# Real-world examples of 'Ummm, acktually, It's X, not Y' nitpicks, and discussion about them **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 8, 2025, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326 "2025-06-08T12:47:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/361 "2025-06-16T19:06:07Z")
Exceptions are made to the adjective-order rules for emphasis, or contrast with previously-mentioned things. One can imagine a dialog “Bring me that big rubber ball.” \ “No, I meant the red big rubber ball.”. ---
**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 16, 2025, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/362 "2025-06-16T20:03:05Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > I think it should qualify, because my one word definitions are something like > > literally (actual/metaphorical) or (true/exaggerated) > > Plus it’s on this list, and there is literally no higher authority on words than a popular click bait site. > > [40 Words and Phrases That Are Their Own Opposites](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/57032/25-words-are-their-own-opposites) It’s commonly called a contronym. I don’t think I can be convinced that it is, though, as substituting its opposite “figuratively” changes the meaning of the sentence and the point of using the word, which is to intensify. [Wikipedia says this:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literally) > [@](#): > > Despite common perception to the contrary, the use of an intensifier does not mean “figuratively” and is not an [auto-antonym](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-antonym); _literally_ as an intensifier cannot be lexically substituted for _figuratively_ while keeping the meaning of the sentence the same, and instead it serves as a generic intensifier.[[6]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literally#cite_note-:5-6) Which sites [this source:](https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/essentialsoflinguistics2/chapter/14-6-semantic-change/) > [@](#): > > This intensifier usage of _literally_ is often flagged as prescriptively incorrect in a figurative context, such as _literally dying of laughter_ , because it superficially appears that _literally_ means ‘figuratively’, which is the opposite of its etymological meaning. However, _literally_ is acting as a generic intensifier that can be used in both literal and figurative contexts, in the same way that _very_ and _really_ can. For example, both _literally laughing and laughing_ and _literally dying of laughter_ mean something like ‘laughing a lot’, with _literally_ intensifying the overall meaning. It just happens to be intensifying a literal meaning in one and a figurative meaning in the other. The claim that _literally_ cannot be used in a figurative context because of its original meaning is an etymological fallacy (see [Section 14.1](https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/essentialsoflinguistics2/chapter/14-1-why-do-languages-change/) for discussion of etymological fallacies). Interestingly, the same people who complain about _literally dying of laughter_ typically do not make the same complaints about _really dying of laughter_ , even though both are the result of the same kind of semantic shift. They have accepted the shift for an entire set of words except one, a common oversight in etymological fallacies. This is _always_ how it sounded to me; not as a contronym or auto-antonym, but as a hyperbolic intensifier. Swapping in “figuratively” just doesn’t maintain the same connotation. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/363 "2025-06-16T20:06:18Z")
Maybe “contronym” can mean two different things? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2025, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/364 "2025-06-16T20:58:15Z")
I’m fairly sure I’ve seen the order violated for emphasis of a specific attribute in poetry and fiction too, although I can’t bring to mind a specific example. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/365 "2025-06-17T00:38:37Z")
For some reason that reminds me of another English pattern - the use of a repeated word to indicate the archetypal version of the word: > **[Contrastive focus reduplication](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrastive_focus_reduplication)** > > Contrastive focus reduplication, also called contrastive reduplication, identical constituent compounding, lexical cloning, or the double construction, is a type of syntactic reduplication found in some languages. Doubling a word or phrase – such as "do you like-like him?" – can indicate that the prototypical meaning of the repeated word or phrase is intended. > "As a rough approximation, we can say that the reduplicated modifier singles out a member or subset of the extension of the noun that rep... ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/366 "2025-06-17T01:47:47Z")
“Gimme a beer.” “Dark, or light?” “Light.” “Regular light, or _light_ light?” ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2025, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/367 "2025-06-17T01:48:24Z")
Not a real-world example, but in the book Andrea Vernon and the Superhero Industrial Complex, there’s a superhero called “Captain Well Actually”. Anything you say to him, he comes back with “well, actually, it’s…”. And whatever his correction is, he’s right. They leverage it to figure out how to defeat the aliens or whatever the enemy was. “I know, we can throw water balloons at them!” “Well, actually, that wouldn’t work, we’d need to fill them with Seven Up” (not a real quote from the book, but you get the gist). ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/368 "2025-06-20T14:12:51Z")
It’s not “Daylight SavingS Time,” but “Daylight Saving Time.” If you are quoting US Code, then it’s properly the latter. The former is a common name is pretty much coeval with the “official name.” They’re not “saber-toothed tigers,” but “saber-toothed cats,” as they are not “tigers.” “Tiger” for this critter has been used for pretty much as long as “cat.” Anyway, even the “official names” of critters aren’t always technically correct: Giant pandas aren’t ‘pandas.’ Clouded and snow leopards aren’t members of the leopard family. Musk oxen are ovine, not bovine. Etc. (And I’m obviously using the word ‘family’ not in the Linnaean sense.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/369 "2025-06-20T14:24:54Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > It’s not “Daylight SavingS Time,” but “Daylight Saving Time.” If you are quoting US Code, then it’s properly the latter. The former is a common name is pretty much coeval with the “official name.” And Daylight Saving Time is what you switch to in the spring when you turn your clocks forward, not what you switch to in the fall when you turn your clocks back. If you hate how it suddenly starts getting dark an hour earlier in the fall, what you hate is Standard Time. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/370 "2025-06-20T14:52:50Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > They’re not “saber-toothed tigers,” but “saber-toothed cats,” as they are not “tigers.” And arguably, they’re not even cats, since “cats” are sometimes defined as having retractable claws, which smilodons lack. ---
**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, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/371 "2025-06-20T17:35:30Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Giant pandas aren’t ‘pandas.’ Did you mean to say that giant pandas aren’t _bears_, or is this a deeper rabbit hole than I thought? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/372 "2025-06-20T17:37:46Z")
“Zoological facts _they don’t want you to know!”_ ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/373 "2025-06-20T17:40:28Z")
The giant panda is a bear (family _Ursidae_) but the red panda is in a completely different family (_Ailuridae_). So one could say that one of them “isn’t a panda” but it’s sort of an arbitrary choice of which one. The red panda was described to Western science earlier than the giant panda. ---
**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 20, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/374 "2025-06-20T18:09:33Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > … > And Daylight Saving Time is what you switch to in the spring when you turn your clocks forward, not what you switch to in the fall when you turn your clocks back. If you hate how it suddenly starts getting dark an hour earlier in the fall, what you hate is Standard Time. Maybe. I agree w your point that switching to Standard is the reason for the change. But if your objection is not to _when_ it gets dark, but rather the abrupt _change_, then that objection is founded in the entire concept of DST: namely changing clocks in big lumps to adjust for the seasons. So IMO it’s fair to say the fall change back to Standard time is a direct consequence of DST existing and I therefore blame DST for it. Lots of people are apparently utterly flummoxed by these changes. In every thread about DST, the majority position seems to be “I don’t care which, but the switch just kills me. I’m sick and sleep-deprived for a month or two after each change.” I personally find that personal circumstance and line of thinking unfathomable, but I’m not most people. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/375 "2025-06-20T18:29:35Z")
In fact, the red panda was originally just called ‘panda.’ It wasn’t until naturalists decided that “particolor bears” weren’t bears at all, but more closely related to raccoons, as (red) pandas were thought at the time to be procyonids. So the particolor bear became the giant panda and the panda became the red (or lesser) panda. It took 100 years or so to realize that red pandas weren’t procyonids and that giant pandas were in fact bears. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/376 "2025-06-20T18:38:57Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > But if your objection is not to _when_ it gets dark, but rather the abrupt _change_, then that objection is founded in the entire concept of DST: namely changing clocks in big lumps to adjust for the seasons. So IMO it’s fair to say the fall change back to Standard time is a direct consequence of DST existing and I therefore blame DST for it. The “well, actually” part comes into play when one starts asking DST objectors how they want to fix the system: > To see how widespread this misapprehension is, look at coverage of California’s Proposition 7, which [easily passed](https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_7,_Permanent_Daylight_Saving_Time_Measure_(2018)) in 2018. The [Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-debate-about-nixing-daylight-saving-1505340465-htmlstory.html) described the measure as “ending daylight saving time”; [CBS](https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2018/11/07/daylight-saving-time-future-california/) called it “the first step of abolishing” DST. That is incorrect, as these outlets would’ve known if they’d read [the proposition](https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_7,_Permanent_Daylight_Saving_Time_Measure_(2018)), which is titled the Permanent Daylight Saving Time Measure. As that name indicates, the measure permits the state Legislature to implement _year-round DST_ by a two-thirds vote after obtaining federal approval. The media’s inability to articulate the proposition’s purpose may have led to voter bewilderment, as illustrated in the [CBS article](https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2018/11/07/daylight-saving-time-future-california/), which features a California resident who asserts: “I don’t like Daylight Saving Time. It disrupts me every fall.” Given that DST begins _in the spring_ , this Californian probably meant to assail Standard Time but inadvertently contributed to anti-DST fervor. > **[You Do Not Hate Daylight Saving Time. You Hate Standard Time.](https://slate.com/technology/2019/03/in-defense-daylight-saving-time.html)** > > If you don’t want the sun to set earlier, then Daylight Saving Time is your true ally. ---
**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 20, 2025, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/377 "2025-06-20T18:50:19Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > “I don’t like Daylight Saving Time. It disrupts me every fall.” Given that DST begins _in the spring_ , this Californian probably meant to assail Standard Time but inadvertently contributed to anti-DST fervor. I think what is meant is that the California resident simply doesn’t like changing the clocks, which is attributed to something in their mind vaguely called “Daylight Saving Time.” Not much thought has actually been put into whether it’s DST or ST they prefer, just they don’t like changing clocks and DST is associated with it. ---
**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 20, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/378 "2025-06-20T18:56:00Z")
Zactly. “DST” means 2 different but related things: - the clock setting used in much of the USA during summer AND also - the fact clocks are changed at all in either direction Without asking each individual which meaning they take, you can’t say anything useful about their opinions. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/379 "2025-06-20T19:57:32Z")
Time pedantism sometimes is totally irrelevant, and other times it is critically important. I’m sure someplace there is an “Ummm, acktually,” about the differences between UTC, GMT, and Zulu time. Probably only when someone gets it wrong (“London is in UTC,” “No, the _time_ in London is UTC, London is in GMT!”) Other times the pedantry might matter. If somebody sends me an invitation to arrive at an event on 20 June 1900 MST, does it start at 7pm or 6pm? Are they just trying to look cool with MST, when they really meant MDT, or is it some computer generated thing that means UTC-7 (MST), and I should adjust for my local time on June 20, which will be UTC-6 (MDT). Fortunately that doesn’t occur very often, and it’s much more common someone typos am/pm, if they’re going to make a mistake. I do host international events, and I create the calendar with a fixed time zone. That means when people look at my events in their local calendar, the events may start at 3am. I get a question or two about this every year, to which I just have to say, “jet lag.” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326/380 "2025-06-20T20:20:53Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Giant pandas aren’t ‘pandas. True, they are not that closely related to the red Panda, but which came first? Now _Ailuropoda melanoleuca_ are classed as a type of Bear. > [@markn\_1](#): > > The giant panda is a bear (family _Ursidae_) but the red panda is in a completely different family (_Ailuridae_). So one could say that one of them “isn’t a panda” but it’s sort of an arbitrary choice of which one. The red panda was described to Western science earlier than the giant panda. Good point. > [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Clouded and snow leopards aren’t members of the leopard family. > [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > .’ Clouded and snow leopards aren’t members of the leopard family. wiki- The **snow leopard** (_ **Panthera uncia** _ ) is a [species](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species) of large cat in the genus _[Panthera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera)_ of the [family](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_(biology)) [Felidae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felidae). along with- Leopards- sometimes called panthers. But indeed, there are other Non Panthera cats like Species that are not part of Panthera also called “panthers”. The clouded leopard _Neofelis nebulosa_ Is not part of panthera, true. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-ummm-acktually-its-x-not-y-nitpicks-and-discussion-about-them/1019326.md?page=20)