e originally put a headline on Isabelle Jani-Friend’s article about her cystic fibrosis that said: “Vulnerable people shielding since March are fed up of being ignored.” It is a matter of taste to prefer “fed up with”, but as she says she is “fed up with” in the article itself, it seemed only polite to change the headline to match.
Like many readers, including Paul Edwards, who wrote to me about it, I was taught that it should be “bored with” and “fed up with”, so we should avoid the “of” form in any case, but if the writer herself uses “with”, the argument is doubly made.
Cement mixer: Paul Edwards is responsible for most of this column this week (thanks for all the emails; do let me know if you see something that doesn’t seem right: j.rentoul@independent.co.uk). He also pointed out the mixed metaphor in the headline on Alastair Campbell’s article about the US election: “This election has cemented the divisions tearing America apart.” Wouldn’t cement be a way of sealing the divisions and holding America together?
