Well elves to me were the white invaders of the isles, but Alfred might have meant that he listened to them. And Oaves or Oavish sound less annoying to me than well calling me an oaf.

and Pigalle is as you say, Chicago to New Orleans or Philly to New York, fun. Sadly New York is not as degenerate as it used to be.

watching them strain to remember to say utilize instead of use

yes. sadly every language is in a sense like a nation.[/quote]

So what do you call a mishearing of actual words, as in Handel's verbatim 'We like sheep'? Not a mondegreen, but a misunderstanding I hope.

Bailey, these are always worth a chuckle and a grimace.
Chuckles: 4,5,7,10, 13, 14, and last year's 1, 8, and maybe 9 and 7. But I'm using oyster.

Bluddy 'ell is roi' gie us some lapsang soujong wa'?

capitulate? no, I bow. (eats snickers bar) eeew.

Sorry, I misread 'doctorese' as doctorrhoea ... same thing really, but in this case cleverer than most of what issues from their anterior stoma. @Sluggo, Pl. Pigalle can be fun if you enjoy the odd Brit-on-holiday scene, but you could say the same about most of Paris (hey I love it and love to snark...

Hither and thither, here and there if you are not concerned about order. But you can never come thither. I tried that in Hither Hills, and found myself lost. in the rain. alone.

would far prefer 1920s You got me there. Definitely a plural unlike 1's 2's etc. which was drilled into me in math (maths?) class. buying it in bulk from Walmarts to me means shopping at more than one of those. Which is not hard, but what is the plural of Starbucks? I think we all have more than two.

My keyboard has a few keys due to my abuse

Oh my.

Ceiling kitteh?

Wood, Wei, Christ and Marx,
Gave us posts with lovely snarks.

This is why I come here.

Gailr, you've half convinced me. It's definitely better than 'click' in Kipling's usage, and any word Rabbie felt fitting is a good word in itself. Snickerdoodles I've never had, but haggis ... mmmm. I'll snick it up any chance I get. And next Burns night I'll sneak the word into the conversation mo...

Well 'snick' is just distasteful to me. Much more than 'nick', so I see why the americanism 'persnickety' took hold. Never heard pernickety used. Seriously, never. sounds British though, wink!

The turkey, that Thanksgiving staple of carnivores, only accidentally makes a sound resembling the word meaning "to devour", to gobble (up, down). That familiar bird is known to have a long gorge, and to me is asking to be eaten, though I choose not to eat it. But bilabials are to be savo...