English usage

  • Planning for clichés

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media, Politics, Social Media

    The inspiration to write this post was what an old friend referred to on social media as the Town Planners’ Little Book of Tired Clichés.

    We were discussing a press report on long-term plans for Bristol Temple Meads, the city’s main railway station and its environs.

    The report itself was written up from a press release issued by the literary geniuses employed in the Bristol City Council Newsroom down the Counts Louse (which some people now call City Hall. Ed.).

    Bristol Temple Meads railway station
    Bristol Temple Meads. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

    Whilst avoiding clichés has long been a given as advice for good creative writing, the various actors quoted in the Temple Meads piece seem to relish in their use.

    Thus the surrounding area “will be rejuvenated with housing, shops and hospitality outlets creating a new area of the city where people can live, shop, visit and socialise”.

    Note the exemplary use of rejuvenated.

    In addition, how a new area of the city can be created by covering an existing but derelict city area in architecturally contrived arrangements of building materials is beyond me. If you have any clues, dear reader, please enlighten me via the comments.

    Then there’s that essential element for anything involving urban planning – the vision thing. This is ably provided in this case in a quotation by Network Rail’s spokesperson: “We are delighted to be working with our partners on this significant regeneration project and Bristol Temple Meads station is at the heart of this vision.”

    Helmut Schmidt, who served as the West German chancellor from 1974 to 1982, had a thing to say about visions: “Wer Visionen hat, sollte zum Arzt gehen“. In English: People who have visions should go to the doctor. Genau! Sie haben Recht, Herr Schmidt.

    Needless to the whole glossary of hackneyed phraseology seems to have been upended into the phraseology mixing bowl to create something not only unappetising, but indigestible: ambitious; innovative; rejuvenate/rejuvenation; regeneration; gateway; transformation/transformative; integrate; blueprint; showcase.

    And on the clichés go, marching tediously across and down the page.

    There are nevertheless a couple of absolute gems in the piece to compensate for all this guff.

    Firstly,there’s the timescale for the plans. We are are informed that “work is not expected to start for another decade with the expected completion not until 2041 at the earliest“. Thus all that hot air is being expended on something whose actual implementation is two decades in the future; if not more.

    A well-known adage springs to mind: pigs might fly.

    Secondly, there’s the promise of an integrated transport hub. Basically this means creating a major public transport interchange (as seen in sensible city’s where the local bus/tram serve the railway station). To my knowledge, there’s been talk of a transport hub/interchange at Temple Meads for at least 3 decades already, so for it actually to become a reality within 5 decades would entail the city’s infrastructure planning process moving at more than their usual slower than tectonic plates speed.

  • Express implodes in fury

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Politics

    Nearly 80 years ago, Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin laid into the press on 17th March 1931 accusing them of wanting “power without responsibility – the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages“.

    When it comes to harlotry combined with lack of responsibility, it’s hard to emulate the Express.

    For years these purveyors of xenophobia have actively campaigned for the country to leave the European Union, telling all manner of lies in the process.

    Since achieving that aim the xenophobia has not abated in the slightest; and neither have the lies.

    Yesterday the Daily Brexit – as it is otherwise known – reported (if it can indeed be called that. Ed.) on the the progress post-Brexit UK-US trade deal; or rather the lack of any progress.

    However, anyone expecting a rational, balanced account would have been sorely disappointed.

    Screenshot of Express website article with headline reading: It's a CON!' Britons react with fury after Biden puts brakes on post-Brexit trade deal
    The only con is the poor quality of Express reporting

    ‘It’s a CON!’ Britons react with fury after Biden puts brakes on post-Brexit trade deal‘ screamed the headline.

    What? All Britons? Hardly.

    In total, five Britons were quoted, all of them Express readers, hardly a scientifically selected cross-section of British society.

    There is no input to the piece from the alleged government, not even a nudge or wink from the usual unidentified Whitehall source.

    Not that such a minor detail matters to the bigots in the Express’ editorial office, who just wanted another opportunity to rant at these beastly foreigners and whose readers were more than happy to assist, especially as a trade deal with the USA was a major objective of Johnson’s Vote Leave government and, if achieved, would represent a major face-saver for a hardline administration whose tanking of the economy by its extremely poor deal with the EU has so far been masked by the damage done by coronavirus.

    Furthermore, the piece is an opportunity for the Express to put the boot in on Katherine Tai, President Biden’s nomination for United States Trade Representative, both of whose parents were born in China, so enabling yet more causal bigotry from the Express.

    Finally, it’s been a matter of general fact even before his election as president that Joe Biden does not regard the clinching of a trade deal with a post-Brexit United Kingdom as a high priority. Whereas previous US presidents have tended to use the UK as a bridge when dealing with the EU, a UK outside the EU is of less utility to Washington, since Biden has already bypassed the UK and has already been talking directly to Brussels.

    If there has been a con, it’s been all the lies and British exceptionalism nonsense that the Express – exercising its power irresponsibly – has published for years.

  • Footways, footpaths and pavements

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Oddities

    How many of us pay that much attention to road signs when out and about on our daily business on foot as pedestrians?

    I mean really pay attention, not just to the instruction being given or the advice being offered by the road sign itself, but the actual words used.

    Take the two examples below, both taken during this past week on the streets of Bristol. Both are on a part of the highway used by pedestrians and generally referred to by the general public as the pavement (on which more anon. Ed.). But which – if any – is the correct term? Are footways and footpaths the same?

    Composite image showing 'Diverted Footway' and 'Footpath Closed' road signs
    Left, Newfoundland Road = correct. Right, Lansdown Road, Easton = incorrect.

    To answer the second question first, no; they are not the same.

    If there’s one thing many decades of being a linguist has taught me, it is that terminology is important – the correct word used in the right context.

    One generally has be a legislator, highway engineer or transport campaigner to know the difference between a footway and a footpath.

    Fortunately, it is clearly defined in legislation, in this case the Highways Act 1980, which provides the following definitions:

    “footpath” means a highway over which the public have a right of way on foot only, not being a footway;
    “footway” means a way comprised in a highway which also comprises a carriageway, being a way over which the public have a right of way on foot only.

    In addition, Cheshire East Council provides the following information on its webpage entitled “What Are Public Rights of Way?“

    You should be careful to distinguish between ‘public footpaths’ and ‘footways’. Pavements beside public roads are not public footpaths – it is better to refer to them as footways or simply pavements.
    Footways are not recorded on the Definitive Map as Public Rights of Way. A footway is really a part of the main highway which has been set apart for pedestrians.

    Nevertheless, a caveat needs to be added to the clause where Cheshire East Council advises that “it is better to refer to them as footways or simply pavements“.

    The caveat is that there’s a world of difference between what “pavement” denotes to ordinary mortals and professionals such as civil and highway engineers: for the former it’s the footway; for the latter more specialised use, Britannica gives the following definition:

    Pavement, in civil engineering, durable surfacing of a road, airstrip, or similar area. The primary function of a pavement is to transmit loads to the sub-base and underlying soil.

    Who would have thought two words on two such simple temporary road signs deployed for road works could be such a terminological minefield? 😉

  • Welsh Not still alive and well

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Oddities, Politics, Social Media

    In the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, Welsh children who used their native tongue in schools were subject to a particular form of punishment and humiliation – the Welsh Not.

    The Welsh Not (also Welsh Knot, Welsh Note, Welsh Stick, Welsh Lead or Cwstom) was an item used in Welsh schools in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries to stigmatise and punish children using the Welsh language, according to Wikipedia.

    Welsh NotTypically “The Not” was a piece of wood, a ruler or a stick, often inscribed with “WN“. On any schoolday, it was given to be worn round the neck to the first pupil to be heard speaking Welsh. When another child was heard using Welsh, “The Not” was passed to the new offender: and on it went. Pupils were encouraged to inform on their classmates. The pupil in possession of “The Not” at the end of the lesson, school day or week – depending on the school – received additional punishment besides the initial shaming and humiliation.

    In recent times the Welsh Not seems to have transformed from being a physical object to a mental one, but one that is nevertheless still used to stigmatise speakers of one of the country’s oldest languages – one that was already old when Old English (which some call Anglo-Saxon. Ed.) first became established as England’s common tongue.

    The persistence of stigmatisation is just one matter covered in a Metro opinion piece by Lowri Llewelyn entitled Why the Welsh language deserves respect not ridicule.

    Looking specifically at stigmatisation, Lowri, who learned Welsh as a child and grew up in a bilingual household, writes:

    I can’t count how many times English folk have jeered about my ‘dead language’.

    At least it wasn’t referred to as “gibberish“, Lowri!

    To reinforce her point, she continues:

    Fuelled by anti-Welsh sentiment from England, the Welsh even came to oppress and disrespect themselves.
    She then goes on to point out how, as a teenager she would only speak English to friends and be dismissive of her native culture, before going on to point out how she has since changed her attitude and welcomes efforts to increase the presence of Welsh.

    Lowri concludes by pointing out some of the encouraging signs of a renewed interest in Welsh.

    For instance, in recent times Welsh has become the fastest growing language in the UK on the Duolingo language learning platform. One explanation might be a renewed interest in the cultures and history of the nations that make up Great Britain, given the severe restrictions on foreign travel imposed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

  • Ambiguity

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media, Social Media

    in my first job after graduation (translator and marketing analyst for Imperial Tobacco in Bedminster, Bristol), part of my employer’s house style I had to absorb was an avoidance of all and any ambiguity.

    I well remember my chagrin at being admonished for it by my line manager, who had left school at 14 with no qualifications, started out as a messenger boy in the post room and worked his way up to senior middle management.

    Collins Dictionary defines ambiguity as “the possibility of interpreting an expression in two or more distinct ways” and “vagueness or uncertainty of meaning“.

    This is a lesson that the employees of the Bristol Post/BristolLive (also known by some locals as the Temple Way Ministry of Truth. Ed.) have yet learn, as shown by the latest example below.

    Headline text reads: Bristol's Alex Beresford recalls vile abuse from online trolls in GMB interview
    Who was interviewed: Mr Beresford or the trolls?

  • Insert word of choice

    Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities, Politics

    For many years the garage sitting at the apex of the junction of Russelltown Avenue, Cannon Street and Whitehall Road in BS5 has featured a changing sequence of slogans painted by Stan Jones, who lives in the house to which the garage belongs.

    It was 2017 when I first noticed it and, at that time, it focussed on the madness of Brexit.

    Garage wall featuring Exit Brexit slogan
    Exit Brexit

    In 2019 its message was still focussed on Brexit but had been repainted to featur the wording “Buck Foris” (fine use of a Spoonerism there. Ed.) and “Fromage not Farage“, so I think it’s fair to say Stan is not impressed with the right-leaning part of what passes for Britain’s political class.

    In 2019 Stan’s efforts accidentally suffered the attentions of Bristol City Council’s fight against graffit. There was, however, a happy outcome as Stan received an apology and some paint from the corporation, as the Bristol Post reported at the time.

    Below is Stan’s latest contribution, which really needs no further comment from me.

    Text on building reads What the [insert word of choice] is happening?
    Stan’s latest (shame about the tags)

     

  • The rubber stamp of approval

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media, Politics

    Approved stampGoing back to my schooldays over 5 decades ago, I recall being taught in English language classes that to rubber stamp means officially to approve a decision without giving the matter in question any proper scrutiny or thought.

    Rubber stamping is indicative of lack of care, attention and is indicative of perfunctoriness.

    Furthermore, the definition I was taught all those long years ago is confirmed by Collins Dictionary, which states:

    When someone in authority rubber-stamps a decision, plan, or law, they agree to it without thinking about it much.

    Nevertheless, there seems to be a general trend nowadays in the press to use this verb routinely for the approval of any decision, whether or not it is preceded by lengthy or indeed any debate at all.

    It’s as if to rubber stamp has become synonymous with to approve, which is really isn’t.

    One very guilty party in this respect is the Bristol Post, now rebranded as Bristol Live by its Reach plc masters, as per this example from 12th February, where we read:

    The plan is due to be rubber stamped at a council meeting on Monday (February 15).

    If there’s one thing I know about planning meetings (having attended them. Ed.), it’s that their decisions are never rubber stamped, as councillors serving on planning committees generally tend to consider all applications in the most minute detail. There’s no waving agenda items all through in a couple of minutes, so members can retreat early to the pub or somewhere else more interesting than a council meeting room.

    I hope any passing member of the fourth estate will take note of – and act upon – the content of this little post.

  • The pleasuring of St Valentine’s Day

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Social Media

    February 14th is St Valentine’s Day, a day normally devoted in non-pandemic times to the enrichment of florists and restaurateurs, and generally associated with the pleasures of romance and love.

    However, the North Wales Police Rural Crime Unit had matters of countryside damage on its mind that day, when it tweeted the following.

    Tweet reads More unnecessary damage caused by illegal off roading, this time on Moel Unben in Denbighshire Some people just simply dont care as long as they pleasure themselves If you decide to take your car or motorcycle off road on a protected area you risk losing your beloved vehicle
    Pleasure themselves? Surely not!

    Take a close look at the second paragraph of the tweet and Mr/Ms Plod clearly meant something completely different.

    The person in charge of the force Twitter account clearly spent yesterday in a state of confusion between love and lust. 😀

    I do hope they got their vocabulary sorted out by the time they came off shift and headed home to spend time with their significant other.

  • Premises, premises

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Politics, Social Media

    When related to property, the noun premises is defined by Collins Dictionary as:

    a piece of land together with its buildings, esp considered as a place of business.

    When related to property, premises has since time immemorial (or even longer. Ed.) been a plural noun.

    However, it is a source of constant surprise how many people these days regard premises as a singular noun, as shown by this recent example, courtesy of Manchester City Council.

    Banner in image reads: Machester City Council has closed this premises
    A singular example

    However, it should be remembered that premise does exist as a singular noun, in which instance it takes the following definition:

    something that is supposed to be true and is used as a basis for developing an idea.

    Local authorities are not the only people to get confused about premises and premise as regards use of the plural and singular.

    Take this example on Twitter courtesy of the constabulary in Shrewsbury.

    Tweet reads: COVID patrol 12/2/21 🚓 call to a license premise within #Shropshire. 4 persons located within drinking beer. 3 had travelled from out of county. 4 fines issued and will discuss with council over possible action on the premise licence.
    A singular licence

    That’s right. Why have a premises licence when a premise licence will do just as well? I’m sure Mr Plod meant the former, but having a licence for a premise raises many new questions indeed.

    Professor Paul Brains of Washington State University has included the confusing of premises and premise in his book, Common Errors in English Usage. Read his simple, eloquent distinction.

    Premises are also quite particular about where any action takes place too. Anything that happens always, always takes place on them, not in them.

    The introduction of a blanket ban on smoking indoors gave rise to a wave of illiteracy, as exemplified by this typical example.

    Sign reads No smoking. It is against the law to smoke in these premises
    Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

    It does feel as though those of use who are held to higher standards of language use and/or were taught proper English (Ahem! Ed.) are fighting a losing battle. Will premises become increasingly singular? Will actions take place in them ( or it? Ed.) in future?

    For the answers to such questions, one must wait and see.

    Only time can tell as language always has been dynamic, i.e. a moving target: and what is regarded as proper usage will always be subject to change, just like language itself.

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