Comments on: Fifth Avenue – NYC 2006 – Part 3 of 4

By: Erik R.

Erik R. — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:15:47 +0000

Right, Simon, but you were going in there to actually purchase toys, and I was in there to be wowed and gawk at the ostentation.

I’ll have to check out the others next time I’m in The City. Thanks for the recommendation.

By: simon

simon — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:01:28 +0000

I have to say, I was slightly disappointed with FAO Schwarz. Yes, the glowing ceiling and the piano were fun, but I didn’t think much of the actual selection of toys, and it was a lot smaller than I expected. I much prefer Hamleys.
In fact, I even preferred the Toys ‘r’ Us in Times Square, which was big enough to have a functioning Ferris wheel in the entrance hall…

By: Erik R.

Erik R. — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:55:53 +0000

It is. And they’re all deeply offended by this comment thread.

By: simon

simon — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:48:37 +0000

I thought Preterite was a religion…

By: Erik R.

Erik R. — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:23:34 +0000

And while we’re nitpicking, in the sentence I wrote, I’m pretty sure the usage is the “preterite”, not “past participle”.

By: Erik R.

Erik R. — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:18:49 +0000

I remember looking that up at the time and thinking that "costed" sounded wrong, but there it was in the dictionary. Unfortunately, I see now that "costed" is only the past tense for the transitive form of the verb (e.g. "The accountants costed out our expenses."). English is so silly sometimes. Like how the yanks say "spelled" and the brits say "spelt". (I started this response before I saw your most recent comment clarifying.)

By: simon

simon — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:15:58 +0000

Past participle of “to cost” is “cost”. “That’s what our car COST”.
Or is this a US English thing, like “spit” instead of “spat”?

By: Erik R.

Erik R. — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:09:18 +0000

Huh?

By: simon

simon — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:05:52 +0000

Oh Erik…”That’s what our car costed!”…