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Suffering from a plague of tics — 22 Comments

      •  Oh fer crissakes! I can too spell. The only misspellings I make are the typo kind. Always with the Americans isn't it? Americans can't do this. Americans can't do that. It's all the Americans fault.

        Oh, wait…

  1. The 'you know' one winds me up. Got to the stage one day when everytime this particular person said 'you know' i chipped in with 'NO'. She got more and more confused as she didn't know she was saying it. Why do you keep saying 'no' she says, 'because I don't' says I. The look of bewilderment was a hoot!

    • The unfortunate thing about tics is that most people don't even realise they are using them. 

      Try talking to someone and inserting the word 'cabbage' every now and then to see the reaction?

  2. Ah, but GD, where would we be without the Greengrocer's Apostrophe?

    Potato's. Cabbage's. Banana's. Apple's. Pear's…..

    It's an integral part of the English language; a proud tradition, and we would be poorer without it. (I think… :/ )

    Love the captchas, by the way! 🙂 It would certainly reduce the volume of internet traffic if they were introduced!

    • The one thing I didn't mention in my little rant was the poor old apostrophe.  It seems to strike a chord though?

      I can't remember where I came across that capcha.  Whoever first stuck it up – thanks, and apologies for robbing it!

  3. The literacy standards in secondary school seem to be dropping each year too, and the kids are almost as bad!  Seriously though, for the last four years the Dept of Education has been sending boxes of paper to all secondary schools for the national examinations with the legend EXAM STATIONARY emblazoned on the sides. Someone's not watching the store!

    • Heh!  Maybe they just mean the exams are bogged down and unmoving in the past?

      Or a code – This is an EXAM box.  DO NOT MOVE!?

  4. Spot on, Mr.G! You have successfully vocalized what I have maintained for years! Perhaps the inadequate level of literacy nowadays could do a U-turn if we all disregarded this "modern abbreviation" bollocks? (or would that be "bolox"?) Keep posting, & I'll keep reading!

    • My pet hates are the use of "d" for "the", "b" for "be" [how fucking hard is it to tap one extra letter?] and of course "u" for "you".  They all set my teeth on edge.

      I must write a post some time on the etymology of the word "bollocks"?  I have a habit of using "bollox" [or "bollix" in its lesser form].  I believe "bollocks is indeed the correct spelling though either is acceptable.  It apparently derives from the Old English "beallucas" [testicles].

      There you go now.  You learn something new every day?

  5. I suppose you expect me to write a comment entirely in tics and ludicrous text-speak short hand now don't you? Well, I won't do it. I simply can't lower myself to it.
     

    By the way, the image in your post makes me wish I was more of a programmer because I'd write up a WordPress plugin that would actually turn that into a real comment "captcha". Maybe I could talk one of the WordPress plugin authors to do one up for me?

    • "a WordPress plugin that would actually turn that into a real comment 'captcha'."

      Quite simple I would imagine?  A simple form and a little bit of testing code to make sure they're not complete twats?  You tempt me…….

      • I think it could very well be worth the trouble. It might actually be a highly wanted item by those who not only know how to use those types of words properly in a sentence but can spell too.
         

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