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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

It's 'make do' , not 'make due'?

528 replies

oldlaundbooth · 30/05/2016 17:42

AIBU?

Colleague senior academic associate wrote' We'll make due' in an email

It's 'make do', right?

OP posts:
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7
Wheresthattomoibabber · 31/05/2016 11:41

Extra points for use of endemic there. Hate it when people say epidemic when they mean endemic.

Back to Chris' wife v Chris's wife - they are both said the same.

And it is think.

Wheresthattomoibabber · 31/05/2016 11:47

Or perhaps not! It seems there is a huge amount of variation where possessive nouns ending in s are concerned.

NuggetofPurestGreen · 31/05/2016 11:53

No 'r's in drawing, Show?? Wink

For whoever it was that asked, I say 'paw' as written, no 'r'. So P-AWH

Poor is pronounced 'pooh-er'

ShowOfHands · 31/05/2016 12:00

Okay there's one r. I stand corrected. GrinThere is no r in the middle of drawing which is what the question was really.

Draw r ing is just an accent thing. It's not incorrect. Intrusive Rs and linking Rs are merely a feature of geographical language differences. It's why Jon Richardson makes a whole stand up routine based on "an onion" (a nunyun). You're directing ire at hundreds of years of established precedent.

KateLivesInEngland · 31/05/2016 12:09

I saw someone advertise "Chester Draws" on a Facebook selling site.
Defiantly/definitely loose/lose brought/bought all are like nails on blackboards to me. I'm sure if I sat here long enough I could find a hell of a lot more!

absolutelynotfabulous · 31/05/2016 12:15

People probably now think that Chester Draws is correct.

I vote "fopar" and "sailor vee" as the new Chester Draws. Smile.

JessieMcJessie · 31/05/2016 12:15

Pissoffjournalists re ThErty and the so-called "correct" pronunciation of the number in Glasgow Buchanan Street bus station - are you Glaswegian?

On what basis exactly are do you have authority to declare what is "correct" and what is not, when everyone in that area pronounces it like that? This is a matter of accent and nothing to do with the topic of this thread which is written mis-spellings.

FYI I come from not far from Glasgow and I speak very nicely indeed, thank you very much. My pronunciation was honed from a young age by my Dad who used to read the news on Radio Clyde. I was not allowed to get away with anything that was remotely dialect or slang, hence never having been prone to the common regional grammatical error of " I seen it in the shop" and "I done my homework yesterday".

My Dad said "ThErty", I say "ThErty" and I also say "sEven" and "elEven. It is a feature of my accent and no more incorrect than my pronouncing the "r" at the end of the word "door".

JessieMcJessie · 31/05/2016 12:19

Regarding "merrily merrily" in the boat song, isn't the meaning simply that all in the boat are having a lovely time and being merry, hence the conclusion that life is as perfect as a dream?

That said, "life is but a dream" means that life is "only" a dream, which is a bit worryingly existential for children and perhaps indicates that the gentle rowing induces a trance-like state, which would indeed be at odds with merry making.....Confused.

JessieMcJessie · 31/05/2016 12:32

According to this site the lyrics were written in 1852 and rewritten in 1881 and the chorus went as follows:

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
For all that is past is over, you know
And the future is but a dream

"merrily merrily" is the "popular modern version" but no sign of "verily" anywhere.

TheKingArrives · 31/05/2016 12:38

Jessie I was also going to add it depends on how you read it. If you read a few lines back like you have it could mean 'merrily rowing a boat'', the pleasure of rowing a boat. However, if you look at the way the rhyme is written:

Rom. Row, row your boat
Gently down the stream

This is a complete sentence followed by

Merrily/verily merrily/verily
Life is but a dream.

Is another sentence on its own. Merrily does not make sense here but verily does.

PissOffJournalists · 31/05/2016 12:41

Aye fair enough, I shouldn't have used the word correctly so I apologise for that.

Greyponcho · 31/05/2016 12:45

Standard fair available... Surely it's the standard fayre available?

(Evaluating my stance on thing... The other 'thing' coming was a smack on the back of my legs... I'm now thinking about it...)

JessieMcJessie · 31/05/2016 12:45

Thunderpunt

What about 'en pointe' ? My understanding is that it is a ballet term that now crosses over to mainstream (think X Factor judges/BGT, ETC 'you were en pointe today') yet I have seen it written down several times (once a national newspaper) as 'on point/e' Is that incorrect or is there another version of this phrase? I get bent out of shape when I see the second spelling, but wonder if I'm wrong

I think that the two concepts are different. "On point" is just a way of saying that the answer/statement etc addressed the issue directly eg: David Cameron's response was on point". In law we use it frequently where we are citng cases in suport of legal argument, to mean that the case is drectly relevant to the current issue in dispute eg "Donoghue v Stevenson is directly on point here".

I've heard "en pointe" in the original ballet sense to descrbe a dancer on tiptoes but I haven't heard it in the X factor/BGT type expression that you describe. That said I gave up X Factor and defected to American Idol years ago, where they use my fave phrases "that was totally in your wheelhouse" and "you sang the I don'tknowwhat out of that song" Grin.

JessieMcJessie · 31/05/2016 12:46

greyponcho I'm fairly Smile sure it's fare.

JessieMcJessie · 31/05/2016 12:47

Thanks pissoffjournalists. How do you say it though?

Doinmummy · 31/05/2016 12:49

Can anyone tell me if it's

Off your own bat

Or

Off your own back

MrsDeVere · 31/05/2016 12:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Greyponcho · 31/05/2016 12:58

Hmm... Wasn't specific enough - not taxi fare, but in a food sense...

JessieMcJessie · 31/05/2016 12:59

thekingarrives I see where you're going but isn't a song like poetry, in that strict division between sentences is less important, unlike in a formal report or news article? The four lines in question are all part of the same chorus, a bit like being in the same paragraph, so the meaning/concepts can be carried across from one sentence to another, and you can even have bits that are not real sentences at all.

My reading of it was that the "merrilies" were just exclamations for musical effect i.e.

"Merrily! merrily! merrily!

Life is but a dream"

Doinmummy I've always thought it was "own bat" but has possibly become corrupted by/confused with the "shirt off his back" phrase.

Sporting ones are a minefield. I had to very gently explain to a senior non golfing colleague that it was "par for the course" and not "part of the course".

hackmum · 31/05/2016 12:59

It's off your own bat. Cricketing term. People get it wrong, though.

JessieMcJessie · 31/05/2016 13:00

greyponcho I knew you meant food. I still think it's "fare". A "fayre" is an event, surely?

Greyponcho · 31/05/2016 13:00

As to those 'never taught French', surely they'd still know how other French words that have been adopted into the English language, such as aqueduct are spelled?

Also - spelt/spelled. Grates me as much as text/texted

dontpokethebear · 31/05/2016 13:01

Alot gives me the rage. If I see it anywhere on a public forum, I'll post this

hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html?m=1

JessieMcJessie · 31/05/2016 13:02

see second meaning here.

dontpokethebear · 31/05/2016 13:02

oh Sad why hasn't my link worked?!