Plateau - noun or verb?

[Pete]

I have just read a BBC news report on line, which said: 'Report author Sonia Sodha said: "There have been many positive gains in education over the last decade, but in recent years results have plateaued. "'

Is "plateau" a verb? And are there any other words in English with 4 consecutive vowels?

[suvvern]

I have never heard "plateaued" and to me it sounds wrong.

However, I expect that most people would understand what was meant by it.

[TfS]

May 24, 2008 23:50:59 GMT Pete said:

Is "plateau" a verb? And are there any other words in English with 4 consecutive vowels?

Filched from the Web:
-aqueous
-obsequious
-onomatopoeia
-palaeoanthropic
-pharmacopoeia
-queue

TfS

[Glyn]

And there's "queueing". Any more fives? Get filching, TfS!
And, Pete, the SOED recognises "plateau" as an intransitive verb, and quotes "plateaued" from The Times.

[Barry]

Gosh, yes - I've been hearing it (and occasionally using it) for at least a decade. It's usually something used about a measurement that has been graphed (there's another one).

[Verbivore]

May 25, 2008 0:08:30 GMT suvvern said:

I have never heard "plateaued" and to me it sounds wrong. [...]

It has been commonplace in my hearing (if not much in my own employment) for at least a decade.

[TfS]

May 25, 2008 9:30:37 GMT Glyn said:

And there's "queueing". Any more fives? Get filching, TfS!

[/i].

[/quote]The only other one I could find is MIAOUING (what a cat does)

TfS

[Pete]

I have just read another BBC report, which refers to "an unanimous decision". Surely it should be "a unanimous decision"?

What is wrong with the BBC these days?

[Geoff]

May 25, 2008 12:18:24 GMT Pete said:

an unanimous decision

A bit like the use of 'a' before words starting with 'h', as in 'a historic' or 'a horrific', examples of which I have heard often in recent weeks. I get the impression that many speakers on the radio and TV are forcing themselves to read what someone else has prepared for them. The way the say 'a' doesn't sound natural at all.

[Pete]

Is there a school of thought that one should say "an hotel"? If so, what is the rule here?

[Barry]

The old school of thought, Pete, was that words that were derived from French (or, at least, Latin via French), such as historic, hotel etc., should in some way mark their origins by losing their aspirates (and consequently taking 'an' as their indefinite article). It's gradually dying out now, and I'd say about time too! English is full of loan-words from many languages, and, as they are gradually accepted into mainstream vocabulary, I think it's right that they take on an English quality - it's the same reason why I'm happy to say 'comfort' (cumfert) 'arena' (areena) and 'bolognese' (bolonays) rather than comfor, arrayna and bolonyaysay. To single out one particular feature of loan-words seems illogical to me.

[SusanB]

I would always say 'a hotel', 'a historic moment', etc. 'An' sounds very odd to me - though clearly there are people who presumably react in the same negative way to my use of 'a'.

Back to the cat - I would write 'meow'. (Actually, my cat tends to say 'mah-ah-ah', though I'm not sure whether she would use the hyphens.)

[Paul Doherty]

Loan words from French -- always tricky. How do you say

- rendevous
- debut
- foyer
- restaurant

[Barry]

Well, point taken, Paul. I think it's a gradual process. Norman-French loan-words are well assimilated, others are newer. I'd still maintain that there's an anglicisation going on, even with the words you've quoted. We don't say rrondez-vous with a uvular 'r' and pure vowels; we tend to ay 'rondivoo'. There also isn't much else we can do with it (it adapts quite well to English). Similarly debut - we anglicise it as much as possible (we don't say 'duh-bu', but 'debyou'). I've heard some say 'fwahyey', but many simply say 'foi-ey'. And most people now say 'restrornt', rather than 'ruhstuhro''.

[TfS]

Barry's avatar has done a bunk!

TfS