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Feb. 22nd, 2011 12:14 pmFor those who follow such things, my New Zealand-based cousin is in Aukland so should have been fairly far from the earthquake in Christchurch and I assume she is fine. I would guess if she wasn't my Aunt P would have been on the phone in a flurry of... well... flurrying by now.
Random trivia- about 16 years ago my mum wanted us to emmigrate to New Zealand. In particular she wanted to move to somewhere around Christchurch.
She was disappointed at the time. Probably for the best.
---
Unrelatedly, along with the mis-spelling of prostate as 'prostrate' in fic, I have a new grouse. The rampant mis-use of the word 'cuppa' in relation to tea.
I keep seeing 'a nice cuppa tea' and you have no idea how hard it makes me twitch.
A nice cup OF tea.
Or
A nice cuppa.
It is not both. Because 'a cuppa' is a noun, its literal meaning is 'cup of tea' so adding tea on the end of it essentially makes it 'a nice cup of tea tea' and the Department of Redundancy Department wants its beverage back.
Admittedly, the word 'cuppa' stems from the fact that in certain accents the word 'of' can sound like 'a' which makes 'cup of' sound like 'cup-a' when spoken at speed. But when written down there is a difference between the phonetic sound of "A nice cup 'a tea" and the word 'cuppa'. It's a homophone, and one is rooted from the other, but they are not interchangable.
...And now every time I read about a character settling down with a 'nice cuppa tea' I instantly assume their internal narrative has developed both a thick Midland accent and a total lack of written grammar.
*facepalms*
I know, I've turned into one of those people, haven't I?
Random trivia- about 16 years ago my mum wanted us to emmigrate to New Zealand. In particular she wanted to move to somewhere around Christchurch.
She was disappointed at the time. Probably for the best.
---
Unrelatedly, along with the mis-spelling of prostate as 'prostrate' in fic, I have a new grouse. The rampant mis-use of the word 'cuppa' in relation to tea.
I keep seeing 'a nice cuppa tea' and you have no idea how hard it makes me twitch.
A nice cup OF tea.
Or
A nice cuppa.
It is not both. Because 'a cuppa' is a noun, its literal meaning is 'cup of tea' so adding tea on the end of it essentially makes it 'a nice cup of tea tea' and the Department of Redundancy Department wants its beverage back.
Admittedly, the word 'cuppa' stems from the fact that in certain accents the word 'of' can sound like 'a' which makes 'cup of' sound like 'cup-a' when spoken at speed. But when written down there is a difference between the phonetic sound of "A nice cup 'a tea" and the word 'cuppa'. It's a homophone, and one is rooted from the other, but they are not interchangable.
...And now every time I read about a character settling down with a 'nice cuppa tea' I instantly assume their internal narrative has developed both a thick Midland accent and a total lack of written grammar.
*facepalms*
I know, I've turned into one of those people, haven't I?
