Here’s fodder for the people upset with the misuse of apostrophes. This sign was posted in a UNH shuttle bus:
*Please note, some **typo’s ** have been found in the route 3b schedule. *
For some reason I can’t stand the word plenty.
I too get irked by the use of myself in the context of “so-and-so and myself…” it’s a reflexive, damn it. You can dress yourself, but yourself didn’t go to the mall.
“You” (and “ye”) used to be a plural/formal form; the singular/familiar form was “thou.” Since we don’t distinguish between the polite and familiar forms of “you” anymore, there isn’t really anything to use as a plural…
For some reason, the use of ‘i.e.’ in conversation has always made me flinch. A few years back, I went through a <shudder> TQL seminar with a guy used it relentlessly. He also managed to say ‘per se’ at least once every 3 minutes.
Not surprisingly, those of us who found this offensive (or amusing) took to calling him ‘I. E. Per Se’. Just as unsurprisingly, he couldn’t figure out why.
Others here have already blasted the godawfulness of qualibabble and all its toxic mutant bastard children, so I needn’t rehash all that.
I completely agree.
I agree with this too, it is a serious deficiency in my native language.
My own contributions:
“Parenting” - “parent” is not a verb, it is a noun!
“I could care less” - makes absolutely no sense when what you mean to say is “I couldn’t care less”
utilize. basically. controversial.
<shudder> I really, really hate hearing the word ‘controversial’ in the news, especially because I know my co-workers wrote it!
How about zestiness and zealousness?
These words started as ordinary nouns, “zest” and “zeal”. Then someone changed them to adjectives by adding suffixes: “zesty” and “zealous”. Some people out there know these adjectives, but can’t think of the shorter noun forms when they need them. They then decide to turn the adjectives into nouns by adding yet another suffix. Hence, they use a 9- or 11-letter word when 4 letters would suffice. I know there are other adjectives that get treated like this, but I can’t think of them.
Dittos to all who hate “supposably” and “youse”.
I had a manager a few years back who I was sure was on a crusade to create her own businessspeak term. Her favorite was “impactful”. As in, “Headline #1 is good, but Headline #2 is much more impactful.” Imagine someone looking very earnest and confident and then just dropping that into your lap like a squid.
Anyway, we had a mutual client who loved such buzzwords and we were at a meeting with his boss and he dragged out my manager’s pet word. The boss blinked and said “Impactful? What the f*ck is that?”. I’ve never been so happy with another person in a business setting.
How about… “I could care less” when they really want to say “I couldn’t care less”.
While irregardless has already been mentioned, it should be noted that irrespective is a grammatically correct and even better choice than plain old regardless and may actually call morons’ attention to the fact that IRregardless is improper.
Now, on to my peeves.
[rant]
Usage: Couldn’t help but think. NOnoNOnoNOnoNOnoNO. It is couldn’t BUT think or couldn’t help THINKING, NEVER couldn’t help but.
Pronunciation: Acrosst (similar to drownded), as in “We drove acrosst Missouri.” Hint for users of this non-word: There is no T in across!
Another pronunciation: Realitor/realator (pronounced like senator). The word is REALTOR (like helter-skelter), is it really THAT hard to say right???
[/rant]
While irregardless has already been mentioned, it should be noted that irrespective is a grammatically correct and even better choice than plain old regardless and may actually call morons’ attention to the fact that IRregardless is improper.
Now, on to my peeves.
[rant]
Usage: Couldn’t help but think. NOnoNOnoNOnoNOnoNO. It is couldn’t BUT think or couldn’t help THINKING, NEVER couldn’t help but.
Pronunciation: Acrosst (similar to drownded), as in “We drove acrosst Missouri.” Hint for users of this non-word: There is no T in across!
Another pronunciation: Realitor/realator (pronounced with three syllables, like senator). The word is REALTOR, two syllables only (like swelter, helter or skelter), is it really THAT hard to say right???
JEEEEEEEZ.
[/rant]
I TRIED, I really TRIED to delete one of them, but the Edit/Delete feature doesn’t work. What’s up with that?
I agree it sounds so much more civilized to say “you guys” or “youse guys”.
Have you ever heard the saying: KISS MY GRITS?
Y’all is an entirely valid contraction of “you all.”
Since I was taught grammar in the south, here’s the explanation I was given when I asked about the validity of ‘y’all’ – since ‘you’ is both a singular and plural second person pronoun that needs clarification when used in the plural sense, the modifier “all” or some plural noun like “guys” or “kids.”
Y’all is just a regional contraction of the perfectly grammatical “you all.”
Now if you want to point at a word that shouldn’t exist, take a look at ‘ain’t.’
I use it, but only in informal conversation. What the hell is that a contraction of, anyway?
shrubbery I hate having to find one on short notice.
Second of all… Why wait until they get to “eighty-eighth of all” before punching them?
I suppose then you’ve got an excellent explanation ready concerning the use (and DON’T get me started about “usage”!) of “ALL Y’ALL” as in “All y’all hafta eat them grits”??? Don’t get the impression that I’m against the use of “y’all” - wouldn’t be the South without it - but please don’t try to EXPLAIN it to anyone who wasn’t born on the warmer side of the Mason-Dixon. It’s a terrible waste of keystrokes.
Well, yes I do as a matter of fact.
“All Y’all” means “all of you all,” not “one of you all” or “some of you all” but, in Lon Gislan Dese: “all-a-yas.”
See? Ain’t no mystery.
I suppose the mystery is whether or not “All Y’all” should be credited to the Department of Redundancy Department. If I say “all” once, I should hope those listening would be intelligent enough to remember the definition and connect said definition to the context of the sentence. Simply not the same as “all-a-yas” (which also should be added to this growing list of CringeSpeak). And while I’m on the subject of things that should no longer be said, please remember that this is now the 21st century and only those seriously and irretrievably lost in the past should still be saying “Yada-yada-yada”. Okay, it was fine for a while (when used VERY sparingly) but it is time for modern man to devise an adequate replacement. When such a word or phrase has been coined, please DO NOT attempt to get me to use it. I will happily continue to use actual words in my sentences since I find it much easier to get my point across if I don’t speak in gibberish.
** Jules**, it’s ok. We’ve all done it. Those little Edit/Delete buttons are for Mods only, I believe.
(Correct and/or bitch me out if I’m wrong, guys.)
I’ve always found “irresponsible” kinda irritating, I suppose because of the context it was always delivered in…
“I’ma” always makes me cringe…as in I’ma gonna see her tonight and axe her bout it.
“nonexclusive irrevocable” sounds a little pompous doesn’t it!? It’s in the little copyright bit…so is
“retain” gags I always think of…nevermind…
Second of all, couldn’t help but notice that my last post should of begun with “Supposably”. It would of been much more impactful, but I must of been too flustrated to think of it at the time and now I’m just getting more and more aggravated. I believe our moderator’s should, with all zealousness, change it irregardless of the actioning necessary to expedite it. For all intensive purpose’s (i.e., per se, etc., etc., etc.), that minor updation would be just the thing to get that post orientated right. Maybe if I axed them, they’d do it since we aren’t empowered to edit our own post’s (That would be the penultimate!) … Well, y’all, we be going now - lunch is waiting - a sammich and a can of pop!
The use of the word “like” to replace common punctuation, especially the comma.
“And I said like what’s the matter with you? And he was like duuuh… and like then like you know…”
Gaaaah!
Way up there with axking a question, and people saying “prolly” rather than probably…