# Misused/Overused Words - Post your favorites **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 14, 2002, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058 "2002-06-14T16:45:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/21 "2002-06-15T23:03:51Z")
George Carlin has an amusing rant on language, partly transcribed [here](http://rivendell.fortunecity.com/health/1028/). Sorry abut the ads. ---
**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:** [June 15, 2002, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/22 "2002-06-15T23:59:58Z")
My boss likes to use the word “actually” a lot. In a recent sales meeting, he used the word 15 times in an eight-minute period. ---
**Author:** ![ndorward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c2a13f/32.png) [@ndorward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ndorward)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2002, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/23 "2002-06-16T15:37:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Blue Sky \* > \*\*My boss likes to use the word “actually” a lot. In a recent sales meeting, he used the word 15 times in an eight-minute period. \*\* Well, it beats “um…”. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2002, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/24 "2002-06-16T16:54:06Z")
Finally I get to bitch about this to the like-minded! Why is everything suddenly “so-called”? One of my favorite web sites [space.com](http://space.com) misues this one all the damn time! My understanding is that “so-called” means that I find the commonly used name of someone or something inappropriate. For example: My so-called friends abandoned me. That means that I have called them my friends, but they’re not really my friends because they abandoned me. (see also the old TV series “My So-called Life”) But more and more you see the term used to mean something like “This thing that I’m talking about has a strange name which might confuse you, my stupid reader, but trust me that this is really the name that this thing is called.” for example: The so-called Z-1 unit will be in place by the end of the week. In that example, “so-called” brings absolutely no meaning to the sentence! In fact, I read it to mean that “Z-1 truss” is what most people call it, but that’s not really what you should call it. Why can’t they just say: The Z-1 unit will be in place by the end of the week. Yes the Z-1 unit has an exotic name, BUT THAT’S WHAT IT’S CALLED! If you haven’t explained what the Z-1 unit is in the rest of your article, YOU’RE NOT DOING YOUR JOB AS A FUCKING WRITER! ok…calm…must remain calm… ---
**Author:** ![Chekmate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/46a35a/32.png) [@Chekmate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chekmate)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2002, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/25 "2002-06-16T17:27:01Z")
My mom (42) is constantly saying “You go girl!” She learned it from her sister (40) who learned it from her daughter (18). I don’t know why she feels the need to always say it. At every oppertunity. UGH! ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2002, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/26 "2002-06-16T21:59:08Z")
> [@](#): > > ME: I got up to the podium and stuck my foot right in my mouth. (Pause) . . . literally. > YOU: (If my intention to plant a funny image in your mind worked) Ha ha ha. That’s very funny. > [@](#): > > The third entry listed at the above link is the one that is often misused, but it is, after all the third entry. The first and second define the usage in my post. Sorry, you’re mistaken. (And yes, the dictionary has been my friend for several decades now.) The first meaning given in the [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) entry you site (“Characterized by or constituting irony”) is not useful to our discussion since it simply explains the adjective’s relationship to the noun, without defining the noun; it’s simply a description of grammatical use. The second meaning (“Given to the use of irony. See Synonyms at sarcastic.”) doesn’t seem to apply either, since it refers to the speaker and not the statement. The speaker in the case of your little podium joke may indeed be prone to the use of irony, but that particular statement was not, in fact, ironic. It was neither an ironic nor a mistaken use of the word “literally”, but a deliberate falsehood intended, as you noted, to plant a funny image in the mind of the listener. ---
**Author:** ![Jenner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@Jenner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenner)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/27 "2002-06-16T22:21:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KXL \* > \*\ ***Hopefully.** > > “Hopefully”, being an adverb, can only describe an action. Good uses include… > > Hopefully, he sat down next to the prettiest girl at the party. > (He sat down next to her hoping he could strike up a conversation) > > He hopefully pressed the button that launched the rocket. > (He hoped the rocket wouldn’t blow up on its way to the moon) > > BAD uses include . . . > > They’ll hopefully have sandwiches. > (This means that they are hoping you will eat their sandwiches, not that you hope they have sandwiches for you to eat)\*\* “Hopefully” is correct in both cases. You can fight it all you want, but usage ultimately determines grammaticality. From Webster’s: > [@](#): > > In the early 1960s the second sense of _hopefully_, which had been in sporadic use since around 1932, underwent a surge of popular use. A surge of popular criticism followed in reaction, but the criticism took no account of the grammar of adverbs. _Hopefully_ in its second sense is a member of a class of adverbs known as disjuncts. Disjuncts serve as a means by which the author or speaker can comment directly to the reader or hearer usu. on the content of the sentence to which they are attached. Many other adverbs (as _interestingly, frankly, clearly, luckily, unfortunately_) are similarly used; most are so ordinary as to excite no comment or interest whatsoever. The second sense of _hopefully_ is entirely standard. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2002, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/28 "2002-06-16T22:43:41Z")
Target is the only store I know of that uses the correct “X items or fewer” for its express lanes; everywhere else you’ll find “or less”. Fewer is used with count nouns, less is used with mass nouns. Item is a count noun. You cannot “hold someone responsible”. A person either is or is not resposible; your actions after the fact have no bearing on that. When you are assessing blame or applying consequences, you are holding someone _accountable_. It drives me nuts to hear “x times more than” used to mean “x times as much as”. Likewise, nothing can be more than 1 time smaller than anything else. The word media is plural. It takes a plural verb. It should refer only to plural antecedents. The singular form is medium. Thus: The news media have been covering the events of 9-11 closely. The tv medium has great influence on political debate. ---
**Author:** ![Jerrybear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8c91f0/32.png) [@Jerrybear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jerrybear)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/29 "2002-06-17T13:19:51Z")
One that gets on my nerves is “hot water heater.” Redundancy, anyone? The name of the appliance is “water heater-” of course it makes the water hot! ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/30 "2002-06-17T14:04:33Z")
Getting real tired of **arguably**. And I’ve hated **basically** for a long time, too. damn kids these days ::shakes gnarled old fist at trendy vocabulary punks:: ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/31 "2002-06-17T14:29:12Z")
Not Quite, **Number Six** Re: Media, American Heritage’s Usage Note: > [@](#): > > People also use media with the definite article as a collective term to refer not to the forms of communication themselves so much as the communities and institutions behind them. In this sense, the media means something like “the press.” Like other collective nouns, it may take a singular or plural verb depending on the intended meaning. So, no dice, man. Media CAN take a singular verb in certain cases, being a collective noun and all that. And I say there’s confusion when you say “the TV medium.” Are you talking about the press? If so, then you should say “media” in this case. Otherwise, I assume you mean “the medium of television” which is an entirely different concept than “the television media.” As for not using superlatives in cases of only two objects being compared, I say that’s a pile of bullshit as well. Why, praytell, is it illogical or incorrect to say “the tallest of the two trees?” True enough, I normally DO use the comparative, but I cannot fathom any reason why the superlative is for some reason deemed incorrect. And apparently I’m not the only one interested in this issue, as grammarian have argued about this point for at least 200 years. Nice explanation, **Jenner** on “hopefully.” What pretentious folks use the awkward and stilted construction “It is to be hoped?” Egads, that sound atrocious! Re: Could care less. Well, I’ve had this discussion literally a million times :). Basically, listen to the intonation of “i could care less” and then “I couldn’t care less.” Hear the difference? That’s the intonation of irony, sarcasm. “I could care less” is NOT meant to be taken literally. And “different than/different from/different to.” Argh. I always use “different than.” I know this is “technically” incorrect. This is the speech of my neighborhood. It makes perfect logical sense to me. As do “different from” and “different to.” But I suppose if we have to settle on only one form for academic writing and consistent style, then I’ll give in to “different from.” My peeve? I also hate “impact” as verb. No idea why. It’s just a boring, pointless verb. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/32 "2002-06-17T14:48:34Z")
Even though the phrase “for free” is clearly incorrect, I derive a perverse pleasure from using it. When I first heard the phrase “I could care less”, back in the 1970’s, it was clearly being used ironically. However, in the years since, I have heard the irony fade away, and it seems clear to me now that hordes of young people are using this phrase without thinking about the literal meaning of what they’re saying. I’ve had to soften my position on “hopefully”, just as an acknowledgement of common useage, and of the fact that dictionaries have been listing the adverbial clause meaning since the 1960’s. It sounds less awkward than “One might hope”, and the intended meaning is clear. One might hope. Has anybody mentioned the phrase “near-miss”, used to mean “near-collision”? Without the hyphen, “near miss” could legitimately refer to a miss that was near, that is, a close thing; but with the hyphen, it should mean an incident that was nearly a miss, and therefore was in fact a collision. (Compare “near-fatal accident”.) ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/33 "2002-06-17T21:29:38Z")
Varying from the op slightly, but this was too good not to share. Local news is a treasure trove of cliches, misused words and mangled syntax. Great recent example: newscaster starts the lead-in to a story about a local phenom high school athlete with the line, “Every now and then, a once-in-a-lifetime athlete comes along…” So which is it? Now and then, or once in a lifetime? I hope that my lifetime will consist of several now-and-thens. good god, are there no editors any more? ---
**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:** [June 17, 2002, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/34 "2002-06-17T21:33:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Baldwin \* > \*\*Sorry, you’re mistaken. (And yes, the dictionary has been my friend for several decades now.) > > The first meaning given in the [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) entry you site (“Characterized by or constituting irony”) is not useful to our discussion since it simply explains the adjective’s relationship to the noun, without defining the noun; it’s simply a description of grammatical use. > > The second meaning (“Given to the use of irony. See Synonyms at sarcastic.”) doesn’t seem to apply either, since it refers to the speaker and not the statement. The speaker in the case of your little podium joke may indeed be prone to the use of irony, but that particular statement was not, in fact, ironic. It was neither an ironic nor a mistaken use of the word “literally”, but a deliberate falsehood intended, as you noted, to plant a funny image in the mind of the listener. \*\* I’m dropping this after I post, Baldwin, since you’re either being deliberately obtuse or ineducably dense. The first entry is indeed tautological . . . if it were the only entry in the damn dictionary. But since it’s not, you can perform the implied next step and _get thee to the irony entry._ Here are the relevant definitions, which I found on my own, and which You could have found if you were interested in pursuing the truth of the discussion rather than dishonestly trying to defend your own indefensible position: [ul] **i-ro-ny** n[list=A][li]The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning. [/li][li]An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning. [/li][li]A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect. See Synonyms at wit[sup]1[/sup]. [/list=A][/li] **i-ro-ny** n[ol][li]witty language used to convey insults or scorn; “he used sarcasm to upset his opponent”; "irony is wasted on the stupid[sup][[/sup]_[sup]][/sup]" [syn: sarcasm, satire, caustic remark][_]incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: “the irony of Ireland’s copying the nation she most hated”a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs [/li][sup]Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University [/sup][/ul][/ol] \*No offense. ---
**Author:** ![owlofcreamcheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@owlofcreamcheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlofcreamcheese)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/35 "2002-06-18T04:19:02Z")
unthaw. why is “thaw” not a good enough word for people!? I will not unthaw the turkey! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/36 "2002-06-18T07:19:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jsc1953 \* > \*\*Varying from the op slightly, but this was too good not to share. > > Local news is a treasure trove of cliches, misused words and mangled syntax. Great recent example: newscaster starts the lead-in to a story about a local phenom high school athlete with the line, “Every now and then, a once-in-a-lifetime athlete comes along…” > > So which is it? Now and then, or once in a lifetime? I hope that my lifetime will consist of several now-and-thens. > > good god, are there no editors any more? \*\* On a similar note, there is the ubiquitous misuse of “unique,” as in, “one of San Francisco’s most unique restaurants.” This is wrong on several levels, although I shall posit that “unique” is going under a slight meaning change. It’s understood by most speakers of English that “unique” in the sense used here is not meant to be taken literally, as “one of a kind,” but rather as something denoting originality, eccentricity, unexpected, atypical, etc. I’d explain “once-in-a-lifetime” in a similar manner. It’s meaning in the above sentence is clear (unless you are purposely trying to misunderstand it), but the wording leaves much to be desired. I would expect most editors to strike that, although most sports departments of newspapers are stylistically liberal. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/37 "2002-06-18T07:21:15Z")
Oh crap, I’ve demonstrated one of my peeves above: “it’s” for “its.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/38 "2002-06-18T07:24:49Z")
Ooo…my thousandth post, explaining the use of “unique.” Anyhoo, there’s an interesting [usage note](http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=unique) here discussing the current (mis?)use of the word “unique.” ---
**Author:** ![BalmainBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@BalmainBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BalmainBoy)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/39 "2002-06-18T07:42:47Z")
I’m sorry to say this about my fellow-churchers, but everyone says **awesome** about everything, even last night’s dinner… It diminshes the truly awesome when you apply it to everyday life. ---
**Author:** ![Jeremy\_s\_Evil\_Twin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Jeremy\_s\_Evil\_Twin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeremy_s_Evil_Twin)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058/40 "2002-06-18T10:20:21Z")
**Enormity.** Years of English lessons drilled into my head that it means EVIL, not BIG, and the proper word for describing something BIG would be “enormousness”. So it really grates my ears to hear the news media say stuff like, “The enormity of Stephen King’s work,” or something similar. I think this one’s a losing battle, though. Stupid living languages… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-overused-words-post-your-favorites/114058.md?page=3)