Another pointless thread

Sounds bad Gareth. Hopefully you have caught it in time so things won't take too long to dry out again.


You know you wanted new carpet upstairs anyway .

Looking forward to next Week - Ascension day Thursday, day off Friday and National Day next Monday. And as 2nd day of Pentecost is also a holiday in Norway, we will have a three-day Week followed by two four-day Weeks (working days, that is). Not bad . Might even find time for some serious Photography

Our friends came back from holiday to a leaking loft cistern, water running down the stairs. That was before Christmas and they are still trying to sort it out now. So commiserations Gareth

Gareth, don't forget to claim for those ruined lenses you were keeping in the bottom of the airing cupboard - hidden for security.

Make sure you check the floors - chipboard will need replacing and also lift boards to ensure the void is dried out too.

My Dad had that once. He was with us for Christmas and the neighbours were supposed to be looking after the house. He flew home, my brother picked him up and took him home to a scene of total disaster. It took months to get the house dry.
I think the shock of it started his final decline. He'd lived in that house for 40 odd years and hated having to move out while the work was done. He was never the same again.
The neighbours only comment was we heard water running but we were busy - it was Christmas after all. Same neighbours he'd had for 40 odd years.

The comment about lenses was not really suggesting "fraud" but to make you think about what else might be damaged - and not found for several months.

You do know that if you are unhappy with the insurance company assessment you can get your own assessor in to review their finding and should be able to charge that to the insurance company.

Is it just me, or is it language day on the here. I was going to say forum, but I'm not sure anymore.

There are quite a few language based postings today and no sign of George.

Forums or fora are both OK, the former correct by usage the latter correct Latin.

K.

Do you find that it is almost impossible to have "no new messages"? As soon as I manage to look at one lot, another lot appears!

K.

Shame the Telegraph & the BBC do not subscribe to my bete noir - Stadiums ( for Stadia ) really does annoy me !!

Tony

shouldn't that be bête noir?

It should be "bête noire".

Neither:

It should be abomination, anathema, bane or bugbear. We need to keep these foreign words out of our language.

Quite right too - the flippin` French haven`t even got a word for Restaurant !!

Tony ( no circumflex on my keyboard )

Interesting concept - English is an amalgam of lots of linguistic influences, complete with vast numbers of "foreign" words. But what constitutes "foreign" - what linguistic root would you consider to be "native"?

Logically, you could argue Cornish/Breton or one of the other celtic languages (Irish or Scots Gaelic/Welsh ) and that Saxon, Norse and Norman French are the languages of subsequent invaders.

The French seem to want to believe their language is pure. Sad really - no language can live in a vacuum as life moves on, new things are created and have to be named/described. If you don't adopt others' words you end up with some quite ridiculous work rounds that serve no purpose other than to pacify the linguistic purists.

Steve