People using the wrong words for things - does it drive anyone else up the wall?

[LanisHouseLot]

I was recently staying with relatives and one kept offering and making Welsh rarebit. Lovely! Except that it was just cheese on toast. I like cheese on toast too but it is definitely not Welsh rarebit. I had to bite my tongue from saying anything because despite feeling enraged i have no desire to make anyone feel stupid or corrected. But it was bubbling up inside nonetheless!

Today I saw a 'High Tea' event advertised. Little sandwiches and cakes, cups and saucers etc - clearly afternoon tea rather than high tea. Why does it bug me so much that I'm still thinking about it and wanting to tell the organiser, and all the women looking forward to their high tea, that they've made a terrible mistake and that high tea isn't what they think it is?! Does anyone else find it unbearable?

I am similar about apostrophe misuse and spelling mistakes (despite not seeing my own mistakes half the time ). These errors are even more infuriating because it is entirely the wrong thing being described.

You are a pedant OP.

Embrace it

Though being enraged when someone has been nice enough to make you cheese on toast might be taking it a wee bit far.

Thinking about it if you got the low rent Welsh rarebit lady together with the fake high tea shop, you would have something that passes as high tea..

I am similar about apostrophe misuse and spelling mistakes (despite not seeing my own mistakes half the time Blush).

Tbh that's pretty unreasonable then. I find some mistakes mildly irritating and some quite amusing. I don't tend to make many, but I'm a language teacher, so I shouldn't! Getting enraged by mistakes seems a bit much.

Saying half term when it’s the Easter holiday. The Easter holiday is at the END of the spring term (which schools don’t even use anymore as the spring term is now terms 3 and 4).

Haha! To be fair it wasn't me that it was being offered to. I was overhearing the conversation and felt the urge to jump in and exclaim "it'll be delicious I'm sure but it won't be Welsh rarebit, it'll be cheese on toast". I'm sure I heard "Welsh rarebit" mentioned at least 20 times during the stay and the effect on me built up over that time.

I know! The hypocrisy makes me feel preposterous! I didnt always make mistakes myself but my brain has been foggy since a bad concussion and they slip in unnoticed. Perhaps enraged is too strong a word, but they do grab my attention in a way I can't shake off.

I would also have to bite my tongue there too - it's just wrong!

Well on the basis that Welsh Rarebit is fucking awful and cheese on toast is bloody lovely (and I don't have a clue what high tea is and cba googling it) I think you are being very, very unreasonable.
Someone referred to tender hooks on a post earlier🙄🙄

Yes I agree and I too am A pedant.

rarebit has ale, eggs and mustard in among other optional things.

High tea is a full meal, cream tea is tea and cream scones, and afternoon tea is cakes, scones, sandwiches and savouries.

And yes, that is an Oxford comma.

Considering that I don’t have anything positive to say about the organisation, I’m irritated by the use of Ofstead to describe Ofsted. It’s an abbreviation for Office for Standards in Education. Plus the idea that contracting that organisation would be the first step in resolving an issue with your child’s school.

I am a pedant too.

There's a place for people like you...

Pedants' Corner here on Mumsnet 😄 Where all forms of linguistic pedantry are embraced. Or at least accepted, even if others are not bothered by the transgressions.

That's not what an abbreviation is. An abbreviation is a shortened word, eg, 'doc' is an abbreviation of the word 'doctor', 'vs' is an abbreviation of the word 'versus'.

What you're referring to is an acronym. Examples of acronyms include 'asap' being an acronym of as soon as possible or USA being an acronym of United States of America.

Unfortunately enough people have used the word abbreviation incorrectly that it's now accepted as an umbrella term for any shortening of a word or phrase.

‘Staycation’ referring to an actual holiday in your own country, such as a hotel or cottage irritates me, and the media love it.

Trendy new portmanteau words, especially based on American usage like vacation irritate me anyway. Then the press use it inaccurately trying to sound hip and innovative.

’Wild camping’ means in the wild, off grid, not on a campsite. But the camping masses now ask for ‘wild camping’ recommendations meaning a campsite that doesn’t have electric hook up. OK, niche, I know, but language is constantly reappropriated by people who misunderstand it.

IPS. (Irritable Pedant Syndrome)

@splatmouse , USA isn't an acronym, it's an abbreviation or initialism.
An acronym is something like Ofsted or Radar.

Unfortunately enough people have used the word abbreviation acronym incorrectly that it's now accepted as an umbrella term for any shortening of a word or phrase.

I don't think it's pedantry to expect meals to be correctly described, I don't know the difference between cheese on toast and Welsh Rarebit but if I was promised a high tea I wouldn't expect tiny sandwiches and bite sized cakes

USA is an initialism.

@TheShellBeach , an initialism is an abbreviation, as is an acronym.

An Oxford comma comes before and in a list e.g. cakes, scones, sandwiches, and savouries.

Edited as have just seen you have used one before and afternoon tea, but not elsewhere.

@DietrichandDiMaggio , @thedendrochronologist 's use of commas is correct.
She could have written it as
'High tea is a full meal. Cream tea is tea and cream scones. Afternoon tea is cakes, scones, sandwiches and savouries.'
or
'High tea is a full meal; cream tea is tea and cream scones; afternoon tea is cakes, scones, sandwiches and savouries.'

An unnescessary Oxford comma is:
'High tea is a full meal, cream tea is tea and cream scones, and afternoon tea is cakes, scones, sandwiches, and savouries.'

Funnily enough, I saw a board advertising “high tea” outside a cafe yesterday and had the same thought: sandwiches and scones are the stuff of “afternoon tea”, whereas “high tea” was something like cottage pie served at 5pm….. I wonder why this is suddenly a “thing”?

This! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

"Mrs Jameson, at what time does tea become high tea?" asked Henrietta.

"At about six o'clock I think, dear," said Mrs Jameson. "One adds cold ham then, you know, and then as time goes on the tea gets higher and higher and one adds ginger wine and damson cheese and stewed fruit, and sardines if you have any. And then after eight o'clock it isn't high tea any more, but supper, and you fry bacon and eggs."

Elizabeth Goudge, Henrietta's House 1942

Yes, my response was because they had said there was an Oxford comma, but I didn't see one before savouries, but yes you're right, my edit was not needed as the comma before afternoon tea was just a correctly used comma.

High tea used to be quite a thing when I was a child - a simple hot meal like fish and chips, lasagne, pie or other pub grub standards, followed by a few cakes and tea/coffee. It is entirely different from an afternoon tea. Maybe cafes think "high tea" sounds a bit more upmarket.

I am also irked by "rest bite" instead of "respite", the half-term thing when it's the Easter/Summer/Christmas holidays, people who are "literally exploding with anger" when clearly they are not, and people mixing "less/fewer".

If you want to use it this way. Unfortunately these errors become more and more acceptable the more people incorrectly use them.

On the Oxford comma - this isn't an error as such; it's largely stylistic. I do a lot of work in the US market and they like it. Here in the UK (and Australia, Canada) it's not as common.

Use it or don't use it, I'm not particularly bothered. But be consistent.