I’ve just heard the sound of the Council House clock striking. I always feel it’s a good day when air conditions and the wind direction carry the sound. You can, of course, get too much of a good thing, which is why the chimes stop at 10.30. This was done many years ago when hoteliers complained that the bell was keeping guests awake. In the 1970s I spent a night in Durham. The cathedral clock chimes all through the night. All through. Loudly. Never again.
Anyway, apart from that I’ve had an unremarkable day.
Dropped Julia at work. Filled the car (the fuel gauge lit up and pinged). Came home. Did some more of the OU course I started yesterday (it’s a 12 hour course on poetry, nothing heavy), did comments on WP, did a bit of editing, read a couple of internet articles, washed up and realised that it’s midday and I need to get some work done. Also realised I didn’t know how to spell midday so had to look it up.
I had the same problem last week with the plural of roof. I pronounce it rooves, but I’m sure it is correctly, though inaccurately, spelt roofs. Seems I’m wrong and rooves is still acceptable in the UK, even though Doctor Johnson declared it to be obsolete in 1755. It’s always irritated me that it’s spelt differently to way I say it, particularly when wife and calf both go to a v in the plural.
I am so glad I’m not a lexicographer or a scholar of the English language. So many details, so much tedium.
I thought I’d write a post to make sure it’s done (Final of the Great British Bake Off tonight so I won’t be writing much). Laura is my favourite contestant, though not the greatest baker. She’s very clumsy and often drops cakes in the final stages. Then, the next week, when you thing she’d slow down and use both hands she’s back at it, talking, rushing, moving cake one-handed and spilling it again.
It is finished. I’m now going to make a sandwich and move some stuff round so Julia thinks I’ve been tidying up.
I hope you didn’t drop your sandwich
Correct. A combination of hunger, hand exercises and a proper attention to the job in hand ensured that the sandwich/face process proceeded without a hitch. 🙂
I enjoyed the bake-off final.
It was a good final, because this year I liked all the finalists. 🙂
I liked that rather chippy girl who got put out earlier as well.
Apparently she’s great friends with Laura and they have been baking together. This group seems to have been very friendly, but they did have to spend a lot of time together in isolation to film this series.
https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/meet-the-class-of-2020/
Language evolves over time, and those of us who have lived to a certain age have experienced evolution in progress. 🙂
In the UK I have watched a generation grow up to talk a foreign language. 🙂
You might be interested in knowing that Mainers say “rooves” rather than “roofs.” I had to look it up, too, for my current book. Well, Maine is a part of New England, and no doubt we have retained some of the older ways of pronouncing words.
I have heard the argument advanced that some American English is purer than current British English as it has preserved Elizabethan forms.
Don’t know about that, but for Mainers it is definitely “rooves.” 😉
🙂 And me.