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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009The end of Butt Hole Road
The residents can now avoid the humiliation of living in Butt Hole Road, following a change of address to the apostropheless Archers Way, an allusion to a nearby medieval castle: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1187773/Residents-Butt-Hole-Road-club-ch ange-streets-unfortunate-name.html  SignatureJames > The residents can now avoid the humiliation of living in Butt > Hole Road, following a change of address to the apostropheless > Archers Way, an allusion to a nearby medieval castle: > > http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1187773/Residents-Butt-Hole-Road-club-ch ange-streets-unfortunate-name.html This is not a productive use of your time, you know... SignatureLaura (emulate St. George for email) Quoth LFS <laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk>, and I quote: >> The residents can now avoid the humiliation of living in Butt >> Hole Road, following a change of address to the apostropheless [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > >This is not a productive use of your time, you know... Words cannot express the sheer drudgery of my work today. I have been forced at short notice to deal with this atrociously written application when I was looking forward to a day on the administration of medieval Shetland and Orkney under the Norwegian kings. It's only AUE that's keeping me alive. SignatureJames > Quoth LFS <laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk>, and I quote: > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > It's only AUE that's keeping me alive. I know the feeling only too well. I should be reading poorly written applications for PhD studentships, not to mention filling out four risk assessment forms on my home working environment. SignatureLaura (emulate St. George for email) >> Quoth LFS <laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk>, and I quote: >> [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >applications for PhD studentships, not to mention filling out four risk >assessment forms on my home working environment. It's posts like this that make me happy to have a week off from administrating academia! SignatureLinz Wet Yorks via Cambridge, York, London and Watford My accent may vary >>> Quoth LFS <laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk>, and I quote: >>> [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > It's posts like this that make me happy to have a week off from > administrating academia! I am happy to report that the applications were not as poorly written as anticipated and the four candidates turned out to be entirely delightful chaps, although the last one confessed at the end that he had been very nervous about meeting me after looking me up on the university website. I was lost for words but my colleagues on the panel found this very funny indeed and assured him that I was much more scary in real life. The risk assessment forms have gone into my "Strange but True" email file. SignatureLaura (emulate St. George for email) > I am happy to report that the applications were not as poorly > written as anticipated and the four candidates turned out to be > entirely delightful chaps, although the last one confessed at the > end that he had been very nervous about meeting me after looking me > up on the university website. I was lost for words Interesting. That's "I was at a loss for words" for me, although it's clear what you meant. Google counts are roughly split, 903,000:604,000 in favor of "at a loss for". The OED cites "lost for words" to 1828 and has an 1858 quotation for "at some loss for words" (although it's under a different headword). Google Books pushes "at a loss for words" back to the eighteenth century: [Attn Jesse Sheidlower: OED missing phrase] I am at a loss for words to express my indignation for the attempt you made on my integrity _A Reply to General Joseph Reed's Remarks_, 1783 [1846 republication] And adepts in the speaking trade Keep a cough by them ready made, Which they succesfully dispense When at a loss for words or sense Charles Churchill, "The Ghost", _The Poetical Works_, 1793 "Lost for words" doesn't show up there until 1829, a year later than the OED has it. SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |"Revolution" has many definitions. 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |From the looks of this, I'd say Palo Alto, CA 94304 |"going around in circles" comes |closest to applying... kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com | Richard M. Hartman (650)857-7572 http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ James Hogg set the following eddies spiralling through the space-time continuum: > Words cannot express the sheer drudgery of my work today. I have > been forced at short notice to deal with this atrociously written > application when I was looking forward to a day on the > administration of medieval Shetland and Orkney under the > Norwegian kings. Had your applicant filled out the form in runes? Signatureξ:) Proud to be curly Interchange the alphabetic letter groups to reply But yesternight: when all athwart there came A post from Wales loaden with heavy news dispatched by Prai Jei <pvstownsend.zyx.abc@ntlworld.com>: >James Hogg set the following eddies spiralling through the space-time >continuum: [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > >Had your applicant filled out the form in runes? I would have accepted anything, even hieroglyphics, in preference to the turgid jargon I had to endure yesterday. SignatureJames > The residents can now avoid the humiliation of living in Butt > Hole Road, following a change of address to the apostropheless > Archers Way, an allusion to a nearby medieval castle: One man's humiliation is another man's NO CARRIER |
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