Grammar that makes you cringe

[Cudzoziemiec]

I'm saying that char and chai are not the same word.

[Pickled Onion]

From what I remember, the variations were:

Tea (1 rupee chai, boiled in the pot with the milk)
Special Tea (2 rupee chai, boiled in the pot with milk and spices)
Tray Tea (also known as English Tea, served in a small pot with a strainer and separate milk)

[Bledlow]

I'm saying that char and chai are not the same word.

Although they used to be used interchangeably in English, for far longer than the current fashionista usage of 'chai'?

'Tcha' or 'chaa' was the first word used in English for tea, BTW, from Portuguese. 'Tea' is anglicised Dutch, but they all (including Hindi) got their words from China, the big split reflecting Chinese dialectical differences, & both having remained pretty well within the degree of variation in the Chinese originals. You want two different versions within one subset of Chinese dialectical variants to be classed as different words?

I think 'hat' is the same word in different English & USian dialectical pronunciations, though I reckon there's as much difference there as between char (the 'r' indicates long 'a', & is not itself pronounced) & chai.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Right, they used to be used interchangeably, but they're not now. In Britain now, asking for tea and chai will get you two slightly different things. In India, it would most likely get you the same thing. And probably something different again in China, etc. Of course all these words have the same origin. At what point you consider them to have become separate words is more lexicography than anything else.

[Bledlow]

Weeelll. . . . I think in much of Britain, asking for chai will get you a blank look.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Probably so. And I'm not quite sure what kind of look you'd get asking for 'lesbian tea'. Actually, I've a mind now to try asking in Starbucks or Costa for 'a venti of lesbian chai with badam milk'!

[Cudzoziemiec]

Meads Reach Bridge get’s cycle friendly coating

http://www.betterbybike.info/News/meads-reach-bridge/

[Wowbagger]

Here's a little something for grammar pedants to get their teeth into into which grammar pedants can get their teeth.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/03/bad-language-bugs-me#comment-49912876

[Mr Larrington]

While he is right to draw attention to the hateful use of "leverage" as a verb there is nothing at all wrong with the example he quotes.  Assuming Mr Sells-Fridges does not pronounce it "levveridge"; if he does then both he and the scriptwriter want badly to be shot in the face with square bullets.

[Kim]

I reckon 'leverage' as a verb is permitted as long as you're using it in the financial sense.  If nothing else, that serves as a handy warning sign.  Wikipedia informs me that the en_GB pronunciation is "gearing".

[Cudzoziemiec]

Sticking with every Yacfer's favourite source of smug news, here's a grammar comment that made me cringe:

"Caring people into change" is not grammatically correct, because the word "caring" is an adjective, when a verb is required. The word "coaxing" would be better employed in this context, or is this just a little too old-fashioned for the VRU?

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/apr/06/glasgow-murder-rate-knife-gang-crime-police

[T42]

Sticking with every Yacfer's favourite source of smug news, here's a grammar comment that made me cringe:

"Caring people into change" is not grammatically correct, because the word "caring" is an adjective, when a verb is required. The word "coaxing" would be better employed in this context, or is this just a little too old-fashioned for the VRU?

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/apr/06/glasgow-murder-rate-knife-gang-crime-police

Proof that stuff can be grammatically correct and still make you wince.

[Mr Larrington]

I'm with the Graun in this, I'm afraid.  The person who thought up "Caring people into change" needs to be cared into the Clyde wearing depleted uranium wellies.

[Cudzoziemiec]

The headline didn't make me wince at all. It made perfect sense to me and I can't think of a clearer or more precise way of expressing it. It was the comment quibbling about a pedantic irrelevance that made me wince.

[T42]

I'm with the Graun in this, I'm afraid.  The person who thought up "Caring people into change" needs to be cared into the Clyde wearing depleted uranium wellies.

It's no different from "Bludgeoning people into change".

[pcolbeck]

I'm with the Graun in this, I'm afraid.  The person who thought up "Caring people into change" needs to be cared into the Clyde wearing depleted uranium wellies.

It's no different from "Bludgeoning people into change".

Yes it is caring is an adjective and bludgeoning is a verb.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Caring, like many (probably most) words ending in -ing, can be an adjective, a participle of a verb or a noun.

[T42]

The ing's the thing:

-ing1
suffix, forming nouns
1 formed from a verb: usually expressing the action of that verb, its result, product or something relating to it, etc o building o driving o lining o washing.
2 formed from a noun: describing something made of, used in, etc the specified thing o guttering o roofing o bedding.
3 formed from an adverb: o offing o outing.
[Anglo-Saxon -ing or -ung.]
-ing2
suffix used to form
1 the present participle of verbs, as in I was only asking and saw you walking in the park.
2 adjectives derived from present participles, eg charming, terrifying.
[Anglo-Saxon as -ende.]
-ing3
suffix (no longer productive), forming nouns, signifying one belonging to a specified kind, etc or one of the same kind of quality, character, etc o gelding o whiting. Also used formerly as a diminutive, etc (compare -ling) o farthing.
[Anglo-Saxon.]

Thank-you Mr. Chambers.

[citoyen]

In that sentence, caring is the participle of the verb to care.

If you want to quibble, caring is usually intransitive (whereas bludgeoning is transitive). But I'm with Cudzo - it's a snappy usage. The commenter is a muddle-headed pendant.

[Mr Larrington]

In that sentence, caring is the participle of the verb to care.

If you want to quibble, caring is usually intransitive (whereas bludgeoning is transitive).

This, only no-one ever learninged me what the proper terms to describing it.

[nicknack]

In that sentence, caring is the participle of the verb to care.

If you want to quibble, caring is usually intransitive (whereas bludgeoning is transitive). But I'm with Cudzo - it's a snappy usage. The commenter is a muddle-headed pendant.

That may well be the case but I read it as "people who care like (are into) change". So which is best, snappiness or clarity?

[T42]

The lack of clarity makes your attention linger, which is one of the objects of a headline.

[citoyen]

In my experience (many years of writing headlines) the intention is usually to be as clear as possible. You don't want the reader to linger on the headline, you want to catch their attention and make them want to read the story.

I see nicknack's point - yes, it's a bit of a crash blossom, although I didn't read it that way myself...
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1693

[Cudzoziemiec]

Similar to this one, (also from the Guardian) which only caught my eye because I'd already read about it locally:

Bristol tenants plan demo after letting agents push for rent rise

It's really pretty obvious that it refers to 'letting agents', but for some reason I immediately thought 'why did they let the agents do that?' Which just goes to show that even prior knowledge and common usage is no proof against the reader's brain creating a crash blossom. 

[T42]

My favourite was in the IHT years ago. Can't remember all of it but it began "Sexual harassment suits..."