Bruin Fisher

There's a word used Stateside that is never, ever, used on this side of the pond: gotten. We just say got. So an American might say "I've gotten my Covid vaccination." Unless, of course, you're the other kind of American... However there's another word which is similar, but the usage is different: forgotten. In British usage, we say "I forgot to get my vaccination" but "I have forgotten when I had my vaccination". Never "I have forgot when..." How does that compare with US usage? I ask because I'm reading a book set in the England of 1948, by a US author. It's brilliantly written, she doesn't put a foot wrong with British usage - until I came across this: ..."as if he might have otherwise forgot how he lost his father." In British English that should have been 'forgotten' and I rather think in US English too. I wonder if the author is aware of the British got/gotten and assumed the same would apply to forgot/forgotten.

I do like it when the salesman demonstrates his product!

` Well it's a long time ago, I expect I went for lunch, probably a cheeseburger, and often gave in to my sweet tooth's craving for the doughnut concoction too. Whether I ever, or often, skipped the savoury course altogether and went straight to dessert, I couldn't possibly say...

In my early 20's I worked for a while in the centre of the city, and there was a Wimpy bar. It was frequented at lunchtimes by office workers - and for a while by me. The proprietress got it into her head that my name was Roger (it isn't) and began greeting me across the restaurant when I arrived, in a loud voice 'Hello Roger!' which was no doubt intended to be welcoming and friendly but in fact I found it embarrassing and eventually stopped going. Which was a pity. They used to do a ring doughnut with a dollop of ice-cream, chocolate sauce and crushed nuts that I was very fond of. I wonder if it's still there?

Good question! Some time ago I was part of a grouping where participants were using the word Rostrum to describe the furniture behind which a speaker stands, and which carries his notes and perhaps a microphone. I looked it up and discovered this usage is wrong. the Rostrum is the raised platform on which the speaker stands. The furniture in front of him is a Lectern. The only use of Podium that I'm aware of is in sports where the winners stand on a podium to be presented with their medals. I rather imagine Rostrum and Podium are interchangeable.

Amazing. Dystopia writ large. And a very real threat, of a future that we might live to see if governments continue to stick their heads in the sand as they are wont to do. Bravo Camy.

I just read the whole thing at one sitting. A lovely story, thank you Alan.

I lived for some years in Jordan as a child and it was lovely to read this story set in familiar locations. Thank you Joe!

How did you do?

A very sweet story.

My favourite of Amy Lane's books is The Bells of Times Square. Also Freckles is great. I haven't read The Mastermind.... yet...

How did I miss these? They're great! Not sure about No.3, I worry about Emus being hunted to extinction...

Yup. Great story, perfect ending.

As Sean Connery might have said: “Underpantsh should be Shilk, and not Shatin.”

New Undies I do like wearing new ones - I like to feel them on. I like the way they hold me So snugly round my dong. I choose the softest fabric, So gentle on my skin. They’re cut to cup my tackle And hold them safely in. I wear them out in public The people unaware: If they knew how I’m feeling Well, they’d all just stop and stare. In private I can risk it, I strip down, in the nude, And walk around protruberant, Lascivious, and lewd. I wriggle into them again My stiffy ridge is clear. It peeps above the waistband, Just like ‘Kilroy woz ‘ere.’

Name your price, guys, it's pay day!

Glad you liked it, Jason!

Algy's Dream It's a long time since I've read this delightful short story, so I was pleased to see it in Dude's Picks. It's a great, uplifting, coming-of-age story set in the British Boarding School world that's very familiar to me. Highly recommended. (The Story, not the Boarding School...)

😄 I was only using that sentence as an illustration of the usage of the word 'proven'. I should have put 'Darwin's' in place of 'The' at the beginning.

Thank you Camy, that's amazing. I've known that poem since studying it at school, but always found it difficult. Michael Sheen brought it to life, made its meaning evident, even obvious.

No it's not your fault, it's my fault. Everything's my fault - the cat told me so.

In the US, the mail is delivered by the US Postal Service. In the UK, the post is delivered by Royal Mail.

Amazing, so true to life. Or at least true to my life...

(It turns out that both vagueries and vagaries are real words, with similar meanings, so that both, or either, are appropriate for the title of this thread!) It's amazing that sometimes the most peculiar spelling or pronunciation conventions can be so entrenched that I don't even notice them. I only recently noticed how strange is the verb prove. A scientist must prove her theory, a prosecuting counsel must prove the guilt of the defendant, bread dough is left to prove overnight. In British English it's pronounced so that the o sounds like the oo in food. It gets odder: the past participle is not proved, it's proven - and this time the o sounds normally, like owe. "Case not proven!" barked the judge. The theory of Evolution has still not been proven after a hundred years of acceptance. And there's a noun form the word, too, which is proof. And suddenly we have two o's so that the oo sound makes sense, but now the v has changed to an f. Language never ceases to fascinate.