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Post by Guy Barry on Jul 8, 2024 15:18:14 GMT
[As featured on the old forum.]
In British colloquial English, "muppet" is a mild insult, used to describe someone who's a bit incompetent or ineffectual.
But most of the Muppets were pretty smart characters - Kermit, Miss Piggy, Scooter, Gonzo, Rowlf, etc., etc. How did it take on this meaning? Were they referring to the Swedish Chef?
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Post by Guy Barry on Jul 11, 2024 13:48:56 GMT
The answer to 1 Across in today's crossword was BRAINCHILDREN, the plural of "brainchild".
While this is unquestionably the correct plural I can't recall ever hearing the plural form used before. I looked in Collins online dictionary for a citation and found "All over the country, new startups are springing forth, the brainchildren of entrepreneurs who see the recession as an opportunity".
Why does it sound wrong?
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Post by barbados on Jul 11, 2024 13:51:09 GMT
It doesn’t?
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Post by Guy Barry on Jul 11, 2024 13:53:24 GMT
Well it does to me! I guess it's just a form that's very rarely needed.
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Post by barbados on Jul 11, 2024 14:07:07 GMT
If it sounds wrong, how would you say it?
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Post by Guy Barry on Jul 11, 2024 14:15:04 GMT
I wouldn't! I don't think I've ever had any reason to use the word in the plural. It normally appears in the singular in sentences like "this idea was the brainchild of...".
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Post by Guy Barry on Jul 13, 2024 8:34:12 GMT
In this case it wasn't me that was puzzled, but a couple of people who should have known better. The journalists Susie Boniface and Rod Liddle were doing their regular Saturday morning opinion panel on Times Radio, and mentioned the term "op-ed", defined by Wikipedia as "a short newspaper column that represents a writer's strong, informed, and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted audience". A listener contacted the programme and asked what it meant and what the origin was.
And neither of them knew the origin. Susie Boniface said she thought it was short for "opinion editorial". It isn't - it's short for "opposite the editorial page", referring to the usual newspaper practice of placing such pieces directly opposite the editorial page, where the newspaper's editorial board give their own opinions (sometimes called the "leader column").
This was swiftly corrected on-air, but I thought it was a pretty poor showing from two established journalists. I knew it and I've never been involved in journalism in my life!
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