Stupid Things I Have Seen (Pt99)
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On TV this morning, Germaine Greer complaining “There is absolutely nothing to buy in the shops that I can wear!”. Well dear, that was a very nice set of clothes you were wearing – congratulations on being such a superb needlewoman! Grrrr, why do women who complain that they have absolutely nothing to wear always possess a roomful of perfectly wearable clothing?
That illustrates one of my pet hates – the misuse of words. There is plenty of clothes in the shops that Germaine Greer can wear (especially with the sort of money that she can throw around on a shopping expedition) ; what she meant was that she couldn’t find an outfit that she really liked.
It recalls something I was reading a couple of weeks ago. That was a report of a haunting; the writer, recounting the experience of the witness, wrote “She was literally scared to death!”. Yet the account made it perfectly clear that the woman was not in the least bit dead.
Greer was on TV to promote a new BBC series called “Grumpy Old Women”, featuring middle-aged female celebs grumping about some pet peeve. I wonder if they have a spot about the abuse and misuse of language; if not, maybe I could have such a spot? OK, I’m no celeb. But I’m female, I’m middle-aged. And I’m certainly grumpy!