The thing is....

..... is..... there is no second 'is'. One 'is' is enough!

Do some things people say really get to you?  Make you shiver, like  fingernails scraping down a blackboard?

No?  Maybe it's just me then, being a bit of a linguistic fusspot. But there are one or two little clunkers that really get to me.  The thing is, is this is one of them.... the way people make a big thing out of the word 'is'.... One 'is' really is enough! Unless, of course, we're in the process of creating a new word..... thingis, as in: The thingis, is we're mucking up our beautiful language, one little word at a time.

Oh dear, now I've probably spoiled it for you. That little extra 'is' will be jumping out at you from every radio interview and TV vox-pop you encounter, from friends and family, colleagues and customers, maybe even from your own lips....

The thing is, it might just make a few people do away with that little surplus-to-requirements word.

24th Sept 2009