"How much do you pay for your 'electric'?" Aaargh!

[LowbrowVictoriana]

I never correct anyone's SPAG on here, and I've never posted Pedant's Corner before, but I need to vent about this!

With the energy crisis going on, there are more and posts about the price of "electric", e.g. "How much do you pay for your electric?", "The eco cycle uses less electric", "I pay £50 for gas and £70 for electric."

How much do I pay for my electric what?

ELECTRICITY! THE WORD IS ELECTRICITY!

Electricity is the noun, 'electric' is the adjective.

Rant over.

[Alphabet1spaghetti2]

Leccy …….. mwah ha ha!

[LowbrowVictoriana]

Strangely, I prefer that!
It could, conceivably, be short for 'electricity'

[Apricote]

Electricity is the noun, 'electric' is the adjective

People know this...it's just a colloquialism. Hard to get upset about, for me.

[LowbrowVictoriana]

But this is Pedants' Corner, @Apricote

[nearlyspringyay]

I'm with you!

[PrettyMaybug]

Can't get worked up about this myself. I say it actually. Quicker to say than 'electricity'

[CanadianJohn]

We're lucky in Ontario... at one time most power was water generated (hydroelectric), and so electricity was called "hydro". The name has stuck, even though water generation is less than a quarter of total power generated. (The biggest source is nuclear, btw).

So,
"The hydro bill arrived"
"The hydro went off today" (i.e. a power cut)
"How much is your hydro"

[meowzeer]

I get like this when so many people don't know how to use "to" and "too" correctly. Drives me mad on the inside. Of course you're not allowed to correct people's spelling these days in case they are dyslexic.