Ungrammatical Imperative

When agents of the Government enjoin me to 'stay home!' my immediate reaction is to regret the absence of a preposition. When people use language so ineptly I hesitate to trust anything they say.

'stay!' without a preposition refers to a state of affairs, as in 'stay awake!' 'stay dry'. Without a preposition one can't tell whether one is supposed to stay away from home or stay at home.

Living in Slow Motion

This morning I arose promptly when my alarm clock awoke me at 7:00, had what I considered to be a quick bath and dressed. By the time I got downstairs ready to prepare breakfast it was 7:50.

How can it have taken me so long to do so little ? A few decades ago I could have done all that in at most half an hour.

A Ridiculously Redundant Statement

"Power is no protection from harm" various ministers and spokesfolk have said of the Prime Minister's admission to hospital. I fear that anyone foolish enough to have thought otherwise would not be open to persuasion.

Dyeing the Countryside

I worry about the news that Derbyshire police put dye in a lake to make it unattractive to visitors.

Dyes are complex chemicals that need to be handled with caution. People often wear protective clothing when using them. Could water from the lake migrate though rivers or streams and reach reservoirs? Might the dye poison wildlife? If it makes the water look black it is absorbing light and that would make the upper layers of the water warmer and the lower levels colder than usual, and that could affect aquatic plants and animals.

Did the police concerned know the answers to those questions? Did they even ask the questions?