blakeyboy

Oxford Reference state 'Referendums', but say 'referenda' is often used..... I still say 'referenda' is tricky, since it is mainly used by people who think it's simple matter like 'stadium', and think they are showing off......

i always knew the word 'datum' as the first point on a drawing etc that you were happy with, and did all other measurements from there. I never linked it to 'data' for years!!

Ceasar adsum iam forte, "passus sum", sed Antone... "Post toti emul esto", as my father used to say, before I realised that if you moved the spaces, it's 'Post to tie mules to'....:)

damn you Bagerap! Too quick! I was going to suggest I saw them on stage at Filey Butlins in the '80s....

Did you ever know Ken Cox?

Ha! I think this gerundive/gerund plural business is a minefield- agendum, datum...hmm...collective nouns? Oxford has recently spoken- 'referendums' yes, 'referenda' no.... Maths is hard. ...not 'maths are hard'......singular...collective? Mass? The 's' is as misleading at the end as the 's' in 'athletics'...... language is fun, and the rules are loose- quadrasonics, or tetraphonics, fine, but 'quadraphonic' is a bastard child.... Got to dash- I've got to get those jussive subjunctives out of the freezer....

ah- yes- but 'Referendum' isn't second declension....it's a gerund- "The asking of the people", and, by definition, is singular, so 'referenda' never existed, and is used by people who want you to think they know Latin when they don't.... All that glisters.....:-)

Then you shall have first refusal! Whatever that means...!

Yes yes yes!! This afternoon I had a friend reckon that the console I've nearly finished is "pretty unique' and I pressed the button.....!

Yes!! that's what I mean Mike!! Two separate words that don't mean the same thing...why try and combine their usage into 'insure'? Doesn't make sense to me...

best I could do in ten years...accidental find...

Will the coloured ones be more expensive? If so, I can imagine the likes of marleybob and other Ebay trash buying those big sets of Sharpie pens that have lots of different colours!!

oo- what about 'different to', ( so I say "it's similar from" ) and, in Parliament particularly: "we will insure this happens" .....ggrrrr....

If I have to answer that, am I the 'quizzee' ?

ooh yeah! It is second declension, after all, which is what people assume about 'referendum', and come unstuck. 'Referenda' was often used by people who wanted to appeared learned, rather like 'Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well' and 'stuff that dreams are made of' etc..etc....I don't worry any more- language evolves, but when someone talks crap with a smug look on their face I press the button marked 'launch all missiles'....:)

Since the start of Covid, 'data' has been referred to as a plural, strangely, after decades of everyone getting it wrong... 'Referenda' seems to have vanished now, thank heaven, replaced by 'referendums', but remember that we are often not the arbiters of good usage: in US supermarkets one till/checkout is labelled '15 items or fewer', quite correctly, instead of using 'less', and it can easily be argued that 'math' is the correct abbreviation of 'mathematics', and not 'maths'.....

Hmm..saw that....it's tricky - I think the light angle is once again moving the teeth about.....a bit like Ken Dodd's passport photo....

Whaaaat??? And there was me thinking slabbing was a good thing to do and only made money for the coin owner! Brezhnev never told us....

Oh that's really top quality. 10 points.

I have often remarked to certain friends how, in the mid-19th century, people from foreign climes must have come to Britain, and been amazed and astounded at the beautiful works of art that were used as normal everyday coinage. Talk about impressing on the world just how strong a position Britain was in in those days....

You'll have to type in 'Coin looks like Jesus'... I've given up- better things to do- I just keep getting '403 forbidden' all the time... Only One Penny Defaced Coin 1918 Faded Face On Front Of Coin Looks Like Jesus on ebay

I've just noticed that the bi-metal one pound coin is slightly magnetic, whereas the two pound coins I've got lying around aren't.... any idea on what in the alloy causes this? Any members here who have magnetic knowledge as their domain? 😉

Maybe he had the time to do this because it was it was Ferrous Beuller's day off.....