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Replies 101-120
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Then & NowDATE: 03 November 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1956-63
Prepare to be 're-enhumblised' [reply 100] - whatever that means! Mrs Thatcher may have disliked the word 'privatisation' but she was happy enough to use it herself. She once said to Transport Secretary Nicholas Ridley "Railway privatisation will be the Waterloo of this government. Please never mention the railways to me again."
102nd REPLY
NAME: Nick Dean
.JPG "Nick Dean gallery")
DATE: 06 November 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
According to extracts from Charles Moore's biography, Mrs Thatcher appears initially to have preferred "denationalisation", but, as Martin suggests [reply 101], seems ultimately to have gone with the flow. Even without the benefit of hindsight, "privatisation" does sound more positively Thatcherite. I recall a Tory MP describing the prospect of rail privatisation - under John Major - as a "poll tax on wheels". Whatever the rights or wrongs, I'm not sure it ever quite acquired that toxic status, though it's interesting that a former QE parent is seeking to re-open the issue by proposing renationalisation (or whatever word or phrase fits the bill).
103rd REPLY
NAME: Nick Dean DATE: 07 November 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
This may seem unduly pedantic, but I was rather amused by Sam, a candidate in The Apprentice, proclaiming his credentials as an English graduate and then asserting that, "language and communications is key to existence". (Nevertheless, of his project management of a task to devise a book for 3-5 year olds, the Baroness Brady observed that, "at times I felt I was watching you trying to write the sequel to King Lear".)
104th REPLY
NAME: Nick Dean DATE: 09 November 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
More on the phenomenon of using 'phenomena' as a singular noun [replies 41-2]. Oliver Kamm, who writes articles for The Times that take issue with people who like what they regard as traditional grammar and spelling, points out that the OED's earliest record of 'phenomena' being used in the singular is from 1708 and he cites also an example from 1783. The follows Jeremy Vine's appearing to take issue in the Radio Times with a judge on Strictly Come Dancing who described his performance as "a paranormal phenomena". Kamm also says that 'phenomenons' is OK, and I'd be inclined to agree, although 'phenomena' - like 'referenda' - sounds better (to me anyway).
Then & NowDATE: 09 November 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
To those who assume that Latin/Greek/whatever words that have been swallowed whole rather than chewed up a bit should always retain their original plurals, I would suggest that if such a word has been in common use in the language for long enough, you're free to stick an 's' or 'es' on to form the plural if you're more comfortable with that. For example, I refer to my ungratefully vicious house-guests as 'cactuses' simply because I don't want to have to pronounce 'cacti' wrongly as 'cact-eye'. I fear funny looks from saying 'cactee'. However, it's not just plurals but variable gender endings that can cause some confusion. I seem to remember having a bit of a discussion with someone who wanted to refer to an alumna as an alumn-eye which, purely by chance, would have been correct for the plural, but what she thought she was saying was 'alumni' - for the feminine and the singular. Perhaps it's all become such a muddle that we should just go with the flow.
106th REPLY
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen
.jpg "James Cowen gallery")
Then & NowDATE: 09 December 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
It is interesting to me how on re-reading my reply 108/113 that the English language may be taken in more than one way when it is written down. I have generally been sensitive to this ambiguity as one who failed GCE O Level English a couple of times and also as one who also failed the Use of English exam, which was forced on us in the sixth form. In that reply I may have failed in this regard. When I said "masters were encouraged to see ex pupils" I meant they were encouraged when they saw ex pupils rather than as it could be read that they were encouraged by someone in charge to see ex pupils. The same may be said in respect of my comment "in respect of those who come so far." I meant so far as up to this time rather than who come from a long way away. I believe that is the end of my ambiguous statements and I hope I have not been guilty of such practices elsewhere and of course hope others may succeed in this regard.
Then & NowDATE: 09 November 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
Every language has its strengths and weaknesses and one of the weaknesses of the spoken English language is its over-reliance on the stressing of words or syllables to achieve emphasis, which is sometimes the only way to avoid ambiguity. This presents a problem when trying to express one's thoughts on paper, as the only tools for showing emphasis - italics, underlining or (God forbid) capitals - are somewhat blunt instruments that often fail to cut the fine distinctions that the human voice (and some animal voices, come to that) can make. Try it with Jas's examples above: it's difficult to get the exact sense he was after. In this regard (but not in every regard), Welsh is a lot more sophisticated, since fairly precise emphasis, in both the spoken and written language is generally expressed by means of word order rather than vocal stress, italics or underlining. As it happens, that wouldn't be a particularly good solution with either of Jas's examples, but it wouldn't need to be in the first example, because in Welsh you can't use the same word to mean either 'urged' or 'heartened' - and of course, Jas could have chosen 'heartened' or something similliar. As for the second example you'd say, as you can in English, 'from so far back'.
108th REPLY
NAME: Nigel Wood.jpg "Nigel Wood")
DATE: 15 December 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1957-64
A favourite example of a different choice of emphasis giving a different meaning was the lollipop person's sign which used to say 'STOP CHILDREN CROSSING'. With roughly equal emphasis on each word it read like a political exhortation modelled, perhaps, on 'Stop American imperialism'. With an emphasis on the first word, a pause before the third and an alluring tone of voice, it could act as an invitation for passing children to stop in their tracks, cease childish banter, and consider whether they should make use of the wonderful facility offered them, by crossing the road then and there. Just possibly, with the emphasis on 'STOP', it might be commanding others to stop, so that children may safely cross. Many years ago the wording was shortened to 'STOP CHILDREN' plus a black strip as if some offending word had been painted out. According to Wiki, "The black strip is used to record, with chalk, the registration numbers of motorists that do not stop.". I didn't make this up.
109th REPLY
NAME: Nick Dean DATE: 20 December 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
A couple of recent things made me think that the efforts of people like Colin Carter and Derek Fry in relation to English language weren't entirely wasted. A few weeks ago, Private Eye's 'Words Fail Me' feature had the sentence, "Gerunds are trending". I was puzzled by this and so was pleased that another reader, who claimed to have broken off from marking English exam papers, wrote in to point out that gerunds are nouns and that "Present participles are trending" might "just about get them rolling in the aisles". Then, in the Christmas issue of Country Life, Jonathan Self cited the old chestnut about Santa's little helpers being subordinate Clauses. Apart from recalling DBF's curious obsession with clause analysis, this made me wonder for how much longer that particular term will be understood. See Stephen Giles' response at 50/3to Nick's mention of Derek Fry .
110th REPLY
NAME: Nick Dean DATE: 24 December 2015
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
Well, well. It seems that Peter Jordan may have been right all those years ago about 'Frigidaire' and 'fridge' [reply 37]. In one of her recent excellent pieces on Countdown, Susie Dent said that she was often asked why 'fridge' was spelt with a 'd', while 'refrigerator' didn't have one. Her answer was that probably 'fridge' emerged in America as an abbreviated form of 'Frigidaire'. Presumably, though I haven't checked it out and it wasn't mentioned, the latter became generic, rather like Hoover: I do know of a 1930s song called Two Sleepy People, which refers to taking things "from the Frigidaire". Just to record also that Nick Hewer added to Ms Dent's account that his grandfather manufactured fridges under licence from Frigidaire - the sort of man to whom A Sugar might have taken?
111th REPLY
NAME: Nick Dean DATE: 02 January 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
Further to reply 75 et seq, I couldn't help noticing that, in the BBC's new Dickensian series, Miss Havisham is played by an actress called Tuppence Middleton. The name sounded familiar: it seems that I first saw her a couple of years ago in a TV adaptation of the Hitchcock movie, The Lady Vanishes.
112th REPLY
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen Then & NowDATE: 09 January 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
In regard to the name Tuppence you don't hear the name for ages and then like London buses two come along at once. We had the fictional Tuppence Beresford in the Agatha Christie mysteries and now we have the real life non-fictional Tuppence Middleton. Of course there is a good listing of her work on the website you have highlighted in Nick's reply, Vic, but of course Tuppence is currently much in the showbiz news for her current appearance in the BBC Andrew Davies adaption of "War and Peace". Tuppence plays the temptress Helene Kuragin (or Kuragina). There is much that could be discussed by me and others about this adaption by Andrew but I am just enjoying it as a replacement watch to Downton Abbey on Sunday nights. I note a remark from Sarah Vine in today's Daily Mail (Wed Jan 6th) that the name Tuppence is not just two pre-decimal pennies but old English slang for a lady's most intimate parts.
Then & NowDATE: 19 January 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Inmate 1956-63
Inspired by Jas Cowen’s note about Sarah Vine’s suggestion in the ‘Daily Mail’ that ‘tuppence’ was old English slang for a lady's most intimate parts, I rushed off to see what Eric Partridge, the compiler of the Dictionary of Historical Slang, had to say on the subject. Although he offered plenty of other slang names for the aforementioned lady’s parts ‘tuppence’ was not one of them. Instead Mr P suggested that it was rhyming slang for ‘head’ as in “tuppenny loaf = loaf of bread = head.” To complete his short list he added "Not to care a tuppenny damn" is the same as "Not to give a hoot", a "tuppenny hop" is a cheap dance and a "tuppenny rope" was a low rent lodging house where guests slept across a rope. However my old granny always said that when she was a girl and soldiers were around she was always advised to keep her hand on her ‘ha’penny’…and there was a popular song of the time to reinforce that warning ... Keep your hand on your ha'penny Cover it well with your palm Keep your hand on your ha'penny And Molly will come to no harm. That’s the ‘Daily Mail for you. ‘Ha’penny’ inflates to ‘Tuppence’ and it’s all the fault of the immigrants! I have actually found a version of this song on YouTube
Then & NowDATE: 19 January 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1954-59
My memory from Underhill primary school days, is that the girls were sometimes heard to use the term 'tuppence' as described by Jas, but it was not until Eric S's sex education lesson in the first form at QE that some of us boys fully understood why it was tuppence rather than a penny - or indeed a ha'penny.
115th REPLY
NAME: Nick Dean DATE: 01 February 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
I see that, in a single issue of The Times (30/1/16), there are pictures of Ms Middleton [reply 111 et seq] on both the front page of the paper itself and the cover of the magazine: "The woman turning us on to Tolstoy"; "She's the one sexing up War and Paece"; "She's set pulses racing in War and Peace, but claims she's more Miss Havisham". Anyway, it appears that Tuppence is her real name. She was called that because it was her grandmother's nickname, but "she only found out its secondary meaning when she went to drama school". "My mum was mortified," she says.
117th REPLY
NAME: Nick Dean DATE: 05 February 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
I couldn't resist adding that Private Eye appears to have used The Times' interview with Tuppence Middleton [replies 115-6] as the inspiration for its latest 'Me and My Spoon' feature: "You do a lot of spooning in Phwoar and Peace, don't you?"; "In Dickensian, where I play Miss Havisham, she doesn't really get to do any spooning at all", etc, etc. And then at the end, in terms that visitors to this site (but maybe not all Eye readers) will understand, "Next week: Tuppence Middleton - Me and My Tuppence".
118th REPLY
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen Then & NowDATE: 06 February 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
Again in regard to tuppence applying to a private part of a girl's anatomy, there is the well known cockney rhyming slang of threepenny bits or threepennies applying to other parts of a girl or lady's anatomy. However moving on from that I enjoyed listening to Saturday Live on Radio 4 a couple of weeks ago when they talked much about peculiar names people have. They said one man called Threepence changed his name, upon promotion, to Sixpence. If he obtains further promotion will he change his name to Bob and if further promoted to Arthur Crown. Those readers who have only known decimal coinage may need that to be explained to them. For another example of female anatomical rhyming slang, see 120/3
119th REPLY
NAME: James (Jas) Cowen Then & NowDATE: 17 February 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: pupil 56-63
In regard to Martyn's reply 113 in connection with slang dictionaries, there is actually an English Language & Usage Stack Exchange site on the internet and one of the questions asked on there is "Is it true that 'tuppence' refers to a woman's vag1na (I spell it like this for the same reason as we have Mr C0cks) in British English slang?". There does not appear to be any decisive reply about the origin of the term but there is some confirmation of the usage of the word and the persuasive suggestion is that it was used in reference to speaking to children like one word used for a child's male appendage. Of course readers of this may disagree and I do not know when and in what context Sarah Vine or Tuppence Middleton heard of its use. Er - I think you're giving us one for the price of two there, Jas.
120th REPLY
NAME: Nick Dean DATE: 01 March 2016
CONNECTION WITH QE: Pupil 1964-71
Just to put my two penn'orth in again, it seems that Ms Middleton is now such a part of our collective consciousness that she is referred to in the Evening Standard (26/2/16) simply as "T Middy".