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

Harpo Marx may have been pedantic - consider that he was in hospital and a nurse approached him with a thermometer saying, 'I want to see if you have a temperature.' Harpo said, 'But, everybody has a temperature.'

I like the Marx brothers little quotes.

Drives me insane. I hate that word and my little boy says it all the time! What's wrong with taking the extra millisecond to say Thank You?

In Hebrew, quite like in Spanish, there's a difference between male and female in the way you say or write a word. For example Nino and Nina (Male Child, Female Child). So many people get so many words wrong, even though it's their native language, it's just appalling!
And we also have the custome of asking for a cup of sugar, and the purpose is just as you suspect, Az- next time I need something, my neighbour would happily give it to me. Of course, it's also a way of saying hello and introducing yourself, but that's not the main idea.

I haven't heard in a long time. If I want to say 'Thank you' quickly, I say 'Thanks'.

Ways of saying 'Goodbye' get me, sometimes. Things like 'Cheers', which I guess derives from 'Cheerio'. What's wrong with 'Goodbye', or even just 'Bye'. 'See you later' also bugs me when it's from somebody I'm probably never going to see again.

'Cheers' as a way of thanking is annoying too.

I always used to think of 'cheers' as a very English expression, an expression that I, in spite of my English parents and my constant diet of BBC radio, would not naturally use. But now I hear it frequently here. Strange. I still don't use it. There's no particular reason for that, it just doesn't form part of my vocabulary.

TRiG.

I'm assuming, according to your title, that you live in Ireland?

Traveller in Time on a chair
"Colleague once told a story about the master, leaving the club, called his Cheers, to carry his chair back home. "

A5076614

Cheers, of course! I *hate* being farewelled with "Cheers", somehow it seems so formulaic. Another one I hate is "take care" or "take care of yourself", which always makes me want to ask "what makes you think I am not going to?"

Kinda like "have a nice day", when obviously the wisher is perfectly indifferent as to whether I do or do not!

<>

I have never heard farewell used as a verb before. Apparently this only happens in New Zealand.

http://www.vuw.ac.nz/lals/publications/pdfs/nzej-pdfs/2001-pdfs/Laurie%20Bauer1.pdf

Somehow it just doesn't sound right to me.


az

I've just been on another message board (MS Society) and spotted something that irritates me - 'ect' used instead of 'etc'. The people who do this obviously have no idea of what etc stands for, or they wouldn't do it. Sometimes I can say it's just a typo, but not when the person has done 4 in a row.

Feeling in sympathetic mood - it can be that a typist repeatedly uses the wrong key sequence. If I'm not careful, I frequently misstype 'the' as 'teh'. No excuse for not proof reading or previewing, though!

Confession time - I sometimes use 'cheers' as a farewell verbally & in emails with friends. But I do also hate 'see you later' when it's exceedingly unlikely we'll meet again.

>>'ect' used instead of 'etc'.<<

People pronounce it 'Ek cetera' instead of 'et cetera', which drives me mad.

Not forgetting people who say "axe" when they mean "ask".

RF

Like William Caxton, you mean?

TRiG.

What can I do you for

That's £3.15 for cash

Never heard 'for cash' before...
Calling everyone mate annoys me too. I'm not your friend, and definitely not your mate. Oh, yes, and 'tara!' is used in this part of the world instead of 'bye'. Why? Where does this sound even come from?

Yes, az, that's very common here!
(Farewell as a verb).

'Tara' is a sloppy way of saying 'ta-ta', which my OED says is 'childish or colloquial goodbye (19th c.; origin unknown). The full length OED may recognise 'tara' as a variant, my concise OED doesn't. I used to hear it from time to time, but haven't for years.

Speaking of 'ect' for ek-cetera, it reminds me somehow that I see 'asterick' more frequently than I'd like.

By the way, if 'tara' is childish, then what is 'ta-ta' - grown up?

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