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Curmudgeon Corner

"I'm really liking that".

"Cracking..."

Both popular on certain internet photo forums. They grate, for some reason.
 
"Cracking" seems to belong to another age.

"I say old boy, that was a cracking good round of golf, what-ho!"
 
"Sober October"

Oddly enough, it hasn't raised its ugly head this year. At least, until now.

Perhaps we can pass on 'Dry January' too.
 
eternumviti said:
"Sober October"

Oddly enough, it hasn't raised its ugly head this year. At least, until now.

Perhaps we can pass on 'Dry January' too.
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Do those expressions see you hissing and making the sign of the cross with both index fingers?...and of course, if you can hold out to liver donor December.
 
I've become almost immune to 'train station', which used to really annoy me, and I'm beginning to have to think about whether 'bored with' or 'bored of' is the correct usage. Either my standards are slipping or I'm mellowing in my old age.

Another lingering hate is for the question 'And how did that make you feel?', aimed at someone who's just endured a traumatic experience and who is still visibly upset.
 
I've never had a problem with 'train station', I suppose partly because there is more than one type of station you could conceivably be talking about. Round these parts we have trains, buses and trams. It's arguable that a tram station is a tram stop, not a station, I know, but I think specifying the mode of transport is not unhelpful, so it doesn't grate.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
I've never had a problem with 'train station', I suppose partly because there is more than one type of station you could conceivably be talking about. Round these parts we have trains, buses and trams. It's arguable that a tram station is a tram stop, not a station, I know, but I think specifying the mode of transport is not unhelpful, so it doesn't grate.
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I know what you mean but I am not sure this degree of reasonableness is what is expected from a curmudgeon.
 
Snufkin said:
I know what you mean but I am not sure this degree of reasonableness is what is expected from a curmudgeon.
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Indeed. Irrational dislikes are just that. Don't get me started on brown shoes at weddings.

I'm not sure which is worse; becoming a grumpy old man who complains about everything that's happened in the past 40 or so years, or trying to stay 'hip' and 'down with the kids' even though a) you don't really like their music, clothes or attitude and b) you know, deep inside, that they're laughing at you behind your back.
 
Joe Hutch said:
Don't get me started on brown shoes at weddings.
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Don’t get me started on weddings.
Joe Hutch said:
I'm not sure which is worse; becoming a grumpy old man who complains about everything that's happened in the past 40 or so years, or trying to stay 'hip' and 'down with the kids' even though a) you don't really like their music, clothes or attitude and b) you know, deep inside, that they're laughing at you behind your back.
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The latter.
 
Marchbanks said:
It never sounds right to me either - but I’m not sure why that is, given that I have no problem with ‘bus station’.
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I think, for me at any rate, it's because there were railway stations before there were bus and coach stations, so 'station' is by default a place where trains go, unless qualified by the word 'bus' or 'coach' or 'drinks'.
 
Joe Hutch said:
I think, for me at any rate, it's because there were railway stations before there were bus and coach stations, so 'station' is by default a place where trains go, unless qualified by the word 'bus' or 'coach' or 'drinks'.
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Then there are the stations of the cross but most of these are railway stations now anyway,, Charing Cross for instance.
 
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