“You may also see white stools when a dog has been fed raw bones”

So perhaps it’s more tinned food and less fresh meat and bones from the friendly butcher…..:)

Yes, I would agree with your last paragraph, but would identify it as a problem, not an issue.;)

Your analogy of the tool-box is an interesting one and I suppose I would argue that there is far more mallet work these days than perhaps a decade or two ago, although I have no evidence to support the feeling.

And I would disagree with your point about grammar school certainties. They were a plank on which we built the way we spoke and wrote. The result is sloppy speech and sloppy writing, both of which should be avoidable. And this has nothing to do with regional characteristics but simply the ability of everyone above the age of 14 to write and speak coherently.

The university admission boards have been highly critical of the quality of the texts they receive,m as have employers, so I have no doubt that standards have fallen.

This should really be in GD, shouldn’t it…..??

Inside your house, out of the rain.:)

“If put to the vote away from millitary style hobby forums i think you would find that no one wants more guns available “

Since neither you nor any of us has the remotest idea, your comment is probably wishful thinking as much as anything else.

In any case the likelihood of an objective response to the question, however that was phrased, is remote.

That is the problem with this whole debate. A distinct lack of objectivity.

:diablo::diablo:

JDK – you needn’t, because you have stated the case very clearly.

I have now read your reply to my post. I agree but the only point I would make is where the change in the language makes for less ease of understanding by changing the meaning of a word or words. English is rich in words which have many shades of meaning and circumstances for which there are different words with subtle differences in their meanings. I think that much of this richness of the language is becoming lost. I see it on a daily basis through my son and his family and friends and my grandson, who happily, rather enjoys learning words he seldom encounters, except when he is with us.

I do regret that the teaching of English language, as we knew it, its grammar and syntax, seems to be dying out. I wonder how many 15 year olds could parse a sentence.

I also tend to the view that a crininal will always aquire the weapon he/she needs by fair means or foul. And the laws of the land will always be circumvented if necessary. Hence my earlier criticism of the kneejerk reaction to events in Dunblane and then Hungerford, where, in any case, the guns used were licensed.

I still stand by my #71 in the Gun Hobby companion thread to this one.

I’ll re-phrase it – lack of builders, so none to whistle at me!!:(