Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you

[Peelee]

I like the vaguely Brittish "ribbing."

Thats much better. Thanks!

[ZamielVanWeber]

Be prepared for obnoxious pendantry:
People talking about Wens-day instead of Wednesday.
Feb-uary instead of February.
People who get mad at me for using the nom-Emphatic negative. I care not if it be archaic; I am just too dispassionate when I am not hyperbolic. (Forgive the awful joke).

[Peelee]

Be prepared for obnoxious pendantry:
People talking about Wens-day instead of Wednesday.
Feb-uary instead of February.
People who get mad at me for using the nom-Emphatic negative. I care not if it be archaic; I am just too dispassionate when I am not hyperbolic. (Forgive the awful joke).

You learn all that at the libary?

[ZamielVanWeber]

You learn all that at the libary?

My mother learned English at a prestigious school in Singapore (she is American, long story) so actually uses the old school pronunciations, which were passed onto me. As for my grammar being extremely archaic I have no one but myself to blame.

[2D8HP]

L-i-b-r-a-r-y

instead of

L-i-b-e-r-r-y.


One of many lessons my wife was annoyed enough to teach me.

[Peelee]

L-i-b-r-a-r-y

instead of

L-i-b-e-r-r-y.


One of many lessons my wife was annoyed enough to teach me.

I'm embarrassed. My face is all red like a strawbrerry.

[Zinarik]

"Their at you're house picking up there stuff, your free to meet them they're"

It bothers me that it's mainly native English speaker who do this.

[Xuc Xac]

"Their at you're house picking up there stuff, your free to meet them they're"

It bothers me that it's mainly native English speaker who do this.

Native speakers learn the words long before they learn to spell them. Non-native speakers most likely learn them in print before they can say them properly.

[Bohandas]

The second error is still unacceptable as the pronounciation of those words is distinct

[georgie_leech]

The second error is still unacceptable as the pronounciation of those words is distinct

Depends on who you ask. Many places have them as direct homophones.

[Fiery Diamond]

The second error is still unacceptable as the pronounciation of those words is distinct

As much as those errors make me tear my hair out, that's dependent on dialect.

These three words, in most dialects, are pronounced the same. However, I know a public school teacher in Appalachia who pronounces the third word distinctly from the other two. (She says "Thur" with the hard "th.")
There
They're
Their

Whether or not these two are pronounced the same is entirely dependent on dialect.
Your
You're

There are three basic pronunciations that can be applied to those two: "Yore" (as the word yore), "Yoor" (rhymes with lure), and "Yurr" (or if you prefer, "yer," rhymes with burr). People who pronounce the two words distinctly from one another, I find, usually pronounce the first word "yore" or "yurr" and the second word "yoor." Friendly reminder: that's not universal.

[factotum]

I don't pronounce "they're" anything like the other two? I actually say "theyur", since it's an abbreviation for "they are".

[2D8HP]

As much as those errors make me tear my hair out, that's dependent on dialect.

These three words, in most dialects, are pronounced the same. However, I know a public school teacher in Appalachia who pronounces the third word distinctly from the other two. (She says "Thur" with the hard "th.")
There
They're
Their

Whether or not these two are pronounced the same is entirely dependent on dialect.
Your
You're

There are three basic pronunciations that can be applied to those two: "Yore" (as the word yore), "Yoor" (rhymes with lure), and "Yurr" (or if you prefer, "yer," rhymes with burr). People who pronounce the two words distinctly from one another, I find, usually pronounce the first word "yore" or "yurr" and the second word "yoor." Friendly reminder: that's not universal.

Interesting.

I've always assumed that both were always homonyms.

"Learning is happening."

Thanks.

[Anonymouswizard]

"Their at you're house picking up there stuff, your free to meet them they're"

It bothers me that it's mainly native English speaker who do this.

YToul mean, they are homophones where I come from, but if you know your basic English you'll know the third is a contraction, so they'res no reason you can't just ask yourself 'is the word I need a contraction.

...internal fluid covered fiery place. Mistake 100% intentional.

But yeah, when it's not being used for bad humour, or during note taking (where it'll presumably be corrected later) it's really annoying.

[Xuc Xac]

I don't pronounce "they're" anything like the other two? I actually say "theyur", since it's an abbreviation for "they are".

You use a two-syllable "abbreviation" for two single-syllable words? Are you Australian or something?

[factotum]

You use a two-syllable "abbreviation" for two single-syllable words? Are you Australian or something?

It's just how I pronounce it. Theyur is still shorter than "They are" and sounds less formal, too.

[Wardog]

This doesn't exactly bug me, and it's not really a "misuse" so much as a re-definition, but given that the "Words that sound more interesting than what they actually mean" thread has close, this seems the best place to mention it:

"Alienist".

In various games, its some sort of mystic that gets power from or tries to control Lovecraftian entities from beyond the veil of reality.

In the real world, its an archaic term for a psychiatrist or psychologist.

I wonder if some time in the future, games will use "psychologist" as aname for some sort of psychic wizard.

[Bohandas]

Claiming that "barbarian" means "foreigner", in a conversation being conducted in the English language (and not in any way in Greek). This is a genetic/etymological fallacy.

[Anonymouswizard]

I wonder if some time in the future, games will use "psychologist" as aname for some sort of psychic wizard.

The Foundation Trilogy actually uses psychology as another term for psychic powers. Of course there the idea is that these future psychologists have such good understanding of the mind they can read your mind via your body language and alter your mind via sending nonverbal signals. While they do seem to have some form of legitimate telepathy it's actually pretty minor compared to their ability to read people (and it's not clear how much of their mind altering is psychic and how much is psychology.

If you need to distinguish between the two the actually powers are I believe 'mentalics', but the trilogy makes the point that psychology might add m develop enough to perfectly imitate the lower levels.

Notably instead of having actual telepathic communication psychologists can communicate via slight gestures and highly developed body language, to the point that this forms most of their conversations amongst themselves.

[lesser_minion]

There's always "this problem is exacerbated by...". In most cases, the only additional thing you're communicating by using 'exacerbated' instead of 'compounded' or 'made worse' is that you think I'm supposed to be impressed by your use of a five-syllable word.

As for "this problem is exasperated by...", that's basically the written English equivalent of a faceplant.

Another thing that always bugs me is misuse of reflexive pronouns, e.g., "I thought it would be prudent to contact yourselves...".

I also hate the use of 'cooperate' instead of 'co-operate' ('coöperate' is fine).

[Sylian]

Using "Begs the question" instead of "Raises the question". This is extra annoying since I sometimes run into people using "begs the question" correctly ("Left-handed people are better painters because right-handed people can't paint as well.", which begs the question). For people not interested in philosophy, this might not be much of an issue, since people rarely use "begs the question" correctly outside of philosophy, it seems. Still, it's annoying. This might not fall under "completely unimportant", but it's still not really all that important.

Also, when people say or write "I wish I was" or "If I was" instead of "I wish I were" or "If I were" for unreal cases. This does fall under "Completely unimportant" since it is perfectly clear what they mean, even if they are incorrect.

Oh, and "I can care less" instead of "I can't care less". Again, completely unimportant, but slightly annoying.

[Peelee]

There's always "this problem is exacerbated by...". In most cases, the only additional thing you're communicating by using 'exacerbated' instead of 'compounded' or 'made worse' is that you think I'm supposed to be impressed by your use of a five-syllable word.

And using "compounded" instead of "made worse" only communicates that you think I'm impressed by your use of a three-way lable word. Especially since the sound always comes from below me, what with me being on my high horse and all.

Exacerbate is a fairly common word. Unless the speaker is peppering their talk with large words, they don't give a hoot about you being impressed, they are just using a perfectly fine word in normal conversation. And if they are talking like they looked up half the words in a thesaurus, the whole thing is pretty obvious because it doesn't sound natural.

[lesser_minion]

Exacerbate is a fairly common word. Unless the speaker is peppering their talk with large words, they don't give a hoot about you being impressed, they are just using a perfectly fine word in normal conversation. And if they are talking like they looked up half the words in a thesaurus, the whole thing is pretty obvious because it doesn't sound natural.

If you encounter it a lot, then that's fair enough. I can't say I think of 'exacerbate' as a reasonably common word myself though.

In any event, there are simpler alternatives, and I'm not aware of it expressing an idea better than the alternatives do. I simply can't see the word as contributing usefully to the English language. Moreover, far too many people mistake it for the more useful 'exasperate'.

Once I've finished seizing absolute control over the English language, 'exacerbate' is going on the chopping block.

Using "Begs the question" instead of "Raises the question". This is extra annoying since I sometimes run into people using "begs the question" correctly ("Left-handed people are better painters because right-handed people can't paint as well.", which begs the question). For people not interested in philosophy, this might not be much of an issue, since people rarely use "begs the question" correctly outside of philosophy, it seems. Still, it's annoying. This might not fall under "completely unimportant", but it's still not really all that important.

Something like "prompts the question" or "raises the question" is what naturally comes to mind when you put those words together in that order. Not "is a proof that depends upon that which was to be proven". I agree that you need a term for that sort of proof, but I don't see the problem with just talking about petitio principii. Nobody ever saw a need to run reductio ad absurdum or argumentum ad hominem through a mangle -- yet both of those phrases could emerge from the mangle with their meanings intact.

[Rockphed]

And using "compounded" instead of "made worse" only communicates that you think I'm impressed by your use of a three-way lable word. Especially since the sound always comes from below me, what with me being on my high horse and all.

Exacerbate is a fairly common word. Unless the speaker is peppering their talk with large words, they don't give a hoot about you being impressed, they are just using a perfectly fine word in normal conversation. And if they are talking like they looked up half the words in a thesaurus, the whole thing is pretty obvious because it doesn't sound natural.

My in-laws sometimes harass me about peppering my speech with obscure words (or obscure meanings of words). I believe their actual complaint is that I "make up words" (which I seldom do). On occasion they have accused me of using fancy speech to sound smart, but when my attempts to explain the meaning of an obscure word ended up using even more obscure words they finally accepted that I use a wide vocabulary in my normal speech.

[lesser_minion]

My in-laws sometimes harass me about peppering my speech with obscure words (or obscure meanings of words). I believe their actual complaint is that I "make up words" (which I seldom do). On occasion they have accused me of using fancy speech to sound smart, but when my attempts to explain the meaning of an obscure word ended up using even more obscure words they finally accepted that I use a wide vocabulary in my normal speech.

There's nothing wrong with having or using a wide vocabulary. I brought up that one specific word, because it has no apparent use.

[Peelee]

If you encounter it a lot, then that's fair enough. I can't say I think of 'exacerbate' as a reasonably common word myself though.

In any event, there are simpler alternatives, and I'm not aware of it expressing an idea better than the alternatives do. I simply can't see the word as contributing usefully to the English language. Moreover, far too many people mistake it for the more useful 'exasperate'.

This isn't something I ever thought I'd say, but maybe you should move to Alabama. You'd have a lot fewer instances of that, I'm pretty sure.

[Bohandas]

Using "Begs the question" instead of "Raises the question". This is extra annoying since I sometimes run into people using "begs the question" correctly ("Left-handed people are better painters because right-handed people can't paint as well.", which begs the question). For people not interested in philosophy, this might not be much of an issue, since people rarely use "begs the question" correctly outside of philosophy, it seems. Still, it's annoying. This might not fall under "completely unimportant", but it's still not really all that important.

They're both well established in the language and, even though I was just complaining about genetic fallacies, I feel compelled to point out that the name of fallacy was based on a ridiculous mistranslation. Furthermore I don;t think I've ever seen "begging the question", the fallacy, conjugated to "begs the question", so the argument could be made that they're two distinct but similar sounding idioms. Or at least it could were it not for the fact that the other can be constructed from the english language normally, and thus is arguably not an idiom but rather just a saying

[Xuc Xac]

Claiming that "barbarian" means "foreigner", in a conversation being conducted in the English language (and not in any way in Greek). This is a genetic/etymological fallacy.

My English dictionary's first definition of "barbarian" is "a person from an alien land, culture, or group considered to be inferior, uncivilized, or violent". So, yes, it basically means "bad foreigner" in English.

[Peelee]

My English dictionary's first definition of "barbarian" is "a person from an alien land, culture, or group considered to be inferior, uncivilized, or violent". So, yes, it basically means "bad foreigner" in English.

barbarian
NOUN

1 (in ancient times) a member of a people not belonging to one of the great civilizations (Greek, Roman, Christian)
‘the city was besieged by the barbarians’

1.1 An uncultured or brutish person.
‘you arrogant barbarian!’

ADJECTIVE

1 Relating to ancient barbarians.
‘barbarian invasions’
More example sentencesSynonyms
1.1 Uncultured; brutish.

Imean, you're technically correct, it is the first definition, but I don't think that necessarily helps your case.

[Xuc Xac]

Imean, you're technically correct, it is the first definition, but I don't think that necessarily helps your case.

Neither of the definitions you give mean "berserker" the way D&D uses it, which is the only argument I've seen here recently about the meaning of "barbarian". A character class called barbarian should either be an outsider or just an uneducated person with low social skills. That's not much to build a class around.