As you all know, yesterday was Christmas Day so first I want to wish you all a blessed season and a very special 2013. The world did not end last week so we have to just keep on going until our time is up. Ooops, I have ended the sentence with a preposition but, no problem as my Mum is no longer here to remind me of the correct grammar – ‘never end a sentence with a preposition’. Winston Churchill is purported to have responded to this correct grammar, “That is nonsense up with which I will not put.” Well, actually, according to the site linked, he used a slightly stronger couple of words which my mother would never have used but she still got the point across to us. Correct Queen’s/BBC English was what should be used.
As you all know, yesterday was Christmas Day so first I want to wish you all a blessed season and a very special 2013. The world did not end last week so we have to just keep on going until our time is up. Ooops, I have ended the sentence with a preposition but, no problem as my Mum is no longer here to remind me of the correct grammar – ‘never end a sentence with a preposition’. Winston Churchill is purported to have responded to this correct grammar, “That is nonsense up with which I will not put.” Well, actually, according to the site linked, he used a slightly stronger couple of words which my mother would never have used but she still got the point across to us. Correct Queen’s/BBC English was what should be used.
So is there always a correct way to doing things? For many situations and actions, the answer is yes. For example one cannot drive a car from the back seat of a car, physically that is. Jeremy Clarkson tried and, although the car did move forward a bit, it was not very successful method of driving on the open road. There are also correct ways to draw up a valid will and if there is not done correctly there can be some serious consequences. But there seem to be many things about which we display very strong feelings but actually neither way of doing the particlau acton is only right or only wrong.
For Christmas lunch yesterday my husband and I visited my sister and her husband in Bothas Hill and at times the conversation became quite heated over the correct way to do certain things. There were three particular subjects on which we each had our own opinion and, of course, each of us was right. So this morning, I surfed the net, googled the items or whatever else you use to describe this activity and came up with some interesting answers
1. How to hang a toilet roll. The most interesting site I found was this one as it even has diagrams to show why the roll should be hung to roll the paper from the top. You are shown the difference in the access to the paper and the greater ease with which it is drawn from the holder. In our discussion yesterday it was a 2-all result but that probably was because of us being sisters and, in our childhood home it always had it roll from the BOTTOM! According to the website we are in the minority of around 30-35%. I said that when we stay at an hotel or guesthouse for more than a day or so, I turn the roll around. This really surprised the family members and we all wondered if it caused the chambermaid any psychological problems when she discovered it. For her, it must be placed to roll from the top so she can put on the pretty sticker.
2. Hanging washing on the line – I was really surprised to find that there are quite a few sites on the internet instructing people on how to hang clothes on the line. One starts with the assumption that all people stopped using these devices and went to tumble dryers but are now returning to harness the sunlight and need to be told how to do so. Well, it is something I have always done. Had a 2nd hand tumble dryer for a while when the children were small but did not replace it when it packed up. Anyway, our particular issue on this topic was the hanging of trousers or shorts and, going with the cyber advice, 3 our of 4 of us do it incorrectly, but then there is this comment in the Discussion page “My mother, an expert in hanging clothes on a clothesline, would have been appalled at the way you advise to hang pants.’ My brother-in-law likes to hang them upside down but we still do not agree with him. I love doing laundry and consider my self a bit of an expert too. It is for this reason that I stay well out of the way when my husband offers to hang the load. I just wait for when I need to bring it in and mutter under my breath because it is not done as I would do it.
3. Face cloth or nylon net scrubbers – I am a face cloth person. For some reason I really do not like these new nylon nets (or whatever they are called. I got the name, .nylon net scrubber, from one site. My face cloths are laundeered regularly and always clean so I’m not worried about exchange of ‘germs’ as mentioned by some on this site I found. I also checked out these 2 items for comparison but found nothing useful. There are some interesting discussions but no direct comparisons. In fact, most discussions are around face washing and all the great new products to give you a lovelier, younger more beautiful face. I use my trusted face wash and hands for my face and my skin feels fine, for my age that is. My sister and brother-in-law love their nylon scrubbers, so that was a 2-2 result in the correct thing to use.
What a lot of trivia came into our conversation but it did give us a few laughs. Do you have any strong feelings or ideas on any of these topics, or any other similarly mundane ones?