Grammar that makes you cringe

[Kim]

That assigns a sex to the toilets, when they are gender neutral.  Gents' or Ladies' assigns the gender to those using them.

Some might argue that that's a feature, not a bug.  Toilets often having sex-specific features, which may or may not align with the gender of those who need them.  Not that that's the intent of the sign-makers, of course - they probably just don't want to be old-fashioned, and don't like the sound of the perfectly sensible "men's" and "women's".

Personally I'd be in favour of practical distinctions:  "toilet with urinals" "accessible toilet" "toilet with an insane robotic sanitary bin" "toilet for people who don't want piss on the floor" or even just "toilet".  (Pet hate: pointless gendering of single-cublicle loos resulting in a queue.)

[Cudzoziemiec]

Describing a toilet (or pretty much anything) as accessible is surely making at least as many assumptions as genderizing* toilets. I mean, accessible to who?**
*It's a word now!
**No, I did not mean to write whom. 

[Kim]

Yes, that's a can of worms that makes things like "cycle parking" sound consistent.

The Changing Places specification is the gold standard.  Those are pretty rare in the real world.

Most people use it to refer to a toilet that has grab handles and a sink, and is wheelchair accessible to a standard in line with Part M of the building regulations (which is fairly shit).  Obviously that doesn't make it accessible to everyone, but it's a start - especially if it's maintained and not a de-facto store cupboard.

But it's an improvement on 'disabled toilet' - not so much because it doesn't imply the plumbing is non-functional, as the implication that the regular toilets have severe access problems.

[T42]

Describing a toilet (or pretty much anything) as accessible is surely making at least as many assumptions as genderizing* toilets. I mean, accessible to who?**
*It's a word now!
**No, I did not mean to write whom.

Vaguely imagining Dr. Who if he had decided to manifest the Tardis as an outdoor loo instead of a police box.

[Kim]

Vaguely imagining Dr. Who if he had decided to manifest the Tardis as an outdoor loo instead of a police box.

I think that actually happened somewhere in the canon (possibly not The Doctor's TARDIS?).  A Doctor Who fan will be along in a minute with the details.

[T42]

I think I saw a public loo configured as the Tardis somewhere on the interweb.

[ElyDave]

midrift, referring to the central portion of your body

[Mr Larrington]

Hence the Midrift Valley as the navel of the human race?

[Kim]

I think I saw a public loo configured as the Tardis somewhere on the interweb.

There's a company called Tardis Toilet Hire whose vans I see driving around from time to time.

[SteveC]

I think I saw a public loo configured as the Tardis somewhere on the interweb.

There's a company called Tardis Toilet Hire whose vans I see driving around from time to time.

In the re-enacting world (and probably other places) portable chemical toilets are known as Turdises.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I think I saw a public loo configured as the Tardis somewhere on the interweb.

I have used one! At Warmley Waiting Room cafe on the Bristol-Bath Railway Path.

[nicknack]

Pled.
It's probably American or something but it still makes me cringe.

[Mr Larrington]

Pled.
It's probably American or something but it still makes me cringe.

Yes, I keep cringing over this one too.

[T42]

Chambers gives it as N. American and Scots, which latter is probably why I usually feel slight confusion on hearing "pleaded", me ma having been Scots.

"Having been" is awkward in comparison to "being".  There's a definite case for "wasing".

[clarion]

Hence the Midrift Valley as the navel of the human race?

Someone on that BookFace mentioned the navel battle of Jutland, which made it sound a lot more interesting than it was.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Navel battle:
https://youtu.be/hqM4j-MQje0

[spesh]

A missing hyphen could rub some people up the wrong way: https://twitter.com/Reaganista/status/925200874980429825

[Paul]

Pled.
It's probably American or something but it still makes me cringe.

Yes, I keep cringing over this one too.

I came across this for the first time recently. Our trainee moved into her criminal seat and used it when describing the events at court that day. I picked her up on it (I didn't know that it was even a word, anywhere, let alone possibly an acceptable alternative) but she assured me it was correct. I checked with our prosecutor who confirmed that it was acceptable.

But I don't think I'll ever use it.

[Kim]

Pled.
It's probably American or something but it still makes me cringe.

Yes, I keep cringing over this one too.

I came across this for the first time recently. Our trainee moved into her criminal seat and used it when describing the events at court that day. I picked her up on it (I didn't know that it was even a word, anywhere, let alone possibly an acceptable alternative) but she assured me it was correct. I checked with our prosecutor who confirmed that it was acceptable.

I came across for the first time just now in this thread.  Took me a minute to work out that it wasn't supposed to be the past participle of 'plod'.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Nah, plod is the past participle of plo(w).

[Ham]

[ElyDave]

I thought it was missing an a, should be plead?

[ElyDave]

From the grain, science no less

For example, if neutrinos prove to be on the heavy side of current estimates, then their combined gravitation pull would effect the expansion of the cosmos and slow it down. However, if their mass is on the light side, neutrinos, despite their cosmological ubiquity, will be unable to act as any kind of meaningful brake to the universe’s expansion.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

'we do not consider these sufficient enough'

From a letter written by a legal expert!  Allegedly.

[T42]

Maybe they charge by the word.