the watch of time

Students of the English language should find frustrating to say the least a common practice illustrative of the lazy way of speaking too many are prone to exhibiting.

This time of the year in our hemisphere, as days gradually become warmer weather forecasters (and many others) say “The days are getting longer”.  This culminates at the official beginning of summer with “This is the longest day of the year”.  Conversely, late in the year “The days are getting shorter”, topped off by “This is the shortest day of the year”.

No, they’re not! Read the rest of this entry »

Have you noticed how often nowadays TV reporters in the field seem to feel obliged to give several head nods when the studio host bounces the on-air feed to them?  In some cases, this occurs almost every time the feed switches to them during the report. Read the rest of this entry »

Now that the electorate has seen fit to return the Liberals to governance, a review of concerns about proposed centre piece legislation is in order: namely, the Ontario pension plan.

As a recently retired financial consultant for a large Canadian investment firm, I certainly share the concern, and frankly find disappointing the readiness of some to rush into it. Read the rest of this entry »