I’ve a bee in my hat
October 29, 2008
I noticed the phrase “I’ve a bee in my hat” written down a few days ago. It drew my curiosity not least because the phrase which rolls off the tongue is “I’ve a bee in my bonnet“.
My assumption is that at the last minute the writer was unable to check the spelling of the “is-it-double-n-or-double-t” word and opted for the all-together easier ‘hat.’ I suspect there was a chance they could have used the word cap. It would have been better, if you’ve eaten your hat the last thing you want to find is that it had a bee inside. That’s why sayings use the various words to indicate head wear.
Being a grammar vigilante has landed two American ladies in trouble. They were so annoyed by rogue apostrophes they took matters into their own hands and pen to paper but ended up being done for graffiti.
On Radio 4, they have to point out to listeners that website addresses which require apostrophes don’t have them. It says a lot about the Radio 4 listener and what the BBC think of them.
In Crewe they don’t have such issues with grammar.
Round the corner from my house is the takeaway “to good”. I don’t go there on principle.
An English teacher at my high school had a bee in her bonnet over Max Spielmann’s sign “we develop photo’s”. Eeeks.
Who’s to blame?
Teachers, politicians, writers? Whose job is it to preserve language.
A university don is suggesting that texting actually encourages the use of proper English. To write in text language. “It is gr8 2 c u m8″. It means you have to know the correct spellings to start with.
Please report any mistakes in this posting by using the comments facility. Keep me in check!
