According to today’s news reports, doctors want film censors to be more rigorous with their certificates if actors are smoking.
Experts believe that seeing someone such as Brad Pitt or Uma Thurman smoking, for example, is likely to encourage young, impressionable kids to start smoking.
Oh cobblers! There are many reasons why kids take up smoking and probably bottom of the list is seeing Uma Thurman puff away on a cigarette in Pulp Fiction. Get real!
C’s mum has been down for a few days and gave me an insight into life in places such as Shrewsbury.
She’d made a special visit to this posh chocolate shop, to buy something for C’s birthday and was greeted by a ‘Back in 5 minutes’ sign on the door.
Given that she’d made the trip especially, C’s mum happily waited the couple of minutes for the owner to return and re-open the shop.
Shopowner: I’m sorry… we’re in a bit of chaos at the moment, because we’re in the middle of relocating.
C’s mum: That’s OK, I was happy to wait. So, where are you moving to?
Shopowner: Oh, I can’t tell you that, it’s a secret
… now correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t it help to tell any prospective future customers where you’re moving to, if you’re relocating.
Maybe it’s just a Shropshire thing!
The grammar police have been called following the mysterious disappearance of the letter ‘o’ in a new Web 2.0 definition.
Over the weekend, the word ‘bacn‘ appeared in various emails and feeds. Used by the so-called netheads, it describes “low-priority” e-mail that is not important enough to reply to immediately, but is not spam – examples include Facebook notifications.
The Web 2.0 authorities are looking into this new vowel movement, as there is mounting concern that soon all the ‘a’s ‘i’s and ‘u’s will also disappear.
Early start-ups such as Flickr were blase about dispensing with the ‘e’ and this has become a common deletion, but this new dropping of the ‘o’ has provoked widespread condemnation.
Reports that the term ’ssg’ being introduced to describe a mish-mash of different Web 2.0 products are unconfirmed!
I’m a man of words – that’s my stock in trade and has been for many years. As an example, I prefer “hirsute” above “hairy”, and “belligerent” above “arsey”, although there’s a place for both.
So it’s always a nice surprise to come across a word I’ve never used before, let alone even seen. However, it’s a huge shock when this word was used on my local council’s website.
Yup, I was looking for info on recycling collection in the London Borough of Bromley, where I’m about to move to and came across this fantastic sentence:
“Your waste will not be collected if it is not placed at the edge of curtilage”
Eh? I had to stop and think for a second. “Edge of curtilage” – what the hell does that mean?
Fortunately, Bromley Council has anticipated my confusion and added this helpful explanation.
“Your curtilage is the area of land within your boundary surrounding your property. The edge of your curtilage is on your land at the front within arms’ reach of the pavement but not on it.”
So, basically, they mean the edge of your property, or boundary, or even garden or yard. So why not say that? I’m all for expanding the use of our rich language, but not on a council website. For goodness sake, talk in plain English and not some legal mumbo-jumbo.
I know we live in litigious times, but I’m sure no-one will sue their local council for lack of curtilage explanation, will they?
