The Guardian reports on a study conducted in Guildford, Surrey, England. Researchers
[...] placed detectors for particulate pollution in prams and made 64 journeys to and from schools in Guildford at drop-off and pick-up times. They found that air pollution spiked at road junctions and by bus stands, and that fine particle pollution was higher in the mornings, when the roads are busiest.
"Fine particles show larger health impacts compared to their larger counterparts and at the young age children are more susceptible to particulate pollution, suggesting a clear need for precautionary measures to limit their exposure during their transport along the busy roadsides," the researchers concluded.
Their work is published in Environmental Pollution (DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.02.021).
The Guardian links to a Telegraph article which says that
Of the 51 areas across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland included in the [World Health Organisation's global pollution] database, 40 exceeded the WHO's guideline limits for 'PM2.5', or fine particulate matter, while 10 exceeded the guideline levels for 'PM10', slightly larger particulate pollution.
London, Glasgow, Leeds, Eastbourne, Port Talbot and Scunthorpe were among the worst areas.
(Score: 3, Informative) by xorsyst on Friday March 10 2017, @11:47AM (8 children)
Or, indeed, prams or buggies by island dwellers. I don't think I've ever heard anyone call them "perambulators" except when taking the piss.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday March 10 2017, @01:31PM (7 children)
Indeed, the article itself calls them prams - which is the word we have been using since around the time of the 2nd World War, or even earlier.
(Score: 5, Informative) by gidds on Friday March 10 2017, @02:35PM (6 children)
[resists]
[resists]
[resists]
[gives in]
You can't put “you speaketh”! If you're going to use archaic forms, at least use them correctly!
It should be “you speak…”. Or “he speaketh…”. Or even “thou speakest…” if you must. (Though “sire” presumably indicates someone you wouldn't be familiar enough with for “thou”.)
More e.g. here [tobias.name].
(I'm not qualified to judge the “Forsooth”…)
[calms down]
But yes, they've been ‘prams‘ for a century or two now. I can't recall ever hearing ‘perambulator’ except in jest.
(And while it might be useful to include a translation for non-Brits, this is a British story and deserves a British headline! Otherwise I'll start insisting on the removal of the huge range of Americanisms that appear…)
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(Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Friday March 10 2017, @02:51PM
Now that deserves a mod point!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 10 2017, @02:54PM
Most interesting pedantic comment I have ever seen.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday March 10 2017, @02:57PM (3 children)
Fair cop - I'm old, but not that old...!
(Score: 3, Funny) by gidds on Friday March 10 2017, @03:12PM (2 children)
<highHorse>You're never too young to do things correctly!</highHorse>
:-)
(Though of course, if you were on a horse, you'd have to sit corrected…)
And yes, you're right: I really should get a life…
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(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday March 10 2017, @06:02PM (1 child)
I feel like I've stumbled into an episode of "Yes Minister" with you doing your best Bernard impression. (Not that that's at all a bad thing...)
(Score: 2) by gidds on Friday March 10 2017, @08:30PM
Bad thing? It's truly an honour! But I can't claim that anything of the sort was in my mind :-)
However, I must admit to being a big fan of that series, and — which seems like a staggering coincidence — I happened to be looking at Jonathan Lynn (its co-author)'s memoir only this morning. (In fact, it seems that some of Bernard's best bits of pedantry came almost verbatim from comments by its other co-author, Antony Jay.)
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