Hilarity is the immediate response to this story in The Daily Telegraph as we learn that greenie re-usable shopping bags have been found to be contaminated with all sorts of quite unpleasant microorganisms.But, oh dear - one does not want to be a pedant or a killjoy, always harping on about the MSM and its falling standards. But here writes Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor, with this:Tests on shoppers' bags revealed half contained traces of E.coli, a lethal toxin which killed 26 people ...

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You want a good one? Listen to how many people says things like "male species" or "female race". Guaranteed you will hear it once a week if you're paying attention.

It has got so that I cannot listen to the broadcast news ... it irritates me so much. The girlies (of both sexes) really are taking over.

Another small detail, apart from the apostrophe: it's all right, not alright. Amusing article, I thought.
As for broadcasts, I recently heard "the crowd are......." for "the crowd is". I am forever hearing "the family are" instead of "the family is" too. The chickens from the dumbing down of education are coming home to roost.

Hmmmmm ... you are right, sort of - but is that a tad pedantic?



http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/alright


Just asking!

Tests on shoppers' bags revealed half contained traces of E.coli, a lethal toxin which killed 26 people ...


Who do we sue.

Actually the only people that will react to this article, are the very same morons who use the damn things, so it is they who will be driven even further insane with worry.......Imagine thinking yr gonna die of E-Coli before you've saved the planet, from North and Booker!!!!!!

Apologies for putting this here but I heard the end of something on the Today program about some organisation creating an identity register for it's 500 million citizens. If true we now know the reason for ID cars?

Apologies again I know I am being naughty.

"As for broadcasts, I recently heard "the crowd are......." for "the crowd is". I am forever hearing "the family are" instead of "the family is" too. The chickens from the dumbing down of education are coming home to roost."

It is everywhere: "the Labour party are" etc.
Grammar is (are?) obviously a socialist target.

I plead guity here ... I have no end of problems deciding whether the media is or are guilty of getting it wring.

I seem to recall that Mr North had a professional part to play in the aftermath of that outbreak. Is that what initially caught your eye?
As for pedantry I thought it were 21 people who died.

If I were you.....

(Old hangover from the German 'wäre' = would be....one sometimes hears English speaking Germans saying, "If I would be you etc")

Absolutely right ... I'd forgotten! Sheesh!!

"I plead guity here ... I have no end of problems deciding whether the media is or are guilty of getting it wring."

I would think it would be "media are", since media is the plural of medium.

On the other hand, if you think of the media as a single entity, it is an "is".