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Thread: b-r-e-v-i-t-y

  1. #21

    Join Date
    Jul 1998
    Location
    Lund, Sweden
    Posts
    2,214

    Re: b-r-e-v-i-t-y

    Quote Originally Posted by Rodney Polden View Post
    I believe Winston Churchill put it best when he fulminated against "prepositions hanging out there at the end of a sentence", and thundered "That is the kind of language up with which I will not put!"
    "put" in this case, acting as a particle, not a preposition. So Winnie was just blustering.

    My own pet peeve is the way that "decimate" has been perverted from meaning a reduction by ten percent, to a reduction to ten percent. Newscasters seem to love using the word when a group is nearly destroyed or wiped out, and to my surprise and shame I often find myself putting down my meds box to wave my stick at the TV and shout at them there is still 90% left after decimation you idiot etc etc.

    Don't get me started on 'quantum'.

  2. #22

    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    954

    Re: b-r-e-v-i-t-y

    Quote Originally Posted by Struan Gray View Post
    "put" in this case, acting as a particle, not a preposition. So Winnie was just blustering.

    My own pet peeve is the way that "decimate" has been perverted from meaning a reduction by ten percent, to a reduction to ten percent. Newscasters seem to love using the word when a group is nearly destroyed or wiped out, and to my surprise and shame I often find myself putting down my meds box to wave my stick at the TV and shout at them there is still 90% left after decimation you idiot etc etc.

    Don't get me started on 'quantum'.
    How about the misuse of "enormity" for very large? However, I knew it was a losing battle when I heard a BBC reporter state that he witnessed an "incredulous" explosion.

  3. #23

    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    London
    Posts
    105

    Re: b-r-e-v-i-t-y

    Churchill? Bluster? Surely not?

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