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🐷CURMUDGEONS' CORNER XX🐷

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  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Groundhog day too eh @wild edges ?
    The White Witch made me do it o:)
    I think this drizzle is the start of the change in the weather though. Shame because it's been so nice recently. We've had all the windows open to air the house out a few times already and my wife saw the first butterfly of the year this week. Apparently we might wake up to snow tomorrow. :#

    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • Every bloody news item contains the dreaded "Levelling up" term.  What's up with these people.  Do they not know basic English ?  It makes as much sense to suggest that London should be "levelled down" which is really what people want. 
    Level is level and try as I might, I can see no dictionary reference which suggests that the word can be sensibly used with the addition of either Up or Down.  
    I realise this began with politicians but even highly regarded journalists and presenters have been taken in and repeat it endlessly without a second thought.

    Rant over.......... well, until the next news broadcast at any rate :D

  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    It grates on me as well @philippasmith2.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    In the construction industry they refer to cut and fill. Cut from the high and use it to raise the low. Otherwise you need a great deal of imported material which is prohibitively expensive. Gove seems to be suggesting the other method, which is to cover the void with decking and leave it to someone else to patch up when it rots in a few years.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • steveTusteveTu Posts: 3,219
    What term would you use then to adjust to the higher level rather than the lower level?

    To level ____--____-----______

    ...you could end up with ----------------- or ________________  (or anywhere in between) ... isn't that levelling up or levelling down?
    UK - South Coast Retirement Campus (East)
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    I think of it more as a see-saw. One end goes up as the other goes down.
    Level up has always been a computer game term for a character gaining some bonus to make them better. I guess the Tory jargon team are trying to appeal to the young folk with this one. Better than 'throwing scraps to the plebs' anyway.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • steveTu said:
    What term would you use then to adjust to the higher level rather than the lower level?

    To level ____--____-----______

    ...you could end up with ----------------- or ________________  (or anywhere in between) ... isn't that levelling up or levelling down?
    I would use the term "to raise " ( expectations, infrastructure or WHY ) the level throughout the UK.
    Obviously that's not going to happen anytime soon ( if ever ) however much the politicians/government bang on about it but apart from the political aspect of it, level is level/equal - you can either raise ( the level ) or lower it.
    You can obviously have a higher or lower level - much like 2 levels in your garden - but raising or lowering makes far more sense than adding Up to Level.
    That's just my take on a completely meaningless phrase :)   

  • floraliesfloralies Posts: 2,718
    Does that mean we all end up on a level playing field?
  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    I thought your finger had developed a twitch wild edges
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • Well I suppose if we get rid of the hills and valleys, we could all be level :D
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