No, I'm not so concerned about the changing of the clocks. Au contraire, i'm for it (bondi beach after work is quite the incentive to implement summer time). I care not if Queensland has no interest in moving in line with other states. I am even unconcerned with sleeping patterns being out of whack.
It's the grammatical concerns tied in with the change which haunt me. Read on:
1. Daylight savings [plural?]
2. Daylight saving's [singular, possessive]
3. Daylight savings' [plural, possessive - j'en doute]
Is the genetive required? What does DST really stand for? Where should the apostrophe go if it is to go somewhere? Methinks it's (2) above, but I really cannot tell. Is it a saving of daylight, savings of daylight or some other shrewd and mayhap incorrect grammatical construction which itself may be flawed?
I know, I'm asking myriad questions without an answer, but I'm actually unable to locate a solution which bodes well with me. The BOM believes it is singular and only now have I learned that the change in time has an effect on statistics the BOM uses. However, this does not deem the grammar issue complete, nor can it be put to bed (I hope to address the issue in a later post).
I did have similar disdain around 2000. I could not, and still cannot, fathom why that year was special. If things occurred years beforehand it was easy to say. Eg, "We travelled in 1997." And for years after MM it was as facile, eg, "in 2004 I travelled to Portugal and Sweden." Why, oh why, must 2000 be put on a pedestal. Eg, "in the year 2000 Sydney had the olympics."
Woooptie freakin' dooo. The millennium has the poetic licence to have "the year" before the number... I don't think so.
I went to a seminar today and a presenter managed to pepper his talk with the following words:
- louche
- egregious
- mendacious
- ignominious
- interstices
Now, don't get me wrong, they're words (I like words) and they're good (for want of a better word), but I think he was having a go at pomposity. It reminded me of Woody Allen's Small Time Crooks. A fun film with great NY vibe, but what can be said as merely a recent film of his. It's a good film, but not a great film (& then Gertrude Stein punched me in the mouth).
Have a fun Movember (click here to sponsor Josh in his facial hair growth charity).
I used to play sports. Then I realized you can buy trophies. Now I'm good at everything. -- Demetri Martin
And finally, my moment of Zen:
1 comment:
Other instances of pomposity that 'me caressent dans le mauvais sens du poil' are when people use unnecessarily complicated words e.g.
ameliorate v. improve
utilize v. use
I also hate it when people mix languages...
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