# Cliche cutesy-isms that set your teeth on edge **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 25, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162 "2004-02-25T19:58:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/121 "2004-02-29T00:58:46Z")
> [@coven](#): > > I don’t care how “correct” it is, the only place “THE” belongs before “Christ” is in the question “What the Christ…?” Actually, according to Merriam Webster’s, that word comes from a Greek root meaning “anointed” which is also the root of the word “grease”. 😃 It’s not the name of Jeshua Bin Joseph, so “the” is actually appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/122 "2004-02-29T02:41:39Z")
Anytime someone uses :: shrug ::: as their whole reply or in part. I don’t know why, but it grates on me the same way as if someone says “whatever” in conversation. It just seems so disrespectful and condescending. Although I’m certain that’s not always the case. Now I’ll wait patiently for another poster to use it in this thread. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![netscape\_6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8c91f0/32.png) [@netscape\_6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/netscape_6)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/123 "2004-02-29T07:46:15Z")
> [@CheekyMonkey613](#): > > No, actually the “U Fairy” ripped you guys off. It’s the correct and original spelling of the word. Americans have shortened it, in laziness I presume. I congratulate you on your spelling of _business_. I’m waiting to see _bizness_ any day now. The correct spelling other then here maybe. We mostly don’t care about it. At one time we must have cared because we changed it. I currently find it a slight annoyance on the off chance I notice it. > [@CheekyMonkey613](#): > > Conversely, I dislike the “habbit” of seeing the words shortened to non-u words. The labour it saves you regrettably greys the colour of your perceived vocabulary. I would like to congratulate you on subtle creativity in the second (Would you prefer secound? Well too bad!) sentence. The first one was just a pot shot at a typo so I’m deducting .5 from your score and only giving you a score of 4.3 out of a possible 5. I think most Americans prefer to add to the “colour” of our vocabulary by inventing new words and new meanings for words, not archaic rules that serve no appearant function. > [@CheekyMonkey613](#): > > Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to buy some doughnuts. 😉 That is a good example of a usefull u. Fried do\*\*\*ghnuts sound gross. \*short o as in top ---
**Author:** ![Gest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Gest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gest)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/124 "2004-02-29T12:17:50Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > …and everyone’s opinion holds equal value. Yuck! This is a commonly held view although, admittedly, less so on these boards. It allows creationists to insinuate _Intelligent Design_ into the American curriculum and Blair is predictably following suit. Across the pond. It’s intellectually and morally devoid and the oxygen that Oprah and the rest of the New Age thrive on. To think this view is ascendant in the countries that gave us giants like Jefferson and Darwin makes me think they’d be spinning in their graves. Fortunately, those same countries produced Chomsky and Dawkins so the fight is not over. Also, although not a cliché, Americans using England to mean the UK drives me nuts. Tony Blair is the Prime Minister and incidentally he is English. However, he is the _British_ prime minister. Understanding this distinction can be useful to Americans in some Glasgow pubs for example. You’ll still be called a cunt but Scots (not Scotch) can vary the intonation enormously when you call them English. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/125 "2004-02-29T23:29:08Z")
> [@netscape 6](#): > > That is a good example of a usefull u. Fried do\*\*\*ghnuts sound gross. > > \*short o as in top What about the g and the h then? Those are completely useless letters. Doughnuts should be written doenuts. What? You don’t have a problem with doughnuts? Don’t see why you should have a problem with colour then. I can certainly understand that you spell it color and that you’d consider it “wrong” for one of your american children (if you have or will have any) to spell it the other way, but I find it bizarre that it could be an irritation to you. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/126 "2004-03-01T02:52:28Z")
My input on this subject: “My $0.02…” or “My two cents…” bugs me, but I can’t think of a better way to say it succinctly. Judgement and judgment are both correct spellings, for the record. People who write “alot” when they mean a bunch of stuff should be beaten regularly. This one is going to put me in an early grave. IT’S “A LOT”, PEOPLE!!! TWO SEPARATE WORDS!!! **Earl of the CC** , is making sweet monkey love acceptable? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Escorpio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@El\_Escorpio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Escorpio)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/127 "2004-03-01T04:13:51Z")
Just want to say-- this phrase written by look!ninjas: “Pardon me, dude, but if you would pass the tea whilst I butter these scones, that would be rad of you.” Should be permanently whitelisted on this board. ---
**Author:** ![Grelby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@Grelby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grelby)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/128 "2004-03-01T05:14:01Z")
> [@milroyj](#): > > Same for “whinging” by an American. “Whinging” always sets my teeth on edge, PERIOD. I’m not one for the whole “we’re the most important, do it our way” imperialist schtick, but that is one British spelling I would love to see annihilated from the face of the planet. I hate it. Can I vote to add “hubby” to the list? HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE! ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/129 "2004-03-01T05:35:36Z")
I say “by the by” occasionally. Survey says? > [@CheekyMonkey613](#): > > No, actually the “U Fairy” ripped you guys off. It’s the correct and original spelling of the word. Americans have shortened it, in laziness I presume. The Romans didn’t have those extra Us. color, coloris honor, honoris labor, laboris ---
**Author:** ![netscape\_6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8c91f0/32.png) [@netscape\_6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/netscape_6)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/130 "2004-03-01T06:13:14Z")
> [@1920s Style Death Ray](#): > > What about the g and the h then? Those are completely useless letters. Doughnuts should be written doenuts. What? You don’t have a problem with doughnuts? Don’t see why you should have a problem with colour then. > > I can certainly understand that you spell it color and that you’d consider it “wrong” for one of your american children (if you have or will have any) to spell it the other way, but I find it bizarre that it could be an irritation to you. Actually I do have a problem with many facets of English spelling, including the American version. Have you ever looked at it? So many things screwy and just plain dumb. When English spelling was standardized they must have been nuts. Although I think doughnuts is okay. Doenuts just sounds like deer ovairys ---
**Author:** ![Denis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5e9695/32.png) [@Denis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Denis)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/131 "2004-03-01T06:27:15Z")
Ah, **CheekyMonkey** , you silly bitch. There you go again slagging the U.S. due to your inferiority complex. It wasn’t laziness that caused us to get rid of the “u” in so many English words. It was the work of a lexicographer by the name of Noah Webster, who wished to simplify many English spellings. It caught on in the U.S., but nowhere else. Believe it or not, English has many spellings that make no sense whatsoever, due to it being a hodge podge of many different languages (Northern European, with a generous dash of Latin, plus additions from any other language English speakers heard). The only way these spellings actually make any sense is if one is aware of the history of the language, which you, apparently, are not. “Laziness,” indeed! Stupid bitch! ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/132 "2004-03-01T06:58:48Z")
> [@netscape 6](#): > > Actually I do have a problem with many facets of English spelling, including the American version. Have you ever looked at it? So many things screwy and just plain dumb. When English spelling was standardized they must have been nuts. > Although I think doughnuts is okay. Doenuts just sounds like deer ovairys Mmmmm doenuts with cream and strawberry jam… You’re right, English in general is screwy, dumb, illogical and illconceived. Given the general reaction to whether colour should have a u or not, and whether “h” should be aitch or haitch, I think it will be a long arduous process to simplify things. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/133 "2004-03-01T07:14:49Z")
> [@1920s Style Death Ray](#): > > Mmmmm doenuts with cream and strawberry jam… Just watchout for the bucknuts. ---
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/134 "2004-03-01T07:45:47Z")
> [@cityboy916](#): > > Actually, according to Merriam Webster’s, that word comes from a Greek root meaning “anointed” which is also the root of the word “grease”. 😃 It’s not the name of Jeshua Bin Joseph, so “the” is actually appropriate. **AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!** _“appropriate”_… NOT CARING NOT CARING… scrape scalp repeatedly with abandon…_bleeds profusely_. **AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!** ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/135 "2004-03-01T16:16:30Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > . . . Judgement and judgment are both correct spellings, for the record. . . . “Judgment” is the preferred American; “judgement” is more acceptable in England. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/136 "2004-03-01T16:30:04Z")
> [@Gest](#): > > Yuck! This is a commonly held view although, admittedly, less so on these boards. It allows creationists to insinuate _Intelligent Design_ into the American curriculum and Blair is predictably following suit. Across the pond. It’s intellectually and morally devoid and the oxygen that Oprah and the rest of the New Age thrive on. To think this view is ascendant in the countries that gave us giants like Jefferson and Darwin makes me think they’d be spinning in their graves. Fortunately, those same countries produced Chomsky and Dawkins so the fight is not over. > > Also, although not a cliché, Americans using England to mean the UK drives me nuts. Tony Blair is the Prime Minister and incidentally he is English. However, he is the _British_ prime minister. Understanding this distinction can be useful to Americans in some Glasgow pubs for example. You’ll still be called a cunt but Scots (not Scotch) can vary the intonation enormously when you call them English. Kinda wrong on both counts. Sorry, Gest. Regarding my “opinion” thing, that was mostly tongue in cheek. I agree that in certain discussions, some better-informed opinions are more equal than others. Note that the post you quoted was meant to be funny. As to your second point, England is the island, the geographical place called England. “English” is a geographic and, for want of a better word, racial, term. “Britain” is a political term, referring to the United Kingdom of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, and is therefore nearly synonymous with “UK.” Actually, rereading, this may be what you were saying. A little confusing, so if I just restated your position, disregard. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/137 "2004-03-01T16:47:01Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > As to your second point, England is the island, the geographical place called England. No no no no no not again. Thrice no. Stop perpetuating this nonsense. The island is **Great Britain** which is subdivided into three nations: England, Scotland, and Wales. The UK is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. On the other hand I understand you guys use “English” (the nationality of people from England) and “British” (the nationality of people from the UK) rather interchangeably, and it does bug me, but it’s no worse than us using the word “Yank” for you lot - inaccurate but forgiveable. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/138 "2004-03-01T16:49:06Z")
[FYI](http://www.crowaptok.com/images/british_isles.gif) (I did this, so don’t take it as canon!) ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/139 "2004-03-01T17:46:13Z")
> [@coven](#): > > …The last movie to pick my ass in this way was the insufferable **Titanic** where no character ever referred to _the_ Titanic, just Titanic. I can’t explain why, but both make me want to pull out all my hair and comb my head with a cheese grater. Around the time the movie was released, I remember reading something James Cameron said to the effect that that’s how they said the names of ships in those days. ---
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162/140 "2004-03-01T18:18:04Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > Around the time the movie was released, I remember reading something James Cameron said to the effect that that’s how they said the names of ships in those days. I understand that this usage is correct. This does not mean it was not annoying in the film. I kept waiting for someone, _anyone_, in the movie to be a normal fallible human and just say “ **the** Titanic”, but no-one ever did. Not even the modern day characters, at least one of whom _shouldn’t_ have known better. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliche-cutesy-isms-that-set-your-teeth-on-edge/231162.md?page=8)