Pedants United

[Paul Habershon]

Anyone going for 'despicable' with stress on the first syllable?

I'm LAMentable along with Johnson and Jack (not Amber?) Rudd, but also desPICable.
As a child it took me several years to understand MISLED ('mild' in my head because of isle and island).
I think KasPARov is correct; it took me some time to learn that, so hope I'm right.
Robert Peston is someone who has made a career out of curious pauses and inflections.

[Nick Ivell]

KasPARov is correct if we are to be faithful to the Russian, and TaiMAnov too, though I hear the latter with stress on the first syllable more often than the former.

With regard to fidelity to the original language, I have a particular aversion to the pronunciation 'fieanshetto'. It makes me shudder.

[John Clarke]

I'm not sure it's pedantry to be irritated by new expressions. The ones that get me are where people use words that actually mean something else.

If I hear that someone has refuted an allegation I expect to hear that he has disproved it, not that he simply denies it.

You repudiate a statement
If you say that you dispute it,
But you've got to prove it's wrong as well
In order to refute it.
(Author unknown)

[John Clarke]

American and British English are more different from each other than you might think, but who is to say we are more correct than the Americans

Some American usages and spellings are actually older (and therefore more "correct"?) than current British ones. "Gotten", for one. And "tires" for "tyres" - which I didn't know about until quite recently.

[MJMcCready]

Well, it's generally accepted that in speech American English are still very close to the English at the time we started colonizing it, particularly the English spoken in the south. It's often argued that American English sprung what was spoken across the nation, which is why it also shares the same north/south divide in terms of accent. Seeing as in very approximate terms the way we settled there + time frame in play, is reflexive of the linguistic map of England at the time. The current American accent is supposed to be very close indeed to a 17thy century London accent. They never came up with their own accent, it's just what we brought to them developed down different lines but not greatly.

[Paul Habershon]

"In English class the word 'fecund' came up and the teacher asked us its meaning."

How did he pronounce "fecund"............,


..............Back to jargon, I hope that we all prefer to "meet" someone, rather than to "meet with" them, or worse yet, "meet up with" them. And using "touch base" as a synonym for any of those should be a criminal offence.

Kevin, after 55 years I cannot remember the American teacher's pronunciation of fecund. I expect it began 'feck' whereas I say 'feek'. Chambers allows both, I see.

I agree with your 'meet' comments. Rarely good to use superfluous words, in my opinion. Cf 'Can't take my eyes off of you'.

'Touch base' isn't a bad metaphor, but perhaps its constant use is what's irritating, as with 'ramp up' and 'roll out'.

[Nick Ivell]

I'm learning about American English all the time. Sorry to bring chess into not chess - I'm inveterate like that, wanting to talk about chess even when there's no chess to talk about - but doesn't Fischer (or Evans) call one of his games 'squeeze play'? And isn't this a baseball term?

I know nothing about baseball whatever, but I think the young Bobby was a fan.

[Mick Norris]

Baseball yes, probably where it came from, but poker too I think

[Nick Ivell]

I looked it up.

'A special play in baseball where there is a runner on third base and the batter bunts. With an early start the runner may reach home plate.'

Anyone the wiser? I think we need Alex H to make a grand return!

[NickFaulks]

Baseball yes, probably where it came from, but poker too I think

Bridge of course. Anyone who ahs ever played the game will know that the meaning is graphically self-evident, more so than in chess.

[Roger de Coverly]

I know nothing about baseball whatever

Are "ball park" and "touch base" baseball terms? I was trying to think of cricket ones. There's "sticky wicket" of course and "googly" to mean a difficult question. I'd suspect both pre-date the introduction of management speak. Any takers for its first sightings? Orwell came up with the idea of "quack speak" meaning to speak without content using the approved words.

[Nick Ivell]

Cricket terms are everywhere. A good innings is a term frequently used in eulogies, to mean a long life.

I suspect that cricket terms cause less offence than baseball ones, as cricket is native to these shores.

[Paul Habershon]

I know nothing about baseball whatever

Are "ball park" and "touch base" baseball terms? I was trying to think of cricket ones. There's "sticky wicket" of course and "googly" to mean a difficult question. I'd suspect both pre-date the introduction of management speak. Any takers for its first sightings? Orwell came up with the idea of "quack speak" meaning to speak without content using the approved words.

Cricket: I'm (not) stumped for an answer. Play it with a straight bat. Did it off my own bat - as I mentioned earlier, I hear 'off my own back' sometimes. He had a good innings.

[Nick Ivell]

I wonder if 'safe pair of hands' comes from cricket? After all, catches win matches.

[MJMcCready]

That comes from football. I don't see how you can have a safe pair of hands in cricket, it's just that some cricketers are a lot better than others at catching the ball.