# Steep learning curve and other, in your opinion, stupid phrases **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 5, 2009, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816 "2009-06-05T13:55:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/21 "2009-06-05T22:36:32Z")
Yeah, something about that phrase just doesn’t jive with me. I’ve been chomping at the bit to say that. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/22 "2009-06-06T02:28:40Z")
“Sum total” and “polar opposites” each have one word too many. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/23 "2009-06-06T03:26:32Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > No, it means… > > (Looking up in Wiki to make sure I’m not wrong.) > > Oh. > > I thought it meant pulling your weight. Nevermind. See I always thought it meant to push boundaries. “Toeing the line” meaning getting really close to the line without actually going OVER it (or, alternatively, occasionally sticking your toe over, so crossing boundaries ever so slightly now and then without jumping to the other side), this would explain my confusion with the phrase “toeing the party line” thinking it meant more along the lines of “being a border line traitor” instead of the intended “being a good partisan.” Oops. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/24 "2009-06-06T03:59:22Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > And “decimate” does not mean destroy. It means “reduce by one-tenth.” An impairment, perhaps, but not utter ruin. Oh give it a break. I’ve already pitted you pedants trying to save decimate, but to recap for you since you obviously missed it: [you’re wrong](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decimate). Note definition number 3. Language changes over time. Deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/25 "2009-06-06T18:39:21Z")
I always thought “have his cake and eat it too” meant he wanted to have extra/eat it twice. If I “have some cake”, that means I ate it, right? And then to want to eat cake after…it’s greedy. Or something. There is an RDS commercial where the various announcers talk about how fast the world of sports is and they’re on top of it all…they finish with “le sport, ça va vite. Mais jamais assez vite pour notre équipe” which translates to something along the lines of “things go quickly in sports, but never fast enough for our team”. Which I think is stupid, because if it’s not fast enough, then you guys are sitting around bored out of your minds waiting for something to happen, which isn’t really a selling point, is it? It should be “mais jamais trop vite pour notre équipe” - “but never too fast for our team”. Drives me crazy. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/26 "2009-06-06T18:47:41Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > “Sum total” and “polar opposites” each have one word too many. You have a point, but I think there are good reasons for those extra words. We humans have a natural (and, IMO, unavoidable) tendency to allow some imprecision into our definitions. I believe this is actually a key source of the power and expressive ability of all human language. Because of this imprecision, words like “total” and “opposites” have a range of meanings depending on how they are used. With “opposites”, for example, it is often the case that things that we describe as “opposite” aren’t necessarily completely opposite. Sometimes it may be useful to add “polar” to make clear the items under discussion are very much opposites, and not just this wishywashy “opposite” that people often use. Some might complain that all this imprecision is a bad idea, but I think that it’s an integral part of rich communication. (I should make it clear that I’m no fan of imprecise communication, but rather of a slight fluidity of definition that enriches our speech and can be used precisely with the exercise of a little brain power.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/27 "2009-06-06T18:53:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Okay this is just mispronunciation, but some of my coworkers can’t say “excavate.” “Yeah, they’re gonna have to escavate that.” I don’t get it, the same folks can say “excited” and “exercise” but “excavate” confounds them. In fairness, it is a more complicated pronunciation. Excavate starts with an eksk while excited and exercise start with a simpler eks. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/28 "2009-06-06T19:31:18Z")
I never had that happen. No. No. No. I never had that happen before this. ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/29 "2009-06-07T16:40:08Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > There is an RDS commercial where the various announcers talk about how fast the world of sports is and they’re on top of it all…they finish with “le sport, ça va vite. Mais jamais assez vite pour notre équipe” which translates to something along the lines of “things go quickly in sports, but never fast enough for our team”. Which I think is stupid, because if it’s not fast enough, then you guys are sitting around bored out of your minds waiting for something to happen, which isn’t really a selling point, is it? It should be “mais jamais trop vite pour notre équipe” - “but never too fast for our team”. Drives me crazy. Reminds me of the problem someone pointed out to Roger Ebert in his Answer Man column, about the exchange from Sunset Boulevard: Joe Gillis: You’re Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big. Norma Desmond: I \*am \*big. It’s the _pictures_ that got small. If the pictures are now small, wouldn’t she look even bigger? However, the more accurate “I am big, and the pictures got even bigger” just doesn’t have the same kind of resonance. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/30 "2009-06-07T17:50:30Z")
> [@De\_La\_Rue](#): > > Reminds me of the problem someone pointed out to Roger Ebert in his Answer Man column, about the exchange from Sunset Boulevard: > > Joe Gillis: You’re Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big. > Norma Desmond: I \*am \*big. It’s the _pictures_ that got small. > > If the pictures are now small, wouldn’t she look even bigger? However, the more accurate “I am big, and the pictures got even bigger” just doesn’t have the same kind of resonance. Not necessarily. If she’s in the picture, and it gets smaller, so does she. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/31 "2009-06-07T21:59:50Z")
Any metaphoric reference to DNA. As in, here at Acme Corp., quality is in our DNA. No, no it isn’t. Next time someone tells you to socialize an idea, ask “You mean, get the taxpayers to pay for 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 7, 2009, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/32 "2009-06-07T22:49:52Z")
> [@De\_La\_Rue](#): > > Reminds me of the problem someone pointed out to Roger Ebert in his Answer Man column, about the exchange from Sunset Boulevard: > > Joe Gillis: You’re Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big. > Norma Desmond: I \*am \*big. It’s the _pictures_ that got small. > > If the pictures are now small, wouldn’t she look even bigger? However, the more accurate “I am big, and the pictures got even bigger” just doesn’t have the same kind of resonance. That interpretation only makes sense if one ignores the movie’s theme and the characters portrayed. Norma Desmond was a legend in her own mind. To any observer, both the Joe character and us in the audience, she was obviously way past her prime. In her raging egoism, the only possible reason she wasn’t being inundated with offers for parts was that she was bigger than the movies. Movies had shrunk to the point that her stardom would utterly overwhelm whatever it was pointed at So her reply makes complete sense when spoken from her (delusional) point of view. To analyse the phrase as simple physics; when one thing gets bigger, other things look relatively smaller, is to utterly miss the point. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/33 "2009-06-07T22:51:14Z")
Thankfully, the phrase to “socialize” an idea has not hit my particular area of the corporate landscape. It makes no sense to me. It sounds like we’re talking about getting a caged loner chimp to bond with an existing group. Given what raging chimps have been demonstrated to be capable of in the recent news, I don’t want any rogue ideas “socialized” among my coworkers. The valuable ones anyway. What grits my teeth is the injunction “to get on the same page”, or if directed at a subset of people in a meeting not including the speaker, “to take it offline”. Why not just say “work out the details among you and come back to the rest of us”. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/34 "2009-06-08T00:07:40Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > What grits my teeth is the injunction “to get on the same page”, or if directed at a subset of people in a meeting not including the speaker, “to take it offline”. Why not just say “work out the details among you and come back to the rest of us”. Because 4 words is shorter than 14? ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/35 "2009-06-08T01:16:01Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > Because 4 words is shorter than 14? Yes, but telling me to “take it offline” immediately makes me think of unplugging a phone or modem. Since I have colleagues who are on other continents this would mean an end to the discussion, not a continuation. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/36 "2009-06-08T02:22:42Z")
> [@Chopper9760](#): > > Okay this is just mispronunciation, but some of my coworkers can’t say “excavate.” “Yeah, they’re gonna have to e **s** cavate that.” I don’t get it, the same folks can say “excited” and “exercise” but “excavate” confounds them. Also, “pitcher” Holy AssChops, why can’t people say “picture,” it’s not tough. There’s _excavate_, and there’s _escalate_, which mean the opposite of each other (sort of) but also sound very similar. I think they’re just being unintentionally combined. ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/37 "2009-06-08T14:48:42Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > That interpretation only makes sense if one ignores the movie’s theme and the characters portrayed. > > Norma Desmond was a legend in her own mind. To any observer, both the Joe character and us in the audience, she was obviously way past her prime. > > In her raging egoism, the only possible reason she wasn’t being inundated with offers for parts was that she was bigger than the movies. Movies had shrunk to the point that her stardom would utterly overwhelm whatever it was pointed at > > So her reply makes complete sense when spoken from her (delusional) point of view. > To analyse the phrase as simple physics; when one thing gets bigger, other things look relatively smaller, is to utterly miss the point. Aha! Although I used to think she was referring to television. Which doesn’t hold up in retrospect, given the few decades between the end of the silent era and the advent of TV. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/38 "2009-06-08T15:45:43Z")
> [@De\_La\_Rue](#): > > Aha! Although I used to think she was referring to television. Which doesn’t hold up in retrospect, given the few decades between the end of the silent era and the advent of TV. It makes even more sense when you consider how much of the script is referential. The story is adapted from _Queen Kelly_, a von Stroheim epic featuring Gloria Swanson. The studios pulled the plug on it for going waaaaaaaaaay over the top, and in general Hollywood adopted a much more fiscally conservative posture, what with the Depression and all. In a very literal way, _Queen Kelly_ marked the end of an era, and the new era _was_ defined by a relative reserve. Gloria Swanson was the single highest paid actress of the 1920s - when the studios were compelled to tighten their belts, the work dried up for her. Nothing about _her_ changed - Hollywood changed, out of necessity. Yes, Norma has an anachronistic ego – but her comment has a certain amount of truth in it. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/39 "2009-06-08T20:18:36Z")
“The hell with X.” What the hell does “the hell” mean? To Hell with “the hell.” “Could care less.” I want to pound my head on the pavement when I hear this one. Idiot! Do you have any idea what you’re saying? Really? Just how much less could you care? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816/40 "2009-06-08T21:09:45Z")
“Could care less” is ironic, **Joe Frickin Friday**. Some people don’t give it the right tone, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steep-learning-curve-and-other-in-your-opinion-stupid-phrases/498816.md?page=3)