Am I wrong?

[linda wright]

Please can someone help me - this is driving me mad! Day after day in the newspapers and on television I see and hear the expression 'I'm bored ofthis,' or I'm fed up of that.

Even a prominent BBC newsreader is guilty of this and I am sure the newspaper journalists have all managed to achieve some sort of qualification, which is why I am wondering if I am the stupid one. The last straw was hearing Penny Smith from GMTV making the same mistake when she is constantly correcting others on their command of the English language!

It has been many years since I attended school and I have long forgotten all the correct terminology so I would be so grateful if someone could put me out of my misery.

Linda Wright

[Horsa]

Don't worry about it. Your memory is not at fault 'with' was usual when I was at school. Ours is a living language and every generation changes it a little. The only languages that don't change are those that can't be changed because they are dead and have no native speakers. Your parents and grandparents no doubt complained and perhaps still do about your usage and mine certainly did about mine.

This has probably appeared because of people mishearing unstressed 'with'. I am certain I've been hearing it for at least 30 years. At present it is not totally acceptable but given another generation it will be. We can't stop such changes and it would be wrong to try. Can you imagine how strange it would be if we all suddenly started speaking like Shakespeare? Well, if similar changes hadn't occurred over the intervening years we would be speaking like him today. This change is just one of many and not at all important.

[linda wright]

In that case, so that I am completely up to date with modern terms - I am cool.

Many thanks.

Linda Wright.