# Misused words that get on your nerves **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 23, 2002, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459 "2002-05-23T10:04:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/121 "2002-06-08T07:19:25Z")
“cow” for all cattle, male or female “podium” for lectern Use of trademarks or service marks when generic terms are meant: Jacuzzi (whirlpool bath) Realtor (real estate agent) Scotch tape (sticky tape) Ping-Pong (table tennis) Seeing-Eye dog (guide dog) Walkman (portable stereo) Freon (refrigerant) Dumpster (garbage bin) Xerox (photocopy) Styrofoam (foam; Styrofoam brand is _not_ used to make cups) Vaseline (petroleum jelly) Spackle (wall plaster) Frisbee (disc) Kleenex (tissue) Magic Marker (marker) ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/122 "2002-06-08T07:37:19Z")
Oooh, what a thread. For what it’s worth, dictionaries record, not dictate, usage. Improper usage is just as likely to make it into the dictionary, if sufficiently common. According to the Introduction in my Webster’s Collegiate, dictionaries are not a good tool for settling arguments of disputed words. Still– **eager** for **anxious** Eager suggests you are looking forward to the event, anxious indicates apprehension. “I’m so anxious for this new movie to come out!” Arrgh! Then don’t see it! **lightening** If you’re speaking of the meterological phenomenon, it’s lightning without the E. **whom** Along with the I/me quandry, there are those who use “whom” for every usage of “who,” regardless of context. “I’m the one whom did the work.” “Well, I’m the one who’s going to kick your ass.” **jewlary** It’s jewelry, stupid. **deductive** vs. **inductive** Grr. I hate this one. **colloquial** for **slang** Am I the only one? There are a couple that I can’t stand that won’t be very common errors, I fear. I worked with some people (in an engraving shop, no less) who just had a habit of misusing words. For example: One of the customer service ladies used the term “morphodite” and it took me forever to figure out what she meant. I eventually figured out she meant “hermaphrodite,” and even then, she insisted I was wrong. I was on the verge of bringing in a copy of “The Morphodite” by A.M. Foster and comparing it to a dictionary, but it turned out the dictionary alone did the trick. In the same business, a woman kept using the word “pissant” as an emotional state. “He’s in a really pissant mood.” I couldn’t make her understand. How about “forte” pronounced as “fortay?” I have always been under the impression that, pronounced “fortay,” we mean the Italian musical signature for “loudly,” and pronounced “fort,” we mean the French metaphorical definition of “strong point.” On the other hand, there’s one reverse construction I rather like, except I have no personal taste for using it. How about “reservate?” “I reservated at Chez Frufru at eight o’clock.” ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/123 "2002-06-08T11:32:46Z")
Many of the linguistic abuses I find most annoying have already been listed (there/their ; its it’s; literally). Another is the way some people use **infer** and **imply** incorrectly. To imply is to convey meaning. To infer is to deduce meaning. He _implied_ I was pedantic. I _inferred_ that he found me tiresome. I’d also like to ask if it’s a rule that upon becoming a professional sports person, you must cease to use adverbs? I’m thinking of comments such as, “I thought we did brilliant” and “He played terrific”. I respect sports professionals for their achievements, and I know they don’t get paid for their grasp of grammar. But then again it’s not hard to understand the difference, and there are a great many youngsters who see these people as role models. ---
**Author:** ![Nenya\_Elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@Nenya\_Elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nenya_Elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/124 "2002-06-08T11:34:22Z")
**it’s** for **its** or vice versa. Drives me absolutely batshit wherever they’re misused, but especially in print or large signs. This thread is also making me crazy, so I’ll go away now! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/125 "2002-06-08T12:22:09Z")
Mine is “bring” and “take”. I started noticing my kids using “bring” when they should have been using “take” and then other young folks doing the same, but now I hear it from the national news programs. From the American Heritage Book of Usage > [@](#): > > bring and take. When do you use bring and when do you use take? It depends on your point of view. We use bring to indicate motion toward the place of speaking or the place from which the action is regarded. Thus you normally take checks to the bank and bring home cash, although from the banker’s perspective you have brought checks to the bank in order to take away cash. 1 > When the point of reference is not the place of speaking itself, you can use either verb depending on the context. Thus you can say either The labor leaders brought their requests to the mayor’s office or The labor leaders took their requests to the mayor’s office depending on whether you want to describe things from the point of view of the labor leaders or the mayor. Perhaps for this reason, the distinction between bring and take is sometimes less clear than you might expect. A parent may say of a child, for example, She always takes a pile of books home with her from school, as the parent imagines the situation from the child’s viewpoint. This usage may sound curious to those who are accustomed to observe the distinction more strictly, but there is really nothing wrong with it. In some cases I might be too much of a purist according to the last part, but generally it seems that “bring” is used because of a lack of understanding how to use “take”. Also, **Neptune** your granpappy might have been hung at the time he was hanged. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/126 "2002-06-08T17:23:56Z")
Here’s a few of mine: “whom” in place of “who” imply vs. infer (nearly lost a g/f over that one) affect vs. effect (my boss constantly asks me which one he should use in his memos) And I don’t think anyone has mentioned this one yet: ensure vs. insure ---
**Author:** ![tourbot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@tourbot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tourbot)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/127 "2002-06-08T18:38:31Z")
The use of the phrase “these ones”, as in “These ones over here are on sale”. Seems redundant to me. Wouldn’t just “these” be sufficient? As for the removal of “to be” from the car needs washed, etc., this is the worst sounding sentence fragment I have ever heard. 1000 times worse than nucyular or supposably (which is a word, but **is not** interchangeable with supposedly) or any of the other idiosyncrasies of usage listed so far. If someone said to me, “the car needs washed”, I would reply “washed what? Washed tires?” ARRGHH!! > [@](#): > > And according to most of the grammar books I have here (I’m an English teacher, so I have quite a few), “that” and “which” ARE interchangeable in sentences such as these: > > Anne works for a company that/which makes washing machines. > The machine that/which broke down has now been repaired. I wish somebody would tell that to the MS Word grammar checker. I prefer which in both of those sentences. ---
**Author:** ![typhoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@typhoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typhoon)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/128 "2002-06-08T19:00:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jorel \* > \*\*When I was studying for my license to drive (California) the handbook kept referring to the “driver license” as opposed to a “driver’s license” > > I thought that sounded wrong, but I’m not sure… \*\* I think it would have to be “driving license” or “driver’s license,” or to stretch it and make it a compound noun, “driver-license.” ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/129 "2002-06-08T19:06:45Z")
Why is it that nobody knows how to form an adjective from a verb any more? I’m so tired of reading “This is an example of bias language” and “Joe is prejudice.” The problem, of course, is that the soft -ed doesn’t really register in spoken English; you have to get used to _seeing_ it in print, and a significant percentage of the population just doesn’t read enough to learn how to use the language properly. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/130 "2002-06-08T21:50:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blue Curls \* > \*\*I hate it when people forget to put the ‘s’ on plural words. > > Eg. “three years old” is said as “three year old” > > grrrr \*\* Could you give an example? My child is three years old. -or- This is a three year old wine. ? I’m glad I could reincarnate the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/131 "2002-06-09T17:28:50Z")
I’m on a chat group with a lady who likes to use “that of” a lot, and gets it wrong every time. Like, “When my sister was pregnant, her belly button resembled that of an eye.” I said, “Eyes have belly buttons?” but she just didn’t get it. _sigh_ Regarding the me/I thing–recently I’ve heard people doing this with other pronouns in compound objects. Watching TV the other day, I heard a character say “I have failed both he and his mother.” Heard a simlimar usage on the radio, too, from somebody who should have known better. What’s up with that? My husband does the “this needs washed” thing, without the “to be.” He’s from Oregon, if that means anything. Mostly I don’t point it out, but if it were me I would say “this needs washing.” Yes? One I see online a lot that drives me nuts is “peaked” when it should be “piqued.” AAAAAGH! ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/132 "2002-06-09T17:37:26Z")
I’m on a chat group with a lady who likes to use “that of” a lot, and gets it wrong every time. Like, “When my sister was pregnant, her belly button resembled that of an eye.” I said, “Eyes have belly buttons?” but she just didn’t get it. _sigh_ Regarding the me/I thing–recently I’ve heard people doing this with other pronouns in compound objects. Watching TV the other day, I heard a character say “I have failed both he and his mother.” Heard a simlimar usage on the radio, too, from somebody who should have known better. What’s up with that? My husband does the “this needs washed” thing, without the “to be.” He’s from Oregon, if that means anything. Mostly I don’t point it out, but if it were me I would say “this needs washing.” Yes? One I see online a lot that drives me nuts is “peaked” when it should be “piqued.” AAAAAGH! ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2002, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/133 "2002-06-10T23:16:32Z")
_Originally posted by **Horseflesh** _ > [@](#): > > And I don’t think anyone has mentioned this one yet: > ensure vs. insure Hmm. Merriam-Webster online lists very similar definitions for both, and, in fact, lists them as synonyms of each other. How are they misused? And, about the driver license: One can have a pilot license (rather than a pilot’s license, or a piloting license), so why couldn’t one have a driver license? ---
**Author:** ![Voetsack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d2c977/32.png) [@Voetsack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voetsack)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/134 "2002-06-11T00:27:44Z")
For the love of God, if you want someone to sleep with you, don’t say, “Lay here with me”, for vok sake, that’s wrong. To all those people that use lay as the present tense for lie, I think you are going to have a hard time getting anyone to “lay” next to you. ---
**Author:** ![Voetsack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d2c977/32.png) [@Voetsack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voetsack)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/135 "2002-06-11T00:39:40Z")
Ooo, this one really pisses me off, “In my opinion, I think”. I don’t believe you can think twit! ---
**Author:** ![robinc308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@robinc308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinc308)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/136 "2002-06-11T01:48:34Z")
Misuse of , ; and : drives me nuts. I also hate it when ‘s’ is added to the adjective in a title where the adjective comes after the noun. For example the plural of Governer General is Governers General not Governer Generals. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/137 "2002-06-11T02:47:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by iamthewalrus(:3= \* > **_Originally posted by Horseflesh_ > Hmm. Merriam-Webster online lists very similar definitions for both, and, in fact, lists them as synonyms of each other. How are they misused?** The standard argument against that is that dictionaries record usage, not decree it. However, I’d like to know what **Horseflesh** has to say. > [@](#): > > \*\*And, about the driver license: One can have a pilot license (rather than a pilot’s license, or a piloting license), so why couldn’t one have a driver license? \*\* Because one can pilot an airplane, but can’t driver a car? ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/138 "2002-06-11T04:44:28Z")
adult – The loaded word with a thousand meanings. Can mean everything from “completely incomprehensible and unfunny” (television) to “a few milliseconds of footage of one or two sets of breasts” (some games). alternative sports – Dude, there’s nothing at all alternative about skateboarding or freestyle biking, much less in-line skating. Go watch sumo, rodeo, or those woodcutting competitions to get a taste for a REAL alternative. pornography – This word has _no_ meaning. It’s completely dependent on what each individual finds offensive. (And don’t get me started on “cyberporn”.) honor (re. anything less serious than a war) – I _hate_ how this gets tossed around in discussions about sports, or (blargh) video games. anime (re. anything not involving moving pictures done in one of Japan’s prevalent animation styles) – For the last time, the Powerpuff Girls are not anime. No, being popular in Japan does not qualify the ‘toon as anime. (And the eyes do not look _anything_ like anime eyes.) And no, a drawing in an anime style isn’t anime. It’s a drawing. Oh yeah…comics with anime-style pictures are _manga_, not anime. disappointment – Look, not getting accepted to the college you want or losing an election is a disappointment. Not winning three gold medals and two bronze medals instead of five gold medals or failing to win the French Open after already winning 13 Grand Slam titles and more money than Odin. major – For all the colossal weight the golfing public places on the US Open, British Open, Masters, and PGA Championship (something the PGA itself, as far as I can tell, doesn’t do), is there a golfer in the entire league who cares about this distinction other than the Best Player Never To Win One? free (re. anything that requires a $30/mo. internet connection to get to) – ‘Nuff said. liberal – For the last time, someone who passes a Defense of Marriage Act, NAFTA, GATT, welfare gut…er, “reform”, etc. does not qualify as liberal. Neither does someone who spearheads an effort to put labelling on all commercial movement, accepts millions from big corporate interests, suppors the Star Wars missile defense system, etc. wasted vote (you see where I’m going with this, right?) – The only wasted vote is the one that’s not cast at all. Of which there are millions every presidential election. pervert – Look, to have deviants, you need a solid, unbreakable baseline, and what little pretense of one that our society had was blasted to chunks with the dawn of the Internet era. Just as “The Devil’s music” is no longer sufficient, neither is this. War on [anything other than a nation, geographical area, or populace] – ‘Nuff said. Any and all twaddle cranked out by the AAMA and ESRB – Oh dear lord, a fighting game has _violence??_ :rolleyes::rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/139 "2002-06-11T04:51:27Z")
Speaking of misused words, the Latin “re” (meaning “in the matter of”) is not an abbreviation, and does not take a period. “Re” is the ablative form of the Latin word “res”, meaning “thing” or “piece of business”. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459/140 "2002-06-11T05:15:56Z")
_Originally posted by me_ > [@](#): > > And, about the driver license: One can have a pilot license (rather than a pilot’s license, or a piloting license), so why couldn’t one have a driver license? _Originally posted by **Wikkit** _ > [@](#): > > Because one can pilot an airplane, but can’t driver a car? Yes… but if you think of other licenses (a marriage license or a dog license, for example) they are of the form _noun_ license, rather than _verb_ license. So you have a license to be a driver, or to be a pilot (or, I guess, to be a dog… kinda breaks down there). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misused-words-that-get-on-your-nerves/110459.md?page=8)