Thursday, 10 April 2014

Back To The Future: a rant.

Yesterday I plan to write a book about a magical river.

Last week I plan to visit our local cathedral to have a really good look at the stained glass.

When I was at school I'm going to plan to leave as soon as possible.

What? What's that you're saying? You're saying that none of that makes sense?

Oh. Are you sure?

You mean I can't plan to do things in the past???

File:1848 Crutchley Pocket Map or Plan of London, England - Geographicus - London-crutchley-1848.jpg
London 1848

File:1744 Wren Map of London, England - Geographicus - London-wren-1744.jpg
London in 1744

So....when people ask me, as they often do, to pre-book events, the pre is exactly as unnecessary and silly as when they burble on about their flipping future plans, then?

Yep.

Thought so.

Word To Use Today: plan. This word didn't arrive in English until the 1700s, when it came via France from the Latin plānus, which means flat.
 
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2 comments:

  1. Jingles10 April 2014 at 07:39

    I'm guilty of saying both pre-book and future plans, even though I know it's unnecessary!

    I've just spent a bit of time poring over those London plans. The Great Fire really did destroy a lot didn't it.
    As a kid, we sang "London's Burning" but at the time I thought it was just a nonsensical little rhyme. How wrong I was.

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    Replies
    1. Sally Prue10 April 2014 at 08:46

      Yes, the Great Fire destroyed a huge amount, including St Paul's Cathedral. The idea after the fire was to rebuild an orderly city in the style of Paris, but people moved back very fast indeed and squatted on their own particular piece of land, and so it never happened.
      We got a nice new St Paul's, though!

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