# Current pet peeves: "based out of", "centered around" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 2, 2012, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624 "2012-05-02T11:39:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624/1 "2012-05-02T11:39:18Z")
These two phrases have been driving me crazy, especially as they seem to be in nearly every single wiki article I see: - “Centered around” – It should be “centered _on_” the “around” makes it nonsensical. - “Based out of” – “Based _in_”! What the hell is wrong with you people? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624/2 "2012-05-02T13:49:16Z")
It bugs the crap out of me when people say, “speaks out” when they just mean “speaks”. (Maybe this only happens on Entertainment Tonight. I have _got_ to get my hands on that TV remote more often). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624/3 "2012-05-02T14:42:13Z")
They’re known as “idioms.” There is no requirement they be logical. Question for the both of you: have you looked up these in a dictionary before announcing they’re wrong? Because a quick look shows “[Centered around](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/9254/centered-on-or-centered-around)” is not incorrect. And “speak out” (according to the OED, defined as “to talk in a loud voice” or “to talk freely”) has a clearly different meaning than “speak” (to say words). And “based out of” is an idiom. ---
**Author:** ![JuliaSqueezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@JuliaSqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuliaSqueezer)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624/4 "2012-05-02T14:52:14Z")
Ay yi yi. Current favorite being trotted out by every talking head on political news shows: pivot. Mitt pivoted. Obama pivoted. Gingrich pivoted. They changed or modified or added nuance to their stance on a given policy. Pivot? Really? Yeesh. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624/5 "2012-05-02T15:04:43Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > They’re known as “idioms.” There is no requirement they be logical. Actually, _my_ versions are the actual idioms. > [@](#): > > Question for the both of you: have you looked up these in a dictionary before announcing they’re wrong? What, is this some kind of descriptivist-prescriptivism? Since when do I have to look up my language peeves in a dictionary? Some things suck, and it doesn’t matter whether a dictionary declares them “incorrect” or not. Notice that my OP never used the words “incorrect” or “wrong” at all. “Based out of” and “centered around” are just _bad_, regardless of correctness or popularity. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624/6 "2012-05-02T15:16:30Z")
Here are two used by schools around here that are just cringe worthy: preplanning postplanning Isn’t all planning pre- by definition? When I was in college, writing that in an English paper would instantly cost you one letter grade. Postplanning is an oxymoron unless you’re laying out a fence. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624/7 "2012-05-02T21:43:06Z")
I can accept “based out of” because it’s a variant on “operates out of.” The Ghostbusters operated out of an old fire-house. They lived inside it, but when they got the call to action, they went out of it. Someone might do a mail order business “out of their apartment.” They stay inside, but send packages out. The idiom has some descriptive value. And “speak up” was defended above. It’s more than merely speaking. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624/8 "2012-05-02T22:15:48Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > What the hell is **wrong** with you people? > [@Acsenray](#): > > Notice that my OP never used the words “incorrect” or **“wrong”** at all. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624/9 "2012-05-03T03:01:00Z")
Grump. With respect to the usage. I own up to thinking that there’s plenty wrong with people. ---
**Author:** ![living\_in\_hell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@living\_in\_hell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/living_in_hell)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624/10 "2012-05-03T03:04:55Z")
Anyways, it’s a whole nother issue. ---
**Author:** ![Zulema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624/11 "2012-05-04T02:13:38Z")
I automatically think anyone who says “Good on you” is an idiot. I can’t help it. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624/12 "2012-05-05T03:30:09Z")
Lucile Vaughan Payne, in _The Lively Art of Writing_, a seriously prescriptivist handbook published in the early sixties, singled out “centered around” as one of her (many) don’ts.\* There really isn’t anything new under the sun, is there??? \*She also hated the suffix -wise and expressions like “that type of music,” and suggested–oh, yes, she really did–that students use big words to confuse and frighten schoolyard bullies. “Don’t be so loquacious,” was one of the lines she recommended you say. When I read the book 10 years after publication as a high school freshman (assigned reading, of course), my hair stood on end. I thought this advice was utterly insane. Still do. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624/13 "2012-05-05T03:38:56Z")
The grand-daddy of them all, though, is “in order to.” Just say “to,” dammit! ---
**Author:** ![DearestDane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@DearestDane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DearestDane)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624/14 "2012-05-05T16:55:38Z")
_Would of._. In **written** English. When spoken that way, I suppose it may be alright. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624/15 "2012-05-05T18:37:06Z")
The one that pisses me off is “pet peeve”. It’s not your pet that is peeved, it’s you, own up to it man! ---
**Author:** ![RhapsodyInBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RhapsodyInBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RhapsodyInBlue)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/current-pet-peeves-based-out-of-centered-around/620624/16 "2012-05-05T21:48:09Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > The grand-daddy of them all, though, is “in order to.” Just say “to,” dammit! “…_in Order to form a more perfect Union_…” :smack: