When you know something is wrong but you can’t explain why it’s wrong

Learning a new language is hard. Learning your own language as an adult is even harder. When people ask you how to say things in your native language sometimes you know it’s wrong but you can’t explain why. The adjective order is one of those things.

“If you mess with that word order in the slightest you’ll sound like a maniac, he warns in the extract. “It’s an odd thing that every English speaker uses that list, but almost none of us could write it out. And as size comes before colour, green great dragons can’t exist.”

When more than one adjective comes before a noun, the adjectives are normally in a particular order. Adjectives which describe opinions or attitudes (e.g. amazing) usually come first, before more neutral, factual ones (e.g. red):

Generally, the adjective order in English is:

  1. Quantity or number
  2. Quality or opinion
  3. Size
  4. Age
  5. Shape
  6. Color
  7. Proper adjective (often nationality, other places of origin, or material)
  8. Purpose or qualifier

So it’s a big red bus, not the red bug bus.

 

 

Theresa Christy of Otis Elevator: Making Elevators Go | Creating – WSJ.com

A really interesting article on elevators/lifts. I would have assumed the personal space issue would have been reversed, ie that more would be required in Asia.

Another problem: How many people fit in an elevator? In Asia, more people will board a car than in Europe or New York, Ms. Christy says; Westerners prefer more personal space. When she programs an elevator system she uses different weights for the average person by region. The average American is 22 pounds heavier than the average Chinese.

via Theresa Christy of Otis Elevator: Making Elevators Go | Creating – WSJ.com.

David Beckham’s Latest H&M Ads: Less Skin, More Porn ‘Stache | Adweek

When you bring back David Beckham in all his Adonis-like glory—that would be his tighty-whities—I must give credit where it’s due. You previously launched his underwear line with similar black-and-white ads of his chiseled-from-granite physique. Why mess with perfection? You even bought him a Super Bowl spot. Victory dance! This time around, for his expanded collection of bodywear and comfy clothes, he’s slightly more covered up. He’s sporting a porn ‘stache and, in my opinion, some unnecessary fabric. But there’s still a money shot. So thanks, H&M, for this early holiday gift.

via David Beckham’s Latest H&M Ads: Less Skin, More Porn ‘Stache | Adweek.

BBC News – Are you wearing a handmade poppy?

Since it was founded 90 years ago, the Poppy Factory has produced millions of buttonhole poppies to mark Remembrance Day each November. This year the 35-strong workforce at Richmond upon Thames in west London have made, by hand, 500,000 of the classic stylised flowers – a small but significant proportion of the 45 million produced in total.

Another 11.5 million have been created by homeworkers, and the rest on an automated production line at Aylesford in Kent. As Remembrance Sunday approaches, take a tour of the Poppy Factory – and see how the instantly recognisable buttonholes are put together on a simple wooden block.

via BBC News – Are you wearing a handmade poppy?.

‘Password’ Tops List of Worst Passwords of 2012 [VIDEO]

1. password (unchanged)

2. 123456 (unchanged)

3. 12345678 (unchanged)

4. abc123 (up 1)

5. qwerty (down 1)

6. monkey (unchanged)

7. letmein (up 1)

8. dragon (up 2)

9. 111111 (up 3)

10. baseball (up 1)

11. iloveyou (up 2)

12. trustno1 (down 3)

13. 1234567 (down 6)

14. sunshine (up 1)

15. master (down 1)

16. 123123 (up 4)

17. welcome (new)

18. shadow (up 1)

19. ashley (down 3)

20. football (up 5)

21. jesus (new)

22. michael (up 2)

23. ninja (new)

24. mustang (new)

25. password1 (new)

via ‘Password’ Tops List of Worst Passwords of 2012 [VIDEO].

I’ve always wondered about the future

Josh Sanburn then goes and sums it up in a great article for Time.
Somehow they all decided, ‘All right, that’s enough. From now on, this is going to be our outfit: one-piece silver jumpsuit with a V-stripe on the chest and boots. That’s it. We’re going to start visiting other planets and we want to look like a team.’

Read more about Universal Jumpsuits at Time.

Apple Adverts have definitely improved with time

Okay so everyone is talking about the iPhone4 FaceTime commercials and the Matt Damon look-a-like at the moment but by far my favourite adverts are still for actual Macintosh computers.

I still own a G4 Cube and it is beautiful if not especially well powered now. It’s great as an iTunes media share though as it’s pretty enough to have out on display. The commercials though were special if only for the awful song choices…

The other great advert was for the 20th anniversary Mac. It didn’t tell you anything about the processor, RAM or any of that other stuff you might want to know about a PC, no it concentrated on the fact it was the most beautiful thing Apple had ever produced!

Oh and of course let’s not forget Kevin Costner or the college guy in his boxers

Blast from the past

Last week I went to Earls Court which used to be the major stomping ground in London before Soho became gentrified and got more bars than brothels. I went for a drink at the Colherne. Okay so it’s not been the Colherne for ages and is now a trendy bar called the Pembroke but to me it will always be the Colherne. Then dinner at Balans West which seems to have stood the test of time. Then we went to Bromptons, again no longer Bromptons and now Infinity and definitely hasn’t stood the test of time!

Talking of blasts from the past, The Bridge (425 New Kings Road) has been foremost in my mind recently also for a few reasons. Including that one of the regulars who with his partner were dear friends has sadly passed. Another is I keep bumping into people who used to drink there. Oh and then of course there is Andy God – not his real surname but then there were a lot of Andy’s, Andrew’s and Drew’s in the place for some reason. Last night for the first time I discovered his surname!

So back then the internet wasn’t as slick as it is now and AOL still ruled the roost. It was mostly made up of home pages with spinning email icons. Pages basically like this one which is a resource page that time forgot!

Of the bars and dance clubs listed I think seven were owned by the same brewery and about half are now closed or open for other purposes 😉

  • 79 CXR 79 Charing Cross Road.
  • Bar Code 3/4 Archer.
  • Black Cap 171 Camden High Road.
  • The Bridge 425 New Kings Road. (Now a gastro pub)
  • Brief Encounter 42 St. Martin’s Lane.(now Bungalow 8)
  • Brompton’s Bar 294 Old Brompton Road. (now Infinity)
  • The Champion Bayswater Road at Ossington.(Now a gastro pub)
  • Club 180/Earls 180 Earls Court Road.(Now Wagamamas I think)
  • The Colherne 261 Old Brompton Road.(Now a gastro pub)
  • Comptons of Soho 53 Old Compton Road.
  • The Edge Bar/Cafe 11 Soho Square.
  • Halfway to Heaven 7 Duncannon.
  • Ku Bar 75 Charing Cross Road.
  • The Queens Head Tryon Street, Chelsea.
    About the nearest thing to a “traditional” pub in London’s gay scene.
  • Market Tavern 1 Nine Elms Lane.(Closed/Colloseum?)
  • Penny Farthing 133 King Street.(Now a gastro pub)
  • Trade 63B Clerkenwell Road.(Closed for redevelopment of site)
  • The Two Brewers 114 Clapham High Street.

The website owners say “Help us keep this listing up to the minute. Are there new places in your city? Have any places closed? Not quite up to par? Let us know! Send us an e-note” I may well just do that but where do I start?