# Irritating Words and Word Usage **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 18, 2000, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168 "2000-12-18T17:01:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Melpomene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/0ea827/32.png) [@Melpomene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melpomene)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/61 "2000-12-20T17:19:00Z")
_sniff_ I feel so special! My own thread, grown to two pages long and still on the IMHO-front-page… _sniff_ I have enjoyed the laughs over these posts and the many reminders of all the tiny things that irritate us about our language. I spent last night editing my BF’s Statement of Intent for Grad School applications. That wasn’t a pretty sight. He can write well and is very intelligent, but his spelling is atrocious. His writing style and technical grammer follows a close second. So, I came back here to check on how my thread was progressing. Thanks! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/62 "2000-12-20T18:18:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by StephenG \* > **slackergirl** , may I ask where you live, or where your mother is from? We were talking about this usage of “anymore” in one of my Linguistics classes, and it was used exactly like this. Nobody in the class had ever heard this usage before, and the instructor had only heard it once, about 20 years ago… We think that it can be found in Newfoundland, but we’re not sure. Thanks! \*\* I can state with authority that this barbaric usage of “anymore” is commonplace in southwestern Missouri, my home. Another common mangling of the language in my neck of the woods: “same difference” used to mean “it’s the same thing.” ---
**Author:** ![porklet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@porklet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porklet)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/63 "2000-12-20T19:07:43Z")
This is one that one would only ever see in writing, but it seems to me that I’m seeing it more and more lately. It may be that my friends and family are (more and more) getting e-mail. Whatever the reason, it drives me nuts when I see “would of” or “should of” or “[any verb] of.” Okay, yes, I realize it may sound that way, but it’s still WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! I guess I shouldn’t of read this thread, because I could go “on and on” about all the errors that drive me nuts. Your doing good work! ---
**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/64 "2000-12-20T20:12:11Z")
The local university uses some of the classrooms in my school for evening ITV instruction. They store videocassettes in a large metal cabinet that bears the following hand-lettered sign: **You must have permision to axis this cabinet.** This is just wrong on so many levels. I should take my class to the cabinet for a lesson on editing and usage. ---
**Author:** ![Spoonbender](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spoonbender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoonbender)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/65 "2000-12-20T20:41:46Z")
Alot of the thing’s people have “posted” in this thread annoy me, to. 😉 Also… [ul] [li]“Expresso” (Seen on restaurant menus)[/li] [li]Pronouncing the “t” in “often.” The “t” is silent! It’s pronounced “offen!” (Although I think this is a losing battle.)[/li] [li]Not to pick on **Purd Werfect** , but… “on the uprise?” :o[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/66 "2000-12-20T21:02:24Z")
According to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (10th Ed.), “often” can be pronounced either with the “t” or with the “t” silent. Each pronunciation is regarded on equal footing. Neither is incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2000, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/67 "2000-12-20T23:59:42Z")
According to Merriam Webster online, _reference_ can be used as a transitive verb: > [@](#): > > Main Entry: **[sup]3[/sup]reference** > Function: _transitive verb_ > Inflected Form(s): **-enced** ; **-enc·ing** > Date: 1891 > **1 a :** to supply with references **b :** to cite in or as a reference > **2 :** to put in a form (as a table) adapted to easy reference ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/68 "2000-12-21T00:01:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spoonbender \* > \*\*Alot of the thing’s people have “posted” in this thread annoy me, to. 😉 Also… > [li]Not to pick on **Purd Werfect** , but… “on the uprise?” :o[/li][/list] \*\* Feel free to pick away **Spoonbender** 🙂 I freely admit that my usage suffers here and there, but I don’t see a problem with “on the uprise” to indicate an escalating trend. I’ve also seen usage of “on the ascendant” a time or two, which does seem a bit weird. ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/69 "2000-12-21T00:10:04Z")
Okay, how about this: “You Southerners have a funny _accent_,” “No, y’all from Boston talk funny with y’alls _accent_” (and yes, I know there are other problems with these phrases, but the use of the word _accent_, is my beef). Don’t people know the difference between “accent” and “dialect?” FCS! Irks the piss out o’me! ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/70 "2000-12-21T00:29:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nineiron \* > I think the sentence FloChi meant was, “Why did you bring that book that I didn’t want to be read to out of up for?” (spoken by a child to a parent who brought the book upstairs despite the child’s lack of interest in it). If the book was about Australia, then the question becomes “Why did you bring that book that I didn’t want to be read to out of about Down Under up for?” ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/71 "2000-12-21T00:59:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by thinksnow \* > \*\*Don’t people know the difference between “accent” and “dialect?” FCS! Irks the piss out o’me! \*\* If I read your post correctly, perhaps I don’t. 🙂 I’d always thought that calling it a “Southern accent” was perfectly correct. My understanding was that, in order to be considered a separate _dialect_, a particular regional version of a language needed some pretty marked differences - more than just funky pronunciation of a few words. I headed over to [Merriam-Webster](http://www.m-w.com) again, and what I found seems (to me, at least) to back this up (I’m only including the parts that seem relevant): > [@](#): > > Main Entry: **[sup]2[/sup]ac·cent** > Pronunciation: 'ak-"sent, chiefly British -s&nt > Function: _noun_ > **1 :** a distinctive manner of expression: as \*\* b :\*\* a way of speaking typical of a particular group of people and especially of the natives or residents of a region > [@](#): > > Main Entry: **di·a·lect** > Pronunciation: 'dI-&-"lekt > Function: _noun_ > **1 a :** a regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties and constituting together with them a single language \ I don’t know…maybe I’m missing your point? It sounds OK to me to call it an accent. Or are you saying that use of the word _y’all_ takes matters beyond simple accents and into dialect differences? _That_ I might agree with, although since _y’all_ is more or less a manufactured contraction, it seems a bit of a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/72 "2000-12-21T03:22:58Z")
Well, if I’m wrong, that’s cool, I suppose, but I had always been under the impression the accents dealt with pronunciation differences because the one being spoken is not the primary one…what I mean is, my mom is Dutch and she has a Dutch accent, my buddy Jatin is Indian (dot, not feather) and has an Indian accent. A dialect refers to people from the same country, from a different region, that have particular speech mannerisms [y’all (South), youz guys (Phili), cawfee (New York-ish)]. That had always been my understanding, I think I’d been critiqued on it once in my past by a prof. or something. Like I said, if I’m wrong, then I’ll make a paradigm shift, I suppose. Can I get a ruling? Someone want to irradicate some specific ignorance? ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/73 "2000-12-21T04:50:12Z")
I’d be interested in a more authoritative answer on accent/dialect, too. True linguistic definitions may very well be quite different from lay meanings, and Merriam-Webster probably isn’t the best place to go to resolve that. What say the linguists? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2000, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/74 "2000-12-21T12:59:34Z")
I would say this: You can have a Southern **accent** but, say, a Georgian **dialect**. An accent, in my interpretation, can come from a broad geographical area, while a dialect is much more specific. Another example: a British accent, but a Liverpudlian dialect. Remember Henry Higgins in **My Fair Lady**? The man, a linguist if there ever was one, stood on a street corner there in London and was able to discern various and varying dialects - but all of the speakers had British accents. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/75 "2000-12-22T02:20:32Z")
I’m a Brit, and this may be one of those differences between UK and US English, but there is nothing wrong with ‘orientated’. It is the correct adjective formed from the noun ‘orientation’. If something’s orientation is ‘towards the tree’ then it is orientated in that direction. That’s what my copies of Chambers and Roget’s tell me, and it seems correct to me. ‘Oriented’, if it were in my dictionary (Chambers concise) would be derived from ‘Orient’, pertaining to the East. With regard to the OP, I agree with those who have aimed their venom at “up to” as in “Save up to 50%!”. The store could give a maximum saving of just 1% and claim that ‘up to’ simply means ‘not greater than’. In similar vein, I don’t know why companies are allowed to get away with ‘Free’ when this is a nonsense. Plainly, they are tucking the cost of whatever is ‘Free’ elsewhere in the overall deal, or they would be giving money away and soon go out of business. ---
**Author:** ![PRNYouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PRNYouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PRNYouth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/76 "2000-12-22T06:30:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FairyChatMom \* > **My mother-in-law likes the word “boughten” - as in “store-boughten” I cringe and try to ignore it - it would be tacky beyond words to correct her. It amazes me coming from someone so well-read.** FairyChatMom, I got into an argument with a girl when I was a teenager. She corrected my pronunciation of “often” (I prounounced it with a hard T), then promptly went on to use the word “boughten”. I believe the sentence was, “These are boughten cookies.” I argued that it wasn’t a word, then we went inside and grabbed a dictionary. It _ **is** _ a word. From [Merriam-Webster online](http://www.m-w.com): > [@](#): > > Main Entry: bought·en > Pronunciation: 'bo-t&n > Function: adjective > Etymology: bought + -en (as in forgotten) > Date: 1793 > chiefly dialect : BOUGHT \ Note that it says chiefly dialect – but not strictly. So **you’re** mother-in-law and **mother-in-laws** everywhere can continue to use **“that”** word. (In case you’re wondering, the three errors in the previous paragraph are for illustrative purposes only and should not be taken seriously. Any other errors in this post are fair game. :D) ---
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/77 "2000-12-22T17:55:06Z")
1. The word “gravitas.” 2. A sign in a restaurant: “We are now selling Good Humor ice cream found near the cash registers.” This always conjures up a mental picture of a half-melted popsicle, kind of smushed, with ants crawling all over it. ---
**Author:** ![Spoonbender](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spoonbender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoonbender)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/78 "2000-12-22T18:31:10Z")
WRT “on the uprise” … I didn’t even think “uprise” was a word until I looked it up on [webster.com](http://webster.com) … anyway, I just think it’s an awful word…“uprise.” What other direction can you rise in? 🙂 Why not “on the rise?” Still, I can’t argue that it’s not correct grammar or usage. I was taught that the “t” was silent in “often,” but Webster’s disagrees with me. Guess I lose this one. Here’s more: [ul] [li]“Future plans.” What other kind of plans can you make?[/li][li]“Even still.” As in, “I’m tired, but even still, I’m not going to bed.” Why not just “still?”[/li][li]“Equally as.” As in “Coke and Pepsi are both equally as good.” Should be “equally good.”[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Jello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@Jello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jello)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/79 "2000-12-22T19:12:42Z")
Misspelling of the word “hypocrisy.” I’ve seen it spelled different ways in the past week alone: hipocrasy, hypocrasy and hypocricy. It’s hypocrisy, stupid! On the “like” phenomenon sweeping our nation: To fend off people using the word “like” too much during class, I just raise my hand rather obnoxiously and start counting on my fingers every time someone says the word. Eventually they get the hint. Then they hate me. Hehe. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168/80 "2000-12-22T19:35:11Z")
It’s, It’s, It’s! “It’s” is not a possessive! No! Not ever! Don’t do this! “It’s” is the contraction of “it is.” As in “ **it’s** raining outside” or “ **it’s** a nice day.” The possessive you’re looking for is “its.” As in “the car has **its** wheels” or “ **its** engine isn’t running smoothly.” One doesn’t write the possessive “yours” with an apostrophe, hmmm? Once we rectify that nasty, we can get started on the correct usage of “your” and “you’re.” Thank you…I feel better. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irritating-words-and-word-usage/46168.md?page=5)