I moved to this area about three weeks ago. I’ve watched a local TV news broadcast a few times and it looks like they have a regular feature where they do an expose of local businesses being shifty. I’m not sure that this qualifies, but color me impressed.
The one that drives me nuts is when a client asks me if their pet has a temperature. Of course their pet has a temperature. So I answer, “yes, your cat has a temperature and it is normal”. Then they look at me like I must be nuts. One day I hope someone presents a dog at absolute zero so that I can answer “no”.
Heh. My hubby who is very bright, literate and all that good stuff (honest!) does this, too. Whenever I’m sick (which unfortunately is a lot), he’ll say “well, do you have a temperature?” to which I often respond “well, it would certainly be worrisome if I didn’t, wouldn’t it?” and he rolls his eyes at me and says “You know what I mean!” Well, yeah, I do. But that’s a little pet peeve of mine, right up there with people saying “PIN number”. Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhh.
Oh, and he says “lie-berry” for library, too. Makes you wonder why I haven’t beaten him to death yet, doesn’t it?
Yeah, that’s bullshit. I can’t believe that IT actually writes the content for the website; more likely, they’re handed the content and told to integrate it into the site.
If you see this again, or something like it, a good place to contact is The Consumerist. They love shit like that.
There’s a border that runs between genuine puzzlement or even mild outrage over awkward and non-standard usages (such as the on in the OP) and over-worked recreational outrage over perfectly comprehendible usages (such as the non-non-standard uses of “temperature” and “offer” used above). My feeling is that there’s an unusually high percentage of people on this board who cannot see that border.
The word misuse that bugs me (for some reason) is the practice of describing a clock as fast or slow, instead of ahead or behind. If it were fast, it would be ahead and getting further ahead.
It is bullshit, blaming IT. If they were responsible for content, I’d imagine their pay would be more like the Marketing gurus I used to work for (who were completely capable of substituting “payment” for “debt” without a wink of conscience).
Is there such a thing as “overly literal”? I have seen situations where people believe that their pet is being “put to sleep” meaning that their animal is being anesthetized. It is, however, idiomatic to use the phrase to mean euthanasia.
Then again, it drives me crazy when someone tells me their pet is being presented because it hurts when he “does his business”. . .shouldn’t they be seeing an occupational therapist?
You sound like my father with his purposeful literalism. Friends would call and ask “Is Peter there?” and my father would just say “yes,” and wait on the phone, until it was specifically requested that the caller would like to speak to me.
Well, the TV station came and interviewed me once about a drainage project we (the City) were going to do in a certain neighborhood. I think the citizens called the TV complaining that the City never did anything about flooding and so I got to tell them all on camera “yes, we are going to attempt to fix it”.
The newspaper had one story about it too but that was about a year before I went to work at the City.
I have seen situations where people believe that their pet is being “put to sleep” meaning that their animal is being anesthetized. It is, however, idiomatic to use the phrase to mean euthanasia.
You sound like my father with his purposeful literalism. Friends would call and ask “Is Peter there?” and my father would just say “yes,” and wait on the phone, until it was specifically requested that the caller would like to speak to me.