I take the "momentarily" quote to mean "I'll be with you in a moment" not "I'll be with you for a moment"

My own particular bugbear is "you do the math".

It's maths, you ignorant bastads, it's an abbreviation of mathematics, a plural, not a singular noun

Crumbs, I'm not a member of the grammar police, that particular glass-house has a tendency to shatter around me, as you've pointed out

.

I love words, though, and lament the passing of words long traditional in the English language that are becoming/have become obsolete. A bleeding tragedy, I firmly believe. Gotten is one such word, like it or not. As I pointed out, the English usage of the word is markedly different to the abhorrent American adaptation. They use it to indicate possesion of an object ('I've gotten me a new cell phone...') whereas in English the correct usage is to indicate the past participle of 'get'.

We now tend to use the word 'got' instead. In Standee's example: "Had we not got involved..." 'got' sounds ungainly and crude. The traditional 'gotten' reads, sounds and flows better as can be seen by Standee's correct usage.

I hate, hate Americanisms, text-speak and vulgar adaptations into the English language that really don't belong here (toilet, serviette and pardon being particular bugbears of mine). But 'gotten' isn't one of them and long may it remain.

I really do wish he'd said "If we didn't get involved"

That's because 'got' sounds so clumsy and was therefore actively discouraged when we were taught English. That, in turn, is because the far more graceful 'gotten' was already passing into history.

I do wonder why, though. After all, "ill-gotten" is still commonplace.

Imagine saying, "The corrupt capitalists and their ill-got gains." It's obviously wrong. Gotten is correct.

Being a member of the Etymology Police automatically invites prosecution by the Grammar Police.



As far as I can tell, 'gotten' hasn't been in common usage in England since the 1700s and has certainly never played a part in modern English. That's more than long enough to consign it to the dustbin of the English language. The fact it's only via American TV that we are seeing it crop up again very occasionally is even more reason.

You all need to 'chill out'......

USA! USA! USA!

I generally assume Americans are just checking they've got the acronym to the name of their own country correct by continually shouting it in an aggressive manner when happy. Because to everyone else it just makes them look a bit simple.

If Islamic state aren't grammar police, they may get a few votes

FFS does it really matter?

My daughter is dyslexic and when someosked me how bad it was I replied:

"If you ask her to write dog ten times, you'll get 8 dogs, a bog and a god. But it would take a special kind of stupidity or pedantry to not realise that she'll never take god or a bog for a walk"

Grammar pedantry is fine if its humurus



Otherwise its just plain daft ,not big and not clever

[url=http://zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/dont-menshn-rotherham.htmlIt gets better, she's even managing to overtake her own warped sense of reality now[/url

That tickled my funny bone that did

The scary thing is that people believe and agree with her.

No, it doesn't. But it's a discussion forum, innit?? If you feel posts about your ex, your cats and where you gotten your latest batch of fish from are of more interest, so be it. No-one cares about that either.

Anyway, the UN have delivered their report backing up claims of IS atrocities. Public opinion appears to be hardening, will it only be a matter of time before Cameron orders air strikes, or even better, a group of countries ally themselves to wiping them out? The problem comes if IS drops out of the headlines, the UK public tend to have a short attention span.

[url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/26/isis-apocalyptic-cult-carving-place-in-modern-worldAn excellent and honest piece on IS[/url by John Gray.

[url=http://libertyviral.com/egyptian-feminist-menstruates-poops-on-isis-flag-nsfw/#Egyptian Feminist Menstruates & Craps On ISIS Flag (nsfw)[/url

Very brave and/or very stupid. Either way, certainly a different way to get your point across. I suspect she'll have a price on her head.

hate to get to that tin foil hat corner of the internet but a friend just shared this, pretty good summary of what's been buzzing around the internet since the dawn of the 'Arab Spring' about the darker side of things and the involvement of the CIA etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMjXbuj7BPI

hate to get to that tin foil hat corner of the internet but a friend just shared this, pretty good summary of what's been buzzing around the internet since the dawn of the 'Arab Spring' about the darker side of things and the involvement of the CIA etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMjXbuj7BPI

Quote ="the cal train"hate to get to that tin foil hat corner of the internet but a friend just shared this, pretty good summary of what's been buzzing around the internet since the dawn of the 'Arab Spring' about the darker side of things and the involvement of the CIA etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMjXbuj7BPI'" Spends quite a bit of time bitching about how the US propped up dictators when it suited, then ends with the suggestion that we should back Assad. Actually, I agree on that point. Assad is moderate compared to what Syria will be like if IS get their hands on the rest of the country.

Quote ="the cal train"hate to get to that tin foil hat corner of the internet but a friend just shared this, pretty good summary of what's been buzzing around the internet since the dawn of the 'Arab Spring' about the darker side of things and the involvement of the CIA etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMjXbuj7BPI'" Spends quite a bit of time bitching about how the US propped up dictators when it suited, then ends with the suggestion that we should back Assad. Actually, I agree on that point. Assad is moderate compared to what Syria will be like if IS get their hands on the rest of the country.

Looks like Camoron may be considering the default, [is[/ihit-for-brains position of not removing British citizenship from born and bred British citizens while still [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29002586banning them from entering Britain[/url "for a period of time".

Does this clueless t[iw[/iat think that they'll just accept being placed on the naughty step and then return all remformed and wanting to live a good life with "true British values"?.

This is typical of the bottleless pillock. He'd far rather tie up court time with inevitable (and fully justified) HR claims and keep any potential home-grown problems away from our door, instead of taking responsibility for these problems and actually doing something to sort them

This problem has been brewing for years. But we have been too scared to tackle it for fear of being branded Islamophobic.

Now we have home grown nutters on our doorstep. We can't deport them, because they are born here.

m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29038217 Steven Sotloff, the journalist seen at the end of the James Foley beheading video has now also been beheaded.

m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29038217 Steven Sotloff, the journalist seen at the end of the James Foley beheading video has now also been beheaded.

Gotta love the sound bites comming from Cameron. If maggie thatcher was PM ISIS would be destroyed by now

Regards

King james

It's a damn shame but I'm afraid she died.

But surely she lives on in your heart?

We should bomb ISIS back to the stone age, even it if involves forming an non aggression pact with Assad.

Like we bombed al Quaeda "back to the stone age"?

Remind me, what came up to fill the power vacuum then?