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Pedants' corner

am I right to be annoyed so much by mince?

5 replies

ruthmollymummy · 25/05/2008 13:53

surely 'mince' is a noun, so the meat I use to make my spaghetti should always be called, minced beef. Because it is, in fact, beef that has been minced.

Or is it alright to simply call it mince?

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ruthmollymummy · 25/05/2008 13:59

not a noun my goodness I am tired! A VERB!

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MargaretMountford · 25/05/2008 14:30

mmm, hadn't considered this before you mentioned it ruthmollymummy...now it's bound to irritate me...
is it a bit the same as saying you'll have 'a coffee' as opposed to a cup of coffee ? I do hate the expression

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SubRosa · 25/05/2008 14:52

Isn't 'minced' a participial adjective? It's in fairly common usage I think, such as in 'written apology'.

www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/adjectiv/particip.htm

Damn, I've confused myself now

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WendyWeber · 25/05/2008 15:11

mince is also a noun though if it helps

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SenoraPostrophe · 25/05/2008 15:21

yep, I say it's a noun too.

it may have originally been a verb, but verbs do have a way of spawning nouns.

who can be bothered to say "we're having minced beef for tea" when they can just say "s'mince"?

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