Best sentence in English for 2008 on ASF

Garpal Gumnut · 4 July 2008

One of the attractions of ASF is the good English that is generally written on the forum.

Here is an example from wayneL on post #655 in the Barack 08 thread. It will be hard to beat. It is succinct with a scattering of latinate, french, old english,saxon and norse words, with a nice George Melly original in the middle.

His commas are well placed and he delivers his message with the minimum of fuss.

Ain't English a beaut language.

Thank God some petty left wing, quango inhabiting, humourless jobsworth wasn't there to prosecute him.

Any more examples?

gg

Stan 101 · 4 July 2008

"I am."

2020hindsight · 4 July 2008

Garpal Gumnut said:
Ain't English a beaut language.
Thank God some petty left wing, quango inhabiting, humourless jobsworth wasn't there to prosecute him.
Any more examples?

As Homer Simpson says : "why would I bother learning English? - I'm not planning to go to England!?"

Ps "guango" is a pommie term - we dont have them in Aus - or if we do , we call them something else - something originally Aussie

guango: An organization or agency that is financed by a government but that acts independently of it.

Pommiegranite · 4 July 2008

Garpal Gumnut said:
One of the attractions of ASF is the good English that is generally written on the forum.

Here is an example from wayneL on post #655 in the Barack 08 thread. It will be hard to beat. It is succinct with a scattering of latinate, french, old english,saxon and norse words, with a nice George Melly original in the middle.

His commas are well placed and he delivers his message with the minimum of fuss.

Ain't English a beaut language.

Thank God some petty left wing, quango inhabiting, humourless jobsworth wasn't there to prosecute him.

Any more examples?

gg

It all depends on what you define as 'best'. Just about all of Mobcat's posts are hilarious for their sentence length, bad spelling, lack of/awful punctuation, inability to get to the point, questionable logic and very 'subtle' humour.

Here's an example (post #610 BYR thread):

What a flogging all the species and the ASX have had of late i cant believe how much $ wise it has wiped off my paper profit it,s huge but as happens they get hit hard and then they come back harder .....harder the better i have got 5 very very very good months to make for after the last week i have sold down a little lately but i have bought more than i have sold across the ASX better the devil you no so myself I'm riding this one out in fact i think i might go on a holiday so i haven't got the temptation to sell good shares at a discount price very hard to watch a share get blown to bits with out helping it it,s madness really isn't it because at the end of the day i think the US will drop there intrest rate tommorow and the Dow will power on and the ASX will follow anyway good luck all i think i have just talked my self into going on a holiday and hopefully when i get back BYR will be 35 (could be a long holiday )
__________________
Happy Days
Mobcat

wayneL · 4 July 2008

2020hindsight said:
As Homer Simpson says : "why would I bother learning English? - I'm not planning to go to England!?"

Ps "guango" is a pommie term - we dont have them in Aus - or if we do , we call them something else - something originally Aussie

It's quango, not guango.

Australia does have them and indeed uses the term extensively.

*****

GG

I agree. English well spoken/written is a beautiful language, belying it's mongrel roots.

The new London mayor, Boris Johnson is an Etonian, journalist, Latin Scholar and general clown and scallywag is a great example. No matter what your political persuasion, the man is a delight to listen to for his English; and often very entertaining.

2020hindsight · 4 July 2008

Quango? - well it sure ain't common Aus usage.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/quango

quan·go (esp. in Great Britain) a semi-public advisory and administrative body supported by the government and having most of its members appointed by the government

qualified in Macquarie as "Orig British"
no mention in Websters
I personally have never heard of the word

http://www.uq.edu.au/economics/johnquiggin/news95/quango9504.html

From quango to qango and back again
Sydney Morning Herald , 7 April, 1995

The term 'quango' has had a curious history. Once, there were only NGOs, non-government organisations like ACOSS or the RSL.

However, it was observed that many so-called NGOs were closely tied up with government, often operating in a symbiotic relationship with the government agencies with which they regularly dealt. In addition, particularly in the US, there has been a practice of creating nominally private business organisations, with effective government backing, to perform what would normally be regarded as public functions. The Federal National Mortgage Association ('Fannie Mae') is an example. The term 'quasi-NGO' or 'quango' was coined as a mildly pejorative description of these hybrids.

When economic reformers in Britain, and later in Australia, wanted to cut back the profusion of statutory authorities, they decided to appropriate the term to their own use. Unfortunately the acronym didn't quite fit. Statutory authorities could reasonably be described as quasi-autonomous governmental organisations, but there was no easy way to use the letter 'N'. Eventually they settled on 'national'.

This was logically redundant in the case of the UK and simply incorrect for Australia where most statutory authorities are run by State governments, but it worked. Some users took the process to its logical conclusion by dropping the 'U' and writing about 'qangos'. etc

PS gg, I think that the RSL is a quango - and I always thought you were a fan of the RSL

websman · 4 July 2008

I be tryin to learns english alls my life, but I's jest aint gettin da hang of it. why they be tryin' to make it so hard on a cracka???

wayneL · 4 July 2008

2020hindsight said:
Quango? - well it sure ain't common Aus usage.

Neither is "punctilious". It is however a part of the dominant language spoken in Australia. Both words I learned from Australians.

qualified in Macquarie as "Orig British"
no mention in Websters
I personally have never heard of the word

A point that may have escaped you, is that the entire English language in it's current form is.... ummm, "Orig British".

Websters is an American tome, and despite the insistence of Microsoft Word, "English" English is regarded as the correct standard. We should expect some deficiencies in the American version of the language, even if we are thankful for their numerous additions.

I cannot help it if you have not been listening.

It's Snake Pliskin · 4 July 2008

wayneL said:
The new London mayor, Boris Johnson is an Etonian, journalist, Latin Scholar and general clown and scallywag is a great example. No matter what your political persuasion, the man is a delight to listen to for his English; and often very entertaining.

Too few of these in the world. :bowdown:

rederob · 5 July 2008

2020hindsight said:
PS gg, I think that the RSL is a quango - and I always thought you were a fan of the RSL

Sorry to interrupt your thread GG.
The RSL is funded mostly by capitation fees - from its membership - so is fully-autonomous from government.
I can't think of why anyone would not or should not be a supporter (perhaps not a "fan") of the RSL as its actions and ideals smack of what makes us who we are.

Back on topic, I loved some of ducati's rants.... utter nonsense!

2020hindsight · 5 July 2008

The new London mayor, Boris Johnson is an Etonian, journalist, Latin Scholar and general clown and scallywag is a great example. No matter what your political persuasion, the man is a delight to listen to for his English; and often very entertaining.

In their honeymoon period, most pollies are humourous etc.
Then again, having to sack his 2IC one month into the job might be a bit more of a challenge to portray as humourous.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/05/2295255.htm?section=justin

2020hindsight · 5 July 2008

gg
I’m interested in why you like that sentence so much. (the topic of this thread after all – arguably provocative I’m sure you’ll agree, so I hope you don’t pike at the thought of being provoked).

Garpal Gumnut said:
One of the attractions of ASF is the good English that is generally written on the forum.

Here is an example from wayneL on post #655 in the Barack 08 thread. It will be hard to beat. It is succinct with a scattering of latinate, french, old english,saxon and norse words, with a nice George Melly original in the middle.

His commas are well placed and he delivers his message with the minimum of fuss.

Thank God some petty left wing, quango inhabiting, humourless jobsworth wasn't there to prosecute him.

Just to put this in context, here’s the rest of the story..

WayneL said:
Here's a true story:

A good friend of mine is a very dark skinned Indian who used to work at Merryl Lynch in Melbourne. When their Australian broking operations were closed down a few years ago, the message was delivered via video, by a person who happened to be an African American... basically informing them that they were all sacked.

My Indian friend who was sitting at the back shouted out - "Black b@stard!!"

The room fell about in laughter. So was that racist? Of course it was, but the situation of a very dark man shouting it out made it extremely funny. The whitefellas would never have gotten away with it. There are valid reasons for that of course, but there you go - harmless humour.

Thank God some petty left wing, quango inhabiting, humourless jobsworth wasn't there to prosecute him

to be honest, I’m still trying to understand it
So far I’ve found quangos might include a few options given on these websites …

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QUANGO
Australian example : Red Cross, possibly Press Council or Law Society if in UK

http://www.uq.edu.au/economics/johnquiggin/news95/quango9504.html
Take for example, the Sydney Harbour Tunnel

maybe you could give us an example of a quango that would apply… ?

“there I was telling this joke and suddenly I was prosecuted by the Red Cross”
“ by the British Law Society “
or maybe “…. by the Sydney Harbour Tunnel authority?

The only ones that sorta fit might be
“ …. by the contractors looking after this or that prison”
“ ….. by the contractors looking after this or that detention centre, eg post Tampa”
“ ….. by the contractors looking after Abu Ghraib”

then again, I would have thought those examples certainly could, possibly should be called "right wing quangos" rather than left.

An example of what this succinct sentence means would help. thanks.

2020hindsight · 5 July 2008

I still reckon this one is a classic.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7481715.stm

It was on TGIF Thank God It's Friday last evening (2BL Sydney).

summary:-
"marker attempts to only look for the positive with difficult students".

background:-
kids are asked to describe the room they are sitting in.
One student writes "f- off" on the top of his paper
he gets an encouragement mark of 10% - for correct spelling

and would have received higher marks (11% ?) if he used punctuation , such as "F.. OFF!!"

lol - talk about the benefit of the doubt (to say nothing of TRULY succinct)

Here's Billy Connolly on the same sentence....

Billy Connolly - Reasons For Swearing

rederob · 5 July 2008

2020
You give true meaning to ignoramus.
The thread is not about quangos.
The Red Cross is not a quango: It's an NGO.
There is no such animal as the Sydney Harbour Tunnel Authority - it's a company.
I'm not sure you would recognise a good sentence if you saw one: And if you did there seems little chance you could tell what it meant.

mobcat · 5 July 2008

Pommiegranite said:
It all depends on what you define as 'best'. Just about all of Mobcat's posts are hilarious for their sentence length, bad spelling, lack of/awful punctuation, inability to get to the point, questionable logic and very 'subtle' humour.

Here's an example (post #610 BYR thread):

What a flogging all the species and the ASX have had of late i cant believe how much $ wise it has wiped off my paper profit it,s huge but as happens they get hit hard and then they come back harder .....harder the better i have got 5 very very very good months to make for after the last week i have sold down a little lately but i have bought more than i have sold across the ASX better the devil you no so myself I'm riding this one out in fact i think i might go on a holiday so i haven't got the temptation to sell good shares at a discount price very hard to watch a share get blown to bits with out helping it it,s madness really isn't it because at the end of the day i think the US will drop there intrest rate tommorow and the Dow will power on and the ASX will follow anyway good luck all i think i have just talked my self into going on a holiday and hopefully when i get back BYR will be 35 (could be a long holiday
__________________
Happy Days
Mobcat

Thanks Pommie i try: .....You cant beat that private school education can ya hey Oh well lucky i am good with numbers and my wife tells me i a demon in the sack cant win em all hey LOL

Pommiegranite · 5 July 2008

mobcat said:
Thanks Pommie i try: .....You cant beat that private school education can ya hey Oh well lucky i am good with numbers and my wife tells me i a demon in the sack cant win em all hey LOL

Haha Mobcat. You're a legend. Keep the smilies coming!!

2020hindsight · 5 July 2008

rederob said:
2020
You give true meaning to ignoramus.
The thread is not about quangos.
The Red Cross is not a quango: It's an NGO.
There is no such animal as the Sydney Harbour Tunnel Authority - it's a company.
I'm not sure you would recognise a good sentence if you saw one: And if you did there seems little chance you could tell what it meant.

hey rob - wooooh there lol.

so are YOU ready to give an example of how that sentence makes sense?

There's a quote below where an economic Prof from James Cook uni says that , in reference to the Sydney Harbour Tunnel that "The term 'quango', in its original sense, has never been more appropriate" for instance.

btw , for your info, here's a quote from that wiki website which (as I explained, but you failed to read it obviously) says that Red Cross is indeed an example of an Australian Qaungo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QUANGO
History of the term
The term originated as a humorous shortening of Quasi-NGO, that is, an ostensibly non-governmental organisation which performs governmental functions, often with government funding or other support.[1] There are many such organisations. In Australia and other countries, the Red Cross provides blood bank services, with government support and backing of various kinds.

Examples in the United Kingdom include bodies engaged in self-regulation of various sectors, such as the Press Council and the Law Society. An essential feature of a Quango, in the original definition, was that it should not be formally part of the public sector

and secondly here's one from the second website that says that the Sydney Harbour Tunnel is indeed probably one of the best examples of a Qango - or quango if you prefer. This article by a John Quiggin , who is Professor of Economics at James Cook University. I reckon he would know if the Sydney Tunnel was a quango or not don't you...? or true, maybe you know better

http://www.uq.edu.au/economics/johnquiggin/news95/quango9504.html
As a piece of etymology, this is all well and good. What is more interesting is that the process of economic reform is turning qangos (in the new sense) into quangos (in the old sense). Take for example, the Sydney Harbour Tunnel. Before the days of micro-economic reform (and public sector borrowing targets), this would have been built under contract for the RTA, who would have collected tolls and paid them into consolidated revenue. Now it is supposedly the property of a private company who have constructed it under a BOOT (Build, Own, Operate, and Transfer) contract, under which the tunnel is to be handed over to the State after a set term. As is usual with BOOT contracts, the apparent free lunch disappears on closer examination. The State government threw in the right to collect tolls on the existing Harbour Bridge as part of the deal.

The really interesting question, however, is whether the tunnel is now genuinely private or not. The NSW Auditor-General thinks not; the contingent liabilities faced by the State under the BOOT contract are such that the Tunnel should be listed as an asset in the public accounts. The State government is not quite sure. With the mantle of 'commercial confidentiality' that typically shields questionable public sector financial transactions nowadays, it is almost impossible to determine the true story.

Examples of this kind could be (and are being) multiplied endlessly. When government business enterprises like water authorities are privatised, the result is frequently not a competitive firm, but a monopolist with profits determined more by government policy than by market performance. Such enterprises typically require close regulation to prevent exploitation by consumers. At the same time, they are so vulnerable to adverse policy decisions that buyers typically require advance guarantees of a favorable policy climate. Finally, the services provided by such firms are often such that they are 'too important to fail'. In effect, this ensures that bad business decisions will result, not in bankruptcy and ruin, but in a public bailout. The term 'quango', in its original sense, has never been more appropriate.

btw also, the term is in general disuse apparently because of such confusion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QUANGO
Since most of such bodies are in fact part of the government in terms of funding, appointment and function, the acronym does not work as a description - these are generally not non-governmental organisations with less autonomy than others. As a result, it has largely been abandoned in UK official usage.

The less controversial term non-departmental public body (NDPB) is now used to describe many of the organisations with devolved governmental roles, in an attempt to avoid the pejorative associations of the term Quango.

The UK government's definition of a non-departmental public body or quango in 1997 was:

"A body which has a role in the processes of national government, but is not a government department or part of one, and which accordingly operates to a greater or lesser extent at arm's length from Ministers." [2]

and finally, please don't be rude until you've checked the leads I gave you to read as background. Thanking you in anticipation of a change in your attitude, etc.

PS It could I concede come down to one of those cases of "until we define our terms , like quango, it is useless to argue. But equally , that would be a classic case of a bad example of a succinct and unambiguous sentence yes?

PS as to what this thread is about - I explained that gg had intentionally ( in my opinion) started a thread with a post that is arguably provocative. you disagree? - and there should be no problem asking him to clarify surely? no? Unless of course it's just a right wing smart alec comment.

2020hindsight · 5 July 2008

rederob said:
2020
You give true meaning to ignoramus.
The thread is not about quangos.
The Red Cross is not a quango: It's an NGO.
There is no such animal as the Sydney Harbour Tunnel Authority - it's a company.
I'm not sure you would recognise a good sentence if you saw one: And if you did there seems little chance you could tell what it meant.

lol - I guess if that kid received 10 points for saying "f-off" on his exam paper, then you probably get maybe 30 or 40 for that string of invectives .

Speewha · 5 July 2008

Hello

Garpal

You have started an interesting thread and have caused some debate which is good.

I am not going to comment as to the quality of the sentence in question. But would like to know if you would of liked the sentence as much if it had referred to a right wing QUANGO.

As QUANGO is an acronym for quasi-autonomous national governmental organisation I have used capitals, as I believe this is the correct form for acronyms.
They became particular prominent in the UK during the Thatcher years jobs for the boys that sort of thing, so imagine a left wing one historically speaking might be a rare thing.

On a lighter note Sir Humphrey Appleby in the TV series Yes Minister once remarked it takes two to quango minister.
Quando Quango were a UK punk rock band... not too bad.

2020hindsight · 5 July 2008

PPS
this is the quote I meant to use .. more succinct, hence more appropriate to this thread

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QUANGO
Quango: Confusion over the meaning of the acronym has been reflected in confusion over the use of the term, and may have contributed to its decline in use.

btw thanks speewha - you also got to the point more succinctly that I, lol.

PPPS Concise vs succinct vs terse ....

Concise, succinct, terse all refer to speech or writing that uses few words to say much.

Concise usually implies that unnecessary details or verbiage have been eliminated from a more wordy statement: a concise summary of the speech.

Succinct, on the other hand, implies that the message is as originally composed and is expressed in as few words as possible: a succinct statement of the problem.

Terse sometimes suggests brevity combined with wit .. It may also suggest brusqueness or curtness: a terse reply that was almost rude.

eg your post is succinct
rob's is terse - almost

Best sentence in English for 2008 on ASF

Garpal Gumnut

Ross Island Hotel

Stan 101

2020hindsight

Pommiegranite

wayneL

VIVA LA LIBERTAD, CARAJO!

2020hindsight

websman

Illogical Vulcan

wayneL

VIVA LA LIBERTAD, CARAJO!

It's Snake Pliskin

rederob

2020hindsight

2020hindsight

2020hindsight

rederob

mobcat

Pommiegranite

2020hindsight

2020hindsight

Speewha

2020hindsight

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