Annoying spelling, galling grammar, irksome words, frustrating phrases

[JunkMonkey]

Just heard this in a broadcast political discussion about a particularly extraordinary, election defining, home goal type gaffe:

"...I can understand how it happens, doesn't mean that I think it - uh - wasn't a disaster. It was; you know it was. A massive dropping of a very very big ball and it could be a seminal moment - uh - without cutting to that chase, all I would say in terms of explanation..."

(My punctuation from Youtube transcript.)​

I'm trying to work out what "without cutting to that chase" means. If anything.

And if this is the way that political inner circles talk (the speaker was, I believe, a former spad) it would go a long way to explaining why we're all in such a mess.

 

[Ursa major]

I suppose there's a (slight) chance that the speaker knows what they mean, but no one else does or could.

 

[Ray Zdybrow]

I need to use this in my next job interview.
"So why did you leave your last job, Mr Stibroff?
"Let's not cut to THAT chase!"
So it means "I don't want to answer the question as such: here's something that sounds answery about a different, easier question

 

[JunkMonkey]

...and 'gate'. I hate the stupid way journalists slap the suffix 'gate' (in memory of the Watergate Scandal) on anything vaguely contentious. Though I do look forward to the day when Microsoft's CEO is caught on CCTV pissing on the entrance to the security fence at Microsoft HQ - which would give us BillGatesgategate.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

 

[Ray Zdybrow]

...and 'gate'. I hate the stupid way journalists slap the suffix 'gate' (in memory of the Watergate Scandal) on anything vaguely contentious. Though I do look forward to the day when Microsoft's CEO is caught on CCTV pissing on the entrance to the security fence at Microsoft HQ - which would give us BillGatesgategate.

There was "Plebgate" which did actually involve a gate. Also "Billingsgate" which was about the price of f*%king fish

 

[JunkMonkey]

Also "Billingsgate" which was about the price of f*%king fish

Is that legal?

 

[Ray Zdybrow]

Is that legal?

Not in that word order, no. At least, ashore; but as Eusterby fishermen knew, at sea there are different rules. Skate

 

[Rufus Coppertop]

Is that legal?

If the fish are old enough and up for it, why not?

 

[DaCrazyKat29]

I’m fine with most spellings (although… in light of someone who constantly finds mistakes in previous work I hate seeing the wrong words used… like when people say “their” instead of “there” or “your” instead of “you’re” when they mean one but say the other). It’s grammar. I honestly hate it when people get grammar wrong; not saying I always have great grammar mind you. The other day I was trying to read something (probably the back of some shampoo… don’t ask) and there was no comma where there should be. I had to read it about 5 times before I finally understood what it was tryna say. :l

 

[Ambrose]

I dislike 'going forward', the use of 'multiple' for many, and the 'into' infestation - a recent example was a car collided into a pole.

 

[Ursa major]

Is that legal?

Isn't this what the scales of justice are there to determine?

 

[Astro Pen]

This morning:

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

This morning:
View attachment 119656

If the teenager is nonbinary, this is acceptable, although I would replace the second "their" with "the." I would probably also end the sentence at "time" and just start a new sentence with "Their" (if nonbinary) or the proper gendered possessive if not nonbinary. I'm iffy about "18-Year-Old" as well. The capitalization is quirky, too. Assuming the headline needs capitals, I'd wind up with something like this, assuming a traditionally gendered teenager.

This Teenager Left Her Parents on an Island to Get Back to the Cruise on Time. Her Parents are Mad Because They Missed the Departure.

The big question, of course, is why this is worthy of being a headline.

 

[Ursa major]

I thought using the nominally plural version of pronouns and determiners for a single human being has been normal for a very** long time, particularly when (though not limited to situations where) all that is known about the person in question is that they exist.

** - To quote the first usage note in Wiktionary's entry for the word, they:

Usage of they as a singular pronoun began in the 1300s and has been common ever since, despite attempts by some grammarians, beginning in 1795, to condemn it as a violation of traditional (Latinate) agreement rules. Some other grammarians have countered that criticism since at least 1896. Fowler's Modern English Usage (third edition) notes that it "is being left unaltered by copy editors" and is "not widely felt to lie in a prohibited zone." Some authors compare use of singular they to widespread use of singular you instead of thou.

 

[Wayne Mack]

I get annoyed to read epicenter used in lieu of center.

 

[Alex The G and T]

Living on the triple-junction, cascadia suduction zone, the most seismically active area on the continent; I find the "epicenter" to always be of primary interest.
But, you know, you had to have been there, I guess.

 

[Phyrebrat]

 

[JunkMonkey]

View attachment 119788

But would an English teacher use a lower case i as a personal pronoun?

 

[paranoid marvin]

Perhaps she's a teacher who is English, rather than a teacher who teaches English?