There's Good News and there's Bad News

[kerravonsen]

So I found a link to Spock/Uhura awards and then immediately winced at the word "fanfictions". Am I the only one who finds such incorrect grammar cringe-worthy?

Still, I am going to peruse the awards anyway, in the hope that the winners are better grammarians than the organizers.

Comments

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Strangely, I came across "a staff" and "staffs" in Antonia Forest's very well written Marlow school stories, but it seemed to have been slang specific to that school as new pupils were corrected when they said "teacher". I wonder though if it's used in the UK that way in certain places, though I've never seen it outside those books. Certainly the boarding schools I went to had their own slang, like "scrape" which was a buttered scone for morning tea.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

"scrape"

I still stay bread and scrape meaning bread and butter. I think it must date back to rationing and having been taught to spread the butter very thinly and scrape any excess off I still don't like too much butter on bread.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I thought it might be the butter! A schmear as I'd say. :-)

I can't stand too much butter or marge either unless it's a hot crumpet. I love asparagus rolls but have to check first whether they've been heavy-handed with the butter because I just can't eat them then.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

Just checked the OED, staff can be used as a single employee. Funnily enough the earliest use they quote is E M Brent-Dyer, Chalet School and Jo, which used A Staff. The later is more like this one "The Director will introduce the new staff and ask him to say a few words."

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Perhaps Antonia Forest got it from the Chalet School books since they were the same genre, or it's used in that sort of school. It wasn't here and I went to two private boarding schools (as we call them).

I'd say "new staff member" myself.