THESE days there are many strange creatures lurking in the verbal undergrowth. The spiky hashtag was once rarely seen or heard.
Now it turns up everywhere, along with hitherto unknown scary beasts such as memes and tropes, which for all I know could be the spawn of slithy toves. Politicians confronted on their watch by the fearsome Brexit are expected to step up to the plate and take it by the horns. Better them than me.
In my day it was more than enough to cope with snafu attacks and the resultant plagues of screaming habdabs. I'm told not to worry as these became extinct years ago. I do hope that's not fake news.
James Sheehan,
43 Inverallan Drive, Bridge of Allan.
THE growing misuse of the word "hurting " should be added to the list of grammatical gaffes highlighted by Norman Brown (Letters, September 12). Perhaps a national word clean-up process could begin with the BBC's highly paid Pointless presenter Alexander Armstrong desisting from his continual use of the phrase of " thank you very much ... indeed ". For a start the “indeed" is redundant whilst usage of any phrase some 12 times-plus on any given programme is not only unprofessional but an irritant to the viewer.
Allan Steele,
22 Forres Avenue, Giffnock.
TO add to the ongoing grammatical discussions in your Letters Pages, what about the constant use of the rather cumbersome word “pleaded” as used constantly on TV, radio and press rather than I think the more modern sharper and descriptive word “pled”?
Alan Stephen,
15 Beechlands Avenue, Glasgow.
IN September 2017 letter writers to your Letters Pages were much exercised by “the split infinitive” and “the dangling (hanging) participle”. This September there has been another outbreak of angst over the misuse of grammatical rules. The objection to the use of "so", to begin a sentence, had me smiling, as I rather like using what is called “the pregnant prefix”. What about the collective noun, the Oxford comma and the apostrophe, to name but a few of the possible pitfalls in English usage? As for "hysteron proteron" – look it up in whichever book of English usage you own.
So (pregnant prefix) perhaps we all need to get out of the house more and crunch some autumn leaves under our feet.
Thelma Edwards,
Old Comrades Hall,
Hume, Kelso.
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