# I Weep for the Future. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 28, 2005, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851 "2005-05-28T03:12:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/81 "2005-05-30T19:06:39Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Dorothy Parker also used it in her poem “Lines On Reading Too Many Poets.” As did Dr. Seuss in _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_, but I imagine only so that it would rhyme with “nimbly.” ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/82 "2005-05-30T19:07:35Z")
**Kythereia** _Oh, I gave up on the future a long, long time ago._ Yes, the future isn’t what it used to be. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/83 "2005-05-30T19:46:36Z")
> [@dangergene](#): > > But I have to say i’m far from perfect, and I often make pronounciation faux pas or… what’s the plural of _faux pas_? Faux pas 😃 (Pas appears to be a French equivalent of words like _sheep_ - the same in both singular and plural.) ---
**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/84 "2005-05-30T20:10:55Z")
> [@Thrasymachus](#): > > WAHLAH! > > :rolleyes: > > Or sometimes Walla or Wa-La. > > :mad: Terrible. It’s makes “viola!” sound almost acceptable. Also: “Jelouse” as it “ur just jelouse!!!11” [http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=jelouse&btnG=Search&meta=](http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=jelouse&btnG=Search&meta=) _weeps_ ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/85 "2005-05-30T21:34:34Z")
> [@Thrasymachus](#): > > WAHLAH! > > :rolleyes: > > Or sometimes Walla or Wa-La. > > :mad: I prefer “voy-ola”, myself. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/86 "2005-05-31T02:19:06Z")
> [@AerynSun](#): > > I have a dear friend who is very intelligent, but somehow missed the proper conjugation of “to drag.” Every time she says she “drug” something I cringe inwardly. Once I heard a professor lecturing about irregular verbs in Anglo-Saxon. He claimed that the baseball player and announcer Dizzy Dean, from the backwoods of Arkansas, had resurrected some Anglo-Saxon verb conjugations that everyone else had lost: “He **slud** into third!” “I should have stood in bed.” ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/87 "2005-05-31T05:04:39Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > **Kythereia** > _Oh, I gave up on the future a long, long time ago._ > > Yes, the future isn’t what it used to be. 😃 Or as a curmudgeonly colleague of mine likes to say, “Children are not our future. They’re our demise.” Cheerful fellow. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/88 "2005-05-31T05:16:15Z")
> [@Seeker74](#): > > 1. “MissourUH” instead of Missouri… Gee, do you also say “MississippUH?” I actually know someone with a last name pronounced as you just described. So if I made that mistake, it would lead to mush confusion (or _confuzzlement_). ---
**Author:** ![JimSox5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5a626/32.png) [@JimSox5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimSox5)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/89 "2005-05-31T11:01:42Z")
Yeah, I know quite a few people who do actually pronounce it Mississippuh. Then again, I have a lot of family from Missourah. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/90 "2005-05-31T21:17:10Z")
I immediately thought of this thread when I got to the part in an essay where the writer lamented about her ex-husband: “I did everything for him. I was at his becken call!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/91 "2005-05-31T21:36:38Z")
> [@legalsnugs](#): > > I immediately thought of this thread when I got to the part in an essay where the writer lamented about her ex-husband: “I did everything for him. I was at his becken call!” > > 😃 Wouldn’t that be “beckon call”? 😉 Meanwhile, one of my favourites is “lugs-ury” as used in car commercials. There’s an ‘X’ in luxury, dammit! Do you have a “segs” life? Maybe “sigs” beers in a half-dozen? Fugheads! ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/92 "2005-05-31T22:02:27Z")
I just thought of another one. My 8-year-old son plays rec league baseball. The teams are named after actual MLB teams, and this year he’s on the Rockies. The schedule lists the games like this: Rockies vs. Padres, field 1 Rockies vs. Philles, field 2 and so on for each week’s game and the field they’re playing on. At practice, some of the kids will ask the coach, “Who are we _versing_ this week?” At first I didn’t understand what they were asking, and then I got it. Rather than asking who they were _playing_ this week, they’re asking who they are _versing_, taking the ‘vs.’ and making it into a whole other word. I’ve even heard some of the coaches saying it, too. “This week we’re versing the Giants. Let’s be ready!” 😕 I want to say, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Electrical\_Storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@Electrical\_Storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electrical_Storm)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/93 "2005-05-31T22:16:21Z")
I attended a business meeting a few months ago and was stunned to hear the speaker let fly this particular gem: “The topic I’ll be presentating is…” :eek: That pretty much destroyed it for me. The rest of his speech was just as interesting and educational. :rolleyes: Some of the pop-speak that makes me grind my teeth: Misuse of “I”, as in, “Please send this back to Mary Jane and I.” Send it back to Mary Jane and “me”, dammit! I asked a co-worker who consistently uses “I” this way why she used it in that manner, and she confessed that it just “looked” more professional to write “I” than “me”. I asked her if the sentence would sound right if she eliminated the other person’s name. “Please send this back to I.” She laughed, said I needed more coffee, and still uses “I” in that manner to this day. :rolleyes: Forgive me if this irks any of my fellow Dopers - but pronouncing “error” as “era” causes my eyes to cross. “I should of…” makes me grit my teeth. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/94 "2005-05-31T22:39:25Z")
> [@silver1](#): > > Misuse of “I”, as in, “Please send this back to Mary Jane and I.” Send it back to Mary Jane and “me”, dammit! And right along with that, the misuse of “myself.” As in, “If you have any questions, please feel free to ask Mary, Kathy or myself.” NO! It should be, “… ask Mary, Kathy or _‘me’_”, dammit! Like the misuse of “I,” I think people assume ‘myself’ just sounds better or more correct. ---
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/95 "2005-05-31T23:07:53Z")
> [@Seeker74](#): > > 1. “MissourUH” instead of Missouri… Gee, do you also say “MississippUH?” I get pretty bothered when people pronounce the S in Illinois myself… ---
**Author:** ![dare\_devil007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@dare\_devil007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dare_devil007)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/96 "2005-05-31T23:32:18Z")
Oh, here’s another one. Some of my friends say, “I won him/her/them!” Which leaves me looking like this: 😕 I remember back in fifth grade, my teacher told us that we have to say it, “I/we beat him/her/them!” not “I/we won him/her/them!” Again with the 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2005, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/97 "2005-06-01T00:35:14Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > \ and making it into a whole other word. Errrr, wouldn’t that be “whole 'nother” word? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/98 "2005-06-01T00:44:04Z")
> [@flamingbananas](#): > > I get pretty bothered when people pronounce the S in Illinois myself… Or the R in Washington. ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2005, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/99 "2005-06-01T01:18:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by legalsnugs > > > [@](#): > > > > I immediately thought of this thread when I got to the part in an essay where the writer lamented about her ex-husband: “I did everything for him. I was at his becken call!” > > Wouldn’t that be “beckon call”? Naw, that might have made a shred of sense. :rolleyes: She got it wrong incorrectly. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851/100 "2005-06-01T02:13:32Z")
You must have heard one of these at least once in your life. Before you cook that frozen dinner, you’d better give it time to _unthaw_. That bolt is stuck. I’ll need some oil to help _unloosen_ it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-weep-for-the-future/305851.md?page=6)