Words About Things

If you ever watch television then it can’t have escaped your notice that you can now play bingo online. There must be quite a crossover between people who watch Coronation Street and those likely to play bingo. Each ad break seems to feature at least one ad for online bingo. The stereotypical Coronation street watcher and bingo player would be a middle aged housewife I guess. Seeing as I am neither middle aged or female I have never played Bingo. The fact that Coronation street is actually one of the funniest programs on TV got me wondering if other things I had dismissed were also worth a try.

I’m acually more of a fan of sport betting (in particular football betting) but my predictions for last weekends Arsenal match were way off target so perhaps I should look for other ways to battle the odds. Online poker is fun but quite complex so perhaps I will have to give in a try online bingo.

Researchers at Oxford University have compiled a list of the ten most annoying phrases in the English language. The phrases were monitored via a database called the Oxford University Corpus which keeps track of words being misused within books, magazines, the internet and the media.

The top ten are:

1 – At the end of the day

2 – Fairly unique

3 – I personally

4 – At this moment in time

5 – With all due respect

6 – Absolutely

7 – It’s a nightmare

8 – Shouldn’t of

9 – 24/7

10 – It’s not rocket science

My least favourite is ‘fairly unique’ which often causes me to shout at my television in outrage. Jeremy Butterfield, the author of a book about misused language Damp Squid, says that

“We grow tired of anything that is repeated too often – an anecdote, a joke, a mannerism – and the same seems to happen with some language.”

I have to agree. I once new someone who was unable to mutter a sentence without the use of at least one meaningless phrase such as ‘I’m not being funny but…’.

At the end of the day people literally, at this moment in time shouldn’t use these words 24/7. With all due respect It’s not rocket science.

Some people consider wireless broadband to be better than mobile broadband whilst others disagree. The fact of the matter is that it depends on your needs. If you need flexibility and affordability then mobile broadband may be best for you. If however you need quick speeds and a reliable service then normal or wireless broadband may suit you better.

Whilst mobile broadband frees you up from needing to have a landline it can still require a lengthy contract. Whilst some providers allow you to pay and go (£15 for 3gb for example) others have 12 or 18 month contracts. The good news is that if you already have a computer you may be able to skip this as most of the longer contracts are for those receiving a free laptop.

A telephone line might mean more expense but it generally means faster speeds. Whilst we wait for fibre optic broadband using a standard copper phone line is as fast as you can get.

Mobile broadband tends to have lower usage limits such as 1, 3 or 7gb a month fixed line broadband is often unlimited. Where mobile broadband speeds tend to be around 1mbps normal broadband or wifi is often up to 8mbps.