Things that annoy you beyond reason...(Vol 5)

[Frank7]

davhill said:

Frank7 said:

Welsh woman next door says it, also when
calling her granddaughter, “Evie, come yer!”
I don’t mind it, it’s just her Welsh speech pattern.

I bet she calls a certain cooking implement a sosspan too
and refers to suffering from tuthache.

You must live next door the other side, she also says, when
asking where my wife is, “Where’s she to then Frank?”

Edited by Frank7 on Tuesday 28th August 01:14

[Frank7]

Frimley111R said:

Just coming back from the USA - tipping and receipts. Suggested tips of 18%, 20% and 22%. On a big bill that's a lot. One waitress ticked the top one for me and and another said she'd added on the tip for my convenience! None of them did anything above and beyond their jobs. On a $100 meal that's a $20 tip. Just takes the piss IMO.

Okay, so I’m going way out on a limb here, but that stuff doesn’t faze me, although personally I’d probably have left $18 on a $100 check.
My first trip to the U.S. was in 1976, and I watched what the natives did, and I asked questions, at that time, sales tax in New York was, oh I don’t know, 5 or 6%, and the locals told me that to establish the tip, double the tax.
So if I went into a diner, had scrambled eggs and ham for breakfast, coffee and toast, and when the check arrived, it had $1.45 tax, I’d leave a $3.00 tip.
Of course, prices go up over the years, so I adjusted my tipping accordingly, from 10% to 12.5%, to 15% then 18% and sometimes 20%, but one thing stood out to me, the service I received in the U.S. put the service in U.K. to shame.
Sure, a lot of it’s baloney, “Hi, how you doin’?, like they really care, “Enjoy”, (please God you like it), but I was in a restaurant in Richmond VA once, and I asked for a bottle of Coors light beer, but they were fresh out, and only had Coors on draught.
I said, “That’s okay”, when our waiter said, “Hold on a second”, went out, and came back with a bottle of Coors that he’d bought at a convenience store.
Now that’s service, he got his 20%.
What I’m trying to say is, that’s the way it’s done in the U.S., and I’m content to go along with it.

[davhill]

Frank7 said:

You must live next door the other side, she also says, when
asking where my wife is, “Where’s she to then Frank?”

Edited by Frank7 on Tuesday 28th August 01:14

No, my mate's brother had a Welsh gf. Fit as a butcher's dog but batst crazy.

[davhill]

Sorry, all but I must let off some steam about the vastly overused adjective iconic.

Oford Dictionaries says...

iconic (adjective)

1: Relating to or of the nature of an icon.
2: (of a classical Greek statue) depicting a victorious athlete in a conventional style.

Definition one clearly refers to the verb 'relate': Make or show a connection between.
Definition two is highly specific and has limited scope.
To simplify this, it appears something that is iconic is like an icon.

OK, here's an icon...

...and here's another...


Now, here's something that doesn't relate to these and doesn't have their nature by any stretch of the imagination...


However, if you listen to Mike Brewer or Tim Shaw, the E-Type is 'iconic' and therefore has the above qualities - but it doesn't.

By now, there are many, many things that are said to be 'iconic'. I've heard this levelled at items as diverse as the Panama Canal
and bathroom radiators.

IMO, it's lazy English that's undergone an amoeba-like growth through repetition by the ignorant.

All that need be done is to get out the thesaurus (feed it first) and look up 'ionic'.
My preference is for seminal (adjective): 1: Strongly influencing later developments.

See how easy it is? So, the E-Type and the Chrysler building were seminal, though I don't know how many more canals
were influenced by the Panama.

Irritating as they have become, 'stunning' and 'cheeky' both pan out in the way they're being used.
But iconic? No, no, no ,no, no

[Writhing]

RE; Tipping in USA.
I was recently having breakfast at a diner in Las Vegas (The Peppermill, if you’re interested) and did a quick bit of maths. A waitress works about 5 tables and most tables have at least 4 people which would mean the bill is at least $60. Twenty percent is $12. The waitress does these 5 tables per hour so earns an extra $60 per hour on top of her wages. I can’t imagine the diner offers benefits but even so, thats a decent top-up.

[V8mate]

davhill said:

Sorry, all but I must let off some steam about the vastly overused adjective iconic.

Oxford Dictionaries says...

iconic (adjective)

1: Relating to or of the nature of an icon.
2: (of a classical Greek statue) depicting a victorious athlete in a conventional style.

Examples etc...

And yet, less than 100 English miles away...

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/englis...

Enjoy your annoyance while the rest of the world gets on with their lives (and language)

[paua]

Re tipping USA : Frank's correct, the flip side, however, to good service (as he experienced) is poor service. I had a waiter in Boston drop my pizza at my feet ( after making me produce a passport to get a glass of red) - tip was a copper coin.
I've also had quality service ( unlike the norm in NZ or UK) & been happy enough to tip. Whether you pay more for your meal & management pays a proper wage or you pay the waiter... pretty much 6 of one, half a dozen of the other.
NZ doesn't have much tipping & service is generally 2nd class. My memory of UK is similar. Tipping can be viewed as a performance bonus.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

davhill said:

IMO, it's lazy English that's undergone an amoeba-like growth through repetition by the ignorant.

You mean that English has evolved? Like it always does and always will?

[anonymous-user]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

You mean that English has evolved? Like it always does and always will?

Doesn't mean us old gits have to like it though

[nonsequitur]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

Rich_W said:

Either means I'm lucky to be getting away from potential crazy cat lady.
Or that my Game is so weak and pathetic, I cant persuade a girl with literally NO better options on a Sunday to commit to a drink

Maybe after something on both Friday and Saturday, she just wants a quiet Sunday?

Perhaps her cat conversation is her way of saying no?

[Clockwork Cupcake]

nonsequitur said:

Perhaps her cat conversation is her way of saying no?

Perhaps, yes.

But that was my point - that it was 'perhaps' rather than 'definitely'.

[captain_cynic]

V8mate said:

davhill said:

Sorry, all but I must let off some steam about the vastly overused adjective iconic.

Oxford Dictionaries says...

iconic (adjective)

1: Relating to or of the nature of an icon.
2: (of a classical Greek statue) depicting a victorious athlete in a conventional style.

Examples etc...

And yet, less than 100 English miles away...

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/englis...

Enjoy your annoyance while the rest of the world gets on with their lives (and language)

It's in the OED too

http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/90882?redirectedFrom...

the OED said:

Designating a person or thing regarded as representative of a culture or movement; important or influential in a particular (cultural) context.

I dislike the overuse of the term "iconic", especially in the media but in this case the E-Type is representative of sports cars from that era, so it is an icon.

[popeyewhite]

davhill said:

IMO, it's lazy English that's undergone an amoeba-like growth through repetition by the ignorant.

Agree completely.
There's nothing new about any language evolving and it's marginally acceptable (though sloppy and slang) to, say, invent verbs from nouns like the Americans do sometimes. But if the etymology of a word is completely ignored and it's given a modern meaning that isn't related in any way to the original word then it's just nonsense. As an aside the Cambridge dictionary is no longer/never was used in many academic quarters.

[V8mate]

popeyewhite said:

As an aside the Cambridge dictionary is no longer/never was used in many academic quarters.

But given that England doesn't have an official authority on the English language (unlike, say, France and its Académie française), all of our dictionaries simply reflect usage.

[Cobnapint]

gothatway said:

Cobnapint said:

Let's be honest. It's just a scammy way of saving the restaurant owner money by forcing the customer to subsidise the staff wages. It's managed to escape scrutiny for decades but it's time it stopped.

I don't get this - doesn't the customer always pay the staff wages one way or another ?

It'll save the owner from having to put his prices up to meet the extra wage outlay, potentially losing customers.

Why do that when a good ol' American custom subsidises it for you.

Have a nice day - kerching!

[popeyewhite]

V8mate said:

popeyewhite said:

As an aside the Cambridge dictionary is no longer/never was used in many academic quarters.

But given that England doesn't have an official authority on the English language (unlike, say, France and its Académie française), all of our dictionaries simply reflect usage.

Certainly the Cambridge seems to. But a dictionary should actually inform us of the roots and meaning of a word, not tell us what slang has been adopted into our language that we didn't know about. Aaaanyway.. how about this (the phrase "An Iconic Facility" appeared on the building before it had even had it's last coat of graffiti proof paint. And yes, rather unsurprisingly the building is an underused sh*thole):

[Vaud]

The evolution doesn't worry me.

Blatant misuse does.

The increasing use of "very unique" is my current pet hate. Something is either unique or not, there are no variations of uniqueness.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

Vaud said:

The increasing use of "very unique" is my current pet hate. Something is either unique or not, there are no variations of uniqueness.

Totally agree.

Or "quite unique". How can something be less than unique and yet still qualify as unique?

[Clockwork Cupcake]

popeyewhite said:

But if the etymology of a word is completely ignored and it's given a modern meaning that isn't related in any way to the original word then it's just nonsense.

But is it?

Consider the word "gay". It originally meant happy or carefree. It then became adopted to mean homosexual, and that's pretty much the accepted use of it now (whether it be used descriptively or pejoratively) - it's very rarely used in its original sense now.

Or the word "fantastic". We accept these days that it means "exceptionally good" but its original meaning and derivation was "unreal" (literally "like a fantasy").

Words change.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

[redacted]