Friday 25 November 2011

Best Use Of A Split Infinitive In A Local Newspaper 2011!

Police are investigating a report that a hit and run driver fled after a car crashed into a baby’s buggy in Bournemouth.

Mum Shenagh Coombes was shocked when the woman drove allegedly off after the accident in St Stephen’s Road.
With runner-up in the ‘Best Chav Name For Offspring 2011’ too!
Ten-month-old daughter Kensiee escaped unharmed but the family’s brand new buggy was damaged and is now unusable.
I…

I just….

14 comments:

Mark Wadsworth said...

Brand new buggie, huh? So how did they transport Kensiee for the first nine months?

staybryte said...

Runner up in the best chav name? What the hell came first?

Actually, I'm not sure I want to know. It's bleak and grey enough outside at the moment....

Richard said...

Sorry to be a pedant, but that is not a split infinitive. That would be "to allegedly drive off". What you've quoted is just crap syntax, and utterly illiterate.

As to the first place in the chav name handicap, I don't know what it is, but I can bet in contains a redundant apostrophe. Like Trayc'ee.

Ranter said...

How do you pronounce 'Kensiee'?

A pram by any other name said...

Sorry, I thought Kensiee was the name of the buggy.

A Japanese buggy, admittedly, but they are all the rage I gather.

dr cromarty said...

There's a character called Kensi in NCIS: Los Angeles.

I suspect that's where Waynetta got the name. Could have been worse. If it had been a boy he'd have been named LL Cool J.

Or ELeLKoolJae. Or something

Dick the Prick said...

It's just an urban myth about kids called Chlamydia isn't it? How come the name Chelsea or Chelsee is always suffixed with 'get ere'?

Trevor said...

Re ridiculous names: can't recall the details but I recently saw a programme with a boy called Joiee.

MTG said...

Perhaps much thought went into 'Kensiee'? Only modest effort is required to deliberately split either the infinitive or the atom.

blueknight said...

How do you pronounce 'Kensiee'?

Kens-eye-ee, as in Kens-eye-ee oi'm goin up ter bingo - git back in the hace and babysit Chantelle

Angry Exile said...

I'd guess on "Ken-Zie" with the "Ken" slightly stressed, but c'mon everyone, this stuff is just the warm up. Give it a little time and we'll be wondering how to pronounce a name derived from randomly punching the top row of a keyboard with the shift lock on.


Word verification: stststiz - lovely name for a girl, I'll write that one down.

JuliaM said...

"Brand new buggie, huh? So how did they transport Kensiee for the first nine months?"

Perhaps they'd just bought it to replace their old one?

"Sorry to be a pedant, but that is not a split infinitive. That would be "to allegedly drive off". What you've quoted is just crap syntax..."

In my defence, I was thinking about 'Star Trek' at the time! :)

"Sorry, I thought Kensiee was the name of the buggy. "

:D

"It's just an urban myth about kids called Chlamydia isn't it?"

So far, but gawd knows, it can't be long...

"Word verification: stststiz - lovely name for a girl, I'll write that one down."

SNORK!

Allen said...

An earlier commenter said: 'Sorry to be a pedant, but that is not a split infinitive. That would be "to allegedly drive off".'

Sorry to be a pedant, but it is a split infinitive... a hideous one, one that few native speakers of the English language would naturally make. They split the phrasal verb "drove off". The auxiliary "to" form does not make a real infinitive, contrary to rubbish you may have picked up in elementary school. An infinitive is the bare form of the verb, and that is "drive off", or "drove off" as in the inflected form here.

Richard said...

Christ, I've been out-pedanted!