''To think I spent hours on the weekend taking up trousers (a job I loathe with a passion), when all I had to do was leave them on a train for Ruth,'' writes an exasperated Barb Taylor, of Wollstonecraft (Column 8, Monday). ''I wonder what train she catches should I need to do this again.'' Greg Brash, of Jiggi, asks: ''Which trouser leg was pinned shorter? If it was the right one, then the gentleman was preparing to ride his bike to work rather than catching the train.'' A sceptical George Manojlovic, of Mangerton, is having none of it: ''Yeah, sure Susan. Ruth took the trousers home, shortened the leg, then took them back? Now you can pull the other one!''
''Although not strictly speaking meaningless,'' concedes Steve Davidson, of Warrawee, ''there is one expression that has always intrigued me. People seem to mean the opposite when they say, 'It's the least I could do', when probably it was the most they could do, or, at the very least, all that they could.''
''I'm afraid I was confusing my vice-regals with my premiers,'' confesses David Griffiths, of Kurrajong (railway carriages named after ladies of note, Column 8, last week). ''It was Lady Robertson, wife of the fifth NSW premier Sir John Robertson, who had the sleeping car named after her, not the esteemed Lady Robinson. The other named carriage was Lady Parkes, named after the wife of Sir Henry Parkes, also a NSW premier at the time. Parkes and Robertson swapped the premier's job several times in the 1870s.''
''Who decided to replace 'sex' with 'gender'?'' asks Ern Hollebone, of Kundle Kundle.
''Using the word 'and' to start sentences is not 'new journalism','' insists John Bunyan, of Campbelltown (Column 8, Monday). ''In the very first chapter of the Authorised Version of the Bible, 30 of its 32 sentences begin with 'And'.'' ''Can we deal with 'should of' as well please?'' asks Val Stern, of Bondi Junction. Regarding Column 8's pet peeve, Joan Brown, of Orange, advises that ''when you hear people say 'try and' instead of 'try to', suggest they put their sentence in the past tense, and see them struggle. For instance, instead of 'tried to go', they will say 'tried and went' and realise how silly it sounds. Of course, this assumes that such grammatically challenged people know what the past tense is.''
Column has set up our plastic bag filled with water and a US penny (Column 8, Tuesday), and it works - no flies! But there were no flies about on the weekend either, it must be said.
Column8@smh.com.au (no attachments please)
