The year in which elephants bred like rabbits

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Paul Wolff - 04 Jan 2010 18:41 GMT

The Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway has announced the winners of
her 2009 Management Guff Awards. The full article is accessible (today)
from the FT front page, which shows the address www.ft.com/home/uk in my
Firefox address panel, by clicking on Lucy under the masthead word
"FINANCIAL", but I don't know if that works from overseas, and you may
have to register to read the article.

The award for best verbing of a noun went to an Exxon executive who said
that Exxon "might be able to change the industry structure forever and
gap away from competitors".

Most grating use of the preposition "up", in an unsolicited e-mail: "I
wanted to circle up with you to make sure you had received my note
below."

There's more and I won't overquote. I liked the commended Gazprom
company song on YouTube <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGbI87tyr_4>,
with its refrain (English translation):

"Let's drink to you, let's drink to us, let's drink to all that Russian
gas."

Cheers.

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Paul

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Steve Hayes - 05 Jan 2010 00:25 GMT

>Most grating use of the preposition "up", in an unsolicited e-mail: "I
>wanted to circle up with you to make sure you had received my note
>below."

The image that calls to mind is two gliders circling up in a thermal, and
someone in one yelling to the people in the other "Did you get my note?"

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Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

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R H Draney - 05 Jan 2010 01:13 GMT

Steve Hayes filted:

>>Most grating use of the preposition "up", in an unsolicited e-mail: "I
>>wanted to circle up with you to make sure you had received my note
>>below."
>
>The image that calls to mind is two gliders circling up in a thermal, and
>someone in one yelling to the people in the other "Did you get my note?"

Think of the settlers "circling up the wagons" in those old westerns...now we
just have to figure out who, in the original e-mail, played the part of the
marauding Injun band....r

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A pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
An optometrist asks whether you see the glass
more full like this?...or like this?

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Chuck Riggs - 05 Jan 2010 14:30 GMT

<snip>

>The award for best verbing of a noun went to an Exxon executive who said
>that Exxon "might be able to change the industry structure forever and
>gap away from competitors".

Terrific! What is somewhat unusual about this verbing of a noun is
that it is not grating, IMO. I can envisage many applications for "gap
away".

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Regards,

Chuck Riggs,
An American who lives near Dublin, Ireland and usually spells in BrE

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Leslie Danks - 05 Jan 2010 14:43 GMT

> <snip>
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> that it is not grating, IMO. I can envisage many applications for "gap
> away".

Surely this is the traditional cry of triumph from a dentist who has
successfully implanted an artificial tooth.

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Les (BrE)

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Chuck Riggs - 06 Jan 2010 12:16 GMT

>> <snip>
>>
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>Surely this is the traditional cry of triumph from a dentist who has
>successfully implanted an artificial tooth.

Don't remind me.

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Regards,

Chuck Riggs,
An American who lives near Dublin, Ireland and usually spells in BrE

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010

The year in which elephants bred like rabbits