By crikey! I complain that I have to keep getting my hair cut.
I bet Patrick Stewart would trade places with you. Having to get periodic haircuts is evidence of healthy hair. Coinage of new words, discarding of some old ones, shifts in meaning of other old ones, changes in grammar – these are all signs of a living language.
You are all taking NAPS this afternoon! Don’t make me turn this car around!
“barista”
Seriously, fuck that word.
Of those already listed, ‘meme’, ‘dude’, ‘veggie’ are at or near the top of the list. As a side debate brought out, what difference does it make if ‘I have resigned myself they are here to stay?’ Those are words I would never use, nor ever need to. There are many others.
In a somewhat different category are old fashioned legitimate words used in something like their traditional meanings but (US) society has gotten into a frenzy of overusing them. ‘Elite’, ‘elitist’ and 'establishment are recent examples. I’ve gone on strike against using those other than ironically, for the time being at least.
But obviously I can’t stop others. And in general I have less problem with word meanings and usage ‘guidelines’ changing than some seem to. I tend to stick to the old fashioned (‘hopefully’ doesn’t mean, and can’t substitute for ‘it’s to be hoped’, etc*many) but not strictly, and don’t correct anyone else unless English as second language speakers asking for help, or my kids.
So I’ve become aware in the last five years or so of more and more people beginning a new thought or answering a question with an introductory “So…”
At first it bugged the hell out of me, but I came to accept it, even though I still found it annoying.
And then about six months ago I caught myself doing it more than once and thought, “Well, shit." I tried making an effort not to at first, but then decided it was too much work. I’ve resigned myself to it being around and reluctantly accepting that I’m guilty of using it.
Period.
No, your unsupported assertion does not magically become inarguable just because you put the word “Period.” after it. Or worse yet, variations like “Full stop.” or “End of discussion.”
That’s particularly annoying when, as often, it’s an introduction to somebody countering what you just said by restating it in a highly distorted way. ‘So, you’re saying such and such people have no right to exist’ when that’s not what I said at all.
Sorry, but that word was what I was going to submit to this thread. Just grow up already and call it a sandwich!
“Def,” “prolly,” “I feel you on that” (more a phrase than a word), “bae”…
I’ve noticed a lot of people ending sentences with “so…”
I fucking hate “BoGo”, especially when the O is anything other than free, otherwise you’re not G-ing anything, just spending more than you need to.
YES!:mad::mad::mad:
“Slur” as in “racist slur”.
You know what a slur is in music, right? And you know that if you’re drunk you sometimes slur your words?
And perhaps, if you are old enough, you remember that a “slur” was an insult that merged the idea of some moral failing with some identified individual, and that a “racist slur” was a phrase that slurred the concepts of race and some other insult. Like “dirty N–” or “greasy I–” or “avaricious J–” or any suggestion that someones inferiority was determined by race.
Sometime while I was absent from the USA, the words “racist slur” changed meaning.
And here’s the thing: I don’t mind if you use any word for any concept, but I experience cognitive dissonance when I’ve got those two related but conflicting meanings.
The first time I saw it, I thought perhaps the author had just been at loss for words, and had made a mistake. Now I’m like --blah–. One expatriate separated by a common language.
This is exactly like saying, “In the Middle Ages, there weren’t as many laws of physics. But nowadays, there are a lot more!” All languages are a system of rules. We don’t have any more or less of them today than we did a thousand years ago. What we do have, is a better understanding of the natural laws that underlie and inform the development of speech in human beings. A medieval peasant’s speech was every bit as bound up in rules as ours is today, just as the peasant was as bound by gravity.
I didn’t know the music one at all, actually!
Are you sure about that? Like the musical definition, I’ve never heard that “racial slur” used to refer specifically to a compound term, and unlike the musical definition, none of the dictionaries I’ve checked mention anything about this usage. “Slur,” meaning to insult or disparage, dates back to the 1600s - the other two usages are much more recent. The root word, it seems, is the Middle English sloor, or mud, so the derivation there is pretty obvious.
If it’s someone who has the authority to end the discussion …
or “Mic drop.”
“Starring Tom Cruise.”
That is a phrase that I absolutely loathe, because it means that yet another movie is being made that I won’t be able to drag my carcass to the theater to see. Seriously, STOP CASTING THIS PINHEAD!!!
Well, now, there you have an abundance of words you might never want to hear again. Never, and I mean never, try to read the shit that Hubbard wrote. Maybe he had a decent book or short story, but that other stuff is nightmarish, full of contrived repurposing of language, and sometimes so absurd it will make your head hurt.
Really? You seem to be very easy to please.
I wouldn’t be satisfied with any outcome that didn’t involve the return of my sand castle to its pre-washed-away condition.
“Moniker”. Bleaurgh. Always disliked that word, it oozes and drips with wrongness.