# Words you Hate but have resigned yourself they are here to stay **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 2, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311 "2016-06-02T15:06:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/181 "2016-06-11T00:15:55Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > Here’s another one I was just reminded of today, that’s in the spirit of the OP (a word I hate, though it might seem petty, but seems to be here to stay): the word “ginger” seems to have totally supplanted “redhead.” The latter was _the_ term when I was growing up, and the former unheard of. I’m a redhead and I _hate_ the term ginger. It doesn’t make any sense: fresh or powdered, ginger root is not red. Though it could make sense if it was synonymous with dirty blonde hair. ---
**Author:** ![DoggyDunnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@DoggyDunnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoggyDunnit)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/182 "2016-06-11T01:40:23Z")
“Bae”. You mean your ghetto ass has become so damn lazy that you can’t pronounce the second “B” in “baBe”? ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/183 "2016-06-11T02:06:40Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Man, I hate those guys. Every time I try to make myself look smart by looking up the Greek or Latin roots of a word in an etymological dictionary, they turn it around and try to make me look foolish for getting worked up about the fact that [the modern English meaning of a word isn’t precisely the same as it was thousands of years ago in a different language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymological_fallacy). But we can preempt all that by [warning people about their haughtiness and everything](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Tone_argument). Other any as good as is words of string random any that think they, all after. Right on cue! > [@DoggyDunnit](#): > > “Bae”. You mean your ghetto ass has become so damn lazy that you can’t pronounce the second “B” in “baBe”? I agree, and this reminds me of another one: “poo” instead of “poop.” What happened to that second “p”? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/184 "2016-06-11T04:34:10Z")
People on this board misuse “wiki” all the time. They use it to refer to Wikipedia as an entity, or a single Wikipedia article. “Here’s what wiki has to say” or “here’s the wiki on the topic.” [But Wikipedia is a wiki.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki) There are many other wikis out there. There are wikis for pop culture entities like [TV shows](http://adventuretime.wikia.com/wiki/Adventure_Time_with_Finn_and_Jake_Wiki) and [comic books](http://superman.wikia.com/wiki/Superman_Wiki). There’s one for [law](http://en.jurispedia.org/index.php/Main_Page). People set up wikis for their internal company communication. They get created for [software](http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec). THERE ARE A LOT OF WIKIS OUT THERE. So when people offhandedly refer to Wikipedia or a single Wikipedia article as “wiki” or “a wiki” it drives me nuts. But I don’t correct them because it appears that that’s just the way things are going to be. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/185 "2016-06-11T05:12:53Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > People on this board misuse “wiki” all the time. They use it to refer to Wikipedia as an entity, or a single Wikipedia article. “Here’s what wiki has to say” or “here’s the wiki on the topic.” > > [But Wikipedia is a wiki.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki) There are many other wikis out there. There are wikis for pop culture entities like [TV shows](http://adventuretime.wikia.com/wiki/Adventure_Time_with_Finn_and_Jake_Wiki) and [comic books](http://superman.wikia.com/wiki/Superman_Wiki). There’s one for [law](http://en.jurispedia.org/index.php/Main_Page). People set up wikis for their internal company communication. They get created for [software](http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec). THERE ARE A LOT OF WIKIS OUT THERE. > > So when people offhandedly refer to Wikipedia or a single Wikipedia article as “wiki” or “a wiki” it drives me nuts. But I don’t correct them because it appears that that’s just the way things are going to be. Sigh. You are assuming without evidence that the shortening is based on ignorance, and that if only everyone was as knowledgeable as you this wouldn’t happen. But I don’t need you to “correct” me with a lecture about what a wiki is, thanks. I know what it is. Wikipedia is a long word, so what’s the harm in shortening it for convenience? If I’m talking about some other wiki, I’ll say so. Wikipedia quite reasonably gets to be the default because it’s so successful and widely used. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/186 "2016-06-11T05:18:52Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > But I don’t need you to “correct” me with a lecture about what a wiki is, thanks. I know what it is. I didn’t. I posted in a thread about words I hate but have resigned myself that they are here to stay. And at the end of the thread I specifically say how I don’t correct people because it’s here to stay. If you are taking every post on this board or even in this thread personally, it must be painful to be you. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/187 "2016-06-11T05:24:43Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I didn’t. I posted in a thread about words I hate but have resigned myself that they are here to stay. And at the end of the thread I specifically say how I don’t correct people because it’s here to stay. > > If you are taking every post on this board or even in this thread personally, it must be painful to be you. I rather think that it’s the people who are “driven nuts” by such trivial everyday usages and feel a barely suppressed urge to CORRECT PEOPLE IN CAPITALS (assembling half a dozen links for something that anyone who has been on the internet for more than half an hour already knows) that are having the painful time. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/188 "2016-06-11T14:50:32Z")
Here’s another one: “chair” instead of “chairman.” As in: “Congratulations to Dr. Smith on being named the new chair of our department!” It even gets used as a verb: “Frank Jones will chair the committee.” The reason it bugs me is that the entire reason we have the word “chairman” is to describe the person who sits in the chair, whether metaphorically or literally. (I was surprised when I learned that in many, if not most, academic institutions, a person who is named to an “endowed chair,” as in “The John W. Smith Professor of Chemistry” or whatever, actually gets a real, physical, ceremonial chair with a plaque on it to keep in his office.) The chair is the position of being head of a department or committee; the chairman is the person who occupies the position. Calling a person a chair is a bit like saying that this November, we’re going to elect a “presidency.” I realize it’s done in this age of feminism and (attempted) equality between the sexes for lack of a gender-neutral term, but I would prefer that if a woman is occupying the chair, we simply call her the chairwoman. But that still leaves no gender-neutral term for when we’re talking about a hypothetical or unknown person, as in “Dr. Smith is retiring at the end of this year, so we’re searching for a new chair,” or “who is the chair of your department?” So we wind up calling a person a chair. ---
**Author:** ![DrForrester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@DrForrester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrForrester)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/189 "2016-06-11T14:56:49Z")
“wrong” when used as an adverb. Also, I find it deeply disturbing when people use “fewer” and “less” incorrectly. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/190 "2016-06-11T16:36:39Z")
When I was a young lad, we all wanted to buy fancy wheels for our cars. _ **Wheels** _, NOT rims! Rims are just the part of the wheel that the bead of the tire seals against! ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/191 "2016-06-11T17:15:44Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Well, you’re wrong. There’s no need to use a word that already has a meaning, and change it to mean something that there’s already a word for. Except that that is how living languages work. New words are coined; old worlds fall out of favor; some words shift meaning. If you dislike that, try speaking Latin. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/192 "2016-06-11T17:45:54Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I’m a redhead and I _hate_ the term ginger. It doesn’t make any sense: fresh or powdered, ginger root is not red. Though it could make sense if it was synonymous with dirty blonde hair. Because of a stupid cartoon, the term has also led to internet “ginger hate.”:mad: ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/193 "2016-06-11T17:47:27Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > Here’s another one: “chair” instead of “chairman.” As in: “Congratulations to Dr. Smith on being named the new chair of our department!” It even gets used as a verb: “Frank Jones will chair the committee.” > > The reason it bugs me is that the entire reason we have the word “chairman” is to describe the person who sits in the chair, whether metaphorically or literally. (I was surprised when I learned that in many, if not most, academic institutions, a person who is named to an “endowed chair,” as in “The John W. Smith Professor of Chemistry” or whatever, actually gets a real, physical, ceremonial chair with a plaque on it to keep in his office.) The chair is the position of being head of a department or committee; the chairman is the person who occupies the position. Calling a person a chair is a bit like saying that this November, we’re going to elect a “presidency.” > > I realize it’s done in this age of feminism and (attempted) equality between the sexes for lack of a gender-neutral term, but I would prefer that if a woman is occupying the chair, we simply call her the chairwoman. But that still leaves no gender-neutral term for when we’re talking about a hypothetical or unknown person, as in “Dr. Smith is retiring at the end of this year, so we’re searching for a new chair,” or “who is the chair of your department?” So we wind up calling a person a chair. So, Dr. Smith is the new Chair…- but from “Dr. Smith” you dont know his/her gender. What to do, what to do…😛 ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/194 "2016-06-11T17:54:29Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I’m a redhead and I _hate_ the term ginger. It doesn’t make any sense: fresh or powdered, ginger root is not red. Though it could make sense if it was synonymous with dirty blonde hair. Ginger, however, has been used as a color name for, I think, quite a while. Often for orange-ish cats. Perhaps the use for redheads started to take off because of the popularity of that Blind Faith drummer guy. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/195 "2016-06-11T18:04:39Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I’m a redhead and I _hate_ the term ginger. It doesn’t make any sense: fresh or powdered, ginger root is not red. Though it could make sense if it was synonymous with dirty blonde hair. It would indeed appear to make more sense if redheads were called “turmerics”. So where does the association of ginger with a darker orange-red color derive from? Was there a common food product made with ginger that was traditionally colored reddish? So far as I’m aware, gingerbread is no redder than any other baked goods. But ginger snaps are often reddish. It’s interesting that ginger cats usually have a paler stripe that maps closely to ginger root, and a darker stripe that’s similar to human redhead color. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/196 "2016-06-11T18:17:12Z")
^Ginger Grant. Whoops, gotta go. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/197 "2016-06-11T18:26:35Z")
Ginger Rogers was born Virginia McMath, so I can kind of see how “Ginger” might derive from “Virginia”. Much more tolerable than “Ginny”. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/198 "2016-06-11T18:43:01Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > So, Dr. Smith is the new Chair…- but from “Dr. Smith” you dont know his/her gender. What to do, what to do…😛 You’re right; the announcement should have used Dr. Smith’s full name… Dr. Pat Smith. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/199 "2016-06-12T00:16:25Z")
One word I no longer use is “actress”. A person who acts is an “actor”, regardless of gender. “Waitress”, well, that becomes a little less practical to shed, unless one goes with “server” or “tipee”. But “chairman” could easily be a genderless title: “man” derives from “manual”, meaning to handle or operate, so “chairman” should be seen to be “person who mans the chair”, not “man of the chair”. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/200 "2016-06-12T00:30:00Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > One word I no longer use is “actress”. A person who acts is an “actor”, regardless of gender. “Waitress”, well, that becomes a little less practical to shed, unless one goes with “server” or “tipee”. > > But “chairman” could easily be a genderless title: “man” derives from “manual”, meaning to handle or operate, so “chairman” should be seen to be “person who mans the chair”, not “man of the chair”. Cite on that etymology for man. It doesn’t gibe with the OED or any other source that I have ever encountered. Chairman is far from genderless. Like fireman, policeman, and so forth, it comes from the era when positions of authority were male by default. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311.md?page=11)