Grammar that makes you cringe

[Ian H]

Regarding the on/in business...

When I started racing, our time-trialling, and in particular our courses, were "on" Cheshire. Just a shared idiom, I think.

"I did a long oh."

[hellymedic]

Meanwhile, Facebook tells me <<Steve slept on a church porch on Saturday night (an unscheduled pitstop due to a stomach bug).>>

I would definitely have use 'in' there...

[Wowbagger]

When I was a small Mr Larrington the Muffin Man just lived down the lane.  No name was specified.

Are you sure you are not confusing him with his neighbour, the Little Boy, recipient of the Third Bag?

AS a matter of interest, Tim, are you a young enough whippersnapper to have missed Listen with Mother on the Home Service?  That was the source of me hearing that song, and I agree, down it was.

Despite my boyish good looks, I'm only a few years youger than you, so, yes, I remember clambering up on the dresser at a quarter to two to listen to the wireless. Mind you, wiki tells me the last episode of LWM was in 1982.

It had been dumbed down by then.

[hellymedic]

I have noticed a regional difference appertaining to the use of "on" or "in" for locations. Mrs. Wow, or example, who is from oop noorth, refers to something being "on" Lord Street, or Stanley Square, or Oswaldtwistle Terrace. I refer to buildings being "in" Acacia Gardens, Fotheringham Lane, or Frinton Boulevard.

So Southport isn't Southend??!!
Who would have thunk it 

[Kim]

Meanwhile, Facebook tells me <<Steve slept on a church porch on Saturday night (an unscheduled pitstop due to a stomach bug).>>

I would definitely have use 'in' there...

Depends on whether it was a 1-star (using the same rating system as bus shelters) church porch or not.  Sleeping on some steps vs in something with a roof.

[Cudzoziemiec]

If it doesn't have a roof, it's not a porch by my use of the word.

I remember LWM but not the Muffin Man. I have no particular opinion on the use of in vs on for streets. I do note that for vehicles, we still say on a train.

How many Dr Whos are in Who's Who?

Or should that be 'Drs Who'?

I don't know, but I did pee in a tardis yesterday. In, not on.

[jsabine]

If it doesn't have a roof, it's not a porch by my use of the word.

I remember LWM but not the Muffin Man. I have no particular opinion on the use of in vs on for streets. I do note that for vehicles, we still say on a train.

On a bus, too. And porches definitely need roofs - a set of steps without a roof is a set of steps.

[Ian H]

If it doesn't have a roof, it's not a porch by my use of the word.

I remember LWM but not the Muffin Man. I have no particular opinion on the use of in vs on for streets. I do note that for vehicles, we still say on a train.

But in a carriage.

[mattc]

...

I have no particular opinion on the use of in vs on for streets. I do note that for vehicles, we still say on a train.

But in a carriage.

Well yeah, but hardly anyone travels by carriage anymore. can we please stick with the 21stC, hmm?

[Ian H]

...

I have no particular opinion on the use of in vs on for streets. I do note that for vehicles, we still say on a train.

           railway
But in a carriage.
          ^

   
Well yeah, but hardly anyone travels by carriage anymore. can we please stick with the 21stC, hmm?

[mattc]

oh, I see. With you now, thanks.

[Ian H]

oh, I see. With you now, thanks.

Sarcastic bugger. 

[Mr Larrington]

When I was a small Mr Larrington the Muffin Man just lived down the lane.  No name was specified.

Are you sure you are not confusing him with his neighbour, the Little Boy, recipient of the Third Bag?

Quite sure, thank you.  I often wondered whether:

• The Muffin Man lived down the same lane as the target of ovine largesse Little Boy, and
• whether this was the actual lane that they lived down

[drossall]

<OT>Penny Pot Lane! Wow, that brings back memories of racing at the Harrogate Festival of Cycling, around 1980. Although,</OT> judging by my results, I'd probably eaten too many muffins and things.

[rogerzilla]

And porches definitely need roofs

Not if they have a Targa top.

IGMC

[Mr Larrington]

<OT>Penny Pot Lane! Wow, that brings back memories of racing at the Harrogate Festival of Cycling, around 1980. Although,</OT> judging by my results, I'd probably eaten too many muffins and things.

We moved away from the neighbourhood around Easter 1968.

[Cudzoziemiec]

It's the Guardian, again, writing the opposite of what they mean:

Manufacturers are revealed to be exploiting a loophole in European tests to exaggerate the brightness and energy use of their products

[runsoncake]

This has probably been mentioned before but it still makes my teeth itch, writers using "fit" instead of "fitted".

[T42]

American, that. If a Brit uses it it's perfectly legal to kick him/her/etc. in the tender bits.

[meddyg]

I've just listened to John Meagher  (I assume he's an American music journalist)  in 'The Selling of Sinatra' on Radio 4,he said,

"The new sound augured a new era  ... the Vietnam war was seeping into the American culture,  a cynicism, a sense of betrayal and loss of goodness and you know, what Sinatra did was to try to transition by co-opting a lot of the younger talent; he did duets, he did all sorts of things to help somehow segway/acknowledge the new audience and find a way for himself to live successfully within it "

He means 'transit' and possibly 'segue' though there is no reason to use the latter either.
I'm fed up of the verbal nouns 'he deeded the house to his kids' 'they were farewelled at the airport and gifted a rosebowl.'

Now seasonal 'gifting ideas' in the shops!

Make it stop........

[Cudzoziemiec]

I used to pronounce segue "seeg" until a few years ago but according to OED it is "segway". Quite likely most people do say "seeg", which arguably makes it right. Or doesn't.

[T42]

I never pronounce it.  And I derive "to gift" from the German verb "vergiften".

[offcumden]

Never knew that - interesting.  I'd assumed the name 'segway' for the two-wheeled device was a neologism of unspecific origin.  Tha learns summat every day!

segue |ˈsɛɡweɪ|
verb (segues, segueing, segued) [ no obj., with adverbial ]
(in music and film) move without interruption from one piece of music or scene to another: allowing one song to segue into the next.
noun
an uninterrupted transition from one piece of music or film scene to another.

and from Wikipedia

Segue

Segue est un terme d'origine italienne qui signifie « suit », et qui se prononce « sé-goué ». On l'emploie sur les partitions, pour indiquer que l'on doit enchaîner le morceau suivant sans s'arrêter. Au sens figuré, dans le discours, on peut exprimer ainsi l'art de faire des transitions d'un sujet à un autre. Le terme correspond aussi au fondu-enchaîné du cinéma.


I think I'll continue to pronounce it 'seeg', though!

[Cudzoziemiec]

TBH, if I had to pronounce it I would probably say "seeg" even knowing it's wrong. At least it doesn't sound like a lazy way to walk.

[T42]

OK unless you follow it with heil.