# That makes you sound dumb. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 29, 1999, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658 "1999-11-29T22:37:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 1999, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/61 "1999-12-01T22:12:00Z")
Oh, and **dhanson** is correct. _BusinessSpeak_ is the absolute worst. At this point in time it may become necessary for myself to proceed to the porcelain convenience so as to facilitate the disposal of excess waste fluids from the internal reservoir of my physiological system through my tubular apparatus. I gotta take a leak. ---
**Author:** ![dfahs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@dfahs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dfahs)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 1999, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/62 "1999-12-01T22:14:00Z")
I think I can offer the worst pronunciation of “debris” yet. I used to pronounce it “DER-biss”. I also used to pronounce “lyrics” “LYE-rics”. Now on to something that recently annoyed me… The _Official Diablo Strategy Guide_ is chock-full of grammatical errors, including affect/effect, and your/you’re. I know they were rushing to get it out at the same time as the game, but for goodness sake, it should have taken a competant editor less than a day to root out such obvious errors! ---
**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 1999, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/63 "1999-12-01T22:26:00Z")
## One of my favorites is nuck-you-lur for nuclear. It seemed to be used a lot by people who were in favor of the nuck-you-lur detour-rent. Another popular usage that makes me want to smack someone with a dictionary is having evry sentence start with hopefully. One restaurant enclosed part of the name of every menu item with quotation marks, eg: “Fried” Egg and “Veal” Cordon Blue. Er, after thinking about the food I ate there maybe the quotation marks were accurate. Keith You want brilliance BEFORE I’ve had my coffee!!! ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 1999, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/64 "1999-12-01T22:55:00Z")
TennHippie Not meaning to be pedantic, but i’m sure effect can operate as a transitive verb too, can’t not? I’ll be damned if I can think of a good useful example though, maybe ‘…to effect the repayment of…’ or something like that? I suppose it’s easier to use cause or accomplish. ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 1999, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/65 "1999-12-01T22:57:00Z")
…can’t not it…er not it can…er can it not, that’s the one. Boy, do I feel stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Meow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Meow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meow)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 1999, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/66 "1999-12-01T23:10:00Z")
My personal pet peeves… “Alot” and “Alright.” Should be… “A lot” and “All right.” _Two words!_) Or when people put apostrophes any old where: Video’s for sale, etc. Or when they don’t even know the difference between “you’re” and “your”! ## Meow PRRRRRRRRRRR! ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 1999, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/67 "1999-12-01T23:22:00Z")
Thank you, Tennhippie. I feel much better now. And pardons to all if my above rant seemed insufferably pessimistic. Yes, **android209** it’s just fine to use effect as a transitive verb in some cases. I think the point is, those cases are kind of rare, just as the proper use of “affect” as a noun is kind of rare, so it’s easier to remember that effect is “the” noun and affect is “the” verb. The only time I would use effect as a verb would be when I’m deliberately being vague. Like when I don’t know whether I’m gonna swim across the lake, build a raft, or expropriate a rowboat, I might say, “Well, soon I’m gonna have to effect some way across the lake”. That way the rowboat owners would be put off guard. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 1999, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/68 "1999-12-01T23:59:00Z")
I thought the discussion of grammar might be a safe haven from all this sexually perverted talk that goes on around here, but _nooooooo_… …y’all have to bring up them transitive verbs. They ain’t natcherall, I’m-a tellin’ ya. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 1999, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/69 "1999-12-02T00:05:00Z")
I say “this is she” also. Or “that’d be me” sometimes. * * * – “Meat flaps, yellow!” - DrainBead, naked co-ed Twister chat O p a l C a t [www.opalcat.com](http://www.opalcat.com) ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 1999, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/70 "1999-12-02T00:13:00Z")
It probably isn’t fair to say this makes a person sound dumb, it’s so widespread in the US that I presume it’s acceptable (taught in school?), but it’s the use of the word ‘impact’. To impact is a transitive verb in English meaning to press together. Americans use the same word to mean to have an effect upon; what’s wrong with ‘affects’? It seems to me it is both better English and more elegant. ‘These new tax measures will impact the poor more than…’ ‘These new tax measures will affect the poor more than…’ ---
**Author:** ![missdavis102](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7feea3/32.png) [@missdavis102](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missdavis102)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 1999, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/71 "1999-12-02T20:13:00Z")
None of you commented on TennHippie’s error that ZenBeam missed - it is miSSpelling rather than the misspelled “mispelling”. I had a supervisor once who insisted on saying “rather” when she meant “whether”, as in “rather or not”. My current person of interest sent me a card the other day hoping “everything when well on your trip”. The word he was searching for was went, I believe. He even pronounces it that way, which I find annoying. Finally, a confession. I used to be one of those horrible people who said, but mostly wrote, “Hopefully,…” Never again. ## One last note I couldn’t resist - anyone but me annoyed by people not realizing the period can go on either side of the close quotation mark, depending on whether the quote was the sentence or just the last part of it? (See above for reference.) Yeah, it’s only Freshman level, but 101 is prerequisite. (The Screen Name, ya goof.) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 1999, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/72 "1999-12-02T20:21:00Z")
TennHippie, I agree that language can’t be totally arbitrary. But I feel it should judged by the standard of whether it communicates the message the speaker (or writer) intends to the listener (or reader). To use some examples from this board, why is John Hancock an acceptable idiom for a signature and John Henry not? Regardless of the greater historical applicability of Hancock’s name, people now understand what Henry’s name means in that context. Or why shouldn’t contact be used as a verb? People understand what is meant by it. I know that verbing weirds language, but it bigs it as well. ---
**Author:** ![Diane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2acd7d/32.png) [@Diane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diane)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 1999, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/73 "1999-12-02T20:54:00Z")
> [@](#): > > My boss, who is an extremely bright and well-educated person, consistently mispronounces “potpourri” as “pot-poor-ee”. Every time he does it I cringe and he uses it very frequently. Why would anyone have the need to say “potpourri” frequently? Hmmmm. . . . weird. The word “irregardless” grates like fingernails on a chalkboard, but it is listed in my new dictionary. ☹ * * * \>^,^\< KITTEN Please tell your pants it’s not polite to point. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 1999, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/74 "1999-12-02T21:54:00Z")
Had a completely ignorant boss once upon a time (well, I have another one now, but I digress…). Anyway, ol’ Larry seemed to think that the word _fax_ was spelled and pronounced _f-a-c-t-s._ Didn’t really bug me, mostly I laughed at him about it. (Larry was prone to picking his ass all the time too, so taking him seriously in any way, shape, or form was pretty much impossible.) What _does_ bug me (I skimmed through the posts quickly and didn’t see mention of this - pardon me if I’m reapeating someone else’s gripe) is when seemingly intelligent, well-read, educated people use the word _ax_ when they mean _ask_. Now, I’m not trying to start anything here, but I honestly have never heard this come from anyone other than a Black person. I mean, how hard is it to pronounce A-S-K? Do they not care how incredibly STOOPID this makes them sound? Or is it some sort of “I’m in with the hip crowd cause I say ‘ax’” kind of thing? Like a secret handshake, or the way we all use the word “manny”? Could just be that I’m hopelessly not with it, but whenever I hear someone do this, it’s all I can do to keep from shaking them like a ragdoll and chanting “Did you ASK if you could use the AX? Did you ASK if you could use the AX? Did you ASK if you could use the AX?!?” * * * **StoryTyler** _The fun starts here!_ ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 1999, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/75 "1999-12-02T21:59:00Z")
> [@](#): > > My boss, who is an extremely bright and well-educated person, consistently mispronounces “potpourri” as “pot-poor-ee”. Every time he does it I cringe and he uses it very frequently. My sister-in-law (who is probably a bit less bright and well-educated) does the same thing. I’ve never actually corrected her, but I always make of point of pronouncing the word correctly around her (hoping she’ll get the hint). I heard later from my mother that, because of my pronunciation of “potpourri,” she complained that I liked to “show off using big words.” Sheesh. * * * **StoryTyler** _The fun starts here!_ ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 1999, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/76 "1999-12-02T23:51:00Z")
**Mike** , you make a good case. Being one who is not much into rules in general, I don’t get real militant about grammar and usage. Being one who also loves the English language, I am somewhat protective of her. “And” their are “some” thing’s that “just” bug me, irregardless, at this point in time. ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 1999, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/77 "1999-12-03T01:29:00Z")
I don’t think I’ve seen anyone mention “then” and “than” yet. Those are two words I see confused very often. “It’s later then I thought.” “I like stew better then chowder.” “If it’s raining, than put your coat on.” I wish I could tell offenders, “Please, try saying the sentences out loud and see if they make sense!” Finally, “loose” is is not the same as “lose.” This one bothers me most of all. Especially when I catch myself doing it 😉 * * * “I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy [The Kat House](http://members.aol.com/gr8kat1/KatGen/home.htm) [Join the FSH Webring](http://members.aol.com/gr8kat1/KatGen/fshwebring.htm) ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 1999, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/78 "1999-12-03T15:13:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Example: On some new program recently, and interviewee finished a sentence with, " . . . and then it was just she and I." “Her and me,” dammit, “her and me”! If it was just her, and it was just me, then it was just her and me! People have had the objective case bled out of them in grade school, and now think it is improper in every situation. I hope this doesn’t distress you excessively, but according to the most stringent formal grammar, she is right and you are wrong. “To be” is a copula verb, and it has a subject complement, not an object. Therefore you use “I” and “she” on both sides of the verb. “It was just she and I” is correct. You are right, however, in the following assertions: 1. nobody talks like that except lords in powdered wigs and William F. Buckley, Jr.; 2. it sounds incredibly doofy. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 1999, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/79 "1999-12-03T15:18:00Z")
The misspelling I hate most: “tounge”. Whenever I read it I want to pronounce it towndge. It’s TONGUE, dammit! TONGUE! Also, “millenium” bothers me. Two l’s, two n’s, Two Thousand. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 1999, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658/80 "1999-12-03T15:50:00Z")
\*StoryTyler: What _does_ bug me (I skimmed through the posts quickly and didn’t see mention of this - pardon me if I’m reapeating someone else’s gripe) is when seemingly intelligent, well-read, educated people use the word ax when they mean ask. Now, I’m not trying to start anything here, but I honestly have never heard this come from anyone other than a Black person. I mean, how hard is it to pronounce A-S-K? Do they not care how incredibly STOOPID this makes them sound? Or is it some sort of “I’m in with the hip crowd cause I say ‘ax’” kind of thing? Like a secret handshake, or the way we all use the word “manny”? Could just be that I’m hopelessly not with it, but whenever I hear someone do this, it’s all I can do to keep from shaking them like a ragdoll and chanting “Did you ASK if you could use the AX? Did you ASK if you could use the AX? Did you ASK if you could use the AX?!?”\* I had a friend (European-American :)) growing up that said “aks” instead of “ask”. I therefore associate this mispronounciation with other childhood mispronounciations: “free” or “fwee” (“three”), “pasgetti” (“spaghetti”), “unca” (“uncle”). So when I moved from 99.9% E/A Colorado to DC, I was surprised to hear adults say “aks” (like the frigging Mayor of DC!). I teased one woman at my office about it. She’d say, “I want to aks you…” I’d interrupt and say, “Wouldn’t a knife be easier to handle?” 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-makes-you-sound-dumb/11658.md?page=5)