Mind your language
SO, AS THE train accelerated out of Doncaster I heard the chief steward say, `Customers who wish to avail them- selves of the buffet facility should remember to be in possession of their travel documents.' Or as they might have said, 'Don't forget your ticket if you're going to the buffet.'
And a solicitor from York writes to me about an apology he received from the Royal Mail about the letters that the postman had tipped through the letter- box of quite another address. 'The mat- ter has been brought to the attention of the Delivery Office Manager. He has assured me that the officer responsible for this inefficiency has been suitably counselled and warned that repetition of this error will not be tolerated.' Offi- cer is a nice variant of postman, and it is good to know that he or she has been counselled.
These odd locutions reach altogether a higher level than the mere 'I enhance that viewpoint', voiced by a football manager on the wireless the other day.
Dot Wordsworth
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