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Orson

That is interesting. I dont go by dictionaries but by what sounds right. To me a train cannot de-rail, it is de-railed by something, so "was de-railed" and "has been de-railed" are correct. I suppose if Chambers says it is Ok, I cannot complain, but I dont like it.

Malone

I am delighted to see from another thread that you are back, and I am very pleased to see you, although we disagree on this point.

Grunger

Thanks, it's good to hear other people's views. I think English is a wonderfully rich, wonderfully varied language, but not all usages will please all of the people! I try to abide by the dictionaries, but I don't always like what I read - this usually applies when I've been wrong. That last refers to my homophone research ... several times I've had my worst fears confirmed by Chambers giving the same pronunciation to words I class as being different.

Malone

Also delighted you are back. Like grunger, I wont be guided by dictionaries but have to, reluctantly, accept them.

Jigjag

Thanks, but I'm not really 'back', I haven't been away! Being 'guided by the dictionaries' means that I am less likely to class things as 'wrong' when they're basically just unwanted and unloved!

Malone

I like that. "Correct but unwanted and unloved"

Thanks, Jigjag. I'm going through a phase just now, a phase of coining phrases. 'Guided by the dictionaries' and 'Correct but unwanted and unloved' could be the start of many....

Malone

Yes and I hope they appear in the next edition of Chambers as they will be in common use by then!

Grunger Jigjag Malone et al

I like your 'Correct but unwanted and unloved' Malone ... perhaps `char` `pi` and `it`, so beloved by setters, (but nowadays rarely spotted apart from in crossword puzzles) should be in this category. I`m sure members can add to the `CBUAU`list.

Thanks, Jigjag and Tyke51.

We now have two missions...

All PU members are to try to insert 'guided by the dictionaries' and 'correct but unwanted and unloved' into as many conversations as possible. It would, of course, be desirable to have these glide effortlessly, virtually unnoticed, into everyday chitchat.

Our second mission is to seek out and hunt down all examples of CBUAU - with a view to making it the Lesser-Spotted CBUAU. Tyke's list made a good start. The only addition I have to offer at the moment is the much-dreaded SA, the close friend of It.

I see that there has been a serious incident in a library north of the border. A furious row broke out about the use of intransitive verbs, and a woman, believed to be a well-known crossword solver, hurled a copy of Chambers at a fellow enthusiast, causing an unfortunate injury.

At a press conference a spokesman for the police said, “We wanted to throw the book at her, literally, but the alleged assailant has been arrested on suspicion of GBD”.

“You mean GBH?” he was asked.

“No, GBD….guided by dictionary.”