# Phrases/terms that aggravate the hell out of you **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 26, 2020, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894 "2020-10-26T02:04:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 50
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/987 "2022-06-16T18:19:51Z")
Quick! Someone make a “Just an empty word” meme. Never mind, I’m sure the class has done it by now. (They’ve made dozens of “Lovely\_Rhombus” memes, and have shared them with the world… but not their teacher.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/988 "2022-06-16T21:27:15Z")
“Meme” as self-replicating idea has a lot of value. “Meme” as slang for a pic/poster with a faux pithy / cute / funny / unfunny / stupid caption was empty misnomer from the git-go. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/989 "2022-06-17T00:01:04Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > “Meme” as self-replicating idea has a lot of value. “Meme” as slang for a pic/poster with a faux pithy / cute / funny / unfunny / stupid caption was empty misnomer from the git-go. . I agree completely. But face it: we’re never going to get that first meaning back. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/990 "2022-06-17T02:32:14Z")
This isn’t a phrase or even a term, but it is part of language, and since this board is a text-based medium, I feel it qualifies. What’s with the use of the backslash instead of the regular slash? For example: 1. Choose the adjective: quickly\slowly\wrong. 2. We will notify your significant other and\or parents if you are lost at sea. When someone uses the backslash in that way, it really throws me off. I have to stop reading and go back to the beginning of the paragraph, and then try to ignore the mistake on the second reading. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/991 "2022-06-17T03:00:09Z")
An oldie, but a baddie: _In the offing._ And [this](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trendy-buzzwords-that-you-wish-you-could-just-blow-up-into-smithereens/749223/270) too. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/992 "2022-06-17T03:48:46Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > This isn’t a phrase or even a term, but it is part of language, and since this board is a text-based medium, I feel it qualifies. What’s with the use of the backslash instead of the regular slash? For example: > > 1. Choose the adjective: quickly\slowly\wrong. > > 2. We will notify your significant other and\or parents if you are lost at sea. > > When someone uses the backslash in that way, it really throws me off. I have to stop reading and go back to the beginning of the paragraph, and then try to ignore the mistake on the second reading. Yours is the first such usage I have ever read. I agree it’s odd, but not as disorienting as all that. Then again from my time in software development I’ve gotten used to all sorts of weird delimiters. Inlcuding a few situations where / and \ are equivalent and indeed interchangeably intermixable. ---
**Author:** ![steepone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@steepone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steepone)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/993 "2022-06-17T07:50:46Z")
> [@](#): > > I’d love to see a movie where a student is chewing gum into a all-class meeting and, when a teacher says “Did you bring enough for everybody.” proceeds to haul out a big bag of gum and passes it around. Like this [![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/06/99/6b/06996b11babc85237d8c7cdac28ae035.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/06/99/6b/06996b11babc85237d8c7cdac28ae035.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/994 "2022-06-17T13:37:25Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/bcokL59jeqU/maxresdefault.jpg "Blazing Saddles (10/10) Movie CLIP - Boy, Is He Strict (1974) HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcokL59jeqU) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/995 "2022-06-17T14:48:24Z")
[213 Things Skippy is No Longer Allowed to Do in the U. S. Army:](https://wildboarblog.wordpress.com/random/213-things-skippy-is-no-longer-allowed-to-do-in-the-u-s-army/) 1. Not allowed to chew gum at formation, unless I brought enough for everybody. 2. (Next day) Not allowed to chew gum at formation even if I _did_ bring enough for everybody. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/996 "2022-06-17T21:12:20Z")
Enlisting marsupials now, are they? ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/997 "2022-06-20T04:03:43Z")
“I was mistaken”. By whom? YOU mistook is what happened. Own it and try to do better next time. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/998 "2022-06-20T04:42:26Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > “I was mistaken”. By whom? YOU mistook is what happened. That’s not how that word works. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/999 "2022-06-20T05:24:11Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That’s not how that word works. Some people just don’t like the passive voice. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1000 "2022-06-20T13:50:14Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Some people just don’t like the passive voice. “I was mistaken” is not passive voice in its most common usage. It is a simple subject-linking verb (past tense)-adjective structure. It _could_ be passive construction for “(Someone) mistook me” but I doubt that anyone encounters this usage very often. ---
**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:** [June 20, 2022, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1001 "2022-06-20T14:26:39Z")
Yeah, all the dictionaries I checked gave “mistaken” as an adjective meaning “wrong.” It can also be a verb—the past participle of “mistake”—but that’s less common. ---
**Author:** ![Porto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58f4c7/32.png) [@Porto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Porto)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1002 "2022-06-20T14:49:41Z")
Going/moving forward - I quit my job because of this term being used 10 times a day ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1003 "2022-06-20T20:49:36Z")
A “mistaken decision” of mine is one that I mistook (e.g., took wrongly). So yes, “mistaken” there, referring to the decision, means “wrong”. I myself was not mistaken; I was the mistaker. I know this usage is well ingrained; that’s why it bothers me. It’s a blame-deflector. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1004 "2022-06-20T20:55:42Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > I know this usage is well ingrained; that’s why it bothers me. It’s a blame-deflector. No it’s not. A person who is “mistaken” is a person who has made a mistake. It means exactly the same thing. It’s the same as saying “I was in error.” In other words, you are mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Rhodes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhodes/32/273_2.png) [@Rhodes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhodes)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1005 "2022-06-20T21:35:15Z")
“a high rate of speed” Speed is already a rate. It’s the rate of change of location over time. Rate of change of speed (well, velocity, but that’s another topic) over time is acceleration. I understand that when people say “rate of speed” they really mean speed and not acceleration. But why add extra words to make it more ambiguous and less correct? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1006 "2022-06-20T22:42:15Z")
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