21 March 2013

Aspiration nation

So the chancellor mentioned aspiration 16 times in his speech yesterday.

When I studied phonetics some 40+ years ago, I was taught that aspiration was the puff of air that accompanied the articulation of a voiceless plosive,  Basically, it was just hot air.  Seems appropriate somehow.

In those days, a pint of beer could be bought for between 2/- and a half a crown.  A penny off your pint would have meant something.  Nowadays, with the price of beer exceeding £3 a pint, a penny off is neither here or there.  It's just a gimmick.


 

3 comments:

KOK said...

But it could have a massive impact on the kitty over the course of a year.

Anonymous said...

I've been cloned...
So, officially, I agree with Dave. On a rough calculation, a 1p pp reduction will equate to roughly one pint per year. And that's not pp!

Anonymous said...

NB excuse the split infinitive...