Discussion
What is it with the media these days. The BBC being the prime miscreant in this....
When did "more" become prevelent in the language?
From the news this morning
"more quickly"
"more happy"
"more smoothly" (PH this mornin)
What's wrong with quicker, happier, smoother?
And when did people become "less well off" rather than poorer?
A good example of how this is very bad english use from the news last week was...
"Less large bacteria have been grown this year" actually meant smaller ones, not fewer as it sounds.
Angry of Manchester
When did "more" become prevelent in the language?
From the news this morning
"more quickly"
"more happy"
"more smoothly" (PH this mornin)
What's wrong with quicker, happier, smoother?
And when did people become "less well off" rather than poorer?
A good example of how this is very bad english use from the news last week was...
"Less large bacteria have been grown this year" actually meant smaller ones, not fewer as it sounds.
Angry of Manchester
cazzer said:
And when did people become "less well off" rather than poorer?
Because 'poor' is now regarded as insulting - same way that 'working class' can't be mentioned but it's OK to have a snipe at the 'upper class'.
cazzer said:
"Less large bacteria have been grown this year" actually meant smaller ones, not fewer as it sounds.
Couldn't agree more. Even a TV ad for disinfectant treated 'bacteria' as a singular. The idiots didn't even know one of them is a bacterium
I know, let's call them 'bugs' instead. Better still, 'killer bugs'
I agree. A sign of intelligence is summarising what you want to say in a few succint words.
Winston Chuchill was a good example of this. The statement: "never have so many owed so much to so few" is an astounding piece of communication by an intelligent man.
Nowadays many people would rather use five words than two - it's stupid.
>> Edited by srebbe64 on Thursday 12th May 10:11
Winston Chuchill was a good example of this. The statement: "never have so many owed so much to so few" is an astounding piece of communication by an intelligent man.
Nowadays many people would rather use five words than two - it's stupid.
>> Edited by srebbe64 on Thursday 12th May 10:11
Well, answering your "quick" query, quicker is a comparative verb. For instance, 'a BMW is quicker than a TVR'. However it would be wrong to say 'Paul started to drive quicker'; it should be 'Paul started to drive more quickly.' However people use the word interchangeably with faster and the same grammatical rules do not apply.
lotuslad said:
Well, answering your "quick" query, quicker is a comparative verb. For instance, 'a BMW is quicker than a TVR'. However it would be wrong to say 'Paul started to drive quicker'; it should be 'Paul started to drive more quickly.' However people use the word interchangeably with faster and the same grammatical rules do not apply.
Which BMW and which TVR wuld that be then? I've got a BMW 330 and TVR Griff and I can categorically confirm that the TVR is much quicker.
srebbe64 said:
Nowadays many people would rather use five words than two - it's stupid.
Indeed. There seems to be a trend, probably encouraged by football commentators, of trying to aggrandise speech with verbal accessories such as "To be honest", "In terms of" or "At the end of the day". It's a trend I find annoying, but it seems to be escalating
srebbe64 said:
Well, answering your "quick" query, quicker is a comparative verb. For instance, 'a BMW is quicker than a TVR'. However it would be wrong to say 'Paul started to drive quicker'; it should be 'Paul started to drive more quickly.' However people use the word interchangeably with faster and the same grammatical rules do not apply.
Which BMW and which TVR wuld that be then? I've got a BMW 330 and TVR Griff and I can categorically confirm that the TVR is much quicker.
You probably just enjoy driving more quickly in the Griff.
lotuslad said:
lotuslad said:
Well, answering your "quick" query, quicker is a comparative verb. For instance, 'a BMW is quicker than a TVR'. However it would be wrong to say 'Paul started to drive quicker'; it should be 'Paul started to drive more quickly.' However people use the word interchangeably with faster and the same grammatical rules do not apply.
Which BMW and which TVR wuld that be then? I've got a BMW 330 and TVR Griff and I can categorically confirm that the TVR is much quicker.
You probably just enjoy driving more quickly in the Griff.
Or maybe Paul's got a BMW M5 and a Wedge?
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