TheCatSite.com › Forums › General Forums › The Cat Lounge › Irritating words
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Irritating words - Page 3

post #61 of 87
6/10/11 at 12:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Minka View Post
Hooey. The discussion there is whether grammar (or a dictionary) is descriptive or prescriptive. Most dictionaries fall in the former category, at least in English. They tell what is in current use.

A grammar book, on the other hand, is the latter. It tells us what is established correct usage. Why? Because we want those who are not necessarily part of our local or regional culture to be able to decipher what it is we're writing about. Why teach grammar, unless there are accepted rules?

So, I agree with H. Beam Piper: Many of the ills of our modern society can be traced back to grammar teachers who let incorrect grammar and spelling slide.
Reply
post #62 of 87
6/10/11 at 10:03am
Another thing regarding using proper grammar that really bugs me (okay, I know we're talking about specific words here and I'm getting off topic ), but I can't stand double negatives - especially when the word "ain't" is also used - such as, "I ain't go no money" or "I ain't got nothing to say" -- when it should be, "I don't have any money" or "I don't have anything to say".
Reply
post #63 of 87
6/10/11 at 4:02pm
Must of in place of must have, I realize that this one is due, in large part, to the lazy way in which we speak.
Reply
post #64 of 87
6/11/11 at 4:41am
"Ignorant" when used incorrectly to mean "rude", "obnoxious", "jerk-ish" etc. As in, "Wow, I can't believe he insulted you, that was so ignorant." Nooooot what the word means. Drives me nuts.

Reply
post #65 of 87
6/11/11 at 5:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arlyn View Post
Irregardless.

Nothing gets on my nerves more quickly than this word, it is incorrect.

Call it nonstandard all you want, it's as grammatically incorrect as 'ain't'
This! So annoying!

Also in the same boat, it bugs me when people say expecially. There is no X in especially!
Reply
post #66 of 87
6/11/11 at 5:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by allroundthesun View Post
"Ignorant" when used incorrectly to mean "rude", "obnoxious", "jerk-ish" etc. As in, "Wow, I can't believe he insulted you, that was so ignorant." Nooooot what the word means. Drives me nuts.
Oh yeah this too. It bugs me when I same someone is ignorant about something (with regards to the real definition) and then people look at me like I have three heads because they don't get why I would use the term at that time.
Reply
post #67 of 87
6/13/11 at 10:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MoochNNoodles View Post
Seriously!? You just slammed 2 of my favorite TV people! EVOO is just short hand for "Extra Virgin Olive Oil" and the woman uses enough of it; I'd EVOO it too. Just a shorthand of the trade.
The thing that bugs me about Rachael Ray is she always says "EVOO Extra Virgin Olive Oil" I wish she would pick one or the other.

The word that bugs me the most is you'se. It is very common in the town I used to live in. Most of the people that would say you'se just made themselves sound uneducated.
Reply
post #68 of 87
6/13/11 at 10:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by allroundthesun View Post
"Ignorant" when used incorrectly to mean "rude", "obnoxious", "jerk-ish" etc. As in, "Wow, I can't believe he insulted you, that was so ignorant." Nooooot what the word means. Drives me nuts.
Actually, the Oxford dictionary defines "ignorant" as also meaning "uncouth due to lack of knowledge" which would allow the use of this word to describe some forms of rudeness.
Reply
post #69 of 87
6/13/11 at 10:55pm
I hate it when people use words they don't know the meanings of in order to sound more "educated". It just makes them sound dumber!
Reply
post #70 of 87
6/14/11 at 2:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Willowy View Post
I hate it when people use words they don't know the meanings of in order to sound more "educated". It just makes them sound dumber!
Decimate seems to be one of the most frequently misused words. It makes me want to knock people over the head with a dictionary.
Reply
post #71 of 87
6/14/11 at 2:27pm
I can't stand the use of "Ain't". and in the phrase: "I ain't got no..." How about.. "I do not have..."??

I also can't stand it when people use "meh" in online chat.
Reply
post #72 of 87
6/14/11 at 2:47pm
Like some other stated I get more irritated by the use of poor grammar in writing than I do when words are spoken. That being said, I can't stand "y'all". As a sports fan the one phrase that really bugs me is "walk off", which is most frequently used in baseball to describe a game winning hit or home run. Whatever happened to just saying "game winning..."?

I also find text speak annoying. Perhaps that's just me getting old?
Reply
post #73 of 87
6/14/11 at 5:32pm
The phrase "you know what I'm saying" makes me want to smack the person using.
"My bad" is even worse. It's like everything is going to be alright just because they said something stupid after they DID something that was really stupid.
Reply
post #74 of 87
6/14/11 at 6:44pm
This thread had me cracking up. I do understand how things can get under the skin... but I guess (that for the most part) I have rather thick skin?

This is an industry-specific problem, but one word SO many people seem to be using in discussion of the economy of late is "transitory." I've gotten to the point where if I hear it on the radio I turn it off; if I see it in a news story, I immediately move along.

And Mike? Check your dictionary(ies). "Dove" is also past tense of dive.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dive

According to Merriam-Webster:

Quote:
dived or dove; div·ing...

Dive, which was originally a weak verb, developed a past tense dove, probably by analogy with verbs like drive, drove. Dove exists in some British dialects and has become the standard past tense especially in speech in some parts of Canada. In the United States dived and dove are both widespread in speech as past tense and past participle, with dove less common than dived in the south Midland area, and dived less common than dove in the Northern and north Midland areas. In writing, the past tense dived is usual in British English and somewhat more common in American English. Dove seems relatively rare as a past participle in writing.
Reply
post #75 of 87
6/15/11 at 5:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yosemite View Post
Actually, the Oxford dictionary defines "ignorant" as also meaning "uncouth due to lack of knowledge" which would allow the use of this word to describe some forms of rudeness.
Oh, certainly. I wasn't talking about the very few instances in which I've heard it used correctly to describe the source of one's poor manners to which you're referring, of course; I meant to provide context for the specific definition of "rude" I intended by adding a couple of synonyms, but I should have been more clear, you're correct.
Reply
post #76 of 87
6/15/11 at 6:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LDG View Post
This thread had me cracking up. I do understand how things can get under the skin... but I guess (that for the most part) I have rather thick skin?

This is an industry-specific problem, but one word SO many people seem to be using in discussion of the economy of late is "transitory." I've gotten to the point where if I hear it on the radio I turn it off; if I see it in a news story, I immediately move along.

And Mike? Check your dictionary(ies). "Dove" is also past tense of dive.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dive

According to Merriam-Webster:
Being Canadian, I was taught that dove was the correct past tense for dive. I honestly had never seen "dived" used until my later years and assumed it was incorrect which apparently it is not.
Reply
post #77 of 87
6/15/11 at 1:11pm
Once again, "dove" is used as a past tense of "dive," but it is a secondary form. The dictionary, as I said, is descriptive, not prescriptive. It tells us what people are doing, not what the rules are.

But language changes. I can accept that. I've seen the stagnation something like the French Academy causes when it constricts a language and prevents development.

I just said to me it sounds ignorant and uneducated. I hear people use "thunk" for the past tense of "think." I imagine in 30 years, that might be acceptable.

In all honesty, while such things are annoying, they don't get under my skin anywhere near as much as people who use expressions to belittle other people and their beliefs. Grammar and orthography is one thing; name-calling is entirely different.

But that's a different discussion.
Reply
post #78 of 87
6/15/11 at 5:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrblanche View Post
Once again, "dove" is used as a past tense of "dive," but it is a secondary form. The dictionary, as I said, is descriptive, not prescriptive. It tells us what people are doing, not what the rules are.

But language changes. I can accept that. I've seen the stagnation something like the French Academy causes when it constricts a language and prevents development.

I just said to me it sounds ignorant and uneducated. I hear people use "thunk" for the past tense of "think." I imagine in 30 years, that might be acceptable.

In all honesty, while such things are annoying, they don't get under my skin anywhere near as much as people who use expressions to belittle other people and their beliefs. Grammar and orthography is one thing; name-calling is entirely different.

But that's a different discussion.
I suppose it would depend on the age of the persons using the language whether it would indicate ingorance or lack of education. Those of us who are longer-in-the-tooth were taught to use what would/could be considered "secondary" forms and the new dictionaries would also probably concur with that usage for today's society.

Just as there are accepted new words today due to the computer age and advances in technology, there are new meanings to words we used years ago, i.e., fag was slang for cigarette to name just one.
Reply
post #79 of 87
6/15/11 at 6:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrblanche View Post
Once again, "dove" is used as a past tense of "dive," but it is a secondary form. The dictionary, as I said, is descriptive, not prescriptive. It tells us what people are doing, not what the rules are.
The dived/dove controversy is also a great example of two countries divided by a common language. In The Queen's English (and, therefore, Canada's) dove is absolutely correct; dived is incorrect and used to be marked as a wrong answer when used as singular past tense: he/she dove, they dived. This also extends to spelling and a few other grammatical differences. Here, for example, we have a whole Saskatchewan vocabulary that would sound like gibberish to anyone else and in light of that, what is a bunnyhug?
Reply
post #80 of 87
6/17/11 at 8:34pm
Being in the nursing profession, I constantly hear the word "orientating" used. I have no idea if it is correct grammar or not, but it really makes my skin crawl. When a person goes to orientation, are they being orientated or oriented? "I'm orientating the new nurse to the O.R." Really? I'd probably just orient her....But hey, that's just me.

The 'loose' instead of 'lose' thing irks me too. Awesome, absolutely, definitely, relatively, literally....All overused to pointlessness. Improper use of apostrophes makes me crazy too. I would rather hear or read the word "awakened" over the phrase "woken up" or "woke up." I thought of about 50 other things while I was typing, but they flitted through my brain so quickly that I couldn't type fast enough to remember them all!
Reply
post #81 of 87
6/18/11 at 4:38am
Another one that makes me cringe is when I hear someone say "me and her . . . ." which automatically says uneducated to me.

The "loose" versus "lose" irritates me to. They are not even pronounced the same so shouldn't be difficult to use correctly. One doesn't loose their Ipod and losen their clothing.
Reply
post #82 of 87
6/18/11 at 9:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yosemite View Post
Another one that makes me cringe is when I hear someone say "me and her . . . ." which automatically says uneducated to me.
An easy way around this regardless of the second subject is to remove it and find out if using me sounds silly; if it does, it is wrong and change it ti I. I see so many people trying to be correct and will say 'this is a picture of ________ and I; it is just as wrong as saying me and her went to the store. Worse is the gratuitous (and incorrect) use of myself because people think it sounds more educated.
Reply
post #83 of 87
6/18/11 at 9:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sk_pacer View Post
An easy way around this regardless of the second subject is to remove it and find out if using me sounds silly; if it does, it is wrong and change it ti I. I see so many people trying to be correct and will say 'this is a picture of ________ and I; it is just as wrong as saying me and her went to the store. Worse is the gratuitous (and incorrect) use of myself because people think it sounds more educated.
Exactly! It is not correct but many think it is.

When I was in school, I found (and was also taught) tricks to check if one was using a word correctly. For instance, the difference between stalactite and stalagmite - c for celing and g for ground.
Reply
post #84 of 87
6/18/11 at 8:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yosemite View Post
Exactly! It is not correct but many think it is.

When I was in school, I found (and was also taught) tricks to check if one was using a word correctly. For instance, the difference between stalactite and stalagmite - c for celing and g for ground.
They don't teach those tricks anymore, nor do they teach proper word usage. And just when I THOUGHT I had seen everything, a new one popped up on a board I moderate: "____________ and I's 1st show". I really want to fix it but not my job and for the most part, the board memebers are pretty well educated and that title is an anomaly.
Reply
post #85 of 87
6/18/11 at 8:27pm
I can absorb a lot of improper English and ghetto slang.......but any racist terms send me off!
Reply
post #86 of 87
6/18/11 at 9:52pm
A few years ago, I read an article about common grammar mistakes, and one that stuck out to me was the difference between less/fewer. Now, I don't know why, but whenever I hear them used incorrectly, it's really distracting. I have been known to shout "FEWER calories" at my TV when I hear a commercial saying "less calories" or the like.
Reply
post #87 of 87
6/18/11 at 11:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zoeysmom View Post
A few years ago, I read an article about common grammar mistakes, and one that stuck out to me was the difference between less/fewer. Now, I don't know why, but whenever I hear them used incorrectly, it's really distracting. I have been known to shout "FEWER calories" at my TV when I hear a commercial saying "less calories" or the like.


I am NOT alone!!! I find myself yelling at the radio and the TV over fewer/less. I regularly yell at announcers saying 'It is FEWER!!! You can count ___________!!' One I yell at often is a well educated radio talkshow host, and I swear, I am going to send him an e-mail correcting him one day.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: The Cat Lounge
TheCatSite.com › Forums › General Forums › The Cat Lounge › Irritating words