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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.”

Malone Tyke et al

Much as I like CBUAU, I fear it may never catch on, but it occurred to me that there may be another organisation with that acronym. After some research I found the phone number of the Confederation of British Universities Accepting Unicorns. I spoke to the Admissions officer, Ewan Yew.

I told him about our efforts and he was rather pleased, but said, “It has been a worrying few days for universities and unicorns. Numbers of A* have reduced to er…U for many unicorns, which is inappropriate or appropriate, depending how you look at it. We have taken the decision to accept all unicorns whatever their grades, and it is great to have the support of another CBUAU in our efforts to get financial support from the Government.”