Thursday, January 26, 2006

Oh no! He's off on one of his 3 hour pedantry lectures again

Well, everyone’s got to have a hobby.

Dr John Reid (BA (Hons) History, MA History and PhD economic history, University of Stirling), Secretary of State for Defense, used the word ‘pre-planned’ several times on the radio this evening.

I (grade 3 CSE physics) could forgive him using it once, but he just wouldn’t stop.

Pre-planned, I assume as opposed to post-planned, which seems to be the twatting Labour Party’s position on the environment and renewal energy sources.

If any of you bump into Dr Reid in the course of your lives, please pre-warn him that I am jolly cross with him. Or am I just being pre-preposterous?

12 comments:

DC said...

Was it in connection with our imminent holiday in Afghanistan? If it was then I'd like to know exactly which plan he links was 'pre'.

Vicus Scurra said...

And my friends at BBC online have come up with this headline:
"Epilepsy doctor fit to practise".

Mark Gamon said...

Pre-sumably they're pre-planning now to make up for all the post-planning they did after they woke up and found themselves stuck in Iraq. Oh, and Afghanistan.

Don't blame poor Mr Reid. He only reads the words they put in his hands.

Mark Gamon said...

Oh, alright. Blame him.

Vicus Scurra said...

Just to be clear. I am making a grammatical rather than political point. What does pre-planning mean? Can you plan for anything other than before it happens?
As if I would be so lacking in humility as to criticise our elected leaders. If they want to create global conflict then they have my total support.

Mark Gamon said...

I knew that.

Bob said...

I didn't listen to the interview myself and would therefore merely suggest that he was using "pre-planning" to indicate the actions to be taken *before* planning commences rather than some sort of variation on "planning". I imagine that pre-planning accounts for large numbers of cockups!

Vicus Scurra said...

No Bob, he was just talking bollocks, and mangling the language in the process.
Call me mean-spirited.

dorow - unhappiness about nasal congestion.

Mark Gamon said...

Pre-planning COULD just refer to the coffee and canapes I imagine important people like Mr Reid consuming before they get down to the business of planning.

A bit like apres-ski, only in reverse.

mufua. The mob with a lithp.

Vicus Scurra said...

No Mark, he was just talking bollocks, and mangling the language in the process.
Call me mean-spirited.

Anonymous said...

Methinks that you would have a holiday with a certian member of the American Executive branch that has a notorious record when it comes to grammar, making up words, and generally forming sentences.

Yes, I'm talking about former Vice President Dan "Potatoe" Quayle, who disappeared into another dimension (or just generally left they public spotlight) sometime around 1993.

vcdlbb- New VCR/DVD player cobo that weighs one lb. and can also be used to play Beta tapes.

Anonymous said...

It is quite obvious why people have two nostrils.It's in case one gets blocked upso we can still breathe.