# Dear everyone: **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 21, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470 "2015-05-21T02:39:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/81 "2015-05-22T15:18:31Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I have an EpiPen. Where can I get an epitome? At a pharmacy, of course. Tell them you need a book on anaphylaxis. :rolleyes: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/82 "2015-05-22T15:25:21Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Allow me to add that “epic” does not mean “large”. Also, an “epidemic” is an infectious disease, not a widespread condition. Obesity is not an epidemic. Nope. The CDC’s official definition of an epidemic is: “The occurrence of more cases of disease than expected in a given area or among a specific group of people over a particular period of time.” Obesity is an epidemic. (And there’s some evidence that it is contagious, and possibly even viral or bacterial in origin, but it need not be so to be correctly called an epidemic.) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/83 "2015-05-22T20:44:59Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > No. Moppets are those pre-moistened napkins that you use to clean a baby that has shat itself. So a poppet moppet then? ---
**Author:** ![Apollon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@Apollon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollon)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/84 "2015-05-22T21:37:20Z")
It makes me cringe when people say “human being” instead of “human”. I just don’t get why “being” is necessary. It sounds so gratuitously pretentious. And speaking of pretentiousness: “coup de grñhhhh”, without pronouncing the “ce”, just to show off your imagined fluency in French. It’s pronounced “coo de grahs”, god dammit! The “ce” is not silent! Also terrible: when people introduce themselves as “My name is Mister such and such”. You have to either be a bag of hot air, or exceptionally clueless, if you refer to yourself as “Mr.” (or “Mrs.” for that matter). ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/85 "2015-05-22T21:53:47Z")
> [@Apollon](#): > > And speaking of pretentiousness: “coup de grĂąhhhh”, without pronouncing the “ce”, just to show off your imagined fluency in French. It’s pronounced “coo de grahs”, god dammit! The “ce” is not silent! A coup de grahhh is how you kill the goose before making its liver into patĂ©. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/86 "2015-05-23T02:02:25Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > So then, a voilà wallah would be a magician? That’s a city in Washington state. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/87 "2015-05-23T03:45:34Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > A coup de grahhh is how you kill the goose before making its liver into paté. No, a coop de grahhh is where you keep the geese until you are ready to kill them. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/88 "2015-05-23T05:52:15Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > You truly are a dreamer.🙂 But I’m not the only one! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/89 "2015-05-23T06:26:01Z")
How does all this effect the affect? ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/90 "2015-05-23T06:29:01Z")
I heard someone say ‘conversate’ the other day. As in “the people I conversate with.” Don’t know about you lot but I just talk to people. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/91 "2015-05-23T06:43:56Z")
I just wish people would stop using “diverse” when they should be using “divers”. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/92 "2015-05-23T10:06:17Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > A coup de grahhh is how you kill the goose before making its liver into patĂ©. And a coup d’etat is when you don’t have to peel the potatoes. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/93 "2015-05-23T10:59:39Z")
Also, why is everyone so concerned with conserving our natural racehorses? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/94 "2015-05-23T11:32:28Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > [http://wordbutchers.tumblr.com/post/23612770018/the-epitome-of-misusing-the-word-epitome](http://wordbutchers.tumblr.com/post/23612770018/the-epitome-of-misusing-the-word-epitome) This clause is nonsensical: > [@](#): > > Because “epitome” doesn’t mean what most people think it does. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/95 "2015-05-23T14:16:56Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Yeah, I understood that was their point, but it’s such a stretch that the “error” is minuscule to the point of meaninglessness. Not sure what you mean. Seems to me there’s a pretty big difference between “average” and “exceptional.” ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/96 "2015-05-23T14:50:05Z")
Dear **lissener** , I’m English. My forebears stole the words that make up the English language, therefore it is our property. I resent an ex colonial (particularly one from a nation that has wantonly wasted tea and in now in thrall to the new fangled South American coffee bean) telling me how to speak my own language. Button it, me ole China. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/97 "2015-05-23T15:10:01Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Except that I didn’t say it was incorrect. I said is was pretentious. Precisely because it is, as you point out, such an archaic usage. Thing is, you’re allowed to complain about how the hoi polloi mangle the Queen’s English. But to turn around and complain in the same breath about how they’re being pretentious, _that_, my friend, is a misdemeanor in all 50 states. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/98 "2015-05-23T15:27:01Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > It’s not step foot, it’s set foot. i have no idea what either of these is supposed to refer to, so I think I’m in the clear. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/99 "2015-05-23T15:28:39Z")
Oh, I see. As in “set foot in this house again.” It looks so weird just out there on its own, without any context. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470/100 "2015-05-23T16:18:10Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Thing is, you’re allowed to complain about how the hoi polloi mangle the Queen’s English. But to turn around and complain in the same breath about how they’re being pretentious, _that_, my friend, is a misdemeanor in all 50 states. Being pretentious and language-mangling aren’t mutually exclusive. That’s what the famous character of Mrs Malaprop is based on: there have always been people who try to use language in a way that will make them sound socially/intellectually/educationally superior, and make a total bollox of it. Also, seeing as we’re in this thread: it’s just ‘hoi polloi’. Not ‘the hoi polloi’. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-everyone/720470.md?page=6)