Bastille Day came and went this year with nary a mention about it from me. Slipping.
In certain areas, however, I am on solid ground and others are the ones slipping. Take speaking English, for instance. Words that used to be necessary for communicating clearly are often dispensed with in casual conversation nowadays. Here are two examples that set my teeth on edge:
"It was so fun." Really? Adverbs do not modify nouns, people. Say "It was so much fun" instead. "So much fun" is right; "so fun" is wrong.
"It needs to happen sooner than later." Again, a word is needed that has inexplicably disappeared. You should say "It needs to happen sooner rather than later" if you want to make sense, at least in my circles. The word 'rather' provides the difference between speaking Englsh and speaking, well, gibberish.
On another subject, the price of bedroom slippers, I am still the one slipping (no pun intended). A nice pair of comfy bedroom slippers should cost what, $6.99 tops, right? No way, José. The man who foisted My Pillow on an unsuspecting world has now made a television commercial for his company's bedroom slippers that cost a mere $49.98 (gulp) along with the news that this is $90.00 below the regular price (double gulp, followed by a dead faint). If bedroom slippers now cost $139.98 and nobody bats an eye, clearly I am out of touch.
But you probably knew that already.
You're not out of touch. It's just hard to keep up to the crooks.
ReplyDeleteRed, your comment reminded me of an old Mother Goose rhyme:
DeleteThere was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence beside a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat that chased a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house."
So pass my octegenarian days.
Some folks ask for outrageous prices for their stuff.
ReplyDeleteEmma, and it seems to get worse all the time.
DeleteI guess it depends what style of slippers? I w ould expect topay anywhere between $10 and $80
ReplyDeletethats still not $139 though, is it?
"I forgot it at home" drives me crazy but as an American, it's probably normal to you. "I left it at home" or "I forgot it"
kylile, I am not aware of ever having heard "I forgot it at home" before, but I'm sure as can be that people say it.
Delete"So fun" is awful. "Sooner or later" - isn't that an idiom?
ReplyDeleteI bought slippers recently (Dr Keller Moccasins) for about £15 but I like them so much that I immediately sent for a second pair for when the first need replacing.
Tasker, "sooner or later" is fine, nothing wrong with it. It's "sooner than later" that is the problem.
DeleteI don't think I have ever owned two pair/pairs of bedroom slippers at the same time.
As far as I'm aware I've never heard anyone say "...so fun." I hope that I never do hear that.
ReplyDeleteI listened to a diatribe recently about the price a friend had been charged by a tradesman. I asked her if she would have done the job for less to which she answered in the affirmative. When I pointed out that if the tradesman worked a 40 hour week for the hourly rate she suggested would be fair then regardless of all his overheads, sick pay, holiday pay, travelling time etc he would be receiving half the "living wage". The person concerned is a retired teacher with her and her late husband's pensions and other income probably amounting to around £50,000 a year.
The relevance of that? If you pay $7 for a pair of slippers the person in Bangladesh or India or China who made them probably received enough to put one spoon of food in his mouth. The manufacturer, Walmart, the various Governments and all the intermediaries such as the transport companies will have absorbed the rest.
Graham, if you were in the U.S. you would hear it ("so fun") all the time, as well as such atrocities as "Me and him went to the store." We are speaking something but it is not English as I learned it.
DeleteI'm sure if Rachel were still out and about in Blogland she would take you to task for your socialistic views. I still don't want to pay $149.00 for a pair of slippers to pad the pockets of all the middle men between me and the actual maker in China, India, or Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan, formerly India). My own personal protest against today's world of commerce is that I refrain from buying anything that I am conscioudly aware came from China. It accomplishes little, but it makes me feel better.
Rachel is still blogging but she and I fell out although I don't think it was over my centrist (as in moderate) political beliefs. I think we just agreed to differ on those. I notice that she doesn't even follow Adrian these days. Adrian and I have been friends for many years and understand each other (not that I understand what Adrian is talking about most of the time).
DeleteThe last pair of bedroom slippers I bought cost £10 and they were made in England (probably by someone on less than the statutory minimum wage). They are one of a number of pairs which I possess. I keep a pair in my 'hospital bag'.
If I were to refuse to buy anything with a Chinese component then I would almost certainly be living in the dark ages.
Graham, you must not have checked recently. Rachel stopped blogging one day last week and her blog has now been removed. I know she has done this before but she may be serious about it this time as her post seemed particularly bitter. For what reason, I'm not sure. I'm hoping she will return. Time will tell.
DeleteMost of the shirts I see nowadays at my favourite shop say "Made in Honduras" or Mexico or Peru or Indonesia. If I see a label that says "Made in China" I move along. Also, UPC codes 690 through 695 are from the People's Republic of China.
It must have been one of her last few posts that I read. It was a couple of lines. I never comment now even if I pop in to see what she is up to.
Delete