Comments on: This wouldn't have happened when I was young

By: Knox

Knox — Sun, 01 May 2011 22:14:59 +0000

I’ve never really got the whole Arcade Fire thing. Someone once gave me one of their albums – I listened to it, but still didn’t really get it. Sorry…
I definitely agree about the Pussycat Dolls, though (i will not rant, just leave it at this: feminists my arse!)

By: Richie

Richie — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:19:37 +0000

Do you know who is directly responsible for the career of Davina McCall? Eric Clapton! THAT made me shiver a bit!

By: Cat :)

Cat :) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:42:01 +0000

I’m glad I read this as I’m going into University this year and I’m already getting a lot of nostalgia and getting upset about drifting from some of my friends. But reading this in a way has kinda let me realise that there will be good times wherever I go. Because there were shit ones back then too I’m really needing all the support I can find for myself right now. Uni is so big!

By: Rachael

Rachael — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:59:40 +0000

although i’m sure you’re right about all the others, soul-less is the last word i would use to describe the Emirates stadium.

By: Carey

Carey — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:53:15 +0000

This blog entry made me want jelly.
I do have to say I enjoy browsing lolcats (actually I think they’re probably American so maybe it’s lolcatz?!) but find ‘txtspeak’ very annoying. Then I find myself actually saying ‘lol’ instead of laughing and using expressions such as ‘OMGoggles’ and I feel very ashamed.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:59:38 +0000

I also used to fantasise about native speakers of Maths. When you’re stuck in French or German, you can theoretically ask a French or a German person and if they say “what we would say in that situation is ‘XXXXXXXXXX’” then that’s the final word, because after all, they are the final arbiters of French / German. So I used to daydream about people from the planet Maths, for whom Maths was their native language, who would be able to sort stuff out like “Area of a circle? Yeah, we used to say ‘Pi-r-squared’, but now it’s just 10*r. Maths is a constantly evolving thing, and there’s no point fighting it.”

By: Meg

Meg — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:26:49 +0000

I almost wrote out the whole of last week’s lecture from my linguistics class about how there are no proper or improper words or grammar, there’s just what people say and don’t say. But then I decided to spare you because it was getting pretty long.

I will say, however, that lolcat is different than textspeak. #themoreyouknow.

By: Simone

Simone — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:42:50 +0000

Native speakers of… Maths?

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:47:35 +0000

The slang trend of words to become their own antonym is as old as the hills. At the very least it’s as old as Michael Jackson’s “Bad.” I think it’s sweet when I hear lids calls something “sick” and I’ve caught myself doing so on rare occasions (much to the confusion of my late 20-something friends).

The one that turns me intoa grumpy old lady complaining about kids today is the overuse of “Diva.” Being a diva used to mean something, it was a title a singer earned after decades of hard work and and all-consuming commitment to her art. It was a sign that if that woman wanted to have a bit of a fit because the pillows in her dressing room contained stuffing that made her throat itchy, well fair enough she’d earned it. Beyonce is a lovely girl who sings very well, but she’s at least a decade away from “diva.” And that’s someone who has actually come close to earning it, as opposed to some artless twat in a department store making a clerk’s day that much harder. This may be the longest comment to a blog I’ve ever written. My point is I tried but can’t write a note to my older self that there was a time when I too was ok with taking a word that once meant something and rendering it meaningless.

By: Phill Sacre

Phill Sacre — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:11:12 +0000

My pet peeve re: language is… well, there are several. Mostly it’s people not actually bothering to learn the difference between ‘compliment’ and ‘complement’, or spelling ridiculous as ‘rediculous’, or something like that.

Something someone said reminded me of another ‘usage’ which is disappearing though – bear with me a moment. People often write that ‘bare’ with me. Perhaps the future of the English language means that we’re going to turn into a population of nudists… can’t see that ever happening. Not in England. “What, with this weather?”