Binocular or binoculars?

[Mr Spock]

18 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

English grammar is "you and I". It is the Americans that suggest that "me and you" is correct.

It's a really bad corruption. Think of the subject, you, then add another. For example:

"I am reading this thread"

"You and I are reading this thread"

It isn't difficult to get right or understand the origin. "Me and you" is simply another abomination the Americans have to answer for 😜

[Stu]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

Ah, but do you wear them outside your trousers, Stu? 😊

Only at the weekends Jeremy, when observing with my binoculars 😜😂

[Macavity]

So not... <Sings>"Me and You and a Dog named Boo" then? I feel crushed! 🥳

I remember, when it was first discovered that my eyesight was not "20-20"...
Including a visit to the local "Eye Hospital" (I also used to get conjunctivitis).
The Consultants... consulted: "Hmmm... I think we'll give the Lad a GLASS"! 🤔

As we left, Dad asked: "What's wrong"? "Dad, I don't WANT a Monacle"!!! 🧐


 

Edited August 27, 2022 by Macavity

[wimvb]

2 hours ago, F15Rules said:

I recall that about 20 years ago we hosted 3 young men of c 19-21 from Texas for a few days. They were part of a choir and I'll never forget the rendition one morning by one of them, on our patio, of The Star Spangled Banner..made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up! Amazing voices!

Anyway, we got chatting about how they loved our accent, so I asked if they'd like to learn how to greet a stranger in the accent of our Royal Family (most Yanks seem fascinated by the Royals🤔).

Of course, they said something like "Yes Sir, that would be real neat!!" (so polite, they were..😂)..

So I said, "I'll ask you 3 questions, and you just speak out loud the answers"..

Q1. What do we breathe in to our lungs?

A1 - "air"

Q2. What do most of us have on our head?

A2 - "hair"

Q3. What do you call a Fox's shelter?

A3 - "lair"

I then said.."Correct!! Now speak your 3 answers slowly out loud to hear exactly how the Queen would greet a stranger".. (go on, do it!!)...

Sorry..😂 

Dave

To paraphrase @Alan White

"In the UK you have a flippant sense of humour, often missed by those who speak the language but not a native."

In other words: you lost me there, Dave

Edited August 27, 2022 by wimvb

[wimvb]

2 hours ago, Knighty2112 said:

..., else we would all still be talking the stilted English of yesteryear.

Worse:

Hwæt. We Gardena in geardagum,

þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,

hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.

Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,

monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah,

egsode eorlas. Syððan ærest wearð

feasceaft funden, he þæs frofre gebad,

weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah,

oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra

ofer hronrade hyran scolde,

gomban gyldan. þæt wæs god cyning.

Edited August 27, 2022 by wimvb

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Mr Spock said:

It's a really bad corruption. Think of the subject, you, then add another. For example:

"I am reading this thread"

"You and I are reading this thread"

It isn't difficult to get right or understand the origin. "Me and you" is simply another abomination the Americans have to answer for 😜

Unless of course you would only say me, then it’s you and me.

eg ‘it looks like it’s just me at this party’, ‘it looks like it’s just you and me at this party’. In this case ‘you and I’ would be wrong.

[Pixies]

6 minutes ago, Stu said:

Unless of course you would only say me, then it’s you and me.

eg ‘it looks like it’s just me at this party’, ‘it looks like it’s just you and me at this party’. In this case ‘you and I’ would be wrong.

Don't get me started on the Doors' "Touch Me"

Now, I'm going to love you
'Til the heavens stop the rain
I'm going to love you
'Til the stars fall from the sky
For you and I

I love the song, but that line makes me wince.

[cajen2]

It always makes me laugh when people who imagine they're using correct grammar say things like " between you and I". "Between" is a preposition and like all such words, is followed by an object pronoun ("for me" / "to me", etc.). So "between you and me" is ALWAYS correct.

Just saying....😉

[Stu]

4 minutes ago, Pixies said:

Til the stars fall from the sky
For you and I

Should have been...

‘Til the stars fall to the sea,

For you and me’

Should have been a song writer 😂😂

[F15Rules]

1 hour ago, wimvb said:

To paraphrase @Alan White

"In the UK you have a flippant sense of humour, often missed by those who speak the language but not a native."

In other words: you lost me there, Dave

No problem, wimvb..

It's simply a play on the "posh" (upper class/old fashioned) way of speaking which the Queen, when greeting someone, might sound like "Air, hairlair".. when ordinary folk would say 'Oh, Hello.."..

Capisce??😂

Dave

[DaveL59]

14 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

No problem, wimvb..

It's simply a play on the "posh" (upper class/old fashioned) way of speaking which the Queen, when greeting someone, might sound like "Air, hairlair".. when ordinary folk would say 'Oh, Hello.."..

Capisce??😂

Dave

heard similar way back too tho using hell instead of hair and air instead of lair

Edited August 27, 2022 by DaveL59

[StevieDvd]

Well just be careful if a friend says "Let's go meteor spotting I'll bring a pair of binoculars."😄

 

[Stu]

Looks like Louis Armstrong got it right, if the other way around 👍

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

It's a really bad corruption. Think of the subject, you, then add another. For example:

"I am reading this thread"

"You and I are reading this thread"

It isn't difficult to get right or understand the origin. "Me and you" is simply another abomination the Americans have to answer for 😜

This American say you and I

[JeremyS]

3 hours ago, Stu said:

Only at the weekends Jeremy, when observing with my binoculars 😜😂

This must have been a weekend recce then, Stu

[Zermelo]

"Me and the elephant, we still remember you ...."

I'm not sure that popular music lyricists ever saw themselves as guardians of the language

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Coming from a city famous for spawning accomplished writers, poets, song writers and politicians who all have managed to simultaneously celebrate, juggle and mangle the English language, I don't really care about the intricasies of grammar. The message is more important.

In a conversational context, binoculars, binocular, a pair of binoculars, binocs and binos are all the same thing to the receiver of the words whether or not they happen to wince at their 'incorrect' use.

Edited August 27, 2022 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[Mr Spock]

20 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

The message is more important.

Until grammar and spelling become so corrupt the message is lost.

[Mr Spock]

Binocular or binoculars - at least we don't call them spyglasses 🤣

[StevieDvd]

11 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Until grammar and spelling become so corrupt the message is lost.

By then we'll need a universal translator, like the Star Trek one where even their lips match the words in English.

[Zeta Reticulan]

20 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Until grammar and spelling become so corrupt the message is lost.

Hence why it is basically a convention. Otherwise we'd all be paddling up the smelly narrow sheltered waterway without a suitable rowing implement. 

[Zeta Reticulan]

12 minutes ago, StevieDvd said:

By then we'll need a universal translator, like the Star Trek one where even their lips match the words in English.

I've always wanted to learn Clangon.

 

[Stu]

Perhaps I should just finish by saying, ‘I’d like to buy you and I a pair of binocular’, just to get it completely wrong!

[Alan White]

45 minutes ago, Stu said:

Perhaps I should just finish by saying, ‘I’d like to buy you and I a pair of binocular’, just to get it completely wrong!

Thanks @Stu, most kind of you to do so, stabilised ones OK? 😉   


 

[Stu]

16 minutes ago, Alan White said:

Thanks @Stu, most kind of you to do so, stabilised ones OK? 😉   


 

I didn’t think that through properly did I! 😜😂