# In the hamPster vein, what phrase grates you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 12, 2003, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637 "2003-05-12T06:06:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/61 "2003-05-13T21:05:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Aeros \* > \*\*Perhaps this is a regional thing, but it drives me bonkers is when I hear someone say “warsh”. It’s WASH! Warsh isn’t even a word. > \*\* It’s hard to get away from here in Wa **r** shington State. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/62 "2003-05-13T21:10:08Z")
One that makes me NUTS is saying mis-chee-vee-ous. The word is MISS-che-vous! Also: NU-clee-ar, not NUKE-you-lar JOO-el-ry, not JOO-ler-y But I’ve had to give in on the AKSing people instead of ASKing them. While everywhere else I’ve lived it’s a pronunciation strictly confined to the black community, here in New Orleans EVERYONE says it. And since when is a grocery cart a BUGGY??? ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/63 "2003-05-14T02:02:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shayna \* > \*\*GAH! **MLS** , clearly you have missed the point entirely. The phrase, “I **could** care less” is just plain wrong, wrong, wrong. It is **only** an impossibility to care less if one **could not** care less. I’ll try to make this really easy… > > **WRONG:** I could care less. > > This flat out says that there is some degree to which you _could_ care less than you currently do, the implication being that you **do** care (at least somewhat). > > That is **not** what you mean! > > **RIGHT:** I couldn’t care less. > > She doesn’t like your shoes? Well, you **couldn’t** care less what she thinks, meaning, you don’t care _at all_. There is _no degree_ to which you could care less than zero! > \*\* Respectfully disagree. Again, it has to be said with a sarcastic tone. Another example: Joe says “Sally is stupid.” Sam replies, “Yeah, like you’re some kind of Einstein.” Meaning = “You’re no genius yourself.” “As if I could care less,” said with the appropriate tone, implies that there is no way you could care less precisely because you already care zero. Maybe it’s an east coast U.S. quirk. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/64 "2003-05-14T02:43:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MLS \* > \*\*“As if I could care less,” said with the appropriate tone, implies that there is no way you could care less precisely because you already care zero. \*\* The “As if” changes the meaning, though. No matter what the tone, “I could care less” does not mean the same as “As if I could care less”. Most people say “I could care less” and that is just plain wrong. I agree that either preceding it with “As if” or using a sarcastic tone would make “I could care less” acceptable, but that, in general, is not what people do. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/65 "2003-05-14T03:08:45Z")
“If you would have done , I would have done [y].” No, it’s “If you HAD done , I would have done [y].” I have only seen one stylebook in my life that addressed this issue (the Random House Handbook). It’s surprisingly hard to prove anyone wrong on this. Not that I waste energy on such things. ---
**Author:** ![juji\_mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ea924/32.png) [@juji\_mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/juji_mojo)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/66 "2003-05-14T03:58:16Z")
Ex Cetra is one of mine, glad someone said it. “Orientated” instead of “oriented” used to drive me nuts, but I gave up. Or are both correct? My dictonary is packed, and I am sorry, I prefer a physical book to an on-line dictionary. Spelling someone’s name wrong bothers me. When my co workers spell a name wrong… Hello we have the CHARTS right beside us… is it that hard to turn your neck a few degrees and spell the name correctly? I know English isnt your first languace, but we spell your name correctly, can you do the same for the residents? (Ie Mery, for Mary, Liela for Lila, and Gladis for Gladys?) Also (this is more amusing) when doing a chart audit, (Okay, I know we can’t listen to a chart, we read it… but thats what they call it at my facility and I get strange looks when I say “chart review”) I see that sometimes my co nurses have “heared a loud thumb” and also “care aid reported a large thug” both refering to the noise when someone falls. Im not sure which is more disturbing, a Loud thumb or a large thug, but I do believe either one would frighten the residents enough to make them fall ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/67 "2003-05-14T04:13:46Z")
I hate it when people use the word “orientated.” I grew up with the term “oriented.” As in, “Be sure you are well oriented with the material before you make a speech.” My mother is an ex-English teacher, and she rigorously drilled my brothers and I on the rules of proper grammar. For example, she worked at the library, not the libary. Also, we had fewer toys than others as children, not less. We also sometimes did things accidentally, not on accident. ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/68 "2003-05-14T04:15:12Z")
Gosh darn it to heck, what is it with me and posting the same thing as another person is at the same time? ---
**Author:** ![lite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@lite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lite)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/69 "2003-05-14T04:16:16Z")
Thought of another one, but it may be regional. in college my physics prof insisted on pronouncing measurement as MAY-sur-ment, wheras I’ve always heard it as MEZ-ur-ment. Is this the way people outside the midwest say it? ---
**Author:** ![juji\_mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ea924/32.png) [@juji\_mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/juji_mojo)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/70 "2003-05-14T04:36:22Z")
KC Suze, that doesnt bother me. Glad to know Im not the only one who hates “ORIENTATED” too. ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/71 "2003-05-14T04:42:01Z")
Thanks, **juji** , but it seems to be a chronic problem with me lately. Perhaps I need some sort of on-the-job training? As for “orientated,” I especially hate it when I see supposedly educated people using it on television. I think I even heard it on “The West Wing.” ---
**Author:** ![kiddokat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ce7236/32.png) [@kiddokat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiddokat)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/72 "2003-05-14T04:59:49Z")
“Ummm” “Ya know” “Ya know what I’m sayin’?” “Like” “Goes” For example: "Ummm… Like, I went to the store, and, like, I saw this awesome, like, jacket on sale, ya know? And like, I couldn’t resist, ya know what I’m sayin? So, I ask the salesgirl if it, like, comes in orange, ya know? And she goes, ummm, no, like, we only carry it in, like, purple and, like, ummm, powder blue, ya know what I’m sayin’? And I go, “'aww, that, like, sucks! And she goes, umm…yeah, like, it does, ya know?” My teenage daughter and her girlfriends converse this way all the time. The strange thing is, when she talks to me, she doesn’t use these “verbal tics”. It’s, like, scary, ya know? ---
**Author:** ![juji\_mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ea924/32.png) [@juji\_mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/juji_mojo)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/73 "2003-05-14T05:38:40Z")
How about CongraDulations? I think it started as a pun, for Congratuations to Graduates, but now its everywhere. I even saw some note cards done in pen and ink that had that. Icky icky icky. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/74 "2003-05-14T06:29:51Z")
“My bad”. I usually reply with, “Your bad what?” ---
**Author:** ![Dragonstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@Dragonstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonstar)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/75 "2003-05-14T06:54:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spiff \* > \*\*“Me and him are going to the liquor store.” > > (And no, it’s not because they didn’t invite me …) > > Anyway, I’ve lived in Minnesota for many years now, although I am not a native. There are several regional speechisms that still drive me up the wall, even after 20+ years of living here. > > “I’m a little broke. Can you borrow me some money?” > > “I’m going to the liquor store, do you want to come with?” > > **Height** pronounced with a **th** sound at the end. (To make it sound similar to **width** , maybe? I dunno.) > > “Where’s the party at?” > > And despite my repeated corrections, the natives continue to give the wrong name to those metal or porcelin devices that stick out of walls and provide passers-by with a drink of water. They call these devices “water fountains” or “drinking fountains” when every intelligent being knows that there are properly called “bubblers.” > > (Can you guess where I’m from? Oops, I mean: “Can you guess whence I come?”) \*\* Learn to speak the language or return to Milwaukee. ---
**Author:** ![Dragonstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@Dragonstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonstar)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/76 "2003-05-14T07:14:55Z")
moot point n. 1) a legal question which no court has decided, so it is still debatable or unsettled. 2) an issue only of academic interest. from [Law.com](http://Law.com) ---
**Author:** ![mrunlucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7993a0/32.png) [@mrunlucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrunlucky)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/77 "2003-05-14T07:36:37Z")
“Normalcy” Why can’t people just say “normality”? Or just rephrase what they’re saying? Wasn’t it a President who put this word into popular use? I did find a reference to the word from Websters, 1913 ed. Still, I think it looks wrong and sounds wrong. “Methinks” Come on, you’re not clever for using this archaic term. It uses less letters to say “I think” anyway, so which is more clever, efficiency or pretentiousness? In advertising, “X% more”. For example, Product X, now with “30% more” raisins. “30% more” raisins than what? Than a bottle of laundry detergent? Than the sidewalk? It’s the whole not-qualifying-the-phrase matter that bothers me, on top of which, most of those added percentages, if referencing the previous incarnation of said product, are incredibly small anyway if you do the math. Sounds good in theory, but doesn’t equal much in reality. I also hate the phrase “my bad”. Where did that come from anyway? Forcing “my mistake” to merge with “I’m bad” or something? That’s my guess. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/78 "2003-05-14T08:11:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by superstar \* > \*\*When people say “you know what I mean?” after a statement or opinion. > As if the person listening to them doesn’t quite understand or they are stupid. > > I get so angry that I usually say something and annoy them or stop listening. I hate it that much. > > If I didn’t understand I would ask!! :mad: :mad: > > The use of ‘like’ when it is completely inapropriate. > e.g “The movie was like so good” > or " It’s like really far man". > :mad: \*\* Now THIS one I have to take issue with my boyfriend, (soon to be just my best friend) has a bad habit of not giving any feedback when I am talking to him. So, I will have just finished a heartfelt sentence or two on our state of affairs (and this has been going on our whole entire friendship and relationship, it’s not a consequence of our impending breakup) and he won’t…say…A …WORD!!! ARRRGGGGGHHH!! So, I’ll say things like “do you know what I mean”? or “do you understand”. Or “does that make sense” as a way to get him to respond. If that fails, I take a cue from two local “shock jock” DJs and simply demand: “Now YOU talk”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/79 "2003-05-14T08:14:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rubystreak \* > \*\*ALL RIGHT is also two words; ALRIGHT is not a word at all. > \*\* MS Word says it is. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637/80 "2003-05-14T08:19:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dragonstar \* > \*\*moot point > n. 1) a legal question which no court has decided, so it is still debatable or unsettled. 2) an issue only of academic interest. > > from [Law.com](http://Law.com) \*\* Thank YOU! It drives me bonkers when otherwise well-educated people say “mute point” (a silent point?) when they really mean moot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-hampster-vein-what-phrase-grates-you/174637.md?page=5)