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    Shut up, John Humphrys

    An old article but his annoyance of me is contemporary for his "bluff common sense, I didn't go to university" crap.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-483511/I-h8-txt-msgs-How-texting-wrecking-language.html

    To understand the need for evidence you don't have to have gone to university, but it might have helped you, Humphrys. Stick to reading out questions on gameshows- and don't think the upmarket nature of the questions makes you clever.

    Avoid his book "Devil's Advocate" like you avoid cliche language.

    #2
    Shut up, John Humphrys

    But cliche language is my bread and butter. I thrive on it.

    Comment


      #3
      Shut up, John Humphrys

      What a fuck-bucket. The demise of the hyphenated word (except when used for clarity) is to be welcomed.

      As far as I'm concerned, there is no need for hyphens or spaces in words such as frontpage, bestseller of fundraiser. Though I suspect it's my German background that informs my support for compoundwords.

      Instead of aiding communication it can be a barrier. I can work out BTW (by the way) but I was baffled by IMHO U R GR8. It means: "In my humble opinion you are great." But, once again, how would you know?
      Google and learn, mastermind.

      I am also cross with myself for the way I have adapted my own style. In the early days I treated e-mails as though they were letters. I tried to construct proper, grammatical sentences and used punctuation that would have brought a smile to the lips of that guardian of our language, Lynne Truss.

      Now I find myself slipping into sloppy habits, abandoning capital letters and using rows of dots.
      I have managed to maintain certain standards in the way I construct my e-mails. You can't blame others for falling into bad habits.

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        #4
        Shut up, John Humphrys

        Yeah, you'd think it was quite fun to use those abbreviations, wouldn't you? He's lost me with those "rows of dots" as well. What are they short for?

        His nemesis is Professor David Crystal, who quotes the end of Humphrys' article:

        To the editor of the OED I will simply say: For many years you've been GR8. Don't spoil it now. Tks.
        and notes that Humphrys has just done what texters do, for exactly the same reason.

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          #5
          Shut up, John Humphrys

          Hey, GMan, I like compoundwords.

          John Humphrys wants to know how he was to know it was a joke.

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            #6
            Shut up, John Humphrys

            If Mr Humphreys knew his history better, he'd know that similar abbreviated word forms were in use during the heyday of the telegraph (in the good old days). The fewer characters you used in your message, the cheaper it was to send.

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              #7
              Shut up, John Humphrys

              G.Man wants a hyphen wrote:
              As far as I'm concerned, there is no need for hyphens or spaces in words such as frontpage, bestseller of fundraiser. Though I suspect it's my German background that informs my support for compoundwords.
              I suspect it is exactly that, to be honest; they all seem fairly ugly to me, especially "frontpage".

              Comment


                #8
                Shut up, John Humphrys

                Tubby Isaacs wrote:
                Avoid his book "Devil's Advocate" like you avoid cliche language.
                As you avoid...

                Comment


                  #9
                  Shut up, John Humphrys

                  OTF in [i]"I

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Shut up, John Humphrys

                    Brian Redhead never liked him

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Shut up, John Humphrys

                      Funnily enough, I've been having an an going converstaion with a secondary school teacher about the use of text speak and what it means for the English Language...

                      This is an e-mail I sent during that:

                      "The thing is this isn’t it…There are no novels, plays or essays of Great Ideas being written anymore are there? So, we have to go back to for example, Steinbeck, Zola, Blake, Beckett, Wilde and Shakespeare for those. Without a proper grounding in the language that they wrote in, those authours and therefore their ideas will remain impenetrable to those that you teach. And that of course means that those children will not develop into proper rounded human beings (I’m fully aware of the irony of how I started this sentence within this context…) and instead, they will be purely functional human beings, without the wit or imagination to realise their full potential.

                      Of course, this may not matter if all you want to produce are automata to perform simple functional tasks…That way though, lies a simple coarsening of Society and a continued brutalisation of those children within an already brutal environment for many of them. Whilst I may seem to simply drive a desk all day, my job requires an imagination and turn of thought that without The English Language and Great Ideas I would not perform as well as I do. Yes, it can be done, and I know many people who do this job who are dull in extremis. However, the one thing we do share is The English Language and its correct usage.

                      For some of us, books, ideas and The English Language were and remain a gift - a route out of an otherwise hostile world. In a constantly shifting and unpredictable world, they provided and continue to, for me at least, a constant - My sheet anchor.

                      It ill behoves the privileged middle classes to suggest that children should be given the freedom to express themselves as they wish, without fear of correction. They may as well say that as these are children from the sink estates, their unter mensch mentalities would not appreciate these finer things that only we, the elite can fully understand and enjoy. Instead, leave them to their text speak, facebookery and the yellow press, for what does it matter, they have no right to know of these things, this secret knowledge with which we garland our smug complacency and ensure that we remain “better off”. Of course, without this grounding, without this Education, none of them would understand the term “yellow press” let alone anything else in that preceding sentence…With this elitism comes a denigration of those children’s place in Society. And with that comes a lowering of expectations and standards and Standards. That communicates itself to the children and they themselves begin to feed into that lack of expectation which leads to a lowering of standards and Standards.

                      These are not thoughts from the Jurassic Age, a raging against the light by ideas whose time has gone. These are relevant and of the moment. I go back to my opening proposition – We have had the privilege of reading and understanding the great authours. Of course, some may say that such a concept is itself inherently elitist. However, those that would say that have of course had the opportunity to read and understand those authours…"

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Shut up, John Humphrys

                        Stumpy Pepys wrote:
                        If Mr Humphreys knew his history better, he'd know that similar abbreviated word forms were in use during the heyday of the telegraph (in the good old days). The fewer characters you used in your message, the cheaper it was to send.
                        Yeah, Crystal picks up on that, and also that telegraphs were said by some to be destructive of the English language. People said that about printing as well.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Shut up, John Humphrys

                          "Millisecond" never had a hyphen in it anyway.

                          [/pedantry]

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                            #14
                            Shut up, John Humphrys

                            Crystal manages to talk exquisite sense on the subject of language pretty much without fail, doesn't he? Which is rare.

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                              #15
                              Shut up, John Humphrys

                              He's great, yes. He's interesting in that, while anti-Thatcherite his career followed a path that Thatcherites would like. He walked out of Reading University (in the face of cuts) and set himself up as an independent consultant. He has an honorary professorship at Bangor now.

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