# Ways in which you are annoyingly pedantic
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 1, 2024, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676 "2024-04-01T14:12:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2024, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/41 "2024-04-01T20:08:47Z")
I’m annoyingly pedantic most of the time. For example, “pedantic” does not refer to the proper way of making a bed or hanging toilet paper. It is specifically about academic issues, or as one dictionary has it, “ostentatious of learning.” So the grammar stuff is valid pedantry, but household habits, not so much.
In personal meat space, these thoughts now stay mostly in my head, unless I’m in a mood.
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### Author:  [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/42 "2024-04-01T20:13:10Z")
> [@colinfred](#):
>
> I really hate poor capitalisation, which is ironic given my username but I can’t be bothered to change it now. Things like not capitalising proper nouns, the first person pronoun, and initialisms/acronyms really annoy me; as does random Capitalisation in the Middle of a Sentence.
In high school, I was in a group project with one young lady who made it very clear I wasn’t to capitalize her name. She was polite about and didn’t cause a fuss, so of course I did as she asked without asking any questions. I thought it an odd affectation of some kind, but there are a few people in academia today who don’t capitalize their names either. One author, bell hooks, spells her name in all lower case in order to focus less on her name and more on her works, but I can’t help but think it emphasizes her name even more. (I had to go back and correct myself because I capitalized her first and last name.) I don’t think this is a trend that’s really going to catch on, but who knows?
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### Author:  [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2024, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/43 "2024-04-01T20:28:06Z")
> [@teelabrown](#):
>
> A news article recently stated that a child was “seven-years-old.”
And don’t get me started on that ghastly-cutesy phrase “80 years young”.
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### Author:  [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/44 "2024-04-01T20:31:34Z")
> [@Noelq](#):
>
> THERE ARE TWO SPACES AFTER A PERIOD!
In my writing, there sure are. I think it makes it a little clearer where a new sentence starts.
But most software, including this board, insists on collapsing whitespace…
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2024, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/45 "2024-04-01T20:49:17Z")
> [@Odesio](#):
>
> One author, bell hooks, spells her name in all lower case in order to focus less on her name and more on her works
If I see “bell hooks” I’m much more likely to think of something sold by Home Depot than of an author.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2024, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/46 "2024-04-01T20:55:53Z")
I am so among my people in this thread! 🥰
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2024, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/47 "2024-04-01T20:56:18Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#):
>
> Lapis is the Latin root word for stone
Well. . .yeah, but the usage is correct. “Pedi” are feet, but it has nothing to do with pedantic.
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### Author:  [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2024, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/48 "2024-04-01T20:58:32Z")
Yeah I’ve never really had any reason to talk abot Bell Hooks. I barely know who she is, apart from the idiosyncratic orthgrophy she has asked for. If I **was** talking about her I’d say something like “Bell Hooks, (stylised “bell hooks”) wrote X in her book. The arguments Hooks makes…”
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### Author:  [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2024, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/49 "2024-04-01T22:04:52Z")
The Latin source of a word doesn’t dictate how it is used in English. The OED lists three meanings of “dilapidated” and none of them mention stone. In English, “ego” is not the first person pronoun and “egregious” does not mean “excellent”.
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### Author:  [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2024, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/50 "2024-04-02T03:49:30Z")
However, the etymology of dilapidated shows the more general meaning going back to latin.
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### Author:  [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2024, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/51 "2024-04-02T03:55:36Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#):
>
> I still get annoyed when the word “decimated” is used as if it means “destroyed”
> [@Dinsdale](#):
>
> I dislike when people misuse similar sounding words.
I don’t mind decimated any more. But I really hate it when it’s used in place of “devastated”
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2024, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/52 "2024-04-02T04:20:14Z")
Never mind, already answered.
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### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2024, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/53 "2024-04-02T04:45:06Z")
I always correct people who think DEFCON-5 is the direst state of alert and DEFCON-1 is the most relaxed.
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### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2024, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/54 "2024-04-02T04:57:53Z")
(never mind)
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### Author:  [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2024, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/55 "2024-04-02T05:12:06Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> “literally” as an intensifier. As I see it, such usage should be considered to be creating a metaphor,
This is where I’m pedantic and I will just call it wrong and not, “non-standard,” usage. Literally means it really happened. “He literally hit him so hard he went through the window.” Means exactly that, someone was hit so hard he went through the window. If the did not go through the window _it was not literal_ It is weird and wrong to use it as an intensifier. If, “I felt badly about it” is wrong so is, “Her head literally exploded,” if there is no flying brain matter involved.
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2024, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/56 "2024-04-02T05:17:01Z")
“Decimate” kills me too! 🤣
Back a few decades, when I wrote derivative analysis for UBS, there would be the occasional 10-for-1 reverse stock split. That is when a stock price had dropped so far, the company was in danger of being delisted. Therefore a 10 for 1 reverse split would take back 10 old shares, issue a single new share worth the same as the 10 old shares (eg. 10 shares =$1 each, the new share = $10).
I gleefully would report that the stock had been decimated. I slay myself
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### Author:  [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2024, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/57 "2024-04-02T05:23:18Z")
Ugh. My Hubster will often not answer the question I ask. Me: “Hubster, what time do we need to leave?”
Hubster: “We have to be there at x time.”
Me: “I didn’t ask you that.” Because, invariably he will want to leave 15 min. earlier than needed. Oh, and when I get him to actually tell me what time he wants to leave; he will still insist on leaving 15 min. earlier than the time he tells me.
I mean seriously how hard is it to answer the actual question you’re asked? Whether the answer is a yes/no, a number, a time, or “I don’t know.”
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### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2024, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/58 "2024-04-02T11:31:49Z")
There is a contrary situation where the interlocutor does not ask the correct question to elicit the required information.
When I was a truck driver, my boss would call me and ask where I was. I would sometimes reply by saying “Ten minutes”. The point being that he didn’t want my location - he wanted to know when I would arrive at my destination.
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### Author:  [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2024, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/59 "2024-04-02T11:54:23Z")
I might sometimes be a tiny bit pedantic … but never annoyingly so …
If you dont believe me, ask my family …
… go, just ask my familiy
…
DID YOU ASK MY FAMILY, YET?
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### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2024, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-in-which-you-are-annoyingly-pedantic/999676/60 "2024-04-02T12:03:26Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#):
>
> I always bristle at the use of “passive voice” to mean “any phrasing that obscures agency in a way I don’t like.”
>
> “We have encountered difficulties processing your request” is not passive voice.
> “A bomb exploded, killing five soldiers” is not passive voice.
> etc….
I’ve seen “exculpatory voice” used for the case where we need to call out the bullshit obfuscation of “bullets impacted the handcuffed suspect as he lie on the ground.” How did all of those things happen, did he roll over really hard onto some bullets, did they fall off a very high shelf, what happened?
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