A personal update on use of language

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Looking back a number of years ago, there were things done by central government which I considered to be out of touch with local requirements, and I described those things as daft.  And of course there was a bit of a joke in there in the similarity between daft and the Department for Transport's abbreviation to Dft.

From a personal viewpoint, I've been shortening the Department for Transport to simply DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) for quite a long time now, as we moved on from looking at decisions as often being out of touch to looking at the logic behind decisions. Indeed we have seen a major positive change in many ways in the decisions.  And in this co-operative rather than campaigning atmosphere, with us working together, it's counter productive for me to use a somewhat rude abbreviation, even in Jest, and even when I might have been in the habit of doing so, and doing it thoughtlessly.  I'm glad to see "late" faded out in favour of the proper "great", and one or two other too.

As I say ... personal. But something to think about. Up to others to write / contribute as they wish within the forum agreement. 

[Tim]

  I'm glad to see "late" faded out in favour of the proper "great", and one or two other too.

I agree that at the present time "First Late Western" is unfair to the company and the people who work for it.  However, I am not convinced that the label "Great" has yet been fully earned.

How about "Fairly Good Western"?

[trainer]

I'm always interested in the use of language and a comical/sarcastic pun can sometimes be very apt, amusing and tell a truth. The term 'DaFT^» (Department for Transport - critical sounding abbreviation I discourage - about)' I believe originates in that august and, IMHO^▸ ('in my humble opinion'), often incisive organ, 'Private Eye'. For me the issue is over-use of such terms to the point that they become cliched (how do I get an accent over the 'e'?) and therefore lose all force and seem just lazy.

However, I agree with Graham: no censorship just because we don't like it.

[thetrout]

I also think that "late" is unfair to FGW^▸ (First Great Western). Particularly when alot of the recent problems aren't necessarily within their control. Since I've been using trains post medical. Every single one of them has been late. Only one case would I perhaps deem it to be the fault with FGW but it was excusable.

The far too frequent Network Rail Failures of Infrastructure (Or Notwork Fail as they could be known) are perhaps less excusable, but nevertheless are perhaps unintended consequences of work completed in "good faith" or "because something was broken"

That being said, I also think FGW are a darn sight better than some TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) in terms of customer service. Yes things in areas are from perfect. But having travelled with nearly every TOC in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom). In terms of service, I'm reasonably happy with FGW.

Of course I have a few personal gripes in some areas which are within FGWs control. To others they may seem trivial. To me, not so much but I have my ways and means of dealing with them.

[bobm]

I am not keen on the use of 'Daft" for the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) on two levels.  Firstly as Graham has highlighted it can be counter-productive but on a more practical level it also makes searching for posts here on the Coffee Shop more tricky.  The search function is idiosyncratic enough without adding additional issues.

Of course changing names is nothing new.  I remember a newspaper atricle referring to BT as 'Broken Telephones' and Royal Mail as 'Royal Fail'.  Arguably humorous once, but not for regular use.