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fickman wrote: - Expresso (there's no "x" in "espresso"!)
. . .

Actually, the "x" is quite common in europe, where I used to drink it quite a lot, and the sign on the front window of the "Cafe De Paris" in Woodstock NY, used that spelling in 1964.

Abraham wrote:Seriously - Waaaaaaaaay overused!

Seriously?

Wow - who would have thought it?

Dadtodabone wrote:Capitol vs. Capital.
The U.S. Capitol(building)is in the U.S. Capital(city)of Washington, D.C.
The Texas capitol is in the Texas capital, Austin.
In common usage only the U.S. terms are capitalized.
Capital is also; principal in financial transactions or deserving a death sentence when used as an adjective.

Also the top of a column, but you get the weirdest looks when you use it that way.

And don't use "finial" in a crowd around here.

Abraham wrote:Grandpappy is another word that drives me up the wall.

On the manor, we announce this position as: Most Exalted Grand Poo-Bah!

(behind his back we call him Tubby)

Mostly the grandkids just called him "Pap."

Abraham wrote:"Back in the day"

"He/She's a piece of work"

Utterly worthless flapdoodle.

Issuing such circumlocutions reveals a lack of imagination or specificity.

A "piece of work" can be traced back to Shakespeare.

And my grandpappy taught me "britches", "yonder", and a bunch of others.

A term cropping up a lot lately: Cordite.

Just tonight on my wife's show "King and Maxwell" the one told the other that there couldn't have been a gun fired because she didn't smell any Cordite.

She wouldn't have, they stopped using Cordite about 100 years ago.

Dadtodabone wrote:

Abraham wrote:Thanx and kewl, ugh...especially awful when posted by middle aged white guys desperately seeking hipster status..

I agree with the kewl. The usage of thanx though, began as an expression of faith on Usenet back in the 80s, one which I have indulged in a time or two. Due to its hijacking by the urban and hip, I've eliminated it from my lexicon.

And Jimmy Hatlo was using "Thanx and a tip of the Hatlo hat" in the 1930s.

G26ster wrote:

Pawpaw wrote:Speaking of ATMs...

Why do the drive-up ATMs have all the buttons labelled in Braille?

I guess for the same reason my last employer was required to label ALL classrooms and training bays in Braille, and we only trained pilots and mechanics.

Nah, it's because there is some slim chance that someone will drive through an ATM lane in a right hand drive car with a blind passenger to do the transaction.

BTW, I label my harmonicas in Braille so that I can reach in my pocket and grab the right key without hunting.

I worked with a gentleman, many years ago, who would comment, as we finished a job, that he had to gather all his "derbis."

It wasn't until I had worked with him for a while that I realized he meant "debris" and mispronounced just as he did "ambliance."

It's still pronounced Howston, but what always bothered me about that is that they refer to the geographical area south of there as "Soho" implying, to me, that the proper pronunciation would me "hoeston."

One of my oldest pet peeves has been "ax" as in "I will ax him." which is really "ask"

And lately I have been seeing a lot of TV talking heads pronouncing terminal 'd's as 't's, as in "A Plano man was murdert tonight."

Meihem In Ce Klasrum By Dolton Edwards (1946) - Note the dates proposed by Mr. Edwards.

Because we are still bearing some of the scars of our brief skirmish with II-B English, it is natural that we should be enchanted by Mr. George Bernard Shaw's current campign for a simplified alphabet.

Obviously, as Mr. Shaw points out, English spelling is in much need of a general overhauling and streamlining. However, any changes requiring a large expenditure of mental effort in the near future would cause us to view with some apprehension the possiblity of some day receiving a morning paper printed in - to us - Greek.

Our own plan would achieve the same end as the legislation proposed by Mr. Shaw, but in a less shocking manner, as it consists merely of an acceleration of the normal processes by which the language is continually modernized.

As a catalytic agent, we would suggest that a National Easy Language Week be proclaimed, which the President would inaugurate, outlining some short-cut to concentrate on during the week, and be adopted during the ensuing year. All school children would be given a holiday, the lost time being the equivalent of that gained by the spelling short cut.

In 1946, for example, we would urge the elimination of the soft "c," for which we would substitute "s." Sertainly, such an improvement would be selebrated in all sivic-minded sircles as being suffisiently worth the trouble, and students in all sities in the land would be reseptive toward change and eliminating the nesessity of learning the differense between the two letters.

In 1947, sinse only the hard "c" would be left, it would be possible to substitute "k" for it, both letters be pronounsed identikally. Imagine how greatly only two years of this prosess would klarify the konfusion in the minds of students. Already we would have eliminated an entire letter from the alphabet. Typewriters and linotypes kould be built with one less letter and all the manpower and materials previously devoted to making "c's" kould now be turned toward raising the national standard of living.

In the fase of so many notable improvements, it is easy to foresee that by 1948, "National Easy Langauge Week" would be a pronounsed sukses. All skhool khildren would be looking forward with knsiderable exsitement to the holiday, and in a blaze of national publisity it would be announsed that the double konsonant "ph" no longer existed, and that it would henseforth be written "f" in all words. This would make sukh words as "fonograf" twenty percent shorter in print.

By 1949, publik interest in a fonetik alfabet kan be expekted to have inkreased to the point where a more radikal step forward kan be taken without fear of undue kritisism. We would therefore urge the elimination, at that time of all unesesary double leters, whikh, although quite harmles, have always ben a nuisanse in the language and a desided deterent to akurate speling. Try it yourself in the next leter you write, and se if both writing and reading are not fasilitated.

With so mukh progres already made, it might be posible in 1950 to delve further into the posibilities of fonetik speling. After due konsideration of the reseption aforded the previous steps, it should be expedient by this time to spel al dfthongs foneticaly. Most students do not realize that the long "i" and "y," as in "time" and "by," are aktualy the difthong "ai," as it is writen in "aisle," and that the long "a" in "fate," is in reality the difthong "ei" as in "rein." Although perhaps not imediately aparent, the saving in taime and efort wil be tremendous when we leiter eliminate the sailent "e," as meide posible bai this last khange.

For, as wel known, the horible mes of "es" apearing in writen language is kaused prinsipaly bai the present nesesity of indileiting whether a vowel is long or short. Therefore, in 1951 we kould simply elimineit al sailent "e's," and kontinu to read and wrait merily along as though we wer in an atomik ag of edukeition.

In 1951 we would urge a greit step forward. sins bai this taim it would have ben four years sins anywun had used the leter "c," we would sugest the the "National Easy Language Wek" for 1951 be devoted to substitution of "c" for "th." To be sur it would be som taim befor peopl would bekom akustomed to reading ceir newspapers and buks withs sukh sentenses in cem as "Ceodor caught he had cre cousand cistls crust crough ce cik of his cumb."

In ce seim maner, bai meiking eakh leter hav its own sound and cat sound only, we kould shorten ce langauge stil mor. In 1952 we would elimineit ce "y"; cen in 1953 we kould us ce letter to indikeit the "sh" sound, cerbai klarifaiing words laik yugar and yur, as wel as redusing bai wun mor leter al words laik "yut," "yore," and so forc. Cink, cem, of al ce benifits to be geind bai ce distinktion whikh wil be meid between words laik:

ocean: now writen oyean

machine: now writen mayin

racial: now writen reiyial

Al sukh divers weis of wraiting wun sound would no longer exist, and whenever wun kaim akros a "y" sound he would know exakli what to wrait.

Kontinuing cis proses, year after year, we would eventuali have a reali sensibl writen languag. By 1975, wi ventur to sei, cer wud bi no mor uv ces teribli trublsum difikultis, wic no tu noises riten wic ce seim leter. Even Mr. Yaw, wi beliv, wud be hapi in ce noleg cat his drims fainali keim tru.