If you are bored of columns about language it's possible you will be disinterested in this one. But if reading that sentence made you livid and you feel like breaking off to send me a Mrs Weasley-style Howler message, take a deep breath and read on.
You can be tired of something, or sick of it; you can be bored with, or by it, but you oughtn't, strictly speaking, to be bored of it. And, while we're on the subject of sustaining an interest, being uninterested is not the same as being disinterested. Of course the two are not mutually exclusive, you might be uninterested (couldn't care less) and disinterested (impartial) at the same time, but the two ideas don't usually keep company.
Me, I love it. I'm not disinterested at all.
Now, if I can only restore some respect for the apostrophe, I would be a happy man.
1 comment:
*ahem*
"I appreciate that speed has to be balanced against democracy, but a seven week process seems excessive. But the Labour Party seems to be enmeshed in bureaucracy, even as its infrastructure decays."
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
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