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  • Up to thirty to forty

    From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english on Thu Sep 24 20:49:52 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

    From today's TV news. Because of an airport strike, passengers are
    being delayed at Security by up to half an hour to forty minutes.

    I've seen this sort of thing on the news before. It's as if journalists
    don't know the meaning of "up to".
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From occam@occam@nowhere.nix to alt.usage.english on Thu Sep 24 12:56:26 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

    On 24/09/2026 12:49, Peter Moylan wrote:
    From today's TV news. Because of an airport strike, passengers are being delayed at Security by up to half an hour to forty minutes.

    I've seen this sort of thing on the news before. It's as if journalists
    don't know the meaning of "up to".


    Could the first number be intended as a lower limit while the second is
    the 'up to'?

    Hence "passengers are being delayed from thirty to (up to) 40 minutes"
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson@johann@myrkraverk.invalid to alt.usage.english on Fri Sep 25 01:54:00 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

    On 9/24/2026 6:56 PM, occam wrote:
    On 24/09/2026 12:49, Peter Moylan wrote:
    From today's TV news. Because of an airport strike, passengers are being
    delayed at Security by up to half an hour to forty minutes.

    I've seen this sort of thing on the news before. It's as if journalists
    don't know the meaning of "up to".


    Could the first number be intended as a lower limit while the second is
    the 'up to'?

    Hence "passengers are being delayed from thirty to (up to) 40 minutes"

    That could be the intended meaning but "up to thirty to forty" is a
    weird way to phrase it.

    And, some people may decide not to fly. I have done that before, when
    I missed my connecting flight. I don't know how you would phrase that,
    but not being held up at the airport means the delay drops to zero,
    right?

    And erm, yes. I'm not joking when I say I decided not to fly. I was
    after all able to get a new passport in London, and head back. I never
    made it -- or went all they way -- to Iceland as my original travel des- tination. For people of alt.usage.english who have the same experience,
    it's good to know that you can just get the /tourist visa/ now online
    for twenty pounds, even after staying in the United Kingdom for several
    days. The government really doesn't care. At least, as long as you're
    not intending to stay forever, and leave before the tourist visa ex-
    pires. I have no experience of overstaying a visa in the United King-
    dom, and don't know if Sir Humphrey will get angry.


    Thank you far attending my monologue in alt.usage.english.
    --
    Johann | email: invalid -> com | http://www.myrkraverk.com/blog/
    I'm not from the Internet, I just work there. | via XS News https://bsky.app/profile/myrkraverk.bsky.social | for ( ;; ) _:;
    Federated at https://fed.brid.gy/bsky/myrkraverk.bsky.social
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english on Fri Sep 25 06:04:41 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

    On Thu, 24 Sep 2026 20:49:52 +1000, Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org>
    wrote:

    From today's TV news. Because of an airport strike, passengers are
    being delayed at Security by up to half an hour to forty minutes.

    I've seen this sort of thing on the news before. It's as if journalists >don't know the meaning of "up to".

    Could it be related to AmE usage of "through" to mean "up to"?
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2