… snip stuff about impact instead of affect/effect …
I completely agree with you that it’s a valid definition of the word. But the OP asked what words we hate people using and this is one of mine. Maybe I should have put this in the thread about being snap judgements. When I hear this I reflexively question the speaker’s intelligence. Doing so may be completely unfair; but, there it is.
And of course my initial post followed the internet rule that all grammer flames must contain at least one misspelling. I wrote break when of course I meant brake.
According to science, people like hearing their own name. Do a search for any sort of “how to have a conversation for dummies”-type advice article, and it will often mention inserting the person’s name from time to time as a tip to build rapport. If someone’s doing this with you they are trying to ingratiate themselves with you - obviously it’s possible that they may be overdoing it. But if you don’t like hearing your name at all then you’re probably quite unlike 99+% of other humans (assuming you are human).
It’s possible it annoys me because I’m aware of that kind of advice — I read How to Win Friends and Influence People years ago. One of my roommates is a guy who used to be a psychologist/counselor, and a large portion of his reading material is self-help books, including subjects like “How to have a conversation”. So when people keep repeating my name, I end up feeling like they’re using a “technique” on me, especially when they overdo it. It reminds me of those sweepstakes form letters where your name is repeatedly inserted in a typeface that doesn’t match the rest of the letter.
MW is at the vanguard of descriptivism, though - they include words as soon as they become current among a handful of cretins. As an illustration, their approval extends to “impactful”, a word which only serves to identify the guy at the meeting who you should do your best to ignore unless you want another migraine.
I hate it when people who are apparently old and mature enough to know better pronounce words as though they were toddlers. One that seems to come up far more often than it should is “sandwich” being replaced by “samich” or (even worse) “sammy”. Why would anyone use either of those?
Another that is, I suppose, connected is when people try to refer to a word by its first letter, saying “the P-word” or “the F-word”, as though they were children trying to avoid being punished for swearing. Unless you’re in a situation where you actually can’t say the word in question for whatever reason, trying to tiptoe around it in that way just sounds silly and often makes the conversation ambiguous as people try to figure out which “P-word” you’re talking about.
I used to be irritated when people spelled “a lot” as “alot” but now I just amuse myself with thoughts of this.
That’s not what that article says at all. It says that when people hear their own name, it activates particular areas of the brain that aren’t activated when they hear other names. It doesn’t say anything at all about liking it.
So you’re saying you don’t like it when you get your middle frontal cortex, middle and superior temporal cortex, and cuneus activated? Because I sure do.
At some point in the recent past, newscasters, pundits and politicians all decided to talk about “bravery”. It’s a legitimate word, I guess, but it just clangs off my ear like it’s some made-up back-formation.
My mother uses “Hamburg” for “Hamburger”. I don’t like that either.
This really annoys me too. I was on jury duty once, and one of the lawyers questioning the potential jurors kept referring to us by name several times. I had the urge to tell him that it made me think everything he says is a game and not to be trusted, and really hurt his case.
-D/a
I make a point of avoiding smilies, as in I use them in about one post per 1,000
going back 10,000-plus posts since I got into the chat room racket years ago.
This time, however, I think a :dubious: would be appropriate in response to Mr. Balthisar’s
silly little snark.
No irony exists in my choice of words.
I used the word “employed” instead of the word “used” only to avoid repetition.
I see now that a better construction might have been:
*…the distinction is so small that the substandard alternative word adds nothing * and clarifies nothing.
You and some others are talking about misusing (aka misutilizing) a word. I read the OP as asking about words that are used properly, but still disliked.
Yes, because “attributable” is an adjective, and needs a noun to modify. The argument was that “due” is also an adjective, rather than being an adverb or conjunction, like “because.” (As I said, “due” is debatable here. “Attributable” isn’t really.) So, according to the (debatable) rule, you could say “the disaster was due to human error” (“due” modifying “disaster”) or “a disaster due to human error,” but not “Due to track work, all trains will be delayed.”
I hate the word “copacetic”. I hadn’t heard it in the first quarter century of my life, and was annoyed when I first heard it from my wife. It has no confirmed origin, which makes it even more annoying.
“Pundint.” What’s with that second “n”? I think Michelle Obama started this.
“I seen.” A woman was being interviewed on TV, because she had had a near-death experience. Every other thing out of her mouth began with “And then I seen . . . .” I had to change the channel.
“Transition.” This is a noun, folks, not a verb.
“Begs the question.” What was wrong with “raises the question”? At first it seemed that “begs” was being used as more forceful than “raises,” but now it’s all but totally replaced it.
“The wife.” No, your wife is not a possession, like the house, the car or the dog.
“Preggers.” How old are you, five?
“I mean.” Ever since Caroline Kennedy’s famous “you know” speech, “I mean” has taken its place.
“Waiting on.” No, if you are waiting on me, you’re a salesperson or waiter. You are waiting FOR me. (I understand this is often a regionalism. That doesn’t make me hate it less.)
“Tempa-chure.” Even weather people are doing this.
And finally my favorite: “nup-choo-ul.” Nobody says “par-choo-ul” for “partial” or “mar-choo-ul” for martial. I don’t care that the dictionaries now say it’s ok.