Temporary waiting area

Clutchslip spotted this sign to a "temporary waiting area":


What, as opposed to a permanent waiting area?

Leyland's 'Titanic' Six-Wheeler

My colleague Clutchslip spotted this old Leyland Motors advert in a recent volume of Historic Commercial News (click to see a larger version):



Leyland's Titanic bus was introduced in 1927, a good 15 years after the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

I'm not sure that many manufacturers would name one of their vehicles 'Titanic' nowadays...

Clutchslip's shocking iPhone app

My colleague Clutchslip writes:

Having recently succumbed to an iPhone, I’ve inevitably being looking for apps to load. I feel utter disgrace at having considered this shocker, as reviewed on the iTunes App Store. The review warns -

“Rated 12+ for the following:

Infrequent/mild alcohol, tobacco, drug use or reference to these.”

And the product? AA – Best of Britain, a hotel, restaurant and pub guide!

'Not suitable for children under 3 years old'

My colleague Clutchslip has forwarded on this extract from the latest edition of Transport News Brief, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders' email newsletter:

Transport News Brief reader Owen Ryder of Cummins recently bought a birthday card for his baby daughter. On the front it read "Happy Birthday To A Special Girl On Your First Birthday". On the back it said, in small print "Not suitable for children under 3 years old". He's now not sure for whom this card is suitable.

'Food photography for visual purposes only'

My colleague Clutchslip has sent me this:



It's very difficult to make out, but the small text underneath the coffee mug reads: "Food photography for visual purposes only."

So there you go - you're not allowed to sniff or eat the photo.

Of course, a premisis

Yesterday my colleague Clutchslip sent me an email with the subject 'Today's new word':

Just reading about an aspiring brewer who decided that what he needed was “of course, a premisis to brew in.”

Of course!

Now Clutchslip didn't want to embarrass the brewer so I won't do any naming and shaming either (feel free to Google, though).

But I can say that 'premisis' isn't that new a word, at least judging by this GrammarBlog post.

For all your moroting magazine needs...

My colleague Clutchslip took this photo in WH Smith (sorry, I mean WHSmith):



The particular moroting magazines I work for aren't on display here. Wait, there's one of them in the rocner...

Vorsprung durch cockup

Audi, to the best of my knowledge, produces a fine range of cars, but the skill of the company's engineers is not matched by the skill of the copywriters in its advertising agency.

In its current TV ad campaign much is made of the technology that diverts otherwise wasted braking energy into charging the vehicle's battery. Capturing braking energy is not a new idea; some years ago, when still an inhabitant of JD's Engine Room, I was subbing technical reports of similar technology (regular Engine Room correspondent Clutchslip knows much more about it than I do).

It was described as a regenerative system, which my ageing OED Concise defines as "...breathe new and more vigorous life into". But in their search for an alternative word Audi's men in red braces have come up with recuperative, which the OED defines as "...recover from exhaustion, illness, loss etc". I wonder how much they were paid for describing their clients' products as exhausted and ailing?

Please maintain the cleansiness of the toilets

Here's another photo taken by Clutchslip, this time in France:



(As you may have guessed, I'm away this weekend – normal service will be resumed tomorrow. And for the record, I really like the word 'cleansiness'.)

Police seize nipple clamps in council offices

Clutchslip has very kindly sent us the following photo. He says: "Seen in Horsham – I'd love to know the original story."




I've had a quick look on the West Sussex County Times (Horsham Today) website but to no avail...

And are there any other shots of 'personalised' newspaper billboards out there?

Micro-organisms vs micro-organists

Clutchslip forwarded on this amusing screengrab from the thisiscrawley.co.uk website ("brought to you by Crawley News").

As ever, click on the image to see a larger, more legible version.



"Must be a very small church," says Clutchslip.

Slightly more seriously, confusing micro-organisms with micro-organists is a rather strange error. An example of the Cupertino effect, perhaps?

Oh, and here's the offending article:
Council's rubbish decision leaves Crawley pensioner fuming

Stan Still, Annette Curtain, Dick Trickle...

Regular readers of The Engine Room will know that we're fans of unusual or amusing personal names. Recently, for example, I've written about a hangman called Ed Roper while Apus has told us of a certain SM Allcock.

If you're of a similar bent, you may enjoy a current BBC News article, 'Most unfortunate names' revealed, which includes such gems as Stan Still and Annette Curtain.

It's also worth reading the comments following the article, especially the fourth (and currently final).

While I'm on the subject, I should mention that my colleague Clutchslip once met American racing driver Dick Trickle...

Are you living? These people do.

Clutchslip has pointed out to me this ad for Admiral MultiCar:


Question: present continuous. Answer: present simple. Hmm.


(If you can't see the image, the text reads: "Are you living in a house with two or more cars? These people do and they all made big savings on their car insurance!")

Photo special: please pass the CV inside

Something lighthearted for Friday afternoon.

This photo was taken by Clutchslip in Sutton high street (in London) a little while back:

Friday roundup: Talula, Giles, Mexico and China

I'm using this week's Friday Roundup to share some of the things that you lot have been emailing in to me.

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First is a BBC News article on a story that has received a lot of media coverage here in the UK: the nine-year old New Zealand girl who wanted to change her name from 'Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii'. The article also includes some other great names that New Zealand parents have chosen for their children. 'Benson' and 'Hedges' for twins made me chuckle.

Thanks for that, Harry.

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Second is something that has been doing the rounds for a while but is worth sharing: a furious letter by journalist Giles Coren to subs on The Times criticising them for a change they had made to one of his restaurant reviews. It reads like a spoof, but isn't, and illustrates what a thankless task it is to be a sub.

Cheers, Andrew.

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Andrew also sent in the following photo for those of you who like spotting stray apostrophes:




And it's up on Andrew's Flickr account.

(Don't forget that this blog also has its own Flickr account...)

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And one more photo, this time from Clutchslip:



Apparently using translation software to translate the name of your restaurant into English is not without its hazards. (NB I'm not sure of the provenance of this snap and it too may have been doing the rounds for a while.)

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Thanks, everyone, for all your contributions. You can find the blog's email address up on the top right, under the section called 'Stay in touch'.