drunken triteness

So basically you're just going to leave it there as a reminder for me huh? Thanks so much.

Welcome to my world of vampire-esque living, Mr R - trying to get to bed before daylight!

By the way, out of interest, would you actually express yourself in that American way of using 'most' instead of 'almost', eg in this case 'most any time' instead of 'almost any time'? If so, I wonder if that's starting to spread in Britain. Not that I can remember having noticed it before, beyond some US rapper clones.

Actually, David, you'll find that it was used in British English way back when, and you'd likely find examples in, heh heh, most any classical work, I'm sure. I've certainly used it for as long as I can remember (my education was very British old-school, my few modern Americanisms probably having been picked up over the three years during which I was partnered to an other-sider). I'd assume that it's probably an archaic form which is diminishing in use here; whether Americans use it or not I can't say.

edit: in use since the 16th c., first in Scotland, then in certain English dialects, bastardisation of almost to 'most. Prevails commonly in AmE. Yay, I'm a proper yank.

[ksquare] I don't need to open my browser to make a post to my content manager, so I didn't see your additions until this moment.

I'm afraid that I don't get off on such trivial gestures as you seem to think; I neither care to make an example of anybody, nor could I really give a flying fuck about how you wish to be perceived here, but since you asked, they shall be deleted, as requested, momentarily. Hope you're feeling better.

Merci.

Coincidence then? Wonderful. Just wonderful. I trust I've made a fool of myself more than enough for the beginning of the year. Perhaps I should just put myself out in front of passing automobiles on the way to work to put myself out of my misery.

On the brighter side, the year can only get better from here. Erg. I think my face could give Rudolph's nose a run for his money if you could see me now.

Either way, I apologize. None of this should have ever happened.

Another Americanism which normally confuses me is the use of 'through' (or 'thru') to mean 'until'. For instance, I recently read about a developmental language issue that stays with children from around the age of three or four through their teenage years! From the context, I realised, after a moment of confusion, that it meant 'until (the start of) their teenage years', and not, as I'd originally understood, 'until the end of their teenage years', as in 'through(out) their teenage years'. That's about as confusing as the Yorkshire use of 'while' to mean 'until', eg 'while I'm there' can mean 'until I'm there'!

Funny old world, eh?

Indeed, and the richer for it. The importance is in being locally understood, first and foremost; when broadcasting widely, I think people could do to be more selective with their choice of words, particularly when drawing upon idiom, but only under certain circumstances. Many pieces of great and expressive writing would be ruined if their authors had done different.

I believe that the American use of through quite specifically means up to and including and it can normally be substituted directly. I quite like it, myself. The example you give, provided that you are certain of its actual meaning in context, is just an incorrect construction; I'd have interpreted it as you did, but their imprecision could easily be fixed with the addition of the logical preposition hence; through to their teenage years.

The one thing I will never use is different than. It is not invalid, and has been in use since the 1500s, but my, connect anything other than from or to with different, and it will interrupt my concentration quite reliably; it's like bumping into a lamp-post. Weirdness :)

See this? I'm exiting your world of vampire-esque living. I feel dreadfully tired this evening, though the day passed comfortably enough. So, g'night.