Grammar

I need to rage at someone about the Daily Mail. They had a headline
on page 39 today: Natasha:why I'm bored of motherhood.
I guess it is because 'with' wouldn't fit but it makes me angry, just as people in adverts using 'us' instead of 'we.'
So. I'm a dinosaur, but once a teacher, always a teacher!
oldstick.

It is the Daily Mail!

Surely there is something better to be annoyed about. From plain scaremongering, to hate-mongering, to deliberate misrepresentation of the facts, to be found guilty of contempt of court last week, to character assassination, to classifying every inanimate object into those substances that either cause or cure cancer.

#1 I need to rage at someone about the Daily Mail.

I think that just goes with being human.

Of course there are more important things and I'm sure we all rage against them too but, just as the fact that someone else being run over by a bus doesn't make your toothache any less painful, that's no reason to ignore these stupid yet annoying little things. 'Once a teacher, always a teacher' is so true - until very recently I still carried a piece of chalk everywhere so that I could surreptitiously correct chalkboard menus in restaurants and pubs. You have a welcoming home awaiting you in Pedants' Corner.

#2 andyl - have you heard 'The Fence' by the adorable Tim Minchin? I think you'd like it.

If it was just to make the copy fit, they could have gone with "Natasha: why motherhood bores me". :^)

Or used a different font!

I'm not sure why you can be "tired of" something but not "bored of" it.

(BTW, Fowler's says that "bored by" would be acceptable too, and that would fit the same space as "bored of"...)

On a different tack, I "like" the nonlogic of many public signs (especially traffic signs) which, unpunctuated, present a different scenario than that intended.

For instance: SLOW POLICE conjures up images of Mr Plod minus his boots, and SLOW CHILDREN PLAYING suggests... what?

I'm not of course including in this category signs like HEAVY PLANT CROSSING (which I always think means "Triffids Ahead") as there are no grammar issues implied. At least I don't think so.

#8 I passed one just the other day while with my daughter that said 'SLOW DEER CROSSING'. As she wisely pointed out, 'Maybe if they sped up a bit they wouldn't keep getting run over'.

#8: Ah, so it's not just me then. Every time I see "CYCLISTS DISMOUNT" I think, a few of them do, but most don't.
A few judiciously placed colons would make us all happier!

I'm also bewildered by the ones that say 'USE BOTH LANES' - do they really want me to straddle the line?

#10

All cyclists dismount at some point - they are not wedded (and welded) to their bikes.

Also on that particularly sign it isn't a legally enforceable command. It is merely an advisory sign and one that is often abused by councils and often misunderstood.

For sheer lunacy values see this Cycle Facility of The Month entry.

I've always thought "cyclists dismount" a very inconsiderate instruction. You wouldn't have a sign for motorists saying "get out and push".

#12: LOL. So after you've dismounted following the first sign, you're expected to remount and cycle a couple of metres in order to be able to comply with the second sign, and so on, right?
Ever read The Third Policeman or The Dalkey Archive? The ol' molecule theory could predict a lot of human-cycle hybrids following that sort of thing...

EDIT: #11: No, just weave in and out, perhaps :^)