Regularity
Posted in Linguistic Annoyances at 14:11 on 23 July 2009
This one is mainly for our transatlantic cousins – but I’ve noticed it creeping on to supermarket labels/notices here.
Regular means occurring at intervals. Even intervals.
It doesn’t mean “normal,” it doesn’t mean “less than jumbo sized.”
It means “every so often.”
How regularly do you think I might have to say this?
bigrab
26 July 2009 at 12:48
I wonder if……………
Reg. started as an abbreviation for “regulation” i.e. regulation size?
Then when the word was expanded again it was bastardised into “regular”
Mind you, that would be a linguistic annoyance of its own as not all things have a regulation size despite the best efforts of the EU 8)
Less Than Delighted - A Son of the Rock -- Jack Deighton
26 July 2009 at 14:17
[…] of supermarkets, I am of course the sort of person who feels like taking a marker pen to amend those notices at the […]
jackdeighton
26 July 2009 at 15:24
You could be right, Rab. But our transatlantic cousins have history with this sort of thing. See later posts.
sonsdiary
31 July 2009 at 23:28
Jack
the most annoying saying for me is “nothing ruled in”, Iknow my punctuation has been challenged on occasion,but I was under the impression if you ruled something out it was with a 12″ ruler so how can you rule something in???
Rub it out??
jackdeighton
1 August 2009 at 16:32
Yes, Auld Yin, you do rule with a 12″.
But the phrase to rule something out is sometimes used when a decision is made whether or not it is within the rules that apply. If it is, then it’s “rule”d in and allowed.
If its outwith the rules, then (by extension I presume; it is an ugly phrase) it’s “rule”d out.
Both these uses of “rule” (drawing a line and regulating something) derive from the Middle English for a straight stick.