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Assume v. Presume

"do[es] what it says on the tin"

Don't you just hate that overused phrase.

I tried unsuccessfully at B&Q and Wickes to buy a flexible extension for my drill, to drill a hole in a narrow space. I failed at Screwfix too: they sell one but it has to be ordered.
 
Especially as "tins" these days are almost invariably made of aluminum(*) and the saying should now be "does what it says on the can".

(*) Using the spelling now universally adopted by the scientific community.
 
Black Hole said:
It annoys me that shops don't "do what it says on the tin". Go into Timberland and ask for 8' of 4x2 and they look at you as if you're mad. The Vyella shop is advertising "new season handbags and clutches" - not only were there no mops in sight, neither were there any car parts.
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I think you'll find that it's Vyleda, not Vyella when referring to mops.
 
gomezz said:
(*) Using the spelling now universally adopted by the scientific community.
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But wrong for the UK spelling of aluminium. You'll by spelling tyre as tire and talking about the trunk of your car next. Whatever next. I thought that this thread was about being pedantic about the English language not some Johnny foreigner's tortured rendering of it. But hey ho, I'm obviously rong.
 
My speller treats aluminum with the contempt it deserves and autocorrects it to aluminium. It's the way our cousins across the pond pronounce it that has caused the miss-spelling.
 
gomezz said:
How about when someone is trying to squeeze past that they are told to "breathe in". Surely they should breathe out to reduce their chest expansion?
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Yeah, but it depends which bit sticks out furthest to start with. For reasons I don't understand, one's belly goes in when one's chest goes out.

Edit: I originally posted this without apostrophes in "one's" (the possessive form of "one"), on the principle that indefinite articles do not have apostrophes in their possessive forms. Unsure, after a bit of googling I persuaded myself that "one" is an exception to this principle, but I am by no means convinced.
 
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