I am sure everyone has their words which they dislike. Is it possible thru writing letters, posting threads etc to stop people using a word ?
It is obviously possible with some politically incorrect words which have been phased out. What about words one just does not like to become popular?
The word I have is “edged”-meaning beat in sports. As in Liverpool edged Chelsea or NY Yankees edged Boston Red SOX. I first noticed this word in the English language newspapers of South East Asia. Now I see it being used by Australian media. I do not know the actual history of ‘edge’ meaning beat in sports. Just giving my experience. I do not like this word. I would be happy not to see it again.
I was able to get a friend not to use “cunt” (“Cunt = Vagina. You tell me the bad part of a vagina and I’ll let you call people cunts.”) But outside of that.
lolz
I think if you seriously started some kind of campaign against the word, it’ll just encourage its use.
Do you have an actual example of the Australian media using “edged” the way you’re describing? I have seen it used like this, “Carlton edged out The Eagles in a closely fought contest,” but I haven’t seen it used the way you are saying.
[semi-obscure joke]
Get Dave Evans to slap around anyone who uses the term.
[/s-o j]
I don’t know, I’ve been hearing “edged” as one of many, many synonyms for “beat” in American media for as long as I’ve been alive.
I think it’s actually less common today, because TV and radio announcers spend less time reading sports scores than they once did. Nowadays scores scroll by on the screen, or people read them off of the Internet.
Whereas when people would watch the nightly news just to get sports scores, you’d have a long litany of teams that were trounced, edged, whipped, squeaked past, upset, blasted, and smeared, but never beat, because beat would be trite.
Not likely. Language does whatever the hell it wants to do. It’s like telling the wind that it’s blowing the wrong direction.
I’m amused at the arrogance in the final two sentences – you assume that the language has to accomodate your preferences. :rolleyes:
As for the usage, the OED says it’s been used since 1953. So it’s a bit late to be objecting to a half-century-old usage, isn’t it? Especially since the usage is perfectly understandable to anyone hearing it.
Cunt is one of my favorite words! Obviously it is only appropriate in certain company and certain contexts, but it’s highly effective both as an insult and as an…uh…intimate word.
My personal grudge word is “blog”. I hate it. Oddly, it has continued to enjoy popular usage despite my protestations 
Personally I dislike corruption of the word “through” into “thru.”
Perhaps you could launch a NEW word to compete with “edged.”
Xerox attempted to stop the use of their company name as a word meaning, “to copy” but it ended in the word being used even more.
Have you ever used a kleenex? According to Wikipedia, "Kimberly-Clark consciously places the terminology “brand tissues” after “Kleenex” in all of their advertising so as to inform the general public that Kleenex is a brand of tissue, not the actual term for “tissue”. Yet people still use the word “Kleenex” to mean a tissue.
So to answer your question, no, I don’t think it’s possible.
If I ever tried to use it as an intimate word with my wife, I can guarantee you I would not be getting any that night.
I do not see why you think it is arrogance. I am sure everyone has words they do not like. I am just stating my opinion. I do not assume the language has to accomodate my preferences. I know that it will not. I accept that. Why do many people on SDMB think that if you give your opinion you are being arrogant?
The usage of edged was not obvious to me the first few times I heard it (which was only a few years ago). I presume it is much more common in the USA than in Australia or New Zealand. The first few times I heard it was in Thailand. In Thailand they have made up some English words which are only understandable there.I though"edged" was one of those words. I did not understand the first time I heard “Liverpool edged Chelsea” and the until I actually saw the score was Liverpool 2, Chelsea 1. I thought maybe it meant drew with.
When you get the technique figured out, do me a favour and put ‘teh,’ ‘pwned,’ ‘ghey’, ‘suxx0rz’, and similar such slang on the list. thanks! 
Curb Your Enthusiasm leaps to mind.
Uproarious laughter at the poker table.
Larry David: Haha, why didn’t you bet, you cunt?
dead silence
audible sigh
great episode
I’d agree. I’ve seen only the “edged out” variation. Never “edged” on it own.
Right. It’s one thing to struggle against usages or patterns that muddle the function of properly communicating ideas, but avoiding a word catching on? Futile. You have a better chance in letting it become established and then creating a groundswell to denounce/discredit it as offensive, clichéed or just passé.
So don’t use it. Or, better yet, make up your own language with your own words–then everyone’s happy.
Dnoo schramfwi poodle bilung, eh?
On TV -yes. In print -not yet. Middlesbrough edged Bolton 4-3
I CANNOT believe you said that!!