Monday, February 28, 2005

Addenda

[1] Typo of the week: a member of the public (i.e. one of the unwashed masses) wrote to the PM asking him to "tamper justice with kindness".

My other favourite is something I found in a government report, explaining that the Government must "exercise a judgemental call".

Incidentally, my department just bought everyone a grammar book (Plain Words by Ernest Gowers) before we degenerated from incoherence into a complete and entire illiteracy.

[2] You know the Robert Herrick poem that starts "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may"? It's called "To a Virgin, to make the most of time" or some suchlike. They do this thing in my office where everytime you start your computer, a powerpoint slide pops up with reminders, exhortations, warnings, grammar tips (forsooth), and cheery inspirational messages. A couple of days ago it was the Herrick poem.