This is not a sink.

It is a basin/washbasin or wash-hand basin (UK).

Sinks belong in kitchens, NOT bathrooms

Unless you peel your potatoes there!

WHY DO THE BRITISH EXPECT EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD TO SPEAK ENGLISH?

"Almost two in three Britons are unable to speak a language other than English, in effect the worst record in Europe, a survey for the European Commission has found. Sixty-two per cent of respondents from the United Kingdom admitted they could not speak any language other than their mother tongue.

This compared with an average of 44 per cent across the EU and just 1 per cent in Luxembourg, the top-ranking country.

Only Ireland, with 66 per cent, outdid Britain, but the situation is complicated there because 11 per cent of the population count Irish as their mother tongue - and virtually all of those can also speak English."

(From today's Independent On Sunday)

Here is a list of the numbers of speakers of the principal languages (both native speakers and those using it as a secondary language):

1. Mandarin Chinese (1.12 billion)
2. English (480 million)
3. Spanish (320 million)
4. Russian (285 million)
5. French (265 million)
6. Hindi/Urdu (250 million)
7. Arabic (221 million)
8. Portuguese (188 million)
9. Bengali (185 million)
10. Japanese (133 million)
11. German (109 million)

It looks at first glance as though we should all be learning Mandarin Chinese!

However, most Chinese only communicate with their own countrymen. The principal commercial world language is still English.

Does anyone else find anything wrong with the following?

"Did you know? An essential part of your natural defences are the good bacteria in your gut"

(Voiceover on Actimil advertisement on TV)

Or is it just me being a pedantic old man again?

Feeling hungry?

It looks great, doesn't it?

But it isn't

Our National Dish, I mean.

It was overtaken almost a decade ago by .....

Curry and Rice!

Of course, most of the curries we eat were invented here for the British taste and were unknown in India.

Now things have changed:

"As a stunning trade coup it is as impressive as sending ice cubes to Iceland - the UK's favourite curry is being exported to India and Bangladesh.
A firm favourite of Britain's ever-increasing band of curry lovers, chicken tikka masala is nonetheless an unknown quantity in authentic Indian cuisine.
It was created to cater for the delicate British palate - and now the demands of UK tourists have led hotels in Bombay and Dhaka to put the dish on their menus.
And there are also reports that the balti - which is thought to originate in Birmingham - is also starting to appear on the sub-continent."

The aberrant apostrophe clearly remains an important marketing tool, despite the efforts of Lynne Truss.

Spotted outside a South London pub:

"Come and see all the six nation's play rugby on our plasma's. Start's 4th Feb. Food alway's available."

Visit The Apostrophe Protection Society at:

http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/

Also take a look at:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/apostrophe.htm

What is this?

Well, I call it a bathroom (noun).

I have just been watching the property buying programme "Escape to the country" and many, many times it was referred to as an "en suite" (adverb).

Please - "en suite" is not a noun and it should not be used alone.

The literal translation from the French is "in sequence" and it is commonly used to mean "forming part of or attached to a larger room". I remember years ago reading "with en suite dressing room".

I am afraid it is part of today's fashion for shortening phrases.

You will recall that, in an earlier blog, I moaned about "Going out for a Chinese", or "Going out for an Indian" - or even "Going out for a Ploughman's".

But I can't win.

P.S. I feel uncomfortable about beginning a sentence with a conjunction.

As I said yesterday, I get annoyed with people speaking single letters instead of a full word.

The above coin, as inscribed upon it, is "One Penny" and NOT "One Pee" or, even worse, "One Pence".

We never said "One Dee" when talking about the old currency, did we?

And what about temperature?

I heard a weather forecaster say "Temperatures will drop to 2 degrees CEE", instead of 'celsius' or 'centigrade'.

I haven't heard "50 degrees EFF" - Yet!

I have just heard the result of this evening's match - Arsenal 2, West Ham 3.

Bad luck the Gunners!

The above picture is from last year's game (a draw).

My GOM gripe today is that many of the printed reports say "Arsenal v West Ham".

In my time it was "vs.", which is the correct abbreviation of the Latin "versus" (against).

However, the abbreviation was only used in writing and NEVER in speech.

Nowadays, it seems that many (most?) people, when speaking, say "Arsenal 'Vee' West Ham", which is incorrect.

Another case of the tide flowing over my ancient feet?

Notice outside a church