Wrong Word Choices in Lyrics

[Sporting]

Presume you mean "output". I dread to think about the state of the lyrics that didn't make the cut!

Yes, output.

[DCI Harry Batt]

"within a year a walker" is a kind of future in the past thing, not present. She would become a walker within a year, although we didn't know that at the time.

[Jah Womble]

Absolutely.

"When she dealt out the rations,
With some or other passions"

All over the place. What's the second line even approximating to? I mean, I know what he's getting at but he's chucking words in to make it scan.

What about something like "A rich array of passions" instead?

Well, I'll defend that line by suggesting that it reasonably depicts a bunk-up on the Common, as opposed than a night of wondrous bedroom desire.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Well, I'll defend that line by suggesting that it reasonably depicts a bunk-up on the Common, as opposed than a night of wondrous bedroom desire.

Oh, it's not the sentiment, it's the phrasing.

[DPDPDPDP]

Midge Ure’s If I Was should really be If I Were

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

30 minutes is also a short labour for a first time mother, I would have thought.

The labour may have been well underway by the time they got there. I took my "her" to the maternity ward and 11 minutes later we had a daughter. I wouldn't recommend it, but it can be done. Admittedly that was our second, the first was nearer two hours.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Billy Joel and his "tonic and gin"

I have a friend who drinks, and calls it, 'T & G' because his mixing proportions are reversed, so I think that's allowed (the lyric- I 'd never drink one)

[Sporting]

The labour may have been well underway by the time they got there. I took my "her" to the maternity ward and 11 minutes later we had a daughter. I wouldn't recommend it, but it can be done. Admittedly that was our second, the first was nearer two hours.

Perhaps naively, I had no idea that second and subsequent labours were shorter.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Perhaps naively, I had no idea that second and subsequent labours were shorter.

I'd heard that the second labour was shorter than the first and decided to do a bit of research. I asked a few of my wife's friends and it seemed as though the second one was something like four times quicker than the first, as a very rough average. Our first kid took about 18 hours to pop out so I reckoned on 4-and-a-half hours for the second, which I wanted to know for timing the rush to the hospital.

It was actually 85 minutes from waters breaking in the middle of the night to the birth, which was a bit quick for everyone's liking!

[Stumpy Pepys]

I have a friend who drinks, and calls it, 'T & G' because his mixing proportions are reversed, so I think that's allowed (the lyric- I 'd never drink one)

Billy Joel likes to holiday in Wear & Tyne, where he stays at local breakfast & beds. He enjoys a tonic & gin by the seafront, while tucking into his chips & fish.

[Satchmo Distel]

"If looks could kill they probably will" - Peter Gabriel

er, 'would', PG.

[Sporting]

Midge Ure’s If I Was should really be If I Were

If I was is perfectly acceptable.

[Satchmo Distel]

You'll need to show your workings.

[delicatemoth]

I'm all for grooving to the smooth sounds of ABC, but this line from Look of Love has bugged me for decades ...

"If you judge a book by the cover
Then you judge the look by the lover"

To get to the rhyme they threw logic overboard. It's the wrong way round.

Thanks for awakening an annoyance I took years to forget!

The reason for lines like that Peter Gabriel one is pretty straightforward though - the "will" rhyme pushes the song's momentum, whereas "...they probably would" would have killed it and sounded wrong in a different way.

Both problems would have been resolved if he'd sung "If looks can kill they probably will" and I would bet 50p that at some point he realised this and was mildly annoyed that it hadn't occurred to him during recording.

[Jah Womble]

'If 'kill' they could
They probably would'

But then Pete would've needed to flag up 'looks' in the previous line.

And it would've been an even-more-atrocious line.

If I was is perfectly acceptable.

It's conditional/subjunctive, therefore 'were' is correct.

However, my guess is that this will be one of those 'language is fluid' arguments, in which anything should be allowed if it's what some people say.

[DPDPDPDP]

If I was is perfectly acceptable.

Sporting, there are instances where ‘if I was’ is correct as opposed to ‘if I were’. In the context of Midge’s song, it would be grammatically correct to use ‘if I were’. I could give you full grammatical explanation but it would bore the pants off you!

[Sporting]

Sporting, there are instances where ‘if I was’ is correct as opposed to ‘if I were’. In the context of Midge’s song, it would be grammatically correct to use ‘if I were’. I could give you full grammatical explanation but it would bore the pants off you!

No it wouldn't.

[3 Colours Red]

"If looks could kill they probably will" - Peter Gabriel

er, 'would', PG.

Grammar without frontiers, words without fears.

[hobbes]

Midge Ure’s If I Was should really be If I Were

"Were I"

[hobbes]

Anyway. The Noisettes - Never forget.

"We were miss-chee-vee-us"

Nope. You were mischievous. Don't add syllables that aren't there.

[DPDPDPDP]

No it wouldn't.

Sporting, not going to argue with you, but my answer was based according to my English A level teacher friend, who completely bored the arse of me for 10 minutes explaining the reason why, If I Were was right and If I Was was wrong in the context of the song. Unfortunately I can’t show you my workings to back this up as I dozed off during his lengthy explanation!

[Sporting]

It's just my opinion that we don't always need to be constrained by the traditional rules of grammar. But it's not important.

[Jah Womble]

As mentioned above, conditional or subjunctive. That's the only explanation needed for why it's wrong.

[Sporting]

So you don't think that usage ever usurps rules?

[Satchmo Distel]

Grammar without frontiers, words without fears.

I'm always giving PG tips.