Answering With So.......

[brainiac]

If there is one thing guaranteed to get my goat (and there are many), it is people on news/current affairs programs answering every question with " So........" there's a guy on Newsnight doing it RIGHT NOW! Aaaaaargh, why did this start about a year ago? It drives me up the wall: I recently watched a meteorologist being interviewed about weather patterns, and he answered 5 out of 7 questions in that way. Other fav bugbears are: pronouncing SIXTH as SIKTH (step forward Jeremy Paxman), pronouncing the letter H as 'haich', pronouncing mischievous as MISCHEEVIOUS, calling the supermarket TESCO'S.....I'd better stop now!

[viv41]

I've just remembered something else I don't like, folk who say 'should of', 'would of' etc etc instead of 'should have' and 'would have' !

[andy-hughes]

Baths - //@andy....it sure is as good thing you won't be watching Celebrity Big Brother.(just a guess ;) ) because I'm sure there'll be plenty of "I'm not being funny, but"s flying about ;) //

I had considered watching this year's shows, so we'll see if you are right.

I do fully expect a few 'I'm not being funny ... BUT ...'s, and I will think of you when I hear them!

[ummmm]

AOG....I absolutely agree with that. The British say sorry a lot. It's not a bad thing though. It's polite.

[andy-hughes]

AOG - //andy-hughes

It's all part of the English make-up, we say "sorry" if someone steps on our foot. //

Absolutely!

It's second only behind saying 'Thank you' for absolutely everything.

Someone holds a door open for you - you walk through it and say 'Thank you' - they say 'Thank you' back - why?????

[Bathsheba]

@andy,....it's worth a glance if only to see David Gest's face, or what remains of it!

Baths
x x

[bednobs]

i hate it when politicians start every answer with "Look ...."

[ummmm]

Lol Bednobs. When my Dad said 'look' (or lookit) we knew it was always the start of an angry sentence.

[-Talbot-]

viv41
I've just remembered something else I don't like, folk who say 'should of', 'would of' etc etc instead of 'should have' and 'would have' !


Wasn't this done to death a few days ago?

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/ChatterBank/Question1466284-5.html
Stargazer
should of, would of, could of etc rather than should have. etc.

[andy-hughes]

Bednobs - //i hate it when politicians start every answer with "Look ...." //

Me too, I find it seriously jarring.

To my ears, it is simply shorthand for 'Now look here ... ' which conveys an instant - and utterly unfounded - sense of superiority, speaking to someone of a lower social class is inferred.

Here is the correct view - after which you need say nothing, because nothing else needs to be said.

The encapsulation of such an attitude was Lady Thatcher's endless patient "Can I just say ..." implying that she is doing you the courtesy of being able to deny her view, and then stating it in a way that brooks no argument whatsoever!

She seemed to regard anyone apart from herself - cabinet colleagues, the press, the public, anyone, as being comparable to an eight-year-old with social skills issues - to be patronised from the greatest height she could muster.

[Cloverjo]

Talking of incessant "Thank you"s. In the supermarket you say thank you when the cashier passes you something heavy, he/she says thank you when you pay, you say thank you again when you get your change and then bye and thank you again from both parties as you leave. It's nice that we're so polite, but I'm not sure other nations do this as much as us.

[ummmm]

Andy...Do you always takes everything so seriously?

[andy-hughes]

ummmm - //Andy...Do you always takes everything so seriously? //

Not at all.

What happens is, something like this crops up, I will rant and pontificate for a few hours, and then I will forget all about it again!

[ummmm]

Jo...my mate is German and my sons mate is Indonesian. Neither understand our thank yous or apologies.

I'm Irish and we're pretty much the same except our thank yous could turn into a whole conversation :-)

[-Talbot-]

So, it intrigues me (a little bit)


''The encapsulation of such an attitude''

How often do you use encapsulation in real life situations, andy?

[ummmm]

Andy...I don't register this stuff in real life unless it's my children speaking it.

[Cloverjo]

Australians often start a sentence with Look! or Listen! It jars to my English ears, but it must seem normal, and not at all patronising, to them.

[Cloverjo]

Ummmm, my son's girlfriend is Russian, and also doesn't get our thanking. She is perfectly lovely and polite, but if you ask her if she wants a drink or something she'll say "Sure" instead of "Yes, please". She has to be nudged to say "Thank you".

[woofgang]

The only one which narks me is “You need to understand”

[Bathsheba]

@ Talbot.....why are you so keen to *** on everyone's chips?

x x

[Hypognosis]

@bednobs

In 'Strine, it's "Awww, look....." or, if it's Shane Warne, "Awww, look, mate,....".

:o)

And the Welsh do not terminate sentences with "look, you", except in un-PC comedy shows, of yesteryear.