Thursday, March 31, 2011

chimney, exclamation, fake





















Doves on a chimney stack at Groombridge Place.

Behind me I hear a young woman exclaim  into a mobile phone, "ohmygod". It is usually young women who invoke a deity in this way.  And they do it all the time. usually accompanied by shrieks or part of a shriek.  It seems to be something new to language and custom. A few years ago, I think to myself, it would have signified a disaster of some kind, a cataclysm. Now it is a reaction a little stronger than "oh dear", which is I suppose, or was a long time ago,  a euphemism for "ohmygod", when it was regarded as blasphemous to take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

A friend uses the word "faux" in an email, this afternoon. Google's instant electronic sieve is quick off the mark. An instant advert appears next to the email window. "Fake Grass 4 Gardeners", it says, "lay back and enjoy".

3 comments:

Lucy said...

That's what I need, bet you don't get many dandelions coming up in that!

Roderick Robinson said...

Ah the old lay/lie puzzle. Clearly some writers resort to eeny-meeny-miny-mo and the odds seem stacked against them.

CC said...

Love Doves.