Comments on: Hospital Furniture

By: Jansy

Jansy — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:27:55 +0000

Oh…well that’s different then. Daft cow.

By: Andy @ Yellow Swordfish

Andy @ Yellow Swordfish — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:44:30 +0000

@Jansy: Judge her. I got it wrong. Depp had nothing to do with it and she wasn’t interviewing him. She was just commenting at the Oscars this year.

By: Jansy

Jansy — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:50:09 +0000

I shall not judge poor Claudia Winkleman. Were I to be given the opportunity to interview The Man, I would turn into that blithering idiot I’m so phobic about. Actually my moment with him WAS a bit blithering…

*I’ve got to stop that furious blushing*

By: Andy @ Yellow Swordfish

Andy @ Yellow Swordfish — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:16:30 +0000

@Jansy: Don’t feel bad. My wife was watching a ‘red carpet’ interview with Johnny Depp recently in London. One Claudia Winkleman – apparently a TV presenter of some sort and daughter, I am told, of a newspaper editor of all things – also used the word ‘epitome’ and yes – pronounced it epi-tome! We have had a lot of laughs at this!

I was born and bought up in a place called Loughton (pronounced ‘l-ow-ton’ to rhyme with cow. I well remember being accosted by a couple of lost Americans who had come looking for ‘Luton’ Airport some 80 or 90 miles away!

By: Malc

Malc — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:13:00 +0000

LYE-CES-TER ?

As per my earlier post – the ‘cester’ bit means it’s of Roman origin, the pronunciation is 100% English !

By: Jansy

Jansy — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:22:17 +0000

Oh all right. I wasn’t going to say…preferring NOT to appear as a blithering idiot. But it was Leicester.

(Well, it LOOKS as if it should be a three-syllable word!! Can I help it if I was born and raised in the far reaches of the Empire??? You wouldn’t believe how I pronounced “epitome” and “hyperbole” when I was younger!)

*blushing furiously*

By: Andy @ Yellow Swordfish

Andy @ Yellow Swordfish — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:53:30 +0000

@Jansy: yes good point Jansy. Own up – what was the place?

By: Andy @ Yellow Swordfish

Andy @ Yellow Swordfish — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:52:41 +0000

@Malc: You too? My wife informs ne it was particularly popular in the 19th century

By: Malc

Malc — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:37:31 +0000

Jansy,

I have just learnt a new word, thanks for “conniption”.

I have got to ask, what was the place name…… ??

Malc

By: Andy @ Yellow Swordfish

Andy @ Yellow Swordfish — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:43:00 +0000

@Jansy: I have always thought that for a language to continue to grow and develop then we have to allow for change in spelling, syntax and pronunciation. Of course this was all before the days of mobile phones and ‘texting’ which are almost enough to make me change my mind but basically it holds good. English has proven remarkably resilient at accommodating new words, new cultures and vast changes in the way it is spoken and written.

But I was very humbled by ‘conniption’ which I should have known but did not!