Mumsnet Talk

Bunch.

oooh,

no, you're doing fine

Well yes, but it's a french word innit! Bouquet, not beauquet. Ou in french is pronounced oo in English. eau in french is pronounced oa in english.
God tell me to shut up right now!

or more like bow-kay.

cos it 'as a bow on it innit.

ooh.

i say boakay.

Am I in the right place to shout

IT's BOOKAY, NOT BOAKAY when you're referring to a bunch of flowers. Please.

thank you Panto - that's the info i was lacking (and i did think that "ye" thing might be the case)

Ooh, thanks, Panto, I've been wondering whether I'd learned the wrong words! Thanks for your clarification, too, nickel: I like "Rest you merry" so much, I might pretentiously adopt it ... until someone slaps me.

It's pre-Victorian - 18th Century. And was originally 'you', not 'ye'. It was probably the Victorians who switched to 'ye' thinking it sounded more traditional. ('Ye' as in 'ye olde worlde cottage' is actually just 'the' and was always pronounced 'the' - the confusion around because in ye olden days there was a symbol for 'th' that looks a bit like 'y'.)

it is indeed a quaint english phrase meaning "enjoy yourself and relax"

it's God rest ye merry, gentlemen.

it's from a victorian or whenever phrase.
God rest you merry, or god rest you well etc.

it's jsut a turn of phrase

Haha Bof, that's brilliant!

That's a lovely example kickass.

Here is a good cartoon about commas. I like the Oxford comma myself.

depends on the meaning you wish to convey

god rest ye, merry gentlemen, let ...
blessyou, merry gents,

god rest ye merry, gentlement, let ...
god let you stay merry, gents

god rest ye merry gentlemen, let ...
may god let all merry gentlemen rest

my cat is helping me type so hope that makes sense.

I did the canadian legal dispute AND Edwards's death note in class today. They all looked at me like 'you sad muppet' when I told them excitedly that I'd spent the weekend online 'talking' about commas.

Nice example nickel - I do love hymns. Gladly, my cross-eyed bear still gets the children at my church very happy. You'd think in the age of youtube they'd be beyond being amused by weak puns, but they're not!

panto - I've seen it as 'God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay' - the explanation was that 'rest ye merry' is a quaint old English phrase meaning something like 'stay chillaxed'. I suspect this is bollocks but don't know.

Where should it be?

God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing ye dismay

OR you can have:

God rest ye, merry gentlemen, let nothing ye dismay

(and you can replace ye with you)

It was first written down sometime in the 18th Century when spelling and grammar was rather more fluid than it is now.

God rest you merry gentlemen - where should the comma be? I've seen it after merry, after gentlemen and with no comma at all. It's a tiny niggle - but happens every year

good commas.
we did an anthem at church today with the line:

'twas Mary and none but she, and God would call her mother.

comma v important or you could be saying that only she and God would call her mother.
when it means " it was Mary and none but she (her)"
"and God would call her mother"

I am SO going to use that comma thing in class on Monday.

Ahhhh, thanks kickass. I should know that.

... oh, maybe the terms (price and so on) hold for five years at a time unless cancelled?

Wonder why I failed law?

Norks - Would anyone believe me ... - Nope

Can anyone explain why the five-year term was even necessary in that Canadian telegraph contract? Couldn't it have simply said "Indefinitely until cancelled at one year's notice etc"?

I made the same mistake earlier in the thread. Mortifying

Would anyone believe me if I said that apostrophe was autocorrect? The minute I come on pedant threads the most embarrassing typos seem to creep into my posts!