Re: Thatcher to get State funeral
 

The art of communication Benipete, which is sadly lacking from some people on this forum, is to convey to others what you mean by choosing the right words and compiling them into a sentence that makes sense. The sentence does not have to be grammatically correct, although it would help if it were, to ensure that the correct message was conveyed. Punctuation is not vital although a comma in the wrong place can alter the meaning of a sentence. Correct spelling is not vital either unless the misspelling of a word gives it an entirely different meaning. Not everyone can spell correctly or can be bothered to use a dictionary/spell checker so the reader has to give the writer some latitude.

However according to the Oxford English Dictionary the word APITAME does not exist and in the reading of “No he's the apitame of a Millwall supporter” the reader could rightly assume that it should have been EPITOME if the sentence was to have any discernable meaning. Of course APITAME could be some obscure Amercianism that we mere mortals are not familiar with but it is not listed in Webster’s Dictionary either. I prefer to accept the word of the OED or WD rather than a post in a forum.

Brushing off the furore with “I know what I meant” only serves to confuse the reader even more because we readers do not know what you mean if you do not write your message in a manner that we understand.

Both spellings of patronise/patronize are correct.

On the other hand OCD is a badly constructed acronym, as it does not spell an actual recognised word. What “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder” or “Oxford Classical Dictionary” (which relates to Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome) has to do with anything is beyond me though. Although here we can assume that shakermaker meant the OED – that is the Oxford English Dictionary.

The art of communication Benipete, is to convey your message in the language that the reader/listener is going to understand. Thus the onus is on the speaker/writer to say/write what s/he means rather than the reader/listener having to try and guess what the message is.

You wouldn’t speak in English to a foreigner who has no knowledge of English would you? However being English you would probably shout at the other person or use some weird pidgin English in some vain hope that by doing so, they would understand you.

Re: Thatcher to get State funeral
 

Yeah you tell him jambutty.. bleedin geezer aint usin proper words to say whateva hes on about guv

Re: Thatcher to get State funeral
 

Going down the Frog to the battle:tongueout

Re: Thatcher to get State funeral
 

I meant obsessive-compulsive disorder. Sorry for any confusion.
I get stressed and obsess over misspelled words and terrible punctuation. How hard is it to use a dictionary?
It's the same with those incredibly irritating people who hold their fork with their right hand and knife with their left hand. Why would one do such a thing?! Those are the true terrorists.

Re: Thatcher to get State funeral
 

In what way does the hand you hold you fork with make you a terrorist? I do that.... i also wear my watch on the 'wrong' arm....

anyway.........actually opened this thread to ask if anyone had been invited to join the facebook group 'we'll only pay for a state funeral for Thatcher if she's buried alive' ?

Re: Thatcher to get State funeral
 

I would assume that people who hold their fork in the right hand do so because they are right-handed.

As for the silly group no not been invited to join it, actually beginning to wonder at the mentality of people who open such groups

Re: Thatcher to get State funeral
 

That’s life shakermaker - being incredibly irritated by others. Surely you don’t want the whole world to change to your way of thinking and acting do you?

For your information I have always held the fork in my left hand and knife in my right because that is the way I was taught and I’m right handed. So if some people hold the knife in their left hand and fork in the right it can only mean that they are left handed or trying to be contrary just to annoy you.

Go to any restaurant that has the tables laid out with cutlery, the knives will be on the right. It is convention. But if you ask the waiter to lay the table for left handed people, the waiter will oblige by reversing the cutlery.

It’s called “Live And Let Live”, a concept that seems to be alien to you.

Re: Thatcher to get State funeral
 

Holding a fork in the right hand is yet another Americanism that is finding its way to the rest of the world. At least they are correct when it comes to eating fish. A fish fork has a sort of knife blade incorporated into the utensil so that you cut the fish with the knife bit and use the fork bit to spear the flesh. And there are left and right handed fish forks too.

Whether right or left handed, the yanks will cut up their food (just like babies get their food cut up by mummy), put the knife down and use just the fork in their right hand if they are right handed or vice versa to feed the food into their mouths. It’s a sloppy way of eating a meal from a plate but that’s the way it is. They also tend to lean in to the fork rather than sitting upright and manipulating the fork to the mouth. Of course with the food not properly speared on the fork, like it would have been had a knife and fork been used, it has a tendency to fall into the lap of the eater so that is why yanks lean forward to meet the food en-route to the gob.

This leaves them free to (shock horror!) put their elbows on the table whilst eating.

But none of this really matters any more as table manners are just about a thing of the past except for the “well bred”.

However I must confess that I too have succumbed to the American way of eating because I’m getting lazy in my old age, even if I still sit at the table to eat a meal.

Re: Thatcher to get State funeral
 

Have i missed something, is Maggie dying or something? I mean jesus, lets discuss of disposing the evidence when the time comes eh?

Re: Thatcher to get State funeral
 

Oh, and holding the knife in the left hand and the fork in the right hand doesnt make you a terrorist, just means your Un-civillised

Re: Thatcher to get State funeral
 

I must be really un-civilised then because i never use a knife!

Re: Thatcher to get State funeral
 

Of course I do.

Re: Thatcher to get State funeral
 

Re: Thatcher to get State funeral
 

To drag this back on track, No she shouldn't be given a state funeral. She destroyed the manufacturing base of this country, privatised natural monopolies, ruined the lives of the working class and is utimately responsible for the vast majority of public sector overspends or shoddy work due to them having to put any new work up for bidding.

She made greed seem acceptable. She also made caring an alien concept in government. There is no way this woman deserves any plaudits at all.

Re: Thatcher to get State funeral
 

Thats what most of us think....I cant think why she deserves a state funeral...Just chuck her in the Thames