Annual Grammar Rant

Every so often my frustration with people's butchering of the English languauge pushes me over the edge and I take to the blog to vent.
I do not have perfect diction, or a superior command of English, but I do know the difference between correct and incorrect pronunciation of words like:

GOVERNMENT: The surprise being that it has two "N's" and should be pronounced goverNment because governments govern. They don't "gover" as in goverment. This is repeated so widely and incessantly that it's really no wonder people don't know how to say it. I hear it mispronounced every day by newsreaders, politicians, radio announcers etc . I even saw a car with signwriting saying "such and such has goverment funding" recently.
BUT, not content with this butchery, Mr Abbott, our Prime Minister in waiting insists on calling it the "Guvment" leaving out the middle syllable entirely. Between that and his neanderthal policies on the NBN he has no chance of gaining my vote but that's another story. (Sadly, he doesn't appear to need it!)

Talking of leaving out syllables, why do people insist on saying "Probly" when the word is PROB-AB-LY?

SIM-I-LAR-LY I get PAR-TIC-U-LAR-LY annoyed when people REG-U-LAR-LY substititue these words with
"Simarly", "Particuly" and "Reguly".

Now I'm on a roll I have to say IT DRIVES ME MAD  when people say "Austraya" when referring to our nation. The word is AUSTRALIA. It has an "L" in it. Trust me, I've checked. Not that you'd know it if you listen to the vast number of people who leave the "L" out. Again Mr Abbott is a regular offender.

While we're on the subject of missing "L"s, renowned football commentator Bruce McAveney is a chief culprit in another common mispronunciation. The word I know as BRILLIANT is bastardised repeatedly to  
"Bri-yant". No "L"s to be heard. 

Seeing as we're talking about football commentators, another pet peeve is the over-use of the adjective UNBELIEVABLE to describe everything and everyone who does anything remotely impressive. It is the adjective of choice, thus losing both its impact and its meaning.
Consider this selection of alternatives, all or any of which could be used instead of UNBELIEVABLE:
Superb, fantastic, extraordinary, impressive, tremendous, stunning, amazing, terrific, super, awesome, fabulous and excellent. There is no shortage of superlatives to choose from but they remain largely ignored.
I know football commentators aren't renowned for their command of the English language but considering they are paid to talk and we footy fans are thus subject to listening to them, surely they ought to master these basics and correct their annoying mistakes?

A couple more that I hear frequently and which I think have their origins in Britain are MED-I-CINE and PO-LICE but are often mispronounced as "Medcine" and "Plice"with the middle syllables abandoned.

I'm sure there are more, you've probably thought of some yourself, but having vented my frustration I'll put my red pen back in its holster and say good night.

Saturday Morning

It's 7.30am on my day off and I'm out of bed...things can only get better from here.

I am about to leave for Queenscliff to umpire two games of football, U/16 & Colts. It's been COLD the last few days so I've got three layers on and hoping it doesn't rain.

Once my duties are finished I'm heading up to Melbourne to see one of my best mates, and loyal reader, Birchy who is in town for a family event. 8 of us are going to the footy at the MCG tonight, Geelong v Collingwood. Regardless of ladder position or form this is always a BIG game but I'm quietly confident the Cats will win their 6th straight game of the season.

It will be great to see Birchy and catch up on one another's news.

In other news, Spike flew back to WA on Wednesday having been "offered" a job with a mate of his. Hopefully the offer will bear fruit. I'll miss him but he is a restless spirit and I suspect he'll be back and forth across the country for a while. Now who does that remind me of?

Pop is doing well and flying solo at the moment as Vicki has come home. His surgery is booked in for June 13 so I'm heading up to Queensland again on the 11th. We're expecting it to knock him around a fair bit based on the last experience. Vicki and Mrs Holt Press will follow a couple of weeks later.

Oops, out of time, gotta go

A Good Day Ahead

Vicki is coming home today which is good news in three ways:
1. It will be good to see her
2. It means Dad is well enough to look after himself for the next few weeks, the first time he'll be flying solo since he got sick.
and
3. Vicki will get home in time to come to the footy with us tonight: The Geelong v Essendon Blockbuster, with both teams undefeated after 6 rounds. A mate, Neil, is also coming to the game, along with Favourite Daughter and sport Boy. Shuld be a great game, and possibly another nail-biting thriller.

I've just had a couple of days off which was spent umpiring a school footy game, having a follow-up appointment to my recent gastroscopy -with the results coming back all clear- and cutting up firewood.
My love-hate relationship continues with the chainsaw!

Spike is doing better health-wise but is restless so on the "promise" of a job with a mate back in Perth is heading back to WA next week. I will miss him.

Gotta start work in 30 min, 5.56am. adios