Some days, you just can't win.

Today, I have done really well. I have cleared three logs and set up visits for the rest of the week as well as sending out termination emails for logs that should be closed. Busy, busy day in fact. So how come when I find I have a log relating to Word, which I not only hate but don't know the first thing about either, everyone has partaken of the wee wee? In the traditional manner of my office, I have had a day of references to obscure and obsolete word processors.

English as she is spoken. 2

Well, at least one person agrees with me in principle about my rants over what has and is being done to the language, thanks Russ.

I don't want to give the idea that I am against all changes though. Many people are not aware, for example, that quite a few words and phrases that we think of as 'Americanisms' are invented by them and therefore wrong. This is not always true. Our cousins have a language that split from ours three to four hundred years ago and, in many ways, is purer than our version of the language. It may sound strange, but it isn't wrong. There are also many regional anomalies that crop up all the time that we should be able to absorb with little complaint. I would also include the curious dichotomy of the correct pronunciation of the letter 'H' as, at least, understandable. The correct way is 'aitch' but many people have difficulty with this and say 'haitch' with a strong emphasis on the leading 'h'. This is wrong but I am prepared to live with it because these people would probably find it nearly impossible to change. However, what I find extremely annoying is the voice-over talent on a certain digital channel who is using both versions in one trailer. The man is a pilloch!

Roll on 10. o'clock.

Not this morning, tonight. That's when I get back into bed. I've been up for over an hour now and feel the need to return. I'm not quite sure what is going on but it feels like a hibernation wish to me. I found out yesterday that Sal has ordered mega stuff from 'The Book People' and sent it to her Plymouth address by mistake. This means, of course, that dear old dad will have to organise collection of said boxes from the courier company as they won't be able to deliver during the day. Cocky has settled again after his nibble at Hazel on Sunday and is taking nuts from my fingers again. He, either accidentally or deliberately, managed to make her finger bleed like a stuck pig when she pulled away from him after trying to give him a peanut. I'm not sure who was most upset but I dare not say that to Hazel...........  

English as she is spoken. 1

Over the past few years, I have become very disenchanted with the way we in the UK are killing our own spoken language. When I was at school, many years ago, we were taught how to pronounce words and string them together to make a meaningful sentence. Over the years, I used these simple rules and seemed to get along fine with most of the population speaking in the same manner. However, about twenty years ago there seems to have been a breakdown in teaching that has produced the appalling use of language we are now being subjected to.

Top of my hit list is the use of the word 'Absolutely'. I asked my sister-in-law what she thought it meant and she explained to me as though I were a child that it was another word for 'Yes'. "So why not just say yes" I queried. "I don't know" was the answer. To clarify, 'Absolutely' does not and never has had any connection with an affirmative statement. It is an adverb and means 'in an absolute manner, esp completely or perfectly''. My fellow Brits have corrupted it and now it even appears in dictionaries as an alternative to 'Yes'. Why not just say yes?

That's it for this post but expect more to come.

I must be getting better........

Because, this morning, I actually wanted to wake up and get out of bed. I spent the final hour at work yesterday with some serious sleepiness and when I got home, slept for an hour and a half. I then felt much better on waking. and went to bed feeling better. Young Titch managed to get to my keyboard at some point yesterday and managed to do things I didn't even know were possible. It took me longer to get everything back to normal than I suspect it took her to trash everything. 

I decided yesterday that, although I have forsworn the contentious blogging that others seem to do so much of, I must begin a thread to try to protect the English language that I was taught at school and still try very hard to use. So be warned, there may be a few sparks flying here soon. All these posts will be under the same title in order that you may skip them if you so wish.

Urrrrrrgle!

Well, I made it back to work this morning after three days of blocked tubes and slime. When I woke this morning, I really wanted to get back to the office and the feeling didn't wear off until about an hour after I arrived. Despite that, I have managed to function well today until about half an hour ago when, suddenly, I had a major headache. 

Aaaaaaaaargh!

I have spent several hours, on and off, putting together a tool in SharePoint for us to use whilst loaning hardware. By yesterday evening, I had a very rough, but working, system. Today I began refining it in preparation to building a complete new version on a different area. Slowly and inexorably, it began to fall apart. I kept putting it back together again but it was like trying to stuff a family of kittens into a small sack. I stopped and tried to build the new version and, although working, parts of that are missing too. I have obviously forgotten a step that I did correctly the first time around. Until now, this was a good day, Hazel and I both had good INR results and don't have to have another test until after Christmas and I have finally got my prescription back to normal with a repeat every two months on all items.