[Brian Allgar]

A friend sent me the following, apparently from a 1948 Edinburgh student magazine (apologies to anyone who's heard it before):

Mary bought a pair of skates
Upon the ice to frisk
But all her friends thought she was mad
Her little *

[John Whitworth]

I lke it. Mind you it took me a moment to work it out.

[Ann Drysdale]

That makes me sad, suddenly all too aware that I live in not only the unhappiest part of the UK (recent survey) but also the least literate. Here everyone calls it an "asterix" and writes "ect." because "it's short for eck-settera, ennit".

And what makes me sad is that I keep noticing and cannot speak. A sad old Besserwisser, I go muttering about my business, my mouth full of bitten tongue.

[Roger Slater]

Once you've bitten your tongue even once, even if you don't do it again for decades, your tongue is forever a bitten one.

I'm pretty sure I thought it was "asterick" when I was a kid, but someone straightened me out fairly early and I've gotten it right ever since. It's sadder, I think, that even educated people today seem to have given up the word "me" in favor of "I" whenever another person is involved. "He gave it to Sally and I" kind of thing. I can live with astericks, but not that.

[Jayne Osborn]

Mary bought a pair of skates
Upon the ice to frisk
But all her friends thought she was mad
Her little *

That's amusing and clever, Brian. Like John, I have to admit to a very slight 'satellite delay' - a tech-y term I've just learnt.

Roger,
even educated people today seem to have given up the word "me" in favor of "I"
Don't even start me on this one! It's nearly always "myself" now, not even "I" or "me":

"If you have any problems please feel free to contact myself at this number..."
"Myself and my husband had a lovely meal last night." Aaaarrrgghhhh!!!!!

Jayne

[John Whitworth]

Naw, Jayne, the Welsh aren't unhappy. They're miserable gits, and they ENJOY their misery.

[Brian Allgar]

Jayne, like you and John, it took me a moment for the penny to drop. The laughter when it did so was what caused me to post it here.

"I", "me" ... like all degradations of the language, it's probably a losing battle. I remember, decades ago, upbraiding anyone who misused the word "hopefully". These days, I imagine that the phrases "I hope" or "With luck" or "It is to be hoped that" are given in the OED as "alternative (archaic)".

The Internet has had an enormous influence on the increase of illiteracy. I fear that the geek shall inherit the earth.

[Chris O'Carroll]

I, too, was raised to look down on those who say "hopefully" to mean "it is to be hoped" rather than "in a hopeful manner." But a wise lexicographer coaxed me down off my high horse by pointing out that English might be better off if it had a generally accepted equivalent of the perfectly literate German hoffentlich. After all, "thankfully" and "happily" don't just mean "in a thankful manner" or "in a happy manner." So hopefully we can stop having a problem here.

But there are limits to my loosey-goosey permissiveness. I still feel entitled to sneer and bristle at flout/flaunt and infer/imply screwups. Also misuse of apostrophe's.

[Jayne Osborn]

I still feel entitled to sneer and bristle at flout/flaunt and infer/imply screwups. Also misuse of apostrophe's.

Oh, so does myself!

More of my pet hates are the mixing up of 'amount' and 'number', and 'less' and 'fewer'.

Jayne

[Brian Allgar]

Originally Posted by Chris O'Carroll

I, too, was raised to look down on those who say "hopefully" to mean "it is to be hoped" rather than "in a hopeful manner." But a wise lexicographer coaxed me down off my high horse by pointing out that English might be better off if it had a generally accepted equivalent of the perfectly literate German hoffentlich. After all, "thankfully" and "happily" don't just mean "in a thankful manner" or "in a happy manner." So hopefully we can stop having a problem here.

A friend of mine who speaks excellent German also told me many years ago that English, strangely for so rich a language, lacks the equivalent of hoffentlich. But in his view, that word should be hopeably. After all, we have both regretfully and regrettably, so why should hope be denied similar treatment?

I fear the day will come when people no longer understand the phrase "it is better to travel hopefully than to arrive".