# Mutually annoying sayings in the Anglosphere? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 31, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762 "2016-03-31T17:52:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/21 "2016-04-01T18:20:27Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > The Brits watch something called a “telly”. This is an abomination. > It’s called a **TV** , dammit. > > The Brits study a subject called “math **s** ”. This is not only difficult to pronounce, it is just plain stooopid. > Anyone who attempts to justify it deserves the death penalty. The British also assign plurality to collective nouns: The corporation are planning to introduce a new product. Combine this with the penchant to make a singular subject (math) into a plural form (maths), and you might get something like this: “Maths is the subject this class are studying.” Take that, all grammar nazis with your noun/verb agreement. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/22 "2016-04-01T19:54:46Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > Those do not bother me so much because we have the exact same thing in Spanish 😃 Maybe in Argentinian, you overseas weirdos… in Spain it’s only _inflamable_. La palablra _[flamable](http://dle.rae.es/)_ no está en el diccionario. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/23 "2016-04-01T19:59:39Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > The other Aussyism that rubs me wrong is ‘chuffed’. They throw it in everywhere, like it’s really a word. The context never seems self evident and I’m always left wondering what the hell, “I’m chuffed!” is supposed to mean? When they talk like this to non Aussies I wonder, do they think we know? Do they think it’s really a word? Do they think it’s self evident? > [@MrDibble](#): > > It’s not an Ozizm. It occurs in South Africa too, and the UK, but there it seems to be almost a U term, or at any rate only in the cricket-playing masses. In the UK, one quite often hears the negative form of the word, “dis-chuffed” = not happy or pleased. I don’t exactly abominate “dis-chuffed”, but don’t greatly like it. > [@OffByOne](#): > > The British also assign plurality to collective nouns: The corporation are planning to introduce a new product. Combine this with the penchant to make a singular subject (math) into a plural form (maths), and you might get something like this: “Maths is the subject this class are studying.” > > Take that, all grammar nazis with your noun/verb agreement. A fair few of us, I gather, have a slight problem with the biblical “The wages of sin _is_ death” – that is in fact grammatically justified, it can just give one a 😕 moment. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/24 "2016-04-01T20:10:28Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Maybe in Argentinian, you overseas weirdos… in Spain it’s only _inflamable_. > > La palablra _[flamable](http://dle.rae.es/)_ no está en el diccionario. No you are right, I was sure “flamable” was a word, but it isn’t (not even in Argentina where we have the newest and bestest worlds). Still, it should be. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/25 "2016-04-01T21:22:25Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > But – “maths” (plural) is short for “mathematics” (plural). I sure don’t think of “mathematics” as plural, any more than “physics” or “ethics” or “economics” (which I’ve never heard abbreviated “econs”). If it’s plural, what, pray tell, is one mathematic? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/26 "2016-04-01T21:23:31Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > No you are right, I was sure “flamable” was a word, but it isn’t (not even in Argentina where we have the newest and bestest worlds). > > Still, it should be. [“Inflammable” means flammable? What a country!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8mD2hsxrhQ) ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/27 "2016-04-01T21:30:03Z")
Y’all, we say “math” because we’re abbreviating “math[ematics]”. The S gets cut off along with all the other letters after the H. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/28 "2016-04-01T21:34:49Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > But – “maths” (plural) is short for “mathematics” (plural). I know that the American convention is “math” – but, my sentiments re the above, are “right back atcha”. In America AFAIK, the subject / discipline of study is not called “mathematic”; so why “math”? > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I sure don’t think of “mathematics” as plural, any more than “physics” or “ethics” or “economics” (which I’ve never heard abbreviated “econs”). > > If it’s plural, what, pray tell, is one mathematic? Well – physics, ethics, and economics are, in my experience, not abbreviated at all – so I reckon that that particular thing, is moot. As per my OP: these issues are really not subject to logic or common sense – it’s a matter of feelings. Americans just feel “maths”, to be idiotic and ludicrous; Brits feel the same way about “math”; and in all probability, “evermore shall be so”. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/29 "2016-04-01T21:34:53Z")
What about those non-sentences that are all over the web these days? They really infuriate me for probably irrational reasons. “That moment when the songs you listened to in high school are getting played on the oldies station.” “That time such and such happened.” “When your dog does \_\_\_\_\_.” Just add “remember when” or “doesn’t it suck” or “Does \_\_\_\_ ever happen to you?” It isn’t that hard to write in complete sentences, folks. Most of us learned how by the third grade. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/30 "2016-04-01T21:42:34Z")
> [@Sampsiceramos](#): > > God forbid “flammatory” ever be considered **cromulent** in any shape or fashion, lest the language abandon all semblance of Latin roots. With this thread being basically about irrational dislikes-and-likes: I’ll just say that I’m seemingly one of a very small minority, in that I HATE the bloody word “cromulent”, sometimes to the point of screaming fury. And I’d have difficulty explaining why. I know the story of its origin – I don’t loathe _The Simpsons_, though I have trouble seeing why this cartoon is adored to the point that it is. I don’t feel that there was a significant gap in the English language, which “cromulent” perfectly filled. I really don’t know why – but if there were one word in the English language which I could nuke from outer space and obliterate for evermore, it would be this one. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/31 "2016-04-01T21:48:16Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > With this thread being basically about irrational dislikes-and-likes: I’ll just say that I’m seemingly one of a very small minority, in that I HATE the bloody word “cromulent”, sometimes to the point of screaming fury. And I’d have difficulty explaining why. I know the story of its origin – I don’t loathe _The Simpsons_, though I have trouble seeing why this cartoon is adored to the point that it is. I don’t feel that there was a significant gap in the English language, which “cromulent” perfectly filled. I really don’t know why – but if there were one word in the English language which I could nuke from outer space and obliterate for evermore, it would be this one. What do you have against embiggening the vocabulary? ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/32 "2016-04-01T22:55:27Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > We’ll start calling it “math” when you guys get some standardisation and refer to studying “stat” as well. Stat is what is studied at Yale, at least. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/33 "2016-04-01T23:01:22Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > My Grandmother, who was born in Melbourne but lived a long time in California, used to refer to university as “the Varsity” > > I actually have no idea if Real Americans actually do that - you guys always seem to just say ‘college’. But the proper contraction for university, as any fule kno, is “Uni”. I’ve never hear a “real American” ™ refer to a university or college as either “varsity” or “uni”. The latter is never used. The former when used would refer to the the top team of athletes. The second ranked team would be junior varsity or jv. And college and university mean something different in the U.S. A university as a group of schools, the School of Medicine, the Law School, the Graduate School, etc. The undergraduate portion is the college. So Harvard College is a part of Harvard University. ---
**Author:** ![kurtisokc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kurtisokc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kurtisokc)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/34 "2016-04-01T23:13:04Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > And college and university mean something different in the U.S. A university as a group of schools, the School of Medicine, the Law School, the Graduate School, etc. The undergraduate portion is the college. So Harvard College is a part of Harvard University. The way the word “college” is used in the United States is ambiguous. It can mean a constituent school of a university, but it can also be a free-standing institution, particularly a 2-year school, or a small 4-year school that focuses on liberal arts or a narrow area of specialization. But, counterintuitively, it is often used as a generic term for all institutions of tertiary education, including universities. And for historical reasons, some institutions are called “colleges” even though they meet the legal definition of a university. (Boston College is one example.) ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/35 "2016-04-01T23:26:09Z")
> [@kurtisokc](#): > > And for historical reasons, some institutions are called “colleges” even though they meet the legal definition of a university. (Boston College is one example.) Yes some institutions that started as colleges have retained that as a name even when they’ve added schools which would nominally make them a university. In the case of Boston College. There already is a Boston University which is well known. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/36 "2016-04-02T03:39:24Z")
I know a lot of you in the midwest and Canada say this, but my future living situation is predicated on not living somewhere where I have to baby talk and order “pop.” > [@amanset](#): > > We’ll start calling it “math” when you guys get some standardisation and refer to studying “stat” as well. We’ll start calling it aluminium when you start calling it platinium. > [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Y’all, we say “math” because we’re abbreviating “math[ematics]”. The S gets cut off along with all the other letters after the H. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [“Inflammable” means flammable? What a country!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8mD2hsxrhQ) Yes, in Britain, Dr. Nick is known as Dr Nick. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/37 "2016-04-02T04:45:31Z")
> [@TwoCarrotSnowman](#): > > For the, uh, record… I’m as British as they come (born and bred in the Newcastle area, lived in Yorkshire for the last few years). I’ve only ever heard the “broken record” variant. I didn’t know “like a stuck record” was a phrase until it was used in the OP 🙂 Monty Python, “Matching Tie and Handkerchief,” 1973 – “The record’s stuck, the record’s stuck, the record’s stuck, the…” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/38 "2016-04-02T07:26:10Z")
It vaguely bothers me that Brits call dead batteries _flat_, as if they were tires. Er, tyres. I recently learned that “to waffle”, which means to be undecided about something in the US, means to blather on about something to Brits. Doesn’t really bother me, but is a bit odd. “Britist Left Waffles on Falkland Islands” is therefore triply ambiguous. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/39 "2016-04-02T10:56:36Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > No you are right, I was sure “flamable” was a word, but it isn’t (not even in Argentina where we have the newest and bestest worlds). > > Still, it should be. Actually some of youse are pretty old, such as using _vos_ for the 2nd singular (I assume that l sneaked in - either that or you’ve been rereading Borges lately). I find it interesting how, since each dialect has kept somewhat different things and changed somewhat different things, we all have features others find archaic and features others consider shocking attacks on propriety. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762/40 "2016-04-02T11:22:49Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > I don’t like ‘veggie.’ I’m OK with ‘veg’ (or ‘vedge’, depending on how you want to spell it), but ‘veggie’ just irritates me. In my part of The UK “veggie” is only used as a slightly derogatory term for vegatarians, whereas “veg” is a contraction of “vegetable”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mutually-annoying-sayings-in-the-anglosphere/750762.md?page=3)