11.5.07

Hyphens

A simulcast!

It's getting to me: all of these hyphens, I mean. I read a lot of books and articles and cases and pamphlets and if I get my hands on an electronic copy of anything, I can spend ages getting rid of these wretched things. I find absolutely no use for hyphens except in the most rare of cases.

The latest, although quite old now, craze is the attempt to kill off the colon. That's : and not the large bowel of course.

I came across this exercise just the other day that was kindly provided by a colleague in good faith:

Insert hyphens in the following sentences, where necessary.

  1     The letter was sent by second class post.
  2     He was a very well mannered young man.
  3     Ninety two people attended the concert.
  4     The students co operated with the teacher.
  5     The Vice Principal is Ms Baker.
  6     The visitors are expected at tea time.
  7     The recreation ground is used by the local football team.
  8     John recreated the picture he saw at the art gallery.
  9     The master bedroom has an en suite bathroom.
10      Forty eight pounds is a lot to pay for a table cloth.

My answer is that NONE OF THEM requires any hyphens whatseover. End of story. Give me an A*.

I may refer to this topic again.

As a matter of interest I had a discussion with an American colleague last night and as I thought of it as we were talking I asked him why an American says to a bar maid or barista, for example, "Can I get a drink ..." His reply was revealing as he said, "I don't. I say 'May I have'". I asked him why do we hear can I get then and he said it's laziness. Well, that was good to hear. I have long said that these bad language habits (Can I get, lack of use of adverbs, poor prepositional sense ...) are confined to uneducated people and this chap is a PhD holder who clearly knows a lot better!!! I then said the other annoyance is when someone says they will "Bring that to your house ..." Erm, you mean you are already at my house? They mean TAKE that to your house of course. Another bete noir explored a little.

DW

 

Don't you just love things like this?

I saw this sign by the roadside near the hotel the other night and just couldn't resist it. It can be interpreted in a couple of ways: the one intended and a slightly impish one. It's the impish one that appeals to me.

DW

Let me join the chorus of decent people calling for whoever it is who is responsible, to return Madeleine McCann to her parents. Let Madeleine be with the ones she loves and needs: let her parents be at peace with all of their children. What you have done is to condemn a mother and a father to a lifetime of paranoia: constantly worrying whether their special little girl is safe and sound. Madeleine's parents can't live without their daughter but they can live without the uncertainty of what you are doing with and to her. Give her back. As Madeleine's mother said: they don't care how you do it, just do it quickly. You can then crawl back to where you came from where you can be happy with God's judgement when it comes. DW

9.5.07

Take the stairs

Along the lines of my smoking is bad for you outburst, I was in the lift the other day when a young chap got in and pressed the button for floor two. In my own impish way I said he should be taking the stairs. He received my comment in the spirit in which it was meant and suggested that he should.

I was only going to the fourth floor myself, of course; and could have taken the stairs myself really.

DW

Smoking, Arabic Coffee and Tanning Myself

I suppose it's a function of the ageing process. One of the delegates to my sessions this week was happily minding his own business: drinking coffee, eating a sandwich or a cake and ...SMOKING. I impudently said, 'Smoking's bad for you, you know'!

This led on to a discussion with the smoker and another smoker: they asked me if I'd ever smoked and when I said I had and said that I stopped 23 years ago they were impressed and asked me how I'd done it.

I told them that I came to hate the process. At times I freely admit that I enjoyed smoking but then got absolutely sick of it and stopped. Just like that. Never smoked again.

I also told them that I felt better within 24 hours of stopping and said, 'Just before you stop smoking, run up a flight of stairs and notice how you feel. After you have stopped smoking for just 24 hours, run up those stairs again and see how you feel now: you will notice a big difference.

I had a meal (huge, too huge) at the hotel's Lebanese restaurant last night and can recommend it. During the meal, the coffee wallah (sorry, I don't know his official title) gave me a tiny cup of Arabic coffee. I have never had Arabic coffee before and can report it is massively different from any other coffee I've ever drunk.

I'm sunning myself: now, I've got fair skin so I know I must never get sun burnt and I'm not. I'm stepping out into the sun at mid afternoon and spend between and 5 and 10 minutes a day wandering around. I am fully clad so just my hands and head are exposed. I am not sleeping on a lounger and will not burn. I'm interested to see if I can safely enbronze myself with such a regime as I am out here for a full three weeks.

DW