I Don't Believe It!

I was listening to a travel report on the radio today, and the announcer (or whatever travel people are called – Terry Wogan's listeners call them 'Travel Totties' since they are invariably young & female) well, the announcer said: "To the north of Scotland, there are some serious driving difficulties". I'll say there were – to be 'to the north of Scotland' would mean you'd be in the middle of the Icelandic Sea (or possibly the North Sea, not sure). What she meant to say was: "In the north of Scotland, there are some serious driving conditions...." What is wrong with these people in the media? Why are they becoming incapable of recognizing correct syntax?

However, there is an expression that people in the media often use that irritates me even more. Whenever anyone reports on something that happened in the past, they invariably say "... back in.." (insert year of event in question). Now, I'm not such a curmudgeon that I would object to someone saying "Back in 1837..." for example, but I often catch reporters saying things like "Back in 2007" and my point is this: To use the phrase 'back in', one is suggesting a reference to an event from long, long ago. To refer in this way to an event that took place only two years ago is tantamount to tautology. So I say: Stop it, you lot! We know that 2007 is in the past, otherwise we wouldn't now be in 2009 – there is no need for further emphasis in this matter.

At this point, I should embark on a list of other things that irritate me, but I can't be bothered. Although in order to satisfy you, dear reader, I will highlight a few of these:

1. Vacuous faux-serious commentaries in documentaries concerning people's ordinary lives: "The burning question is whether Sharon's husband will like the lime-green kitchen she has installed while he was away in Iraq..."
2. Girls who stop you in the street to ask for a light, and who then have difficulty holding the lighter with their hideously elongated white-painted nails.
3. Irishmen who boil with rage if you should dare to emulate an Irish accent in their presence.
4. People who refuse to blow their nose and so continually sniff – where do they think the mucus is going to go?
5. Kettles that leak.
6. Fat people who have no spatial awareness and who block your way and then pretend not to hear you when you say "Excuse me, could I just squeeze through...?"
7. People who won't come to dinner when I've cooked it.
8. People who end a sentence with a preposition.
9. Empty gin bottles.

Enough. I'm becoming grumpy.