Coastguard guilty of murdering the English language

Twister_Ken · #1 03-07-09, 17:07

Portland Watch Manager Andy Jenkins said:
'The situation could have been very serious as the speedboat had 60 gallons of petrol on board. Because they had prepared for the unexpected, the crew of the Feeling Woosley 2 could evacuate to the water and could summon assistance with a distress flare within seconds.'

I think he means "jump off"

Evadne · #2 03-07-09, 17:09

No, he means "evacuatify to the nearest aqueous platform, then implement the personalised pyrotechnical safety device".

LadyInBed · #3 03-07-09, 17:11

Bet they evacuated more than water [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Twister_Ken · #4 03-07-09, 17:31

And their second though was:

Bugger the seahorses.

Sorry.

Bugger, the seahorses.

Salty John · #5 03-07-09, 19:46

As in: 'His descent control apparatus failed to maximise it's full potential'

Or, as we understand it, his parachute didn't open.

LittleSister · #6 03-07-09, 19:57

[ QUOTE ]
they had prepared for the unexpected

[/ QUOTE ]

Does that mean they were expecting it?

peterb · #7 03-07-09, 20:17

I used to be in a job where I could read fire brigade reports. One report (on a fire in a girl's boarding school) said:

"Most of the occupants were able to leave the building by the usual fire exits, but two of the nuns were forced to evacuate themselves down the front of the building."

It's not the people that are evacuated, it's the building (or in this case, the boat)!

25931 · #8 04-07-09, 11:42

Not only the Coastguard - the news item on this site says "Rod Carr has recently met WITH White " Could he have met without ?
Jim

PuffTheMagicDragon · #9 04-07-09, 20:03

It's like when some people (Canadians et al) say 'Visit with you' when they really mean that they'll just come round to visit you.

davidfox · #10 06-07-09, 13:18

It always seems to be people in 'service type' jobs. Coastguard, Fire Brigade, Police who use these strange turns of phrases - perhaps they think it makes them sound more important.
' I was proceeding down the road in a westerly direction when I observed the said miscreant in the act of purloining the perambulator'

Sybarite · #11 06-07-09, 13:46

My pet dislikes :

"Custom" as in customize. (when it means just the opposite)

Taking nouns and making them verbs such as "to leverage"

"It sucks... "

"I'll be with you momentarily" (when they mean "after a moment")

etc etc

flyingscampi · #12 06-07-09, 14:35

The union leaders speaking on TV seem to have their own variation of english.

nathanlee · #13 06-07-09, 14:43

[ QUOTE ]
As in: 'His descent control apparatus failed to maximise it's full potential'

Or, as we understand it, his parachute didn't open.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sorry Saltyjohn, but I'm going to have to issue a grammar ticket there.

The decent control device could realise it's full potential, but if it is at it's full potential, it is already maximised, therefore, you cannot maximise the full potential unless you were increasing said potential. If this were the case, the parachute would already be open to a satisfactory level, unless, of course, the user has donned the wrong one.

Twister_Ken · #14 06-07-09, 15:29

I'm sorry NathanLee, but I'm going to have to issue a grammar ticket there.

There is an apostrophe in "its" only when it's a contraction of "it is".

When "its" is used to mean "belonging or appertaining to it" there is no apostrophe.