IT is a somewhat ambitious comparison, but I see myself as a resistance fighter.
I confess I don’t own a beret, I don’t report troop movements back to Blighty, and never featured in an episode of ’Allo ’Allo.
But, nevertheless, I wage war on the forces who have occupied our language.
The English-speaking peoples turned their backs for a moment and an army of Americanisms broke through our TV sets and film screens with their weapons of mass mispronunciation. Then they rolled in divisions of incorrect spellings.
And now look where we are.
Most Brits now say loo-tenant (whatever that is) and we all know what lassos, ranches and motels are, whether we need to or not.
I am not alone in my war. Sometimes, people write to the Word On The Words column offering tactical support.
Gillian Machin, from Doncaster, emailed to say: “My pet hates are the insertion of “of” everywhere, e.g. “He got off of the bus”.
“And the mangling of the past tense with the insertion of “would”, e.g. “If I would have known”.
Gillian is right. She is instantly promoted to lieutenant (with the ff sound intact) in the WotW resistance movement.
We shall fight them on the beaches, etc.
Enjoy the convenience of having The Sunday Post delivered as a digital ePaper straight to your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Subscribe for only £5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica.
Subscribe