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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004And wih that...
Have you noticed that the Q&A period at press conferences always starts by someone announcing, "And with that, we'll take your questions"? It's becoming as annoying as "At the end of the day", or "In terms of", or "Coming up Next". But my question is, why is it that every question has to be preceded by "My question is..." or something similar? Bob G >Have you noticed that the Q&A period at press conferences always starts by >someone announcing, "And with that, we'll take your questions"? > >It's becoming as annoying as "At the end of the day", or "In terms of", or >"Coming up Next". That must have been irritating people forty years ago, because it was dealt with in the "Round the Horne". "And with that ... oh, no, it must have been with this, because the end's fallen off that one."  SignatureDon Aitken Mail to the addresses given in the headers is no longer being read. To mail me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com". > But my question is, why is it that every question has to be preceded by "My > question is..." or something similar? Some people--sometimes it seems like the majority of people, especially men--asking questions from the floor have to start by giving an oration. When they finally get around to asking the question, or are pushed to it by the moderator, it would be natural to preface the quention with, "My question is..." I can only suppose that people who don't begin with an oration picked up this habit from those who do. SignatureJohn Varela (Trade "OLD" lamps for "NEW" for email.) I apologize for munging the address but the spam is too much. Bob G filted: >Have you noticed that the Q&A period at press conferences always starts by >someone announcing, "And with that, we'll take your questions"? > >It's becoming as annoying as "At the end of the day", or "In terms of", or >"Coming up Next". Bob Newhart once observed that it's important to provide transitions between unrelated topics...after telling a story about watching a John Wayne movie, he found himself wanting to talk about airplanes, and couldn't see any way to go from the one subject to the other...finally, he muttered something about there being a scene in each of Wayne's war movies showing a fight between airplanes, took a deep breath, and started anew: "Speaking of airplanes--".... Some time after I heard this, I heard an announcer describe the general-purpose segue between unrelated topics, which was then becoming popular on news shows: "now this"....r > Bob G filted: >> [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > general-purpose segue between unrelated topics, which was then > becoming popular on news shows: "now this"....r And of course there's Monty Python's "And now for something completely different...." Speaking of pythons... SignatureOpus the Penguin (that's my real email addy) You snipped my sig! In article <20040106143904.15561.00002399@mb-m12.aol.com>, bobjames27@aol.com (Bob G) posted: > Have you noticed that the Q&A period at press conferences always starts by > someone announcing, "And with that, we'll take your questions"? [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Bob G Another frequent annoyance: "That said, . . ." Jai Maharaj http://www.mantra.com/jai Om Shanti > In article <20040106143904.15561.00002399@mb-m12.aol.com>, > bobjames27@aol.com (Bob G) posted: [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > http://www.mantra.com/jai > Om Shanti Or, in New York, there's the ever-popular, "...so, anyway..." NMS In article <a8f80314.0401071716.4639884d@posting.google.com>, nmstevens@msn.com (nmstevens) posted: >> In article <20040106143904.15561.00002399@mb-m12.aol.com>, >> bobjames27@aol.com (Bob G) posted: [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >>> "My question is..." or something similar? >>> Bob G >> Another frequent annoyance: "That said, . . ." >> Jai Maharaj > Or, in New York, there's the ever-popular, "...so, anyway..." > NMS More: "Having said that, . . ." "In any case, . . ." Jai Maharaj http://www.mantra.com/jai Om Shanti > Or, in New York, there's the ever-popular, "...so, anyway..." I'm back reading Stephen King's book, ON WRITING. He uses some of these same phrases as ones to avoid. Still, I sort of understand in conversation "...so, anyway..." It means that what I've already said has gone on and on and we both know it, BUT I'm letting you know that we both know it and I'm continuing... It has it's place. So basically, it means, "I'm being a ditz for a second so bear with me." It's human. I love King's book. I'm half-way through. Got waylaid by Christmas, my own lack of attention span, and a dear relative's illness. He (King) says that anyone who uses "That's so cool" should just go die right now. I'm guilty. I still write like I talk. He also says that writing is "refined thinking." So I think that writing dialogue is refined thinking redefined. I think he (King) handled the part on substance abuse very well. I feel like he told the truth. Hard to do sometimes. In my opinion the best writing just tells and lets everyone else judge. Just one more story on "passive voice." My sister-in-law teaches writing at a university and she (many years ago) gave me a lesson in passive voice as in "don't use it." We were talking outside at a family gathering while the other women cleaned up the kitchen after a huge dinner. Another sister-in-law came out and asked how we were doing, and the college professor sister-in-law asked, "Did the kitchen get cleaned up?" It has its place. |
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