h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Kaeori, my lovely,

"Now, this phrase 'up to scratch' - is it somethng to do with golf? Why 'scratch'?"

I seem to recall that it comes from the noble art of bare knuckle fighting. (That's "noble art" in the sense of fox hunting being "a sport")
In the middle of the area designated for the activity, a mark was scratched on the ground. It was here that the contest began. There were no separate "rounds", the fighting was continuous until one competitor was knocked to the ground. He then had a specified time to collect his thoughts and possibly his teeth. If he had not been knocked sensible he would go back "up to the mark". If he remembered some other pressing arrangement or found the supine posture to his liking he would not be "up to scratch".

Two for the price of one, assuming you're a purchaser.

"I was surprised a while ago to read a short piece decrying the ignorance of the young, only to find it was written by an ancient Greek a few thousand years ago. "

What puzzles me is how an elderly Greek geek knew, several thousand years ago, that the youth of today would make such a mess of their native tongue which wasn't then in existence.
Was he a friend of Dr. Who?

plaguesville, thanks for the wonderful explanation.

As for the ancient Greek, he was probably quite 'with it' in his day.

I think it was Plutarch (scratches head). There's something similar here http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/plutarch-education.html

I remember the article myself (if it was the same one). Was it 'The Oldie' or something similar?

Frogbit

Thanks for:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/plutarch-education.html

LOL. That's the most 'Late English Age of Reason' translation of Latin I've ever seen, even though it was probably written after the Romantic Period judging by the Victorian morality imposed on it.

What's presented was hardly written by Plutarch, but by some Brit who fancied hisself a latter day Roman and applied his contemporary values to History and Applied Reason to fleshing out the text.

The sensibilities are so un-Roman and so 'sensible', the syntax so 'encompassing' and reasonable, the 'noblesse' so 'oblige', the morality so 'affected', the logic and rationale propped up, almost 'indignantly', by the prejudices and social credidentials of good taste and breeding...

There would even have been a time when this might have been seen as a parody, if we didn't know just how seriously some of those old vicars took their living. Teach a man Latin and give him a Doctor of Divinity and all manner of bizzare and vicarious wisdom will spew forth. I bet this guy could have turned the Bible into a Mary Stewart adventure serial.

always ready to stir the pot,
always prepared to be wrong,
peace,
jwf

<>

Well, yes, ha-ha-ha and all that. The trouble is everyone noticed your silly rejoinder, and missed the point I was making: it seems that people have been decrying the ignorance of the young for many generations. Since we haven't yet descended into imbecility, it seems reasonable to assume that the observation is mistaken. Less amusing, I admit, but perhaps marginally more useful?

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

Having got that off my chest, I still wonder if TextSpeak is a Good Thing because it encourages quick and easy communication and self-expression, or a Bad Thing because we may lose command of our wonderful language, which requires so much more effort to type. I expect the answer is "a bit of both", or something equally trite.

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

We got your point the first time, Pattern-chaser. It was also the point I was making with my mumbling.

Of course there's nothing wrong with Text Messaging. The cryptic abbreviations serve a very useful purpose there where it is difficult to type the messages and space is at a premium.

Here where there are no limits and we all have proper keyboards, I see no reason to use the abbreviation language such as "C U 2nite". I can type "see you tonight" in less than a second, so I'm not saving much by typing the code which might be mistaken.

You're right. Language does not suffer by people speaking and using it.

Oh no? Ever listened to one of George Bush ( Jnr) 's speeches?

Or virtually any politician.
And then there's the advertising industry.
What would has "Did she shake her Tic Tacs at me?" done for the English language( as opposed to the casual sex culture)?

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Oh, OK. I repeated it because, despite the point I made (twice ), it still seems to *me* that our children are poorly educated, and unable to use English properly. This is so non-intuitive, perhaps I should say it yet again.... No, twice was enough!

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

>>our children are poorly educated, and unable to use English properly

Speak for yourself! My children have a wonderful command of English.

I think that children can only learn good English by hearing it and reading it. Schools teach children to read, but encouragement in the home is the only way to develop their word power. I talk to my children the in the same words that I talk to you lot. I don't used simplified vocabulary, and neither does my wife, so my children have a good grasp of English and its idiosyncracies.

The real way to improve your word power, of course is to read, read, read. My father used to buy me books if they were educational while I had to buy the fiction myself. I don't agree with this. All books are educational, because they all expand the child's vocabulary. But I certainly couldn't afford to buy as many books as my children would like to read!

I'd have thought that the rise of T9 facilities on mobile phones should help see off many of the abbreviations. Additionally, with mobiles having somewhat larger screens now than they did a few years ago, the major incentive to abbreviate in order to make a message that could be easily read should be somewhat diminished.

There's still a limit of 256 characters on an SMS message, I think.

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I'm not convinced that hearing/speaking English has a significant effect.

<<...and reading it. ... The real way to improve your word power, of course is to read, read, read.>>

Yes! Most of the population don't use English well. Everyone *hears* it used, and everyone speaks, but very few read regularly. From this rather flimsy logic, I deduce that reading is the key.

Further to this, those who read are those who derive enjoyment from it. We read to our kids, and brought them up with a fairly extensive library at home, and regular visits to the public library. Now 17 and 20, my sons don't read unless they have to, and the reference books I acquired for their use while in school remain untouched. Like the majority of people, they just don't like reading.

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

My dad always used to buy me books, every birthday and christmas. I loved reading so it was easy for him to encourage me. However, my brother really didn't seem to enjoy it so dad bought him comic annuals, picture books, pop-ups, anything to encourage him to enjoy leafing through something for pleasure. Eventually he read something of mine and realised that he did like books after all. I think it takes perseverence to get some kids interested and it is a shame that schools aren't always backed up by parents in this.

Not that I am saying I have the world's best vocabulary although it is probably above average and I do look up words I don't know when I come across them

Sometimes it is best to use an informal style of communication, I don't think it pays to be too stuffy about language. I do like to see whole sentences though.

k

Yesterday I was on a bus. Not an unusual thing, but as it was a routemaster (one of those classic london buses with the platform you can jump on at the back) it was quite old. Half way through the journey home the bus came to a stop and the cry went up of all change. my thought was oh boy the engine has conked out.
Where does conked out come from? The game of conkers where when you have smashed your opponents (or had your own conker smashed).

I thought the abbreviations (who asked why that was such a long word?) were because of the keypad, not screen-size.

Apparently, in Afro-American slang, to 'conk' one's hair is to straighten it. Elsewhere, conk is slag for the head.

So conking (or is that konking) one's hair would be the opposite of kinking it?