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

Indeed, pailaway, you're right about the ta-ta thing....

What about silent letters? Gnome, Pneumonia, Knight, Leicester? Where do they come from?

try this for a piece of pedantry..

http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/grammar/archive/silentletters01.html

If I remember my English Language A-Level correctly (I am going back about ten years <seniormoment&gt, some of these 'silent' letters were once pronounced. Some were added at a later date in an attempt to make the language look more Latin. For example, scissors in the original English form doesn't have a 'c'; the 'c' was added during the 18th Century.

Latin was admired as a language with heritage that had solid grammatical laws, and as people began formulating "rules" for English grammar, they naturally turned to Latin.

The 'double negatives cancel each other out' rule also comes from Latin; in common English usage at that time, a double negative such as "I didn't do nothing!" merely reinforced the negative.

From Chips' link, it says that the 'h' is silent in vehicle. Isn't this pronounced in the South in the US? (It was in Smokey and the Bandit). Another Scots influence? It's not pronounced in Scotland though, at least not in the Lowlands.

OK, my posting was badly worded. 'Ta-ta' is defined as childish or colloquial; 'tara' isn't recognised, at least in the Concise OED. I haven't used 'ta-ta' since I was a kid, and even then 'bye-bye' was more common.

Time for Tubby bye-bye, I think!

<> (Rains)

Meanwhile, double negatives are the norm in Spanish, which also stems from Latin. Curious.


az

I always thought it was pronounced "Tat ta".
If you say "Ta ta" out loud it actually sounds quite upper class, or a sauce to go with fish!
.
Another one is "Ta" as in thanks, I think it was in a song too, "Ta very much for the Aintree Iron". Not sure of spelling, was it Lilly The Pink by Scaffold?

Hmm, maybe my recollection was a bit off.... it has been a while and I am at w*rk . I'll try to check that one out .

I do recall that a lot of the rules of grammar as laid down in the 18th Century were taken from Latin - the rule regarding split infinitives was definitely one of them.

Of course, Scots is the only language (I believe) where a double positive makes a negative.

As in, "Aye, right!"

Traveller in Time on a Boolean calculator
"'Yes, sure you will be right.'
It is the sound of the words pronouncing disbelief. "

The song is Called "Thank You Very Much" and is by The Scaffold. Lilly The Pink was a different song.

And it ("Thank You very Much") does not contain the word "ta".

Thank you, and goodnight.

RF

Oooh, loved that song Thank You Very Much when I was a kid - even though I had no idea what the hell they were talking/singing about. Aintree Iron - Noggin has just explained is the Grand National?

Also loved Lilly the Pink. For similar reasons.

az

And yes, it *was* Thank You Very Much for the Aintree Iron - not Ta.

az

'Yes, sure you will be right.' - Is this a triple positive?

"Asterick" - here in France (or rather: there in France), they more often than not say "un astérix" instead of "une astérisque". We hear and see lots of "ect" too.

Moreover, many words which sound like English ones but have different meanings than their counterparts take over the English meaning. For instance: "éventuellement", which means "possibly".

Oh, and another one, regarding apostrophes in French (yes, again. Please accept my apologies): the widely spread "y a-t'il" and analogues (it should be: "y a-t-il" ).

And yet another last one : many people say "je m'excuse" instead of "excusez-moi" or "je vous prie de m'excuser" ("I pardon myself" instead of "please pardon me").

Well, you're all a useless load of pedants!

No-one picked up on my inadvertent lower-case v in the song title "Thank You very Much".

Also, no-one pointed out that the title is, in fact, "Thank U Very Much".

Finally, no-one picked up on the debatable point: whether it was recorded by Scaffold, or The Scaffold.

Now write it out a hundred times before dawn, or I'll cut your balls off.*

RF

* As a pedantic Roman once said.

Ah gwan, I was only about ten when I last heard it . . .

az

On the record label it's written as THE SCAFFOLD.

I think you'll find the typeface is a little different.