BS: Baby on board

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: meself
Date: 27 Jul 09 - 10:25 AM

Here's the trouble with pedantry, at least as it pertains to language: when I was in grade 5, I was taught deliberately and distinctly by one of those old-school pedants that the word "Arctic" is pronounced "Artic" - the "c", I was told, is silent, as the "t" in "often"; if I were to hear you say, "ArKtic", I would think to myself, "Poor fellow, he must have been home with galloping consumption that day", as you, hearing my pronunciation of the same word, might think, "This backwoods buffoon would do better to restrict himself to utterance of the unisyllabic mode." Which one of us has the "correct" pronunciation? Someday I may get around to blowing the dust off certain weighty tomes in an obscure corner of my bookshelf to discover what the ancients have to say on the matter; until then, I will go on assuming that MY teachers were always right, and everyone else's teachers were, sadly and all-too-humanly, fallible.

I don't think there is a week that goes by on this very forum that someone doesn't attempt to correct the English of another poster by citing some wrongheaded, archaic, and thoroughly discredited "rule" that was dunned into their head when they were young and impressionable.

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: artbrooks
Date: 27 Jul 09 - 12:44 PM

Webster's says both pronunciations are acceptable, as do Merriam-Webster.com and Dictionary.com.   All list the pronunciation with the "K" sound in the middle first.

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: Emma B
Date: 27 Jul 09 - 02:53 PM

Babe on board

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: PoppaGator
Date: 27 Jul 09 - 03:03 PM

I thought I was in a time-warp when I saw this thread title. The "BOB" signs were introduced back in the 80s, and ~ here in the US, at least ~ are rarely seen anymore. When you do spot one of 'em, it's usually on a car that is 20 or more years old.

Are they a new thing in the UK? Or enjoying a revival?

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: meself
Date: 27 Jul 09 - 07:00 PM

"When you do spot one of 'em, it's usually on a car that is 20 or more years old."

And the character crammed into the car-seat is really big and ugly and giving orders to the driver and that doesn't look like milk in its bottle ...

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 02:54 AM

I suspect that really it is new parents who want to tell the world how clever they are by making their own baby.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 04:53 AM

Do you know what? Making babies, bringing them up and taking care of them is clever.

Taking the piss isn't.

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 05:29 AM

Ooooohh get you.

Dave H [ not born again, always a Yorkshireman ]

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: Will Fly
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 06:20 AM

Reminds of a sketch on the UKTV show "Not The Nine o'Clock News". Mel Smith drives down down streets in an old car, spraying bus queues with rainwater from puddles, swearing at other drivers and generally behaving very badly.

The final camera shot is of the back of his car as he drives away. The yellow sticker in the rear window says "Bastard on Board!"

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 07:05 AM

Where can I get one of those?

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 07:23 AM

Love it Will, yeah where can I get one too.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: Will Fly
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 07:38 AM

You'll have to ask the BBC Props Department, I suspect!

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 11:31 AM

Or you could try here.

Google can find you just about anything.

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: jeffp
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 03:07 PM

Kendall, some of the kids and adults around here can't find Earth on a globe.

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: Tangledwood
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 06:29 PM

I thought I was in a time-warp when I saw this thread title. The "BOB" signs were introduced back in the 80s, and ~ here in the US, at least ~ are rarely seen anymore. When you do spot one of 'em, it's usually on a car that is 20 or more years old.

Are they a new thing in the UK? Or enjoying a revival?

They're frequently seen in this part of Oz, and often on cars in supermarket carparks. The responsible thing to do would be smash one of their windows so that the poor baby doesn't get heatstroke in the closed vehicle.

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: robomatic
Date: 29 Jul 09 - 04:39 PM

Actually saw one of these in the back of a 4WD station wagon/ mini SUV on my way in to work early this morning. Didn't see a baby but it was hard to know for sure as he whipped by me on his way to a red stop light, and I was aligning for a leisurely left. It was 0640 so if a baby was there, it was squawkin'!

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: Gurney
Date: 16 Nov 09 - 09:53 PM

With regard to the rescue crew aspect: I find it hard to believe that they can see a sticker, but are likely to miss a booster seat or cot.

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 16 Nov 09 - 10:11 PM

PEDANT note to Meself -- a sentence left unfinished for the sake of effect is not an ellipsis: it is an APOSEOPESIS.

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: meself
Date: 16 Nov 09 - 10:20 PM

And that makes me mad, too. Madder, even ....

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 16 Nov 09 - 10:26 PM

- tho it does admittedly often end with an ellipsis [...] if not with a dash, short [-] or long [—] — see wiki on both. Tho wiki, whilst giving an extensive quote from Virgil, in Latin & in translation, omits what I think the world's major literary example of aposeopesis [& this really should move this thread up above the line, Joe or Clone]:

viz — "If you knew Susie like I know Susie..."

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 16 Nov 09 - 10:29 PM

- there, there, Meself... diddums...

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 17 Nov 09 - 10:44 AM

Dear Emma B -

That Court Hearing had me fooled (as a Lawyer of not a few years' standing !) - I was on the point of PMing you for the reference !

As regards my own driving - anyone know where I might get a sticker which reads

"Dyed-in-the-wool Arsehole behind the wheel" ?

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 17 Nov 09 - 01:21 PM

We had twins - which side should we unload them from? And yes I had a sticker that said 'twins on board' - I was proud of it!

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Nov 09 - 12:48 AM

Darn. And all this time, I thought it meant that the parents had a child and they were proud and happy about it.

I must remember to get my head out of the clouds....

I'm glad at least that Mrs. Duck sees things the way I do.

Subject: RE: BS: Baby on board
From: Jeanie
Date: 22 Nov 09 - 05:21 AM

Oooh - this thread has come up again - and I've seen some more of the responses to my comments on the safe side to load/unload children from a car. Surely, it is always safest to do this from the pavement side (i.e. not the traffic side) ? Yes - this may mean the effort of leaning across the back seat, especially if there is more than one child in car seats in the back, but isn't that a better option than putting yourself and your baby in a vulnerable position in moving traffic ?

- jeanie