A rich response to my column last week, which included the complaint by a reader, Glena Chadwick, about “he was sat [rather than sitting] on the grass”. Many respondents pointed out that this was very common in spoken English in the north of England, which I have no trouble in accepting. Where I really do draw the line, as I expect Ms Chadwick does, is when it appears in print.
The week before, I wrote about a dicky TV in our holiday cottage in Cornwall and that the National Trust rep said she would “raise an incident”. This prompted Douglas Fayle to write about his experience with the NT and trying to renew his subscription. After what seems like an enormous kerfuffle, the trust admitted it had made an error and said it would “raise a cheque” in recompense, rather than crediting his account. Adds Mr Fayle: “You have to make your first visit to a bank in over two years in order to pay it in. What a load of nonsense!” What times we live in.
And further to my mention of DHS’s “sortation facility”, Gerwyn Moseley sent me the following: “It reminded me of when I worked for a large American photocopier company (who shall remain nameless, but its name begins with X), at its European HQ. HR proudly informed us that the building had a shop facility, a restaurant facility, a coffee lounge facility and a gym facility.” I think I need a lying down in a darkened room facility after that.
Finally, Caroline Duchet takes Penny Mordaunt to task for: “It makes no sense to take money off of people.” Ms Duchet asks: “Whatever happened to the word from?” Couldn’t agree more.
Jonathan.bouquet@observer.co.uk
• Jonathan Bouquet is an Observer columnist
