To wonder what mental image people have for 'towing the line'...

[LaFlambeau]

When the correct expression is 'toeing the line'?

or rather
fine-tooth comb

I have also seen guilt-head bream

'Guilt-head bream' paints a picture.

Poor bream.

What is "guilt-head bream" supposed to be?

Gilthead bream - type of fish

Guilthead bream - type of fish traditionally served to cheating husbands to signal that their wife had discovered their affair

Oh no!

That is a very unfortunate menu!

"Especially when publishers are skimping on proof-reading, and publishing books which are filled with errors."

Yes! I was horrified to see "loose" instead of "lose" in a book I was reading recently - horrified, I tell you! No wonder it's becoming common parlance if the bloody publishers can't even be arsed to get it right. There was another fairly major error too but it didn't horrify me in quite the same way so I've forgotten it

I have reported loads of mistakes like that on kindle e-books, Thumbwitch.

Step foot instead of set foot- I can see why that comes about though!

Also flout means ignore/disobey and flaunt means show off. So you didn't flaunt the rules or flout your expensive new ring. Actually saw this mistake made in a newspaper today, in a statement from a school (something about embezzlement I think).

While I'm in this thread full of wonderful pedants, I mean people who are actually right, what's your opinion of using shined as the past tense of shine? I've always seen it as an Americanism, but it seems to be coming up in English media now as well. I'm 100% firm on shone being the correct word myself.

I have never heard anyone use "shined", and I'm from Norfolk where we totally abuse the past tense

Strong verb gradually losing its irregularity? My first instinct is to say that I would speak of having had my shoes shined, but say the sun shone.

But I wonder if it's to do with different past forms: imperfect versus past participle.

ooh interesting

" Add message | Report | Message poster cosikitty Sun 13-Jul-14 09:08:51
I've never heard anyone say "cheap at TWICE the price'. The saying is 'cheap at half the price' I think, even though it doesn't make sense."

I guess this is one of those situations where a comma makes all the difference

Cheap, at half the price

Can I contribute battered eyelashes? We go for the slightly healthier breadcrumbed version in this house

And the poster on here who complained to the Cancel when her bins weren't emptied

You also often see counsellor and councillor mixed up, though rarely in a situation where it's appropriate to correct obviously

But I do sometimes imagine a local councillor being utterly baffled when two constituents turn up and start talking about their sex life

Petula, I've been finding it comes up in a lot of books over the last few years. It's not technically wrong, as your article points out, but it is very clunky imo and one of those words that breaks my concentration every time.

Wouldn't it be great if you could choose to edit just your own version of an ebook? Then submit that edit for the consideration of the publishers. Now I've said it, I bet there is an app for that!

How interesting, maybe I'm unobservant (and I know inobservant isn't strictly incorrect but I find that clunky myself )

Don't give publishers that idea though! Proofreaders and copy editors will hate you forever . Definitely should be a mechanism for reporting missed errors though, or perhaps a way of correcting your personal electronic version so at least it stops irritating you (would need to think about copyright I think).

I actually started a thread about this one the other day but I find it weird when people refer to someone being 'on the floor' when it's outside. To me a floor is indoors and has some sort of floor covering. So when I hear of someone 'just falling to the floor outside' I have this weird mental image of the person carting around a floor covering to fall on, like those 1980s break dancers who took a piece of lino everywhere for the purposes of spinnning on their heads on it.

I've always thought that "cheap at half the price" is a clever conflation of "cheap" meaning poor quality and "cheap" meaning cost. As in: If something was priced at £100, it wouldn't be worth that because the quality was poor for that price. If the price was reduced to £50, it would still be poor quality even for that (half) amount.

On another point, I have noticed a difference between that and which in terms of AmEng and BrEng. I was always taught that it was "which/who" for people and "that" for everything else. But USians seem quite happy to use "that" for people.

But, then, I am old. I can still remember, some 55 years since, the lesson that was entirely devoted to: it is "none is/neither is" and not "none are/neither are".

You often hear that with other singular nouns referring to a body of people - "the government are" on the BBC etc. It sounds odd to me (I'm in my 20s), but things change and it's perfectly comprehensible anyway

Another one that annoys me is when people try to be too clever and write "phase" when they mean "faze". Different words, people!

A couple of colleagues have warned against strangers wondering around the building. Did make me snicker. And wonder about whether they were wandering around or really wondering around in a dreamlike haze

I see your "guilt-head bream", and raise you "fresh crâpes".

That lovely conscientious touch of remembering the circumflex, thus shortening the a-sound...

Jillian michaels could have a whole thread to herself

"You don't ever want to do static stretches until the workout is over, as a cool down"

"Are you with me on this? I am"

"If you want results you're going to have to fight for it"