Results 61 to 90 of 1497
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2017-06-09, 08:09 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2007
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- Quebec, Canada
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
This seems appropriate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc
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2017-06-09, 08:46 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
If you don't like PIN number and ATM machine, you are definitely not going to like GNU. Then again, PIN and ATM are almost treated as words now, certainly I have seen them sans capitals in various styles. Much like how LASER is now almost entirely treated as the word laser.
I could care less is interesting because I'm certain that one of the reasons people use this turn-of-phrase is because the most common reply to I couldn't care less in an online discussion was and is any quip similar to "but you cared enough to post". Ecksdee implied or added in.
I like irregardless. I also have used misunderestimated unironically though.
What I like the most though is what level of conservatism a person has for the english language. Usually a person will have a few consensus relayed grammatical bugbears from their social spheres and will ignore any other errors that they or their cohorts make.
Finally, one of the few missuses that bugs me is when people use there or their when they mean they're. I have noticed a reversal of the trend where there and their were merging to there and they're is treated separate. Which I believe may be because singular they is becoming stonkingly popular now and so people are now used to writing their again.Life is precious, guard it will your soul.
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2017-06-09, 08:49 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
- Location
- Washington D.C.
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
I'm also gong to take this chance to call out people who say "gif" witty a hard G. Because they're wrong.
Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.
Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2
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2017-06-09, 12:53 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Aside from the typical ones like your/you're, lose/loose, discrete/discreet, and so on, what really bugs me is when dictionaries legitimize incorrect word usage just because it's commonplace. Like how Webster's Dictionary now has a definition for "literally" that literally means the exact opposite of the real definition.
Also, it's annoying when people speaking English use a non-English word for something when there's already a perfectly good English word for that thing or concept. It always comes off as either ignorant (they don't know the right word) or pretentious (they're trying to sound smart by using a French or whatever language term).
I knew there was a reason I liked you guys.
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2017-06-09, 01:11 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
- Location
- Washington D.C.
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Last edited by Peelee; 2017-06-09 at 01:13 PM.
Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.
Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2
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2017-06-09, 04:01 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2006
- Location
- Bristol
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
A debate which I wager has been had since before the first dictionary was published.
The answer, I believe, is "both". Dictionaries record the living language, but people will also use them as references and authority sources for what is/isn't correct usage, so they will have an influence over the language too.
I think problems tend to arise when dictionaries are over-hasty to adopt - and therefore legitimise - non-standard, ironic or hyperbolic use of certain words.GITP Blood Bowl Manager Cup
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2017-06-09, 04:02 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2004
- Location
- Norwich, UK
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
One of my current bugbears is "thusly". It's a nonsense word only used by people who are trying to sound intelligent, but don't understand how to actually use "thus" correctly.
Its and it's. A lot of people don't realise that there's even a difference between the two. It's is a contraction of "it is". Its is the possessive form of it, comparable to his and her.
Which also reminds me: a lot. Two separate words. "Alot" is not a word.
Many people assume wherefore is a fancy Shakespeare word for where. It's actually a fancy Shakespeare word for why. Juliet wasn't asking where Romeo was, she was musing on why she had to fall in love with Romeo of the Montagues. It's hilarious when performers don't get that and mime looking around for Romeo when they say Juliet's famous line.
A rather specific one to my work: people who say "I am Power of Attorney". No, you're not. You have Power of Attorney. A Power of Attorney is a legal document that appoints an attorney to act on a donor's behalf. Unless the deed was physically written onto you, it's impossible for a person to be one.Last edited by Ebon_Drake; 2017-06-09 at 04:07 PM.
Allergy advice: posts may contain traces of sarcasm
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2017-06-09, 04:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2010
- Location
- Toledo, Ohio
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
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2017-06-09, 04:40 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
- Location
- The Imagination
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
I second this request. I've only ever seen this done with Japanophiles using Japanese words like nakama and kawaii. I've never seen it done with words from other European languages, unless you count words that ARE English words simply because we stole them, like guillotine.
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2017-06-09, 05:45 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2009
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Our journalists do this a lot with English words, a bit to look cool, a bit to vainly try to seem authoritative using fake specialist jargon. One example is "rumors" for "unsubstantiated things I am writing which I won't refer to any source".
This is beautiful, it's like "I am woman of cheese!" in an hypothetical "How To: Awkwardly Introduce Yourself" guide, but the latter makes more sense.Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1955
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2017-06-09, 06:36 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2013
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
My hero (though we prefer the term Grammarian For Freedom).
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2017-06-09, 09:05 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
"None of us likes to be hated, none of us likes to be shunned. A natural result of these conditions is, that we consciously or unconsciously pay more attention to tuning our opinions to our neighbor’s pitch and preserving his approval than we do to examining the opinions searchingly and seeing to it that they are right and sound." - Mark Twain
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2017-06-09, 10:40 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2012
- Location
- In the Playground, duh.
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
I don't really care how people pronounce it, because as far as giving gifts to giant giraffes (or jivving jifts to guyant goraffes) is concerned, there's no real precedent as to why it should be one or the other.
The latter, for most modern dictionaries. There are loads of words we only use the way we do due to a historical mistake/don't use at all because a dude called Geoff decided he didn't like them/whatever. Trying to trace the language back to its roots is something that people stopped doing when they realised it was dumb.
No, stupid, not mute. Good grief.
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2017-06-10, 02:34 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2007
- Location
- Manchester, UK
- Gender
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2017-06-10, 06:30 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
- Location
- Washington D.C.
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.
Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2
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2017-06-10, 07:44 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Location
- Dallas, TX
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
I could make a case for the hard "g", because it's simply an abbreviation for "Graphics Interchange Format". But if I did that, then to be consistent, I'd have to pronounce jpeg as "jayfeg". ["Joint Photographic Experts Group").]
The fact that a rule has exceptions doesn't mean that it isn't a rule or a real precedent. If it's followed by an, "a", "o", or "u", then use a hard "g" or hard "c". Followed by an "e, "i", or "y", use a soft "g" or soft "c".
Yes, the rule has exceptions, because English is made out of history at least as much as logic. But it still exists.
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2017-06-10, 08:02 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
- Location
- The Great White North
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Lack of appropriate-hyphen use. The phrase take got me was, "beer making monks", instead of "beer-making monks".
How do you keep a fool busy? Turn upside down for answer.
˙ɹǝʍsuɐ ɹoɟ uʍop ǝpısdn uɹnʇ ¿ʎsnq ןooɟ ɐ dǝǝʞ noʎ op ʍoɥ
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2017-06-10, 10:54 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
- Location
- Washington D.C.
- Gender
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2017-06-10, 01:28 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2004
- Location
- Chicago!
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
As my signature attests, misuse of deus ex machina.
Additionally the rule about ending a sentence with a preposition. It does not exist. A sentence may end with a prepositional phrase. A phrase may be just one word. Most of the time you should not end a sentence with a preposition for other reasons. But the idea that you can't because of a written rule of the language is incorrect.Hello world. . .
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2017-06-10, 01:41 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2016
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
"If you want to understand biology don't think about vibrant throbbing gels and oozes, think about information technology" -Richard Dawkins
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2017-06-10, 02:17 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2006
- Location
- Bristol
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
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2017-06-10, 02:43 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2009
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
I guess that you can say that my hypothetical hand-carved-by-me pencil is more unique than a bic pen, on the grounds that the bic pen isn't unique at all. It's like saying that my yellow curtains are more yellow than your purple curtains, because 1 > 0. or should one say "that's not yellow, this is yellow"?
Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1955
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2017-06-10, 03:36 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
As is becoming customary, Aedilred has said what I wanted to say, better than I would have said it. As dictionaries are perceived (for better or worse) to have a certain authoritativeness when it comes to the correct usage of a word, I believe that the first option outweighs the second. And so I see adding incorrect usages of words as proper definitions to be a failure of that responsibility.
The one that my dad complains about all the time (and thus what got me thinking about this) is "tsunami" for "tidal wave." A cursory bit of research indicates that they are in fact not quite the same thing, but hopefully you can at least see where I was going with the thought.
For all those jraphics that are included in those GIF's, right. Given that Steve Wilhite is an engineer, not a linguist, I feel quite comfortable in saying that he's wrong, despite being the inventor.
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2017-06-10, 04:03 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
- Location
- Washington D.C.
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Last edited by Peelee; 2017-06-10 at 04:03 PM.
Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.
Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2
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2017-06-10, 04:25 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2009
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Yu sii, dhis is way Ay think dher ar beter weys tu wrayt.
Last edited by Vinyadan; 2017-06-10 at 04:26 PM.
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2017-06-10, 04:32 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2006
- Location
- Bristol
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Shouldn't it be neh-sa?
I think the "soft g before i" rule is about as much of a rule as "i before e except after c". That is, it's probably not actually a rule at all, and if it is it's not worth anything.
In fact I'd be willing to wager (a very small sum) that if there was any consistency on the subject in Old English it was that gs before is were hard, and that the soft "gi" was imported from French for certain words.
In any case I think this is one where I'm happy to be descriptivist. "gif" with a hard g is what the overwhelming majority of people say, and therefore it has to be considered the standard pronunciation, even if the inventor of the concept disagrees.
To look at another word that's been with us for some time, there's the infamous "lieutenant", for instance. Now, fairly obviously from the spelling that should be prounounced "lyoo-tenant", after all "lieu" and "tenant" are words in their own right and follow all the normal rules. But in America it's "lootenant" and in Britain it's "leftenant"* and to argue that both of those are wrong and we should all be saying "lyootenant" is just to be in denial of reality, no matter what the spelling.
*Unless you're in the Navy, I believe.Last edited by Aedilred; 2017-06-10 at 04:33 PM.
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2017-06-10, 04:45 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
- Location
- Washington D.C.
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.
Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2
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2017-06-10, 05:57 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2014
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
The stars predict tomorrow you'll wake up, do a bunch of stuff, and then go back to sleep.~ That's your horoscope for today.
01001110011001010111001001100100
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2017-06-10, 06:17 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2004
- Location
- The Land of Angles
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
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2017-06-10, 08:41 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2016
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Speaking of hard vs soft letter g, how do you all pronounce "giga-". I've gotten the impression that most prople pronounce it with a hard g, as do I, but it's my understanding that historically it was usually a soft g, as attested in Back to the Future in the scene where Doc Brown explains how the time machine works
"If you want to understand biology don't think about vibrant throbbing gels and oozes, think about information technology" -Richard Dawkins
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