Thursday, Apr. 12, 2012 - 00:09

This morning one of the managers at work showed me a text he'd got from one of his staff (a young Polish lady) which stated that she wouldn't be coming in to work because she was ill. Some of the text made very little sense, however, esp. a reference to 'flies and blood in my anus' and a word I have since forgotten but which I Googled and it came up with the name of an extinct Antarctic fish.

Not quite as banal or unpleasant a day - I badgered away at a couple of spreadsheets and got quite a lot done without actually caring whether I am likely to get everything done. Clue:- I'm not.

I wonder why Faye Ruscoe, doing the traffic report on Radio 5 this evening, twice pronounced 'lorry' as 'lurry'. Not saying it's wrong, just wondering what local accent she has.

'The Apprentice' was a load of rubbish crap tat vintage. Bit shouty screechy girls in the end - I think a female PM was always likely to bring in a couple of lasses she didn't see eye to eye with. Gabrielle was culpable, and mouthy when challenged. Laura spoke quite eloquently and intelligently, but essentially didn't say enough of substance. Jane was curiously subdued this week and just didn't have stregths in this area. I felt was a shame she got fired, as very capable and a lot more credible than some of the wet lettuces in the process, she'd have been a good component of later tasks. I liked her even if she wasn't sweetness and light.

Jenna's tights have been a pleasant distraction - she tends to rock up to the boardroom in a nice skirt/hosiery combo. Plus, being 'from oop North' myself (admittedly from the better side of the Pennines) the accent doesn't grate as much as it appears to be doing with some people. Speaking of Northern ladies, if Laura had more gingery hair and was more Smoggie than Scottie, she'd be a spitting image of The Mad Ex. Odd that it took me weeks to realise, probably says something about Laura being in the background too much.

This evening I was reading an article on The Onion AV Club, themed 'My Year of Flops'. Alas it wasn't a discussion of my failed sexual misadventures in 1999, it was about 'ET the Video Game'.

Something that's been bothering me recently has been (esp. with sports commentators) the use of adjectives describing nationalities, but as nouns. For example "He disposessed the young Swiss.." (and I have heard similar use of 'Portuguese' and 'Senegalese' recently too - particularly in football commentary). I'm not a linguist and I accept that language evolves, and I'm not qualified to say it is wrong.. I just don't know whether it quite 'fits' for me. You'd hear 'German' or 'American' used in the same sense as either adjectives or nouns, and that's fine, but I'm not sure you'd use it for tems ending in '-ish' (English/Spanish) or '-ch' (French/Dutch). I suppose it depends on the end of the word and hence perhaps on the etymology?

In the Black Cuntray, it finished Wolverhampton 0-3 Arsenal. Only ten minutes had gone before Wolves went one goal down, and had Sebastien Bassong sent off. RVP dispatched the spot-kick. Walcott had been tripped in that incident, and he got the second Gunners goal just three or four minutes later. A Yossie Benayoun goal in the second half ensured the scoreline reflected the gap between the teams.

Who'd have thought this wouldn't be a relegation battle for both sides? It finished Queens Park Wrestlers 3-0 Swansea City. An even first half, with the home side having a less of the balance of play against a pretty Welsh side (and they'd had to clear off the line twice). They got a break in first period injury time before they could make it pay, Joey Barton getting the opener after poor defending. The second half saw QPR get a couple more goals through Mackie and Buzsaky, then hold on for the final twenty minutes to grab some vital points. At times it looks like Swansea are on their holidays already.

Also in the basement battles (and affecting the title race) we had Wigan Pathetic 1-0 Mancheater United. Boo to the hiss to the mother-fucking poo, Wigan had a decent goal ruled out after half an hour - Caldwell adjudged to have impeded De Gea at a corner which Wigan scored from. Moments into the second half, however, Shaun Maloney scored from a corner and put Wigan ahead decisively (the referee couldn't be bribed to disallow that, even though the corner that led up to it might not have been correct). Delighted that a couple of decisions went against the champions in the second half, we all know Fergie will moan, but these things even out and they've had some go for them recently.

Fighting to maintain distant hopes of the title, it ended Manchester City 4-0 West Bromwich Albumen. They went about it the right way, the home side, Sergio Aguero scoring after just six minutes. They seemed to take encouragement from United going a goal down, and further goals in the second half, including one by the returning Tevez, made it a comfortable lead. They're only five points behind their city rivals and will be hoping Ferguson's troops drop another couple of points before the Manchester Derby in a few weeks.