Thread: Shop lifting checks

My problem is when I use a card the screen says "Press OK". There is no button labeled OK.

In the gardening section looking at shovels the assistant says "take your pick". There are no picks, only shovels.

Any wonder I get confused.

When the greeter says 'how you going' I say 'by boat and I'm running late, where's the loading dock'.... no-one has come up with a reply for their induction course yet for this one

When the check out girls ask "How are you today?" My reply with a straight face is "What's it to do with you?"

When somebody asks, "How are you today?" I usually answer, "You never want to ask someone my age that?"

Whenever I ask them "How are you" and they reply "Good", my response is that they might be well but it is for others to decide if they are good.

Originally Posted by Chesand

Whenever I ask them "How are you" and they reply "Good", my response is that they might be well but it is for others to decide if they are good.

I ask them to prove it ...

The one I HATE is the old 'How are we today.' from young check out attendants.

my answer i inevitably 'I have no idea how you are. Why are you asking how you are?'

They stare blankly, the young generation having been totally unmoored from even the remotest considerations of good use of language, let alone grammar. Sadly even my generation is starting to pick it up.

And you wonder why you are called Grumpy Old Men...

Or the blank look I get when I reply to the routine statement by the checkout operator "that will be $xx today" my reply "how much will it be tomorrow?"

I personally have despised the "Oww Ya Goan?" question since 21....

They ask a question and don't expect an answer. Worse, its mindlessly droned out.

From a sales perspective it should be illegal.

Its impolite, impersonal and utterly ridiculous - worse, it has absolutely nothing to do with why I might be there (Hospital emergency excepted).

There are 100 other more appropriate greetings that would gain more traction from a sales perspective. My health has nothing to do with Bunnings, unless its for a shovel for a DIY job

Originally Posted by Ruddy

And you wonder why you are called Grumpy Old Men...

Actually most of us are pretty content with that label

Originally Posted by Bendigo Bob

The one I HATE is the old 'How are we today.' from young check out attendants.

my answer i inevitably 'I have no idea how you are. Why are you asking how you are?'

They stare blankly, the young generation having been totally unmoored from even the remotest considerations of good use of language, let alone grammar. Sadly even my generation is starting to pick it up.

I have always struggled with English and I'm definitely no paragon of grammar. I first read your quip and thought 'couldn't the language evolve?'. Then I realised this would be a bad development because it would make English grammar more difficult.
I should be working but I looked this up. It seems the issue is our lack of informal second person pronoun.
Originally we had thou (singular) and ye (plural) for informal. Whereas 'you' was formal. We dropped the informal.

How art thou? Was considered too informal and fell out of use. Although to modern ears it sounds most formal.

Nowadays 'you' might be considered more informal since the language doesn't really have the formal form grammar any longer. Which might leave some feeling the need to create a formal second person pronoun.

What people might fail to realise is that a formal version of the pronoun would accompany formal versions of each verb.
By removing thou, thee, ye, thy, thine etc we removed an entire set of verb forms and simplified the language. For example, to use thou one usually needed to end verbs in ...st.
What dost thou still in bed, thou lazy lout? Thou canst not.

Just to confuse things if one was to make 'we' a formal second person pronoun, would it be treated as a third person pronoun grammatically? That might be necessary to make it clear 'we' was being used in the second person formal - not first person plural?
I beg your pardon for my intrusion. I see that we doth what we liketh best: we sleepth.
Or would we need to use 'Our' as formal second person possessive? (Thy and thine being informal and thus unsuitable).
May I emploreth our pardon for my intrusion? I see that we doth what we liketh best: we sleepth.

As in Spanish where usted is the formal form of you and acts as in the third person with third person verb endings.

In English we do have the fourth person in extremely formal speech but I'm not sure it works in this context since it is really for an undefined person. Maybe it could be made to work.
How is one today?
How does one do today?
How does one find one's state of affairs today?
I trust I find one well and of good humor today.
May I presume to have found one well and of a convivial disposition this day?

Of course, I suppose to be formal they could simply say: 'Salutations'.
It's not as if they give a rats about your health.

Another 20 minutes of my life wasted.
Easier just to call you a grumpy old man and get myself back to work.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by Ruddy

And you wonder why you are called Grumpy Old Men...

I wear that tag with pride.

Originally Posted by Ruddy

And you wonder why you are called Grumpy Old Men...

and I'm becoming a Grumpy Old Woman!