On the flight on Friday

[Gromit]

I have a fairly dry, warped sense of humour but one of my favourite types of humour is a good pun.

So on the flight on Friday night, I ended up sitting between 2 complete strangers. The youngish guy to my right struck up a conversation and we ended up talking about great works of literature, the use of the English language and it's deterioration and progressed onto different languages and nationalities. This was all quite interesting and a fairly serious conversation until he said...............

"My ex-wife is Finnish" and before I could even think, this just popped out of my mouth: "Well of course your EX wife if Finnish - she's finnish, kaput, ended, gone that's why she's your ex" And I truly laugh the hardest and loudest at my own jokes (most people don't get puns anyway). I totally folded up and thankfully so did the guy!

FS was horrified that I did that but honestly, it just popped out! I just couldn't help it.

So, what would you have done?

 

[Rocky]

That's pretty funny

 

[shanered6]

id have done exactly the same thing ! ( but a bit courser tthan you )

 

[DaveM]

Lol I would have also cracked up if it were me

 

[DaveB]

I'd....

I'd...

I'd have done my best er
er,


er,


Kimi Raikonen impersonation .



Er.


BTW Gromit: it is not English language and it's deterioration; it is- its deterioration!

 

[Gromit]

BTW Gromit: it is not English language and it's deterioration; it is- its deterioration!

You are 100% correct! It is one of the mistakes I normally complain about too.

 

[devo]

I'd....

I'd...

I'd have done my best er
er,


er,


Kimi Raikonen impersonation .



Er.


BTW Gromit: it is not English language and it's deterioration; it is- its deterioration!

god,,,I hope you dont mark my posts

I'm to lazy to check my punctuation

 

[DaveM]

god,,,I hope you dont mark my posts

I'm to lazy to check my punctuation

 

[DaveB]

It reminds me of an internal memo our Sales Director issued some years ago, complaining that our Sales staff couldn't read and write properly. In the memo the word illiterate was mis-spelled !

So you made a pun out of Finnish- great. Poles can be used in puns as can Czechs, but the best nationality for puns is surely Frogs!

 

[Gromit]

By the way DaveB, I believe 'mis-spelled' is not hyphenated.

I have no doubt that many words may be punned however, this post was not about my penchant for puns it was about the situation and my lack of control of not being able to refrain to voicing what I was thinking to a stranger who could have reacted in a completely different manner.

So you know about the puns made regarding Poles, Czechs and Frogs............... Great.

 

[DaveM]

Well according to the oxforddictionaries it would be "Spell misspell with a double s." just my 2c worth

 

[Gromit]

Well according to the oxforddictionaries it would be "Spell misspell with a double s." just my 2c worth

The past tense would then be: misspelled.

 

[DaveM]

That it would but just thinking about it if you had a biker sitting next to you on the flight we would never be having this conversation in the first place

 

[otherwise]

My 82 year old mother, very old school, reads 3 or 4 books a week and unlike her son can spell and understands grammar. I'm picked up on my incorrect use of words almost every time we talk. I'm OK with that because she's still considerate enough not to do it when in the company of others.
I'm sure that I've made mistakes in the last three sentences but I don't give a toss.

 

[Gromit]

My 82 year old mother, very old school, reads 3 or 4 books a week and unlike her son can spell and understands grammar. I'm picked up on my incorrect use of words almost every time we talk. I'm OK with that because she's still considerate enough not to do it when in the company of others.
I'm sure that I've made mistakes in the last three sentences but I don't give a toss.

Great little story there Otherwise. On "fun" forums etc I'm not too pedantic about spelling and grammar either but when I write business e-mails, opinions etc, then ofcourse I'm very careful and double check everything.

I'm still in contact with my high school English teacher who instilled a love of reading and the English language in me. Thing is, when I speak to her, I STILL call her "Miss Salzwedel" and she STILL corrects me at every opportunity. But I still absolutely adore her and will be forever grateful to her for her very special teaching skills.

 

[otherwise]

Great little story there Otherwise. On "fun" forums etc I'm not too pedantic about spelling and grammar either but when I write business e-mails, opinions etc, then ofcourse I'm very careful and double check everything.

I'm still in contact with my high school English teacher who instilled a love of reading and the English language in me. Thing is, when I speak to her, I STILL call her "Miss Salzwedel" and she STILL corrects me at every opportunity. But I still absolutely adore her and will be forever grateful to her for her very special teaching skills.

My English teacher had "very special teaching skills" also. A cane, it was about 1 mtr long and he was allowed to give six at a time, after a while you become conditioned to it.

 

[DaveM]

when I speak to her, I STILL call her "Miss Salzwedel" and she STILL corrects me at every opportunity. But I still absolutely adore her and will be forever grateful to her for her very special teaching skills.

It is amazing how something like this will stick with you for so long, just shows the type of respect we had for our teachers

 

[Gromit]

Otherwise, there are days when I wish SA would bring back "6 of the best" with that dreaded cane! When I see how some kids behave in school nowadays, I think back to that cane. Being in an all-girl school, we didn't get caned but we did get smacked across the knuckles with one of the old wooden rulers with that strip of metal embedded on one edge - and I got a few whackings indeed.

Dave, this teacher made Shakespear come alive for us and that's not an easy thing to do with some of Shakespear's writings. She was also our Latin teacher - now nothing on earth could make Latin come to life for me but it has served me well over the years and in games of Trivial Pursuit It wasn't so much a respect for her as it was adoration. But teachers had great powers in those days; now their hands are tied by too much legislation. And I had many teachers for whom I had no respect for at all and I've no doubt, the feeling was mutual. I was a sassy brat even back then.

 

[otherwise]

Gromit, you mentioned Latin. My mum still explains things to me and makes Latin references. Most English is over my head so how do you think I go with Latin.
Yesterday my mum's oldest and best friend from her school days flew up from Melbourne to stay for 2 weeks, mum has recently stopped driving so who do you think is running them about (and keeping his mouth shut).

 

[DaveM]