Current Affairs

[Onelife]

Sorry, can you please say that again

Made perfect sense to me Barney.......cough, splutter

[oldbluefox]

Sorry, can you please say that again

B****y southerners!!!

[Onelife]

Sorry, can you please say that again

B****y southerners!!!

I can't speak for Barney, Foxy but what can you expect with a borstal education........l hope you haven't offended Stephen

[towny44]

result within 48 hours

Why is it taking so long? I read the other day, and I know not how true it is, that at Dubai airport they are doing blood tests with the results in 10 minutes.

That'll presumably be using the small prick method ... if you pardon the expression

But isn't that the discredited antibody test, or has someone invented a pinprick blood test to replace the swab test?

[Manoverboard]

But isn't that the discredited antibody test, or has someone invented a pinprick blood test to replace the swab test?

I've no idea, I was obviously pee-ing in the wind

[Mervyn and Trish]

result within 48 hours

Why is it taking so long? I read the other day, and I know not how true it is, that at Dubai airport they are doing blood tests with the results in 10 minutes.

This was the full swab test which has to be sent to a lab.

[Onelife]

Why is it taking so long? I read the other day, and I know not how true it is, that at Dubai airport they are doing blood tests with the results in 10 minutes.

That'll presumably be using the small prick method ... if you pardon the expression

But isn't that the discredited antibody test, or has someone invented a pinprick blood test to replace the swab test?

What l can tell you John is that the swab tests throw up a lot of false negatives as was the case with a Nurse ( a cousin of my wife ) who had the swab test which came back negative only for her then to come down with covid...thankfully she is on the mend.

From what she was saying, she felt the way the test was administered was floored due to how the swab test was taken.

[screwy]

It does make you wonder if the tests all these other countries claim to be doing are the real deal.?

[Mervyn and Trish]

That'll presumably be using the small prick method ... if you pardon the expression

But isn't that the discredited antibody test, or has someone invented a pinprick blood test to replace the swab test?

What l can tell you John is that the swab tests throw up a lot of false negatives as was the case with a Nurse ( a cousin of my wife ) who had the swab test which came back negative only for her then to come down with covid...thankfully she is on the mend.

From what she was saying, she felt the way the test was administered was floored due to how the swab test was taken.

Or is it that simply you can test negative one minute and catch the virus hours shortly after? My daughter was negative last Friday. She's been to work in the care home for 36 hours since then. Who knows now?

[Onelife]

But isn't that the discredited antibody test, or has someone invented a pinprick blood test to replace the swab test?

What l can tell you John is that the swab tests throw up a lot of false negatives as was the case with a Nurse ( a cousin of my wife ) who had the swab test which came back negative only for her then to come down with covid...thankfully she is on the mend.

From what she was saying, she felt the way the test was administered was floored due to how the swab test was taken.

Or is it that simply you can test negative one minute and catch the virus hours shortly after? My daughter was negative last Friday. She's been to work in the care home for 36 hours since then. Who knows now?

No reason why that couldn't be the case Sir Merv...but in this Nurses case she was feeling a little of colour prior to the test being administered.

[Onelife]

What l can tell you John is that the swab tests throw up a lot of false negatives as was the case with a Nurse ( a cousin of my wife ) who had the swab test which came back negative only for her then to come down with covid...thankfully she is on the mend.

From what she was saying, she felt the way the test was administered was floored due to how the swab test was taken.

Or is it that simply you can test negative one minute and catch the virus hours shortly after? My daughter was negative last Friday. She's been to work in the care home for 36 hours since then. Who knows now?

No reason why that couldn't be the case Sir Merv...but in this Nurses case she was feeling a little of colour prior to the test being administered.

My wife has just reminded me that this Nurse was saying that as much as 25% of swab test were giving mixed results

[CaroleF]

Every time I hear someone on TV or radio saying, "Less people," I want to shout out, "Fewer!" Blame my English teacher, she would have been horrified. I didn't go to a public school, or even a grammar school, but to a Girls' Secondary Modern school which had an enlightened Headmistress who felt that as there were so few grammar school places in the area some of the girls in her school must be capable of following a grammar school curriculum. I'm talking 1958 when I first went there. We went on to take 'O' levels which was very unusual and, what was incredibly amazing at that time, some some of us went on to take 'A' level. It was unknown for a Secondary Modern school to enter pupils for 'A' level. I've never ceased to be grateful to that Headmistress and to our English teacher who were really responsible for me going on to gain a University Degree and end up as Head of a Junior school before I retired.
Other bugbears, while I'm at it are, 'of' instead of 'have' and 'bored of' instead of 'bored with'. I know in the great scheme of things it might not be considered important but when that is the way someone has been taught it's very difficult to forget it. End of rant!

Carole

[Manoverboard]

I, on the other hand, did go to a Grammar school so was absorbed by a fixation of a need to be ' Grammatically Correct ' at all times, this applied to all languages and not just English. It certainly didn’t bring out the best in me and after bumming around for a while I stumbled almost accidentally into a job that was to prove to be my forte. I owe nothing to that highly acclaimed school given that it seemed to try to suppress creativity and problem solving skills in favour of being a robot who could pass an exam or three. Not being motivated at that time I made no attempt to take the University route ... not that my parents could afford to send me anyway.

[towny44]

Or is it that simply you can test negative one minute and catch the virus hours shortly after? My daughter was negative last Friday. She's been to work in the care home for 36 hours since then. Who knows now?

No reason why that couldn't be the case Sir Merv...but in this Nurses case she was feeling a little of colour prior to the test being administered.

My wife has just reminded me that this Nurse was saying that as much as 25% of swab test were giving mixed results

If that's the case why is it that the medical experts on the daily briefings lead us to believe that these are very accurate, and that's why the finger prick antibody tests, which only had an 80/90% accuracy rate were rejected.

[towny44]

Every time I hear someone on TV or radio saying, "Less people," I want to shout out, "Fewer!" Blame my English teacher, she would have been horrified. I didn't go to a public school, or even a grammar school, but to a Girls' Secondary Modern school which had an enlightened Headmistress who felt that as there were so few grammar school places in the area some of the girls in her school must be capable of following a grammar school curriculum. I'm talking 1958 when I first went there. We went on to take 'O' levels which was very unusual and, what was incredibly amazing at that time, some some of us went on to take 'A' level. It was unknown for a Secondary Modern school to enter pupils for 'A' level. I've never ceased to be grateful to that Headmistress and to our English teacher who were really responsible for me going on to gain a University Degree and end up as Head of a Junior school before I retired.
Other bugbears, while I'm at it are, 'of' instead of 'have' and 'bored of' instead of 'bored with'. I know in the great scheme of things it might not be considered important but when that is the way someone has been taught it's very difficult to forget it. End of rant!

Carole

Carole, I totally agree with you, I have been known to shout in annoyance when I see of used instead of have, sometimes even in the papers, and even in some American novels.

[Onelife]

I'm not contradicting anything that anyone has said but l would just like to throw this in.... the way we speak is often the result of where we are brought up...as you can tell l was brought up in a very posh area with an education to match .... but, let's say you were brought up in the Black Country then presumably you will talk with a black country accent. This doesn't mean you are any less educated or lazy because of how you pronounce words or indeed how you formulate then to discribe the meaning of something......whether they be correct or not.

One should never forget that there are thousands of people who through their own personal cercumstances struggle to grasp how things are pronounced, which is why l always get a bit touchy when l read post such as the ones above, they are the one thing that prevents many people from joining in with forums such as this.

Just read between the lines and don't put too much enphasis on how it is said more on what is meant makes for a more understanding world...me thinks.......less of course you are a teacher then you have no choice in the matter.

[oldbluefox]

I'm not talking about ordinary social conversation, dialects or anything other than those who make a living out of the use of the English language to the masses ie reporters,novelists, newscasters etc. If that is your work I would expect there to be some degree of accuracy in the language you are using. We are often told how highly qualified they are so it is not unreasonable to expect a high standard and I find so many TV reporters in particular are sloppy and they think it doesn't matter. The English language is the tool of their craft and they should be using it properly.
I would expect the rest to talk like wot I do. (Just don't start me off about apostrophes!!!)

[Quizzical Bob]

Less/fewer is A matter of debate and the rules as you describe “arose as an incorrect generalization of a personal preference expressed by a grammarian in 1770.”
Nothing to get upset over.

"According to usage rules, fewer is only to be used when discussing countable things, while less is used for singular mass nouns. For example, you can have fewer ingredients, dollars, people, or puppies, but less salt, money, honesty, or love. If you can count it, go for fewer. If you can't, opt for less".

Not difficult to understand is it unless you are a BBC journalist or stuck in conventions pre 1770?

As I said, it’s controversial and by no means a hard and fast rule of grammar.

[Quizzical Bob]

No reason why that couldn't be the case Sir Merv...but in this Nurses case she was feeling a little of colour prior to the test being administered.

My wife has just reminded me that this Nurse was saying that as much as 25% of swab test were giving mixed results

If that's the case why is it that the medical experts on the daily briefings lead us to believe that these are very accurate, and that's why the finger prick antibody tests, which only had an 80/90% accuracy rate were rejected.

That test is finger-prickin’ good.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Less/fewer is A matter of debate and the rules as you describe “arose as an incorrect generalization of a personal preference expressed by a grammarian in 1770.”
Nothing to get upset over.

"According to usage rules, fewer is only to be used when discussing countable things, while less is used for singular mass nouns. For example, you can have fewer ingredients, dollars, people, or puppies, but less salt, money, honesty, or love. If you can count it, go for fewer. If you can't, opt for less".

Not difficult to understand is it unless you are a BBC journalist or stuck in conventions pre 1770?

As I said, it’s controversial and by no means a hard and fast rule of grammar.

The BBC's website says 'Fewer should be used when you are talking about items that can be counted individually, for example, "fewer than 10 apples". Less is correct when quantities cannot be individually counted in that case, e.g. "I would like less water". ' Maybe they should read their own site!

[Onelife]

I'm not talking about ordinary social conversation, dialects or anything other than those who make a living out of the use of the English language to the masses ie reporters,novelists, newscasters etc. If that is your work I would expect there to be some degree of accuracy in the language you are using. We are often told how highly qualified they are so it is not unreasonable to expect a high standard and I find so many TV reporters in particular are sloppy and they think it doesn't matter. The English language is the tool of their craft and they should be using it properly.
I would expect the rest to talk like wot I do. (Just don't start me off about apostrophes!!!)

Apologies.......l accept that my responses digressed away from the subject base you and others were making.

I would however chip in with......Even those with good educational backgrounds holding down jobs in the media and such are still not void of having the personal circumstances that can allow for the odd verbal/ spelling/ grammar mistake.

[oldbluefox]

No need to apologise and I accept the odd slip up from our media friends but making the same errors over and over again? Maybe I have been listening to Richard Dimbleby too much!!! Perhaps they should too!!!

[david63]

One point to remember is that the use of the English language evolves over time and whilst many of the purists do not approve there is the school of thought that says as long as you can understand what is meant then it should not matter.

However when you are writing an academic, technical or legal document then the correct use of the English language is paramount.

[Stephen]

Sorry, can you please say that again

B****y southerners!!!

Steady on Foxy old chap.

[oldbluefox]

One point to remember is that the use of the English language evolves over time and whilst many of the purists do not approve there is the school of thought that says as long as you can understand what is meant then it should not matter.

You mean like this?
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.