Room 101

[taxi4ballet]

I've never thought about that before taxi!

 

In work, as a sort of shorthand, I often used to type x2, x3 etc but only as a shorthand for the word double, triple etc.

 

Sorry for promulgating this horrible habit in my ex-working life!

Ah, written down is fine! 

 

It's when they say it - somehow it sounds all wrong to me  - as in "Same price, but two times bigger". Why don't they say twice as big, or double the size?

[Anna C]

Very random, but along similar lines - adverts proclaiming the price of an item as "only two four nine" or "one nine nine" instead of "two hundred and forty nine pounds". I have no idea why it annoys me so much but it really does.

 

Oh, and another one - Ralph Lauren being paid heaven knows how much to design those awful uniforms for Wimbledon officials. I know they've had to wear them for several years, but every time I see badly cut cream polyester straining over a line judge's tummy, and those dated blue and white striped long sleeved shirts, I think how uncomfortable those outfits must be. Time for another redesign methinks; back to the AELTC colours and designed by someone who has a bit of common sense.

[Melody]

And why Ralph Lauren in the first place? Do they not have designers in Britain or something?

[taxi4ballet]

Very random, but along similar lines - adverts proclaiming the price of an item as "only two four nine" or "one nine nine" instead of "two hundred and forty nine pounds". I have no idea why it annoys me so much but it really does.

Me too!

 

And in a similar vein - the ads for bathrooms where they randomly switch from their normal Southern English pronunciation to a Northern one when saying the word "Bathroom". Why do they do that? It's really puzzling.

[Jacqueline]

2 X is driving me mad at the moment. What's wrong with "twice" or "double", that's what I want to know?

 

There seems to be a rash of television and radio adverts at the moment all extolling the virtues of their products, for instance: "2 X bigger/stronger/cheaper" etc. Unfortunately the voiceover will say "Two-times stronger" or "Two-times bigger" 

 

Honestly, it's like listening to toddlers - what are the advertising companies thinking of?

I quite agree, it is annoying but you hit the nail on the head with 'like listening to toddlers'. I understand an ad has to get the message across in a short time slot, but some of them are so patronising I wonder about the attitude of the company towards the potential customer. Does everything have to be so infantilised? Why can't we aim higher instead of the lowest common denominator? I can picture the power meetings with the execs yelling 'ya gotta spell it out for the plebs!'.

One ad that used to get on my nerves was for products that might lower cholesterol. They were fronted by a celeb who was only saying what she was paid to say but is supposedly known for her high I.Q..

Nevertheless, there she was telling us how this product could help us to 'reduce down' our cholesterol. As opposed to increase up?

Was this tautology deliberate and if so, what was the point? Or was it an assumption we might not know the meaning of 'reduce'. Or was it just plain ignorance of grammar?

You hear this sort of thing 'increasingly more' now, even on programmes where you would expect the presenters to have some grasp of literacy. 

Perhaps we will eventually go full circle and return to the days when speaking properly wasn't considered a character defect.

 

As for Wimbledon, I also agree with comments about the uniforms. It does get very hot on those courts and the uniforms look uncomfortable and frankly, scruffy for such a high end event. It can't be that difficult to come up with a smart but functional outfit, that takes into account weather conditions and different shapes and sizes. 

[porthesia]

24/7 - I cannot stand to see it written or spoken - it is 24 hours a day grr

[alison]

Oh, and another one - Ralph Lauren being paid heaven knows how much to design those awful uniforms for Wimbledon officials. I know they've had to wear them for several years, but every time I see badly cut cream polyester straining over a line judge's tummy, and those dated blue and white striped long sleeved shirts, I think how uncomfortable those outfits must be. Time for another redesign methinks; back to the AELTC colours and designed by someone who has a bit of common sense.

 

I know - I've hated them since they introduced them, and the "straining" part is one of the worst things about them.  Prior to that, the women had viscose (I think) day dresses, which looked much better on just about everyone, even if I didn't like the rather sludgy brown and navy print much, and, I suspect, were a lot more comfortable.

 

Talking about AELTC colours, did you see the French Open, with all the ballkids in those turquoise T-shirts with some website (was it wearetennis.com?) printed all over it?  Very distracting.

[taxi4ballet]

The bottomless pit of never-ending Hell that is the M25 on a hot Friday afternoon.

[Fonty]

The way in which the BBC keeps transferring Wimbledon matches from one channel to another.  I have never, ever understood why they begin a match on BBC2, and after about 30 minutes, or an hour, or when a vital moment in the match has been reached, Sue Barker's voice comes on with the dreaded words, "If you want to continue watching this match, please switch to" and then it is either BBC1 or the dreaded red button.

 

If it is the latter, you switch to the red button, only to be confronted with:

 

1) A different match

2) A different sport entirely

3)  A blank screen.

 

In the meantime, the original channel changes so that we are treated to Sue Barker and Another Tennis Person discussing tomorrow's upcoming matches, or assessing the chances of Andy Murray retaining the trophy.  I want to shout, "Hey,BBC!  See those people in the background playing tennis?  That's what we want to see, not listen to a past champion going on about how it felt to win in 1982"

 

And don't they realise some of us work during the week?  And that we might want to record the matches so that we can watch them in full when we get home? 

 

Now, I appreciate that if the match I want to watch is scheduled to come on second or third on court, then nobody can predict what time it will start.  But when they switch matches that are the first one of the day from one channel to another half way through, there is no excuse at all.

Edited July 9, 2014 by Fonty

[taxi4ballet]

Imagine the uproar if they did it with football!

[Anna C]

Imagine the uproar if they did it with football!

Oh no, the great god football must be appeased by cancelling and rescheduling (at the last minute) all my favourite programmes so that we can watch World Cup matches live regardless of who is playing. This from the same BBC who gave away rights to half the live F1 Grands Prix a year earlier than they had to, so that F1 fans have to rely on highlights if they can't afford or don't want Sky Sports.

[alison]

I sympathise, Fonty, although to be fair the BBC were a bit better this year.  It helped having Murray get knocked out, I suppose, because he (and Henman before him) were usually the only reasons why you'd suddenly find the 6 pm news switched to BBC2 with no notice, except possibly if some major seed looked like being knocked out.  Having said that, I still managed to miss seeing one of Federer's matches because I guessed wrongly which channel it'd be on.  I clearly didn't have a crystal ball, because I thought that 2 seeds, and one multiple-times champion, would be regarded as more important than Nadal easily beating some Australian teenager with a Greek name in straight sets ...

 

Oh, and you missed out 4) The same match you could be watching on BBC2

[2dancersmum]

At least with the football the TV mags and newspapers lists the schedules for if they show the match or don't show the match. Though the powers that be do seem to think all of us worship football. With the tennis you are just settled into watching a match and coverage suddenly stops as that match is swopped to a different channel or not covered at all and I for one would rather watch tennis being played than the presenters having a pre match discussion and watch the players warm up.

[taxi4ballet]

Pre- and post-match punditry definitely deserves its place in a dark recess of Room 101 where they can bore the pants off all the cyclists already in there!

[Anjuli_Bai]

Trying to find serious news reporting - the following pertains to every cable and/or broadcast news show:

 

 

When a "news" program has as a guest an "authority" on an important subject (such as Mideast crisis, or negotiations with Russia/Iran, etc) and the guest's claim to knowledge on the subject is he/she is a local radio talk show host.  Spare me.

 

Women who are supposedly reporting serious news, wearing (barely) very short dresses, very abbreviated on top too, invariably with long blonde hair, seated on high stools,  high heels that look like weapons on feet that don't reach the floor, and spend their time crossing and re-crossing their legs whilst telling me the world is about to explode.  

 

"Breaking News" with all the hoopla that accompanies that only to tell me that some famous Hollywood duo - that I've never heard of and never wish to hear of - is reuniting after breaking up after reuniting and are finally getting married with five of their children accompanying them down the aisle.  And a description of her gown especally cut to reveal her relevant tattoos and oncoming motherhood.  It's not news and I don't care about it.

 

Watching the news while eating breakfast to find out what parts of the world are still intact - and all I get are cereal ads (of course, I'm eating the wrong one) and what medication I should be talking to my doctor about though it is guaranteed to kill me and might make worse whatever it is it purports to cure.

 

And finally - the false banter between "news hosts" showing off bleached teeth that positively gleam in the studio lights, hair that wouldn't move in a hurricane, the men's ears surgically clipped back which makes indentations in the skull, as they try to formulate a complete sentence while the news tape running below them is full of spelling errors.

 

It is not unusual for me to complete my breakfast not one whit wiser about the state of the world - -and have to take on trust that it still exists as my street seems to be intact - so far as I can see.

 

And then there was the 20 something weather reporter, while constantly flicking her long blonde hair, said:  "The sun rose this morning at 5:00 and will continue to do so."

 

Well, at least she was accurate - the sun did continue to rise - thank heaven for small favors.

[Melody]

Al Jazeera America is one of the least awful news sources on TV these days. Also BBC World News America, although that seems to be going a bit more tabloid unfortunately.

[alison]

Try moving to the UK: we're not as bad.  Yet.

[LinMM]

First of all your 10th July post made me laugh out loud in the Apple store here in Brighton Anjuli!!!

At least it's cool in here anyway.

 

 

But a rather sad little story for room 101

On Tuesday was in London walking in St James Park with a friend and meeting up with a lovely balletco member for the first time.....the nice bit of the story!!

We were looking at the lake as you do and noticed a duck with about 6-7 ducklings all swimming along in a nice little group but then a swan with its feathers all puffed out homed in on this little family and pursued them and just wouldn't give up. Eventually the mother got very flustered and bravely tried to go for the swan to stop it following them and still it carried on and then the little ducklings all started to panic and separate and suddenly a seagull.....yes in St. James Park......swooped down and grabbed one of the little ducklings and flew off with it!!

We blamed the swan for this though a real bully on this occasion. I have seen swans go for another swan before but not a little duck and her ducklings I just couldn't understand why in the end.

My partner suggested that they are sort of competing for the same food but then there were loads of other ducks on the lake so why it homed in on this one was a bit of a mystery.

[Fiz]

Oh Lin, that's horri! Swans are bullies and can be dangerous to humans too.

[alison]

Haven't the pelicans also had a go at the smaller residents, too?

[LinMM]

Apparently there were some Pelicans in Regents Park who attacked a pigeon!!

[Anjuli_Bai]

Read in the newspaper today that a British company "ShakeAway" will be opening two shops in San Diego and eventually across the USA.  Apparently San Diego is the test city.

 

So - why is this posted in Room 101?   That's all I needed was another wonderful ice cream/yogurt/shake shop.  Yes, indeedy.....thanks folks....

[AnneMarriott]

Read in the newspaper today that a British company "ShakeAway" will be opening two shops in San Diego and eventually across the USA.  Apparently San Diego is the test city.

 

So - why is this posted in Room 101?   That's all I needed was another wonderful ice cream/yogurt/shake shop.  Yes, indeedy.....thanks folks....

Think of it as a small offering in return for all the burger bars/coffee shops,/pizza parlours etc. that the U.S.A. has sent us ...  and don't despair, most of the British companies that try to crack the U.S. market are sent packing, tail between legs, in pretty short order.

[Jacqueline]

I watched Channel 4 news last night and was dismayed at the coverage of the airline tragedy. What really got me was the presenter's comment about how the Dutch press has been largely restrained in its coverage, preferring to wait until there are some actual facts about what happened. Unfortunately, our own coverage did not see fit to do the same, or even apparently, the irony in mentioning Dutch restraint but showing none of our own.

The reporter then went to the florist that was owned/run by two of the victims, to ask customers, passers by, anybody, how they felt about what had happened. This extended to the man who runs the shop next door, who had agreed to take in his now deceased neighbour's post while they were on holiday.  How did he feel knowing he would never see them again? And other questions along those lines. 

Disgraceful. I would have expected better from Channel 4. 

[Fiz]

I am increasing disgusted by all UK media. It is completely "in your face" and has been for some years. If they don't know something, they make it up. They are blood suckers.

[2dancersmum]

It is true that they do not care what their sources are or where they get information from.  I have been following the story of a little girl called Claudia on Claudia's Cause on facebook.  She has a type of brain cancer and 2 years ago was given only 6 weeks to live.  After pretty gruelling treatment her terminal diagnosis was lifted a few weeks ago and her first child to survive story was picked up by the press worldwide without the family having spoken to anyone - using photos from before her diagnosis as images of how she is now -'cured' - pretty distressing for the family and offering false hope to other sufferers as Claudia's story has been so twisted from reality.

[Fiz]

I had my own brush with the media last year and they distorted and lied about what I had said. Never again. Poor Claudia and her family. Leeches, as I said.

[swanprincess]

I agree, the media really do distort things beyond recognition. At school, I was (albeit briefly) part of a journalism club, writing articles for a local newspaper. I barely recognised my own work when it was published, it had been so edited and changed!!!

[LinMM]

Yes I agree about the tragedy of the plane reporting the interview with the young man next door was excruciating honestly how did they think he felt! Worse when it was obvious he was lost for words they kept the camera on him as he fought back tears. Just no discretion at all.

I do hope they do the humanitarian thing though and remove the bodies to a proper "mortuary" soon rather than leave them all over this field very distressing for relatives that must be too.

 

Swan Princess sorry what happened to your work.....this does happen a lot in journalism though......and especially tv type programmes where editing can create the opposite of the truth as one saw it.

Your generation needs to create a new breed of journalism I feel which when truly at its best can be both truth revealing and humanitarian.

[Melody]

Well, part of the problem is that they do what makes money. If people turned off the TV channel or refused to buy papers that indulge in sensationalist reporting, it'd be more likely to stop.

 

I remember all the agony when Diana Princess of Wales died, and one person was getting really upset about the way the press was hounding her, and then started on about "what am I going to do now? I couldn't get enough of her and now she's gone!" and I was thinking, "well, you're part of the problem, then."

[alison]

I am increasing disgusted by all UK media. It is completely "in your face" and has been for some years. If they don't know something, they make it up. They are blood suckers.

It's been happening for decades, and at all levels, Fiz, although I agree it's worse than ever now. I still remember an old schoolfriend of mine (she was about 8 at the time, I think) who'd gone on some school trip where she'd been introduced to the Queen. I still remember the disgust with which she related what she'd actually said when asked by the local paper what it was like, and how much "creativity" the paper had shown in totally changing her comments because they obviously weren't "interesting" enough.

[alison]

I watched Channel 4 news last night and was dismayed at the coverage of the airline tragedy. What really got me was the presenter's comment about how the Dutch press has been largely restrained in its coverage, preferring to wait until there are some actual facts about what happened. Unfortunately, our own coverage did not see fit to do the same, or even apparently, the irony in mentioning Dutch restraint but showing none of our own.

You only need to look at the front pages of today's papers to see that, I'm afraid

[LinMM]

Yes it's easy to turn off a whole programme or not buy a newspaper if it's too sensational and so on but if you are watching a news report you are not sure when an indiscretion might suddenly come! So one resorts to shouting at the tv instead! If something goes on for long enough then you can decide to turn off or switch over etc.