently coined just a few years ago.

"Desire paths" might sound like the circuitous route to a church altar with Wagner's march from Lohengrin in the background.

On the other hand, it might also be a euphemism for the directions to a cheap motel!   

But no:

"..."desire paths" – described by Robert Macfarlane as "paths & tracks made over time by the wishes & feet of walkers, especially those paths that run contrary to design or planning"; he calls them "free-will ways". The New Yorker offers other names: "cow paths, pirate paths, social trails, kemonomichi (beast trails), chemins de l'âne (donkey paths), and Olifantenpad (elephant trails)". JM Barrie described them as "Paths that have Made Themselves".

Reddit has desire path threads, tens of thousands of people strong, delighting in the more mysterious or illogical-seeming of them...."

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/oct/05/desire-paths-the-illicit-trails-that-defy-the-urban-planners

[Pohjolas Daughter]

A new phrase caught my eye today, apparently coined just a few years ago.

"Desire paths" might sound like the circuitous route to a church altar with Wagner's march from Lohengrin in the background.

On the other hand, it might also be a euphemism for the directions to a cheap motel!   

But no:





https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/oct/05/desire-paths-the-illicit-trails-that-defy-the-urban-planners

Interesting!  Perhaps "desire paths" are also good clues/suggestions as to future construction plans? 

PD

[André]

A new phrase caught my eye today, apparently coined just a few years ago.

"Desire paths" might sound like the circuitous route to a church altar with Wagner's march from Lohengrin in the background.

On the other hand, it might also be a euphemism for the directions to a cheap motel!   

But no:





https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/oct/05/desire-paths-the-illicit-trails-that-defy-the-urban-planners

Interesting. Around here we call them shortcuts   

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Interesting. Around here we call them shortcuts   

(* chortle *)

[Mandryka]

A new phrase caught my eye today, apparently coined just a few years ago.

"Desire paths" might sound like the circuitous route to a church altar with Wagner's march from Lohengrin in the background.

On the other hand, it might also be a euphemism for the directions to a cheap motel!   

But no:






https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/oct/05/desire-paths-the-illicit-trails-that-defy-the-urban-planners

The image reminded me of some of the things that happened a few years ago when London decided to pioneer some new approaches to road design -- they wanted to see whether they could just remove the barriers between road and sidewalk, as there was good evidence that (paradoxically) if pedestrians wondered aimlessly, drivers would pay more attention and there would be less accidents. The pilots were in busy areas -- Oxford Circus and South Kensington. What they found is that pedestrians were natural pythagorians, they took the diagonal route by preference. These images shows what happens at South Ken and Oxford Circus quite nicely

[Cato]

Interesting. Around here we call them shortcuts   

Same here in Ohio, U.S.A!

The image reminded me of some of the things that happened a few years ago when London decided to pioneer some new approaches to road design -- they wanted to see whether they could just remove the barriers between road and sidewalk, as there was good evidence that (paradoxically) if pedestrians wondered aimlessly, drivers would pay more attention and there would be less accidents. The pilots were in busy areas -- Oxford Circus and South Kensington. What they found is that pedestrians were natural Pythagoreans, they took the diagonal route by preference. These images shows what happens at South Ken and Oxford Circus quite nicely

"Natural Pythagoreans"!  I like that!   

[Florestan]

I think this is wrong.

It should read either

Unless you feel that this is an attempt to deprive you of your liberty, stop driving!

or

If you feel that this is an attempt to deprive you of your liberty, then keep driving!

The original formulation makes no sense at all. Not to mention that I don't think a construction like unless...then is correct..

[listener]

on an amazon page: "LifeSky High Waist Yoga Pants Workout Leggings for Women with Pockets..."
Should be  "leggings with pockets"?

[Jo498]

A new phrase caught my eye today, apparently coined just a few years ago.

"Desire paths" might sound like the circuitous route to a church altar with Wagner's march from Lohengrin in the background.

On the other hand, it might also be a euphemism for the directions to a cheap motel!   

But no:





https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/oct/05/desire-paths-the-illicit-trails-that-defy-the-urban-planners

In German they are called "Trampelpfad" (trample(d) path), to be taken quite literally. And unlike the not always well founded prejudices about German order they exist not only in the forest but also on campuses or other constellations with many buildings and possible shortcuts.

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

I am chuckling at a line in a newspaper article: "Some [animals], like the opossum, vividly feign death."

[Cato]

I am chuckling at a line in a newspaper article: "Some [animals], like the opossum, vividly feign death."

Wow!  Nobody caught that before it went to press?!!   


Many thanks for the responses above!  As some might remember, I have not been able to visit GMG very much recently because of the purchase of our so-called "retirement house," which STILL after 5 months of repairing and cleaning and fixing and arranging and repairing and fixing and repairing...is not finished to my satisfaction, so I now understand Mick Jagger's frustration from many years ago!  On top of that we have been dealing with my brother-in-law, who has been in a coma twice and in the hospital or a rehabilitation center 4 times since the beginning of September with pneumonia!  A month ago, the (cowardly and/or incompetent) doctors, pressured by insurance bureaucrats proclaimed him cured and sent him forth into the world.  He spent precisely one day in our house and collapsed: the diagnosis three hours later at the hospital was "SEVERE PNEUMONIA, INFLUENZA, and (my favorite - drum roll, please) DEHYDRATION."

Yes, the medical establishment never really checked his lungs to see if the pneumonia had actually been cured ("Well, he was on those antibiotics for the allowed time and seemed better").  And how exactly do doctors and nurses never check on a patient's fluid intake and output?!

Right now, after more than two weeks of treatments, and back in the rehabilitation center, he does indeed seem "cured."

Perhaps I should start a new topic: Cato's Medical Malpractice Mantras!   


Anyway, I cannot tell you how many grammar items, ranging from curiosities  to monstrosities, I have seen in the past months and thought: "That would be of interest to the good people on GMG!"  But then a new crisis like the above would erupt!

So, right now, here are some I do recall.

On the sign of a Burger King fast-food restaurant the management was begging for workers:

"GET PAID WEAKLY!"    Is it possible the Burger King Corporation is brutally honest about their oppression of proletariat? 

And then came English via Ancient Hebrew      :

"FLXBL SCHDL - TXT ....." 

If they had used their Hebraicized English for the first line, they might have more applicants!   

On a similar note, Mrs. Cato noticed a curious phrase in an employment notice in the newspaper for a local government position in Criminal Justice:

"Applicant must be able to speak and write English in a formal register."

Cato is always happy, of course, to support formal English!       The use of the word "register" in such a context is rare, but not unknown.  The word has about 10 definitions, depending on the dictionary consulted, and "style of language" is on the list, albeit not near the top.

I have grumbled about this before: on television we are hearing the slurring of the word "important" more and more.   In two recent interviews with government bureaucrats we heard how it was "really impor-ăăă" to do blah-blah-blah..."  Where did that goose come from?"

The "T's" in the last part of "important" are sledgehammered into an unpleasant, nasal honk!

Time's up!  To quote Patrick McGoohan: "Be seeing you!"

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Zowie!

[Cato]

I was reading an article about a fusion reactor called SPARCS being built at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and which should be producing energy by 2025.

Everything was going fine, until I hit this sentence:

"...SPARC is expected to generate at least twice as much as 10 times more energy as is pumped in, the studies found."

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

I was reading an article about a fusion reactor called SPARCS being built at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and which should be producing energy by 2025.

Everything was going fine, until I hit this sentence:

"...SPARC is expected to generate at least twice as much as 10 times more energy as is pumped in, the studies found."

Some studies, they muat be ....

[Cato]

Some studies, they must be ....

Aye!  Mrs. Cato said: "They're scientists, not English teachers."

True, however, the journalist first, and then his editors, should have caught the curiosity. 

[Mandryka]

What does " ready to file for U.S. authorization" mean? Does it mean that they'll have sufficient test data by then to say to the relevant bodies "We're ready to roll it out to the general public?"

Is the above post punctuated correctly? Especially the second sentence

Does it mean that they'll have sufficient test data by then to say to the relevant bodies "We're ready to roll it out to the general public?"

The problem I have is that the vaccine companies are not asking a question, so it bugs me that I've put a question mark inside the quotation mark. I also am not sure if there ought to be a comma after bodies. I'm pretty sure that the capital W in we're is OK.

[JBS]

Speaking of correct punctuation
https://twitter.com/RamsesThePigeon/status/1466168057676578818

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Speaking of correct punctuation
https://twitter.com/RamsesThePigeon/status/1466168057676578818

(* chortle *)