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Mike_P's bio
Retired from various teaching roles. Would like to join a group of amateur chamber music enthusiasts. My main instrument is clarinet but I have just taken up the trumpet. Are there any other elderly beginner brass or woodwind players out there who would welcome the chance to play with others. Alternatively are there groups out there who meet to listen to & discuss classical music and / or jazz? -
Mike_P's latest comments
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6th Aug 2021Mike_P commented on:
Words and phrases coined by William ShakespeareKes, Y'now like, but...I kinda agree wiv ye, y'know wha.. ah mean, like! I empathise with your feelings for 'like'. My particular irritation is with the use of the glottal stop. This practice, common to Estuary English of the South East, seems to be creeping up the country. The lack of a crisply enunciated 't' has infected all regional tongues. But, as we know, language is forever evolving organically. (with a helping hand from TV programmes like East Enders!). In one hundred years or so, I doubt that rules of sentence construction will be taught. Pronunciation, too, will be a postmodern mishmash. And yet.... I fear that the likes of us, who were around a century ago, would have had similar irritations, as their perceived 'golden age of language usage' was then being subjected to 'modern' abuse. Hey ho! Instead of becoming too irritated and snarling at the screen, I have turned to my mimicry skills. I now just laughingly repeat that which has been mutilated by some young tongue (and quite a few old tongues too!) Keep smiling, Yes. ...an' dohnn leh the 'likers' geh yer down, like!ViewDate:
18th Apr 2017Mike_P commented on:
English GrammarAs a former Primary School teacher, I can empathise with those here who lament the apparent increase in the use of non-standard English. However, lately, I find that I’m less inclined to a pedantic insistence on correcting ‘errors’. As we know, language is primarily functional, intent on getting across a message. Because of our socialisation and nostalgic preference for stylistic (considered ‘correct’) usage, we often think that our precious ‘standard English’ is a fixed entity and must not be allowed to wither. But, knowing that spoken and written language is always subject to organic change, I can let go my former frustrations at the blatant non-standard use of the apostrophe or with those who display a happy ignorance of non-countable nouns and insist on ‘less’ rather than ‘fewer’. The Bard of Avon’s double negative tendency helps one to smile at this insistence of we ‘oldies’ on ‘correct English’. If my comments have offended, think but this and all is mended. …That we have but slumbered here …for a while, within our time specific ‘standard English’ period. I suspect that within a few hundred years, the apostrophe will have become redundant. Text speak suggests that meaning is conveyed principally by contextual references. Prhps vwls 2 wll nt b nccsry. The aesthetic value of such developments may not thrill we who once lovingly embraced our irregular past participles, subjunctive moods and verb complements but, the culture will move on without taking any of our admonishments to heart. -
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