Bin Facility

Abuse of the English language drives me slightly crazy.  In recent years we seem to have moved on from the old-fashioned and perhaps understandable errors discussed so brilliantly by Lynne Truss (dropped apostrophes, double negatives, etc) and into an era where people try too hard to appear clever.  I'm thinking of instances (particular on signs) where additional superfluous words are used in a sentence, or horrific new non-words such as "canonicalization" are coined.

I'm on a course today in Leeds (on SQL 2005, since you asked), and there's a sign in the gents' requesting that I dispose of my paper towels in the "bin facility provided".  The bin facility?  Since when was it necessary to describe a common-or-garden dustbin as a facility?  I tell you, I damn nearly dropped my paper towels on the floor in protest at their pompous signage...  :-)

So there we go - my first proper blog post of 2006 is a rant.  Oh, the course is good though.  The lunch provided is yummy, too.