Café Life is the Colony's main hangout, watering hole and meeting point.
This is a place where you'll meet and make writing friends, and indulge in stratospherically-elevated wit or barometrically low humour.
Some Colonists pop in religiously every day before or after work. Others we see here less regularly, but all are equally welcome. Two important grounds rules…
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www.standard.co.uk
We all have our skills, right?
Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory) has pulled people up on that too.
He might be responsible for people thinking twice before saying it. It certainly worked with my kids.... literally!
Oh no. I think like Sheldon.Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory) has pulled people up on that too.
If we had a pound for every time we heard is/are confusion on the telly, our money troubles would be over.
I have an old cassette tape of something called Changing English, in which the presenter read out the same passage from the Bible in the language of King Alfred, Chaucer and Shakespeare (there might have been others, but I can't remember). The tape was in sections: The Sound of English, Present and Future, Accents and Attitude, the Sound of English Outside GB, Fashions in Words, and New words. If I had the technology I'd transfer it onto a cd. It was wonderful.Language is fluid. Think of how people used to speak 100 years ago. 50 years ago, even. It's different than now. Do I like it that people can't use a freaking apostrophe the right way? No. I think it's absurd. But that's because I understand them and a lot of people do not. I don't know why. It's still taught in school, right? But that doesn't mean anything. So is complex math and I can't understand anything beyond simple geometry and algebra.
My mum worked in a cafe for many years and they had 'Can of Larger- £1.25' on the chalk board. It bothered me every time I went in there, after school. They gave me free chips and cola. I just left it.I only get cross when it's people who should know better. I don't mind if the grocers has Carrot's on his sign – just so long as the carrots are good. But when I see magazines (and websites) purporting to be professional, which have apostrophes round the wrong way (because they don't know how to figure out Microsoft Word), in the wrong place or not at all then I want to kick their ankles. And then the rest of them.
I have noticed quite a few individuals and organisations that offer help to Indie authors - copy editing and such - and their websites/blogs are full of boo-boos. A tad off-putting when they are offering their services for £££.I only get cross when it's people who should know better. I don't mind if the grocers has Carrot's on his sign – just so long as the carrots are good. But when I see magazines (and websites) purporting to be professional, which have apostrophes round the wrong way (because they don't know how to figure out Microsoft Word), in the wrong place or not at all then I want to kick their ankles. And then the rest of them.
I see it all the time. I'm into classic cars, and some of the articles in hobbyist magazines are practically unreadable. My wife works in PR, and she's always showing me crap press releases that somebody has paid good money for.
It's about sheer laziness and an arrogant indifference to accurate communication. Not the evolution of language, the bastardisation of it. You're right, there are so many examples. We could go mad thinking about them
Autocorrect may be behind this one
Programming languages are totally unforgiving of bad grammar. Why should humans accept less?
Thank you. That's my Holiday Threat sorted.
So am I. I've just given up on the rogue apostrophes, "done"s and larger lagers... (I am not adverse to doctoring posters in public places, though. A Sharpie is a useful tool).
