A Notice: a rant.

 Not long ago we went for a long walk along a track through some woods. At its end we came to a wide common with view over the hills and copses of the Chilterns:

photo by Steve Daniels

And there we found a small car park. 

Now, you may doubt my word about this. Was it really a car park? You may be thinking. Does Sally Prue have the necessary qualifications in car parks to make a definite identification? Does she, moreover, have enough experience in car park statistics and measurements to justify that description of it as small?

But it's all right, because there was a notice.

It said:

This car park is small

(so you see, no expertise on my part was required).

The notice went on:

Sorry - 

if you can't find a parking space, please leave and try again later

I suppose the people who put up that notice meant to be kind.

But they're still worth ridiculing on The Word Den, aren't they?

Word To Use Today: park. This word comes form the Old French parc, enclosure. Before that there are various similar Germanic words which mean pen (as in fenced area for keeping animals). One Old English one of those is pearruc.