To return to the OP.
'Restrooms' instead of 'toilets'.
'Toilets' instead of 'lavatories/WCs ' etc
'Moving forward' instead of 'in the future'.
'Basically'
'I was sat/stood' instead of 'sitting/standing'. (ie not appreciating that one can't use a past participle with the imperfect tense. Would they say 'I was ran for the bus', or 'running'?)
The plethora of misplaced possessive apostrophes... LP's. CD's. Photo's. Loco's. MOT's. Panini's etc. "If in doubt...leave them out...!"
'Like'.
'At this moment in time'. Now?
'Lol'. I've never used it and never will! (OK, I just have ...but you know what I mean).
Not knowing the difference between: 'Less' and 'fewer'. 'May' & 'might'. 'Imply' and 'infer'. (The last example being more important than the first two).
'It's' and 'Its. ('It's' is short for 'it is';compare: "the amp had blown its fuse" (not 'it's').
'Kgs' rather than kg, (etc). If one's going to use SI units then upper and lower case letters have a very important difference in their meaning. There's no final 's' to denote plurals. (It's 25.60mm, not 25.60mms)
The problem always is this: where does one trade absolute accuracy - for just making the meaning reasonably clear - given the context and a following wind?
Why is it that if one wishes to hear good, correct, grammatical English... one goes to Holland?
Where can, what some will view as pure elitism and pedantry, meet those that see Vox Pop/"the language is always 'evolving''/'you know what they mean' protagonists?
(Of course, one must try to make allowances for people where English is not their first language/are handicapped in some way etc, but this does not mean that accuracy is not important.) Again, it's (not its) the 'trade-off'.
I must be becoming a grumpy old man...
Best wishes,
R
