War of the words
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Google informs me there are 1,013,913 words in the English language. Among these are certain words that, when I hear them, my skin crawls and I immediately cringe. It’s not anything against the person that has said one of the words on my naughty list, it’s the word itself. I’m certain I’ve said many words on other people’s most hated list too, so don’t worry I’m not writing this with a clear conscience.
I was talking to a friend recently who was telling me all about her latest trip abroad. She was describing in great detail the beaches and bars she had visited and how she had hired a car and gotten lost, “I was completely lost for 2 hours, even with the map I was totally disorientated”. My entire body immediately stiffened and I quickly clenched my jaw to stop me from saying what I was thinking… ‘it’s disoriented, not disorientated’.
Now before I get torn to shreds by any readers out there who use the ‘tated’ version, I have researched this and found both words do exist in dictionaries and it depends on which part of the world you are from as to which version you use. My disdain for ‘disorientated’ is purely personal.
Another person in my life recently instructed me to be ‘more pacific’ with my feedback. More pacific? North or South? Would it help if I went and stood on the coast-line? This same person also pointed out I had made ‘deliberate mistakes’ in the past. Wait, what? Do you know the meaning of either of those words? Because you’ve used both of them entirely out of context you intelligent idiot.
Referring to Matt and the status of our relationship has long been a problem for me too, because there are so many words around the subject that bother me.
Take for example, Fiancé, a perfectly acceptable and frequently used word that sounds contrived and arrogant to me when I say it. As a result I tend to notice people judging me when I tell them I’m ‘meeting my boyfriend’ while clearly sporting an engagement ring on my left hand. The term ‘other half’ is another source of annoyance because, if you look at me, I am clearly one whole person and not walking around with half my limbs and vital organs missing, flesh hanging off the bone.
The word ‘partner’ is a tad fishy too because it isn’t gender specific. This poses a huge problem for me because of Matt’s commonly used nickname. On numerous occasions I have been questioned by friends and colleagues about my sexuality. For months I had wondered what about me had alluded to the fact I may be gay and if I had unknowingly been giving off these vibes to members of the same-sex. Finally someone told me it was because I had consistently referred to my ‘partner’, Lillian.
On more than one occasion I’ve been heavily chastised by my Grandmother for using the word ‘literally’. “Of course you did it literally Phoebe”, she says, “That’s the only way you could have done it. You’re using the word out of context. It’s a hyperbole”. After looking up hyperbole in the Miriam-Webster dictionary, I was literally devastated.
It’s difficult to stay on top of using every word in context and what’s more, the English language just keeps growing. Personally I believe part of this growth comes from music. Case in point, the introduction of the word Bootylicious into the English dictionary. I’ve watched so many rap videos on MTV that I don’t know what’s real and what’s not anymore and have found myself at the tube station yelling “that s**t cray” at the conductor when I’m told the Victoria Line has been temporarily suspended.
Words like ‘totes’ and ‘amazeballs’ have crept into our vocabulary and some words have simply been replaced altogether with shortened versions of themselves like LOL, ROFLMAO, WTF and FML. What’s most disturbing about this is that they’re so widespread that even my Mum, who can barely work Facebook is using them in her text messages… has the world gone mad?!
littlegreybox.
There’s no way I’m alone on this one. Which words drive you crazy and which new words, born of rap superstars and LOLcats, make you loopy?
252 Comments on “War of the words”
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littlegreybox is a meeting point of humorous perspective, food and travel experiences and my life journey. It's my outlet, a source of inspiration and a way to share and connect with people around the world.
My mom likes to work expressions like “omg” and “tmi” into casual conversation. It drives me nuts.
Hahaha how old is she? If that’s not too much of a big question to ask? :)
She might be angry for me answering so I will tell you that I am in my early twenties and she was older than I am currently when I was born. Cryptic, I know.
… where’s my calculator? this should be a question at pub-quiz night. It sounds like she is the same age as my mum.. we’ll say the over 50 bracket.
Yup :)
It drives me crazy when someone describes something as “redic” or “redonkulous.” I also really hate “preggo” and “preggers.”
I am with you all the way with that!
My Bad or Whatever
The word “popped” makes me crazy (eh… sorry, cray). When someone says they “popped over” somewhere or “popped it into the oven” my skin crawls. I really don’t know why.
And I’m so with you on the term “fiance”. It sounds pretentious. I live with my boyfriend, and the term “boyfriend” really doesn’t do him justice. We are all but married so what in the world do I call him?
I also CANNOT STAND when people refer to their husband’s as “my hubby”. Blech.
Gosh I sound really cranky (LOL)
oh my gosh, I laughed so hard reading your comment. Our minds are in sync. How do you feel when people ask you how your fiance popped the question? it must be torture. I know exactly what you mean, boyfriend just doesn’t cut it… but there’s no happy medium between Boyfriend and Husband. Should we coin a new phrase? My … husbfriend? no…
We aren’t “officially engaged” so I have yet to deal with responding to the popped question. Grrrrr. Husbfriend, Hahahahhahaaaaa. Before my sister got married we played on her now husband’s southern drawl and she called him her fee-yon-say. I think it helped her feel a little less ridiculous.
I have to also agree with this, lable-making of our men. :) I must admit I like it when I am referred to as his ‘Mrs’ even though we have never signed that infernal, socially accepted, piece of paper. So I am trying to form the new habit of calling him “My Mister” ;) Yet for some reason I haven’t succeeded in saying it in a public place though. :/
…boyband?
Yeah, also no.
“Hubby” is one of my all-time pet peeves too. It sounds so, I don’t know, juvenile. Just say “husband.” It’s the same number of syllables, so what’s the advantage anyway?
I agree – just say “husband” or “wife.” In the attempt at trying to deconstruct marriage, the ‘deconstructors’ steal history.
I’ve heard “hubs” frequently, or “the hubs” as in the “the hubs is picking up the kids” . This coming from adults my age. And I’m. . . older.
I feel the same way about “the huz,” which seems to be a favorite locally. When I was planning my wedding, I was also annoyed by DH or dear husband. I rolled my eyes internally every time I came across it.
Husband is a bit bland and serious and hubby is creepy. I refer to husband’s as Husbo but I’m from Australia and we tend to put an ‘o’ on the end of everything… plus I don’t have one of my own so it may be a different story when/if I make that acquisition :)
Hahaha husbo! I like it! I’m from Brissie so can completely relate to the overuse of vowels in our language. And I’m proud to say I love it-o.
Literally. It should never be used for emphasis. Do not tell me you ‘literally ran’ somewhere. If you told me you simply just ‘ran’ I would have believed you. Literally only needs to be used when there is a chance what you are telling me has both a literal and non-literal meaning. For example ‘he’s pulling your leg’ vs ‘he is literally pulling your leg’. The best advice I can give is DO NOT use the word literally if you can’t tell the difference, because most of the time, you’ll be wrong.
Oh, and irregardless is not a word either. The double negative prefix actually makes the word have the opposite meaning to what you think it does. Which makes me think you are an idiot.
Thank you! You have said everything on my mind.
Here is a good explanation of the word literally: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/literally However, my favorite explanation is found on “The Oatmeal,” and can be found here: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/literally The fellow is actually quite good albeit eccentric. ;)
I had never questioned the incorrect usage of literally until today. Thanks RedSparx!
pixilated2! thanks for sharing theoatmeal. i’m loving the grammar comics!
http://themovabletype.wordpress.com/
Reblogged this on my head & my hands are all i really have.
A girl I know once asked me “How’s your galf?” I think she was asking how my girlfriend was. What an awful abbreviation.
My friends actively use the word “totes” and “jel”. They aren’t my friends any more.
Just kidding. But it drives me crazy.
*words
In the UK, the word ‘absolutely’ is done to death. Instead of alternating it with other words such as ‘totally’ ‘completely’ etc, everyone bangs on about ‘it’s absolutely amazing’, or ‘I am absolutely gobsmacked’. If you watch a TV programme you are (absolutely) guaranteed to find it on there.
I agree with you about ‘partner’. It sounds so clinical. What about ‘lover’? That sounds sophisticated at least! ;-)
The most I can cope with in terms of text speak is LOL but even then I deliberately use it incorrectly to mean ‘lots of love’.
Finally a huge bugbear of mine is when people say ‘there are many issues around this topic’ (for example) instead of using something like ‘concerning’ or ‘about’. This must be an Americanism infiltrating the language, and something I have noticed cropping up more and more. Not that I have anything against Americanisms – I am Canadian – but it just sounds false and like ‘management speak’.
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Drool. I hate the word drool. It grosses me out. Having a food blog means that people will quite often use the word when they comment on my posts or FB pictures, and what should have been a compliment just becomes a source of queasiness. Of course, now I just sound ungrateful. I literally, absolutely, totes am not.
hahaha!
If you like awards I gave you a prize:
http://sugardishme.com/2012/05/11/this-salads-a-winner/
If you don’t do the award thing, just know how much I appreciated your rant in this post. And in The Name Game. And Man v. Man. Pretty much all of them.
Homonyms and apostrophes.
“Your dumb.” ME:”No, it is clearly yours.”
Keeping up with the Jons’e's’?!? (You don’t knead an apostrophe near every “s” as an insurance policy.)
Yes I no I am using them two. Is it having the desired affect?
An experiment and a thought along these lines:Free rainge. ~Cheers, Dan
I really dislike all the shortening going on. Lite/light, nite/night, donut/doughnut etc.. I really enjoy a good ‘gh’ in a word, gives words the proper heft. But the most annoying thing in words to me is the use of ‘k’ in words that clearly are spelled with a ‘c’. Krispy Kreme Donuts? – just not appetizing.
Also, the misuse of their/there, your/you’re, its/it’s.
Where’s the like button for the comments? Good point, and it is one of my rants too.
yes. all of this drives me nuts too!
No, please don’t say “supposebly” again. I try so hard not to blurt out the correct pronunciation. It is truly an exercise in futility…isn’t it? So I want to smack some pepole, but it’s not their fault…right?
Hey! I don´t speak good english, but I love your blog :)
I have the same problem with my boyfriend, we´re not married, but we live together… I say he´s my “chico” (boy), “dorima” (a remix of “marido” = husband) or just the man who sleeps with me :D
And there are a lot of modern words I don´t like. Spanish is a very rich language too, and an awful thing for me it´s when somebody use a foreing word when that word already exists in spanish. I hate that!
And I also hate LOL and all that kind of “words”. SMS were a bad influence for the language…
Cheers!
I´m spanish as you and I feel the same!
Thought it doesn’t officially count as a word, I can’t stand seeing “I <3" whatever. Cutesy doesn't cut it in the real world…can't people just say they love something?
RedSparx mentioned the one that gets me… “irregardless.” I once almost bit off my tongue trying not to correct someone for using it. It was my daughter’s brain surgeon. The woman is a brain surgeon, for goodness sake. She saved my daughter’s life. Let it go.
Since I am not a native speaker of the English Language, you will probably find thousands of mistakes just like the ones you pointed out in my blogs. Though, I can relate to it for a small part. People using totally wrong words to express something gets me mad. Then again, it tells more about me (or us) then it does about the people who use the wrong words I am afraid.
This is awesome !!! Numerous times, even I’ve encountered people using the wrong word at the wrong time in the wrong context.
“cope up” it’s a classic example! I also remember a high school classmate using the word “hinder” when she actually meant the opposite during a discussion.
It drives me crazy when people say “ecsetera” instead of “etcetera”. Also I’ve heard too often, “heighth” instead of “height”.
gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I wanted to murder my last boyfriend every single time he said it. He works CONSTRUCTION! If anyone, ANYONE, should know width, depth and height it would have to have been him. He is not Stewie and it was not cute. As matter of fact… I kinda want to murder him right now just thinking about it.
There was something in Game of Thrones the first season that he deliberately said wrong “Winterfeld” I think. I get pronouncing a Targaryon (I didn’t read the books. Sorry I do not know how to spell that right) wrong. No one comes close to slurring a d at the end of Winterfell. Where does that stuff come from?
Also, I hate it when teachers who know in what order to read words just get lazy. HydroGENated not hydronated.
Orichetti (Or-i-ket-i) not Ochietti (Oh-key-ett-i) I hope an Italian stakes her.
and the list sadly goes on….
I love onomatooeia though I can see where people would be annoyed because I sound like Charlie Brown most of the time. But I am really shooting for a good Calvin impersonation.
Ha ha ha! Glad you feel the same about that word as I do!
Does anyone get as mad as I do with ‘anyways’? Or ‘whatevs’. And though this post is about malapropisms, I want to add misplaced commas to this list. Who wants to say ‘Whatevs!’
Technically “anyways” should just be “anyway,” so I agree with you there. It does bother me!
So true, haha! I have a friend who pronounces spaghetti ‘ps-getti’. I haven’t had the heart to bring it up…
Personally, i have an aversion to the word pop as a verb; ‘can you just pop the kettle on?’ I feel its fraudulent, it’s trying to trick me into thinking a job is less of a job…’can you just pop the hoover round, pop the dishes in the dishwasher and pop the bath on for me please’ Grrr >.<
Enjoying your blog, thanks, you!
Im off to look up 'hyperbole' ;)
hahahaha thanks for the laugh :)
How about a phrase such as, “give me a quick second”, when someone is busy and needs a moment to clear their head. It’s a measurable piece of time! It’s a second. There are no quick ones!
Let it out buddy… let it out.
I happen to live in the Southern United States, so the list I have of what drives me nuts is far to long to list here….Ya’ll
I live here too, and and there is also the emphatic usage “All ya’ll.”
as in “all ya’ll wanna beer?” LOL sorry I done made myself chuckle…. ‘I done’ … may well be the single most annoying and the least funny. It wont ever make it into a ‘you might be a redneck book’, it just is not funny. I am from Tennessee (but raised by yankee parents) where are ya’ll from? I wrote a little about being from the south here http://blissbodysoul.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/wild-spiritual-abandon/
of course I probably would never live anywhere else, I love being close to the mountains and it is true the folks are more friendly here :)
Hi Cheryl! I’m originally from S. California, and I agree with your reasoning for not living anywhere else. We’re here in N. Alabama. Surrounded by oaks, farmland and rivers, we’re very happy to be out of the suburban crush. Going to read your blog post…
~ Lynda
PS: Ever notice how some of that southern silliness just comes a creepin’ in on your everyday speech? Saying it succinctly, “It is insidious.”
Oh my yes ( slightly ‘high brow’), But being born in PA and raised here by my very yankee folks I had a Pittsburgh accent until I was an adult, so I wax and wane ‘tween here & ‘over yonder’. When I’m tired the southern gal comes out and when I’m pissed its all Pitts-burgese LOL. Oh and I love your blog-too:)
I am really impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself? Anyway keep up the excellent quality writing, it’s rare to see a great blog like this one today..
I hope I haven’t overstepped my bounds on your blog today, but this is one of my favorite topics, and I have enjoyed the reading of the comments here as well as your post! Thank you for visiting me today. I look forward to reading more from you in the future. ~ Lynda
Thanks for liking my blog, Phoebe. I like the way you write.
However, I’d have to point out that, for me, ‘gotten’ is one of those cringe-worthy words. On that topic, I listened recently to the report by an heroic US serviceman who was describing how he ‘drug’ his colleague out of danger. How did that become the past tense of drag?
On a sad note, the news of the imminent demise of the Queen’s English Society in the UK due to lack of support and interest must be a sign of the times.
This post is not only interesting but also extremely entertaining. I definitely rate it 5 stars! Thx a lot!
Thank you so much and thank you for reading :)
I detest the way people use the word ” LIKE ” ! They’ve said about 10 like’s and not a single point has been made … ( if i made any word mistakes, please forgive me… it is my second language … ; )
love & light
el
I hate the word, “funnily”. It makes my teeth itch. I looked it up long ago, and apparently it is ok to use, but it still drives me nuts. My husband uses it just to annoy..
And then there is that song, Isn’t It Ironic, that Allanis obviously didn’t know the definition of ironic for when she wrote it, because every example she gives in the song is a disappointment, but not one of them is ironic.
That song came out when I was a high school freshman. We were just learning about irony in English, and my teacher went on a tirade about it. “It’s not ironic at all — it’s just BAD LUCK!”
I hate hate hate it when people don’t know the difference between ‘to’ and ‘too’ or say ”I seen it”…what the hell is that? ”You SAAAW it” you idiot.
Reblogged this on WashedUpDonuts.com and commented:
“I’ve been heavily chastised by my Grandmother for using the word ‘literally’. “Of course you did it literally Phoebe”, she says, “That’s the only way you could have done it. You’re using the word out of context. It’s a hyperbole”. After looking up hyperbole in the Miriam-Webster dictionary, I was literally devastated.”
I’ve noticed a lot of grammar-theme-heavy discussions. Was that too nice? Okay, slaughterhouse, train wreck criticisms wrought on people with average to poor grammar application. To everyone at large (the kids too) read this article and then put your feet up and drink some warm milk.
Round 1 of reading night at the Revolver residence commences.
Corporate-speak: “Let’s decrease the granularity”, when you mean “Let’s look at this over a longer period”. “There’s potential for some upside”, when you mean “The forecast is a bit low”. Grrrr.
Ha ha, this made me laugh out loud! I refuse to use abbreviations, I don’t know why, it just gets right on my ample bosom…the one I don’t get is KK, it’s the same length as OK so what’s the point?
i am not a native english speaker but i have seen it a lot on fb and most of my friends use it to lol this shortened drives me nuts and i refuse to never use it i would laugh but never say lol urghhhhh i used it !
Internet brought down the language dramatically. People rarely complete sentences now.
1,013,913 words in the English language, you say. What a lot of hard work those 26 letters must do. I don’t like people saying ‘axe’ when they mean to say ‘ask’.
Great post!!! Rachel Zoe constantly says “I LITERALLY DIED” and it drives me insane (though it is kind of catchy). Oh, and fastly. See, there’s a red line under it when I type it. It’s not a word, people.
“Conversate” drives me crazy.
I know! It irritates me every time. And the use is spreading.
I just got married after a 14-month engagement. Not once did I ever refer to my husband as ‘fiancé’. I really didn’t like using that word for the reasons you described. He stayed ‘boyfriend’ or ‘partner in crime’, ‘gentleman caller’ in text, or simply ‘Boyo’.
I am very very guilty of overusing the words awesome and amazing, and I use obnoxious words like amazeballs and awesomesauce. Whoops.
Corporate double-speak and buzzwords drives me crazy, especially if someone was simply repeating them without demonstrating they understood them, ie ‘blue-sky thinking’, ‘unbundled global value chains’ and the like (I used to work as a copywriter/editor in economic research).
The word “Reem” seems to be creeping into my life a lot lately, how frustrating. For those of you that don’t know what “Reem” is, It’s taken from a “Reality” tv show The Only Way Is Essex, I assume its means the same as other annoying word such as “Lush”
It’s ‘literally’ the war of the words out there.
I always emphasize on using the correct words in a context but I know what’s more important is the message contained or feelings conveyed.
Bt I stil lyk 2 uz d old-fashiond n complte sentnces.
In Italy everyone says “dekstop” because they cannot pronounce the word “desktop” correctly. I hate it. :-)
That’s funny :)
Pretty much any abbreviated or cutsie version of a word, like ‘totes’ instead of totally, ‘fave’ instead of favorite, and most of what everyone else has already mentioned in their comments. :) My big pet peeve is ‘legit’ instead of ‘legitimate’, because it seems that ‘legit’ has many shades of meaning that aren’t covered by the original word, not to mention the fact that I’ve heard it used as an adjective, adverb, verb, and noun. I also think that the word ‘epic’ is grossly overused. It’s fine in the proper context (especially the noun form of the word), but you don’t need to say something’s epic when any positive adjective will suffice.
Mine annoyance is people pronouncing the word “coupon.” It is Koo-pon! A French word. For some reason the goof-ball Americans can not rhyme coupon with a product like Grey Poupon. They do not pronounce it as “pew pon” in the commercial so why would you pronounce it as “Q-pon?”
See how mad it made me? I meant, “My annoyance.” Bwa ha ha!
As a person fluent in French and English this was shocking. There is no reason to pronounce the word in a French way. Every language in the world pronounces things in its own way because each has its own phonology and intonation.
Other words in your reply which also come from French are “annoyance”, “pronouncing”, “French”, “reason”, and possibly “rhyme”, “product”, and “commercial”. The word “annoyance” is correctly anNOYance, and not annoyANCE as with French intonation. Additionally we say “French” instead of “français” and there is nothing wrong with that.
If you are going to borrow the intonation for the word coupon, do you also borrow the French phonology? Then when you teach people English as a second language, you would have to teach them the phonology of French. Do you also pronounce words like karaoke, sake, tsunami, and kamikaze in a Japanese way? You don’t need to. There are so many words being borrowed between languages, the only thing to do is adapt them into the borrowing language’s phonology, intonation, and grammar.
tryrandom.wordpress.com
I must commend you! You must have been very shocked to write such a diatribe! The author of this post asked what irritated us and this irritates me. I am a bit worried what will happen when WordPress “Freshly Presses” a story about gay rights or religious beliefs. That might lend a 30 page essay!
You must say “Q-Pon”! Bwa ha ha!
When people say “I’m humbled” when they mean “I’m honoured” (but that’s probably just me…)
My peeve isn’t so much the words, but the string of it: “Not for nothing.”
Yuck!! What is that????
i’m from South Philly and we say that ALLLLL of the time. LOL hilarious.
One that I’ve had to get used to lately is “awk.” As in, “Is that awkward?” My response: Do you mean the situation you’re referring to or the fact that you just used the term “awk,” which to me sounds like some sort of animal I would find in the frozen tundra. Interesting. :)
i am going to steal what you said and say “pacific”. I didn’t realize this was a thing; I just thought someone I knew had a problem saying the word.
Apropos words: I think it’s interesting how language developes and word changes meaning over time, so I just wanted to share this thought:
“Because you’ve used both of them entirely out of context you intelligent idiot.”
Technically, if you look at the etymology of the word idiot, it’s possible to be an intelligent idiot.
“Idiot as a word derived from the Greek ἰδιώτης, idiōtēs (“person lacking professional skill”, “a private citizen”, “individual”),”
- So, in other words: it is (or rather: it was) possible to be an intelligent idiot, but only in the ancient Greek cities.
I personally don’t get annoyed or put off by certain words, like people don’t like the word ‘moist’. I get more annoyed when people just can’t seem to say even the most simple words in the English language. I was ordering a sandwich from the local deli the other day, when a girl came in and asked for a Ciabatta, pronounced in her world as see-a-batta. That to me sounded like she was asking for a ‘sea o’ batter’ to put her choice of fillings on, instead of a lovely piece of fluffy bread.
Too many times I have heard the English language being butchered by those who have never been taught simple pronunciation. I’m not perfect, and I don’t confess to know how to pronounce every word in the English language, but it’s really not that difficult sometimes.
I literally laughed out loud reading this. Yes, literally.
THANK YOU! I work with a bunch of high school students who are constantly butchering the English language, and I was beginning to think that I was the only person annoyed with people’s careless speech. I completely agree with you in regards to the phrase “my other half”! Great post! Best, e.v.
Haha…fantastic post! I feel the same way…except the thing that really gets under my skin is when people make speech errors, like ending a sentence with a preposition! Drives. Me. Crazy.
Couldn’t agree more. I have a friend who is basically a genius, and therefore, has no excuse for spelling simple words incorrectly. Regardless, he has been on an excercise kick lately, and constantly texts me about working out his “abbs”. I always respond and try to use the word (albeit, shortened word) “abs”, but he never seems to get the hint. One day I suppose I’ll have to correct him outright…
Excercise? ;)
…face in palm…this was definitely not the post to skip spell-check on, haha.
Very funny! My favorite part is the nickname of your boyfriend:)
indiraadams.wordpress.com
Incorrect homophones and apostrophes are the worst, but one of my recently developed peeves is when people say/type “love!” I’m sorry, do you mean that you love something? Are you commanding me to love something? Are you simply declaring that love exists? I see it mostly on Pinterest as a caption, and it drives me batty.
Haha I laughed out loud at your “other half” description. Well said!
Words I hate? Where do I even begin? There’s just too many to count. I absolutely despise when people say ain’t. I know it’s acceptable now but it still irritates me. I also hate bootylicous. News flash: Beyonce stopped saying this years ago so everyone else should too. And that brings me to my next point. People who refer to Beyonce as Bey. Unless, you’ve gone way back with her and have been known to share milkshakes at the diner with her, you shall refer to her as Beyonce. Bey should be reserved for VIP who actually KNOW the singer.
That’s funny. There is a German pop star named Matthias Reim. His fans call him “Matze” (pronounced like matza balls). A TV interviewer called him Matze after a song and he corrected her really quick. It would seem fans can do as they please (and we do) but the rest of the world has to maintain boundaries. We call Sting Sting but his wife calls him Gordie. I dare someone who doesn’t know him to call him Gordie… I guess if the singer doesn’t care then it’s ok.
Lol I just skimmed your blog and was laughing so hard I had to get up and leave my desk. I am on one accord with you especially about pacific it drives me crazy. Another word that annoys me tremendously is Libary. The word is Library thank you very much. Great post thanks for that.
I used to get all sanctimonious when people used ‘literally’ when they meant figuratively, but I’ve softened on that now. No need to say ‘literally’ when you mean something literally—like your grandmother said. It’s better to use it as a weak exaggerator. Apparently, Mark Twain used it too.
I’m okay with the inclusion of new words, but the justifications of bad grammar in the name of language-evolution irritate me.
But yeah, I guess the test for new words and new usage is: “Is it understandable to most?”
Nicely written.
enjoyed reading this :)
For me it’s mostly ignorance when it comes to grammar or misspelling words. Even when I’m reading books, I correct mistakes.
As for referring to your “fiancé” I can relate. The word boyfriend always makes me think of high school relationships and I’m at the point in my life where I don’t deal with boys. I use the word “man” instead, as in I’ve been living with my man for the past two years now.
In my defense, the last grade I completed was the 6th grade. Please bare with me. Thx! (<<< Oh! there's one.)
My daughter comes home from school with phrases that make me cringe. “Just barely” is one of them. As in, “Can I play with Elizabeth? They just barely got home.” or “I just barely thought of that, mommy” There are many others that, of course, I cannot think of right now. One time I got so annoyed for correcting her on the same thing over and over that I finally said “You are an extremely intelligent girl. You need to speak in a way that reflects that.” To this she replied: “But my teacher says that!” Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!! Seriously?!? As an elementary teacher I was horrified to hear she is learning some of these improper phrases from her TEACHER! *sigh* Great post! I appreciate it. Oh…and I hate when people use words like “redonkulous”
I’m right there with you with “the other half.” And I also can’t stand “obvi” and “awk”. People are so lazyyy, it took me a while to even shorten haha’s to lol
back in my day we had ‘jumbo shrimp’ and ‘pretty ugly’ – I guess the bar needed lowering (or is it raising? that phrase also annoys me).
For some odd reason I do like OMGWTFBBQ (writing not saying, obvi).
Other than misspellings, the only stuff that really grates on me is overly perky slang that sounds like it came from Livejournal. Awesomesauce. Amazeballs. “Liek woah.” The sort of garbage that should never be said by anyone once hair starts growing out of parts of your body that were once smooth.
I completely agree! I cannot wait to get married so I don’t have to use the word Fiancé anymore! and it is so annoying how there isn’t another word that could be used instead that fully works.
In Spanish, that word was used by the upper classes decades ago. It sounds so old-fashioned to say the least!
Thank you! There are so many things I could rant about when it comes to ‘bad’ language. My peeve is when people say ‘fustrated’. Really? Do you not know how it’s spelled? Frustrated people, I’m frustrated.
Very Funny
I hate when people write or go “just sayin” after their statement or comment. My immediate reaction is, “Duh. You are actually not saying it anymore because you just said it moron.”
You will probably get a nice laugh from this link. http://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/gws-849/
YOLO has been the latest colloquial slang surfacing of late which stands for “You Only Live Once.” In my opinion, it is stupid how a phrase like that has been converted into an acronym and how people now use it to justify impending actions of stupidity.
How about “You’re welcome”? It’s the traditional response to “Thank you”, or at least it always has been in my experience. If you think about it, it makes little to no sense. In French, the traditional response to thank you (Merci) is “De rein”, or “It was nothing”. That makes a lot more sense to me.
Another one I can’t stand? “Like” – I can’t handle listening to kids in elementary school overuse the word without even realizing it. I’m sure I do it to some extent, but I just can’t handle their abuse of the word. “Do you like him? As in, like like him?” OMG FML
http://www.thetravellingsock.wordpress.com
I detest “Epic”. Everything cannot be epic. I have a girlfriend who hates “moist”; I have no idea why. Oh and any “cutesie” term for the genitals if you are over 5 years old. Call them what they are.
Also, cute note on regional slang. I was on a magazine photo shoot with a professional hockey player and his family. His 5 year old daughter was born in Canada to French speaking parents, but grew up in Texas where he now plays. A car drove past while we were shooting and it had an unusual car horn. She said, “Did *y’all* hear that?! That was cool *aye*? I cracked up and she had no idea what was so funny!
“Epic Fail” is an oxy moron that’s just funny to me. Hey, if you are going to fail miserably, via “Jack-ass” do it in an epic manner. Ever hear the story about the lousy criminal who got his head stuck underneath a garage door for nine hours? Epic Fail!
War of the words, FTW. Loved your post and literally chuckled non-stop while reading it. I also have to say that FTW had to be repeatedly explained to me by my daughter. For The Win does have more of an upbeat meaning than the older FTW that motorcycle clubs use to sport on their T-shirts. Oh and super congratulations for getting freshly pressed! :-)
“Like.” – Fossilized art similes. It doesn’t make you sound smarter, it makes you sound lazier.” Like” is not used in any shape or form that makes sense.
Why is this used in sentences such as:
“And you know, David was like, no way, i’m not going to call her!”
“Then I turned around and I was like, were you just talking to me?”
“Like” is being used to describe a state of mind, action, or verbal response to any given social platform.
A somewhat less intelligent friend of mine once went up to another friend of mine who had been ill for some time and said “Oh my god! Are you okay? I heard you had ammonia.” I could barely keep a straight face.
Oh my God! You had pneumonia, (Achilles Heel arrow, “Bubba” from prison assaulted you, Primate ripped your face off, house foreclosed on, car blew up via the Kremlin) Are you okay??
Maybe not the “Kremlin,” per say. Russian mafia.
i love this post and all of the comments.
i don’t like boyfriend or fiance either. boyfriend sounds juvenile. and fiance sounds snobby. i refer to my husband as my guy mostly. but even the “my” sounds too possessive for my comfort.
fine
The words “moist” and “panties” are so disgusting to me. When used in combination, I want to claw faces off. But “panties” is something that a 60-year-old child molester would say. Also, SMH or IMHO. I actually had to google both of those text-speak terms. Freakin’ teens.
he he great post! Disoriented every time for me! Personally I cannot keep up with the way language changes so quickly. My 6 year old son’s friend calls everything *sexy* (wtf?!) and *sick* apparently now means cool… what do I know I am practically middle aged. I still use *cool* – and proudly! Oh and congrats on being Freshly Pressed!!
I’m surprised that living in the UK people question your sexuality when using the term partner, it must be his nickname. I notice that most people use partner, gay or straight. I like that the word is gender neutral. In Canada (well when I left) use of the word was minimal and people would most definitely be confused as to your orientation as bf/gf is widely used or other gendered terms. If I was 12 then maybe boyfriend would work for me but I’m an adult so partner it is.
I dislike incorrect usage of the English language (grammar, double negatives etc) but I absolutely HATE the following totes, amazeballs, awesome sauce, epic. An old boss of mine used the term irregardless…*face palm* – hate that too but it fit.
When I was a wildland firefighter (Pacific NW, early 90s) my firefighting partner and I used to intoduce each other as “partner” to people who didn’t know our vocational relationship. Nobody batted an eye.
My wife and I were in our late 20s when we married. Before that, she was my girlfriend. I don’t think I ever called her my fiance.
`Irregardless´?? Good to find you here! :)
One of my friends always says “sussposed” instead of “supposed,” and somehow he finds a way to use it in every sentance he says. And my Grandma used to say warshed not washed, and for some reason she told people to shake a tower not take a shower.
Nice to see this post was freshly pressed! I know I was the first to comment on it way back, but I thought I would add a few of my pet peeve words to the list – “suppose” “commonest” and “got” – can’t stand them!
I hate it when people say `Ta´ instead of thanks or the preposition `but´, even when it is not necessary!
I know what you mean with the fiancé thing. I just feel weird calling my boyfriend that.
OH! and when people say “supposably” instead of “supposedly”….*cringe*
Great post! I live in East Texas and it’s the only place I’ve ever heard people say “flusterated.” It’s a southern blend of “flustered” and “frustrated” that I just can’t stand.
I completely relate to you! It does sound somewhat judgemental, especially coming from someone like me who grimaces at people who walk with bad posture, but we all have our weaknesses. Among my growing list are words/phrases such as “these ones” and using “good” instead of “well”. For example, “You speak English good” when it should be “You speak English well”.
-Brie Essa
Generally, people’s use of buzzwords annoy me. It reminds me of the at scene in The Princess Bride where Inigo calls out Fezzik for his catchphrase “inconceivable” (“You keep saying that word, but I don’t think you know what it means).
*annoys
I’ve started calling my boyfriend “partner” even though he doesn’t like the potential for misunderstanding. I told him that I hate “boyfriend”/”girlfriend” because I think we’re past that point of the relationship and I think gendered terms are silly (I don’t care to see myself as female outside a biological perspective). There wasn’t any term I could think of that wasn’t cheesy like “sweetheart” or scandalous like “paramour” (I do like that word though), and “partner” implies equality.
A friend of a friend used to drive me nuts whenever he used “LOL” in conversation, but now I find myself doing it too! I try not to get too worked up over slang terms as long as they’re not derogatory.
What a great post!
I hate “lol” and yet it amazes me how many people use it…CONSTANTLY.
Really, did it make you laugh out loud? No, well then, why use it?
Though I have more issues with actual words in the English language sometimes than the “new” words. Like luscious. It just bothers me! And bosom. What horrible sounding words!
Thanks for the great post. It made me smile.
http://dyefeltsool.com
Reblogged this on WriteByWaples and commented:
Some thoughts on using words, from Little Grey Box.
I like this, partner always makes me want to throw something heavy at person who said it, it sounds like you’re in business with your wife.
I agree. I think most men and women have moved beyond the gender politics of the “husband/wife” designations and can now go back to using these names without the fear that they’ll create the appearance of buying into stereotypes that were never meant to be attributed to the terms in the first place.
The word ‘alright’ drives me crazy because, well, it’s NOT a word. It’s all right. Same with ‘alot.’ You’re scrunching the words!
This is an awesome post! I love posts about language, I recently wrote a post about British English vs. American English. (I was an English teaching assistant in Spain this past year and kept running into British vocabulary in all the textbooks)
One acronym I was unaware of until recently was YOLO= you only live once. I think this is worse than FML, LOL, WTF or what have you. Thankfully my favorite dictionary urbandictionary.com cleared up what that meant.
Another one I don’t think anybody uses (except maybe rappers?) is “shawty.” I had never heard that word until Flo-Rida’s song “Low” came out. In fact, most rapping vocabulary perplexes me.
And as for mispronouncing words–my father who is French and who has lived 20+ years in the States still cannot pronounce the word “dangerous” right. It comes out sounding “dan-jer-us” instead of “dane-jer-ous!” But then he has an excuse! :D
Thank you so much x
Ditto on ‘disorientated’! Makes me want to make anyone who says it wear a pointy hat and stand facing a corner.
One pet peeve of mine is when people use ‘jejeje’ instead of ‘hehehe’ when writing out a laugh. What’s up with that?!
you are right!
To use your own words here, I think you’re taking speech too literally. Of course we know that you aren’t half a person. The other half metaphorically represents the other half of your heart. A little heavy, yes, but far from literal. As an English teacher, I can understand how certain language usages can bother you. For example, I don’t quite understand why you continue to switch between active and passive voice. However, it’s your blog and your choice–same as those who speak can choose the words they prefer. To correct people while they speak is a pretentious assumption that you know everything about the English language, and considering what a bastard the English language is, I doubt you know everything about it
Speaking and writing are two different contexts and presuming to correct speech (again, assuming that you speak correctly 100% of the time), only makes the speaker less inclined to relay certain things to you in the future. However, when writing, there are certain expectations depending on the audience. I would hardly throw “y’all” into an academic paper, but when texting my other friends, I don’t mind using the practical second person plural. Texting! That brings me to my next topic (since text has not always been in our lexicon as a verb).
The language is changing; no news here. The language is always changing. If it didn’t, we would all still speak like Chaucer or Shakespeare. Kudos to Shakespeare for everything he did for literature, but I would hardly like to converse in Shakespearean English. Also, there are tons of acronyms already in our language. Take RADAR for example, which was later converted to radar, since it was used so commonly. And fridge, abbreviated from Frigidaire. You can thank widening, narrowing, and compounding (among other techniques) for many language changes (i.e. roommate or breakfast).
Believe me, I always appreciate a good rant, and you certainly have one here. But in ranting, I think you should always expect a debate, so I am presenting you with some friendly opposition. :-)
Im a Filipino. English is my second language. Many Filipinos are fond of using certain words as filllers. It’s not a style but as a way to think what you’ll say next because we still think in our native tongue then try translating the idea to spoken english. Like the word “actually.” If you have watched some interviews of our boxing champ Manny Pacqiao. you’ll hear the word actually several times. Fillers are like the capital letter in a start of the sentence and sometimes the period.Hope you can share some links and/or books that I can read too that can make me more fluent with your language. I enjoyed reading your blog and some comments too. (Actually I literally feel like sharing this blog with my hubby who’s actually my ex fiance, literally! Pops, im going disorientated!=))
I excepted it: it is what it is:your wrong: irregardless.
They ALL make my skin crawl.
And if I see one more YOLO as an excuse for bad behaviour, rudeness or outright willful ignorance I will pull out a red sharpie and mark them. Hard.
The word I really can’t stand hearing is “basically”. Ugh! When I hear it, I feel like saying, “Give it a break–just speak!”
I am about to commit a certain irony. I too have those particular words that give me icy chills when I hear them spoken. I have an uncle who is regularly ‘ascared’ and a friend who likes to share her ‘prespective’ on things. Then there are those who ‘borrowed me’ something. It’s enough to drive me nuts. Proper words need to be said properly.
Then comes the irony. I am guilty of making up descriptors if the need arises. My blogger name is due to writing biblical fiction, hence biblifiction. I’ve also been known to say things like ‘spookify’ or my favorites – absatively and posolutely.
The difference for me is simply in choice. I mess up when I choose to (possibly a definition of your ‘deliberate mistakes’) but I get frustrated by continued misuse.
When it comes down to it I guess I am a word snob.
One thing that drives me crazy is when people consistently mispronounce words that they have been told numerous times how to pronounce correctly — and it’s just horrible when they can’t even use the correct word in the first place!
Another thing that annoys me is when people spell “Y’ALL” like this: “YA’LL”. That’s like writing “DO’NT” or “IS’NT”. It drives me crazy!
And the worst thing of all is when English teachers — ENGLISH TEACHERS!! — mispronounce, misspell, misuse, and mutilate words more than the average English-speaking person. I mean, these people are supposed to be teaching the next generation how to speak and write correctly! How can they teach others if they can’t even do it themselves?
I didn’t realise that hubby annoyed me until he was referred to in my blog one day (the word hubby that is, not the specific person). To protect his super secret identity, I typed “hubby” instead of his name. Then I read through my blog, and re-read it, and re-read it. I felt so weird, like a crime had been committed that I was aware of, yet not aware of. I walked way for half an hour, then came back to continue typing when I saw it staring me in the face. Hubby. There it is, the THING of annoyance finally had a face. I changed it to Husband, yes with a capital letter as it is now his pseudo-name on my blog. Husband. SO much better, it makes him sound like a real-life adult person, not some snuggly-wuggly schnookum-bear.
PS. I take no responsibility for grammar, spelling, or realllllllly annoying uses of words in this comment.
Bahahahahahahahaha :D
I worked for a woman who said “psgetti” (spaghetti) and “supposably” … without irony at all. “Ax” for “ask” is another one I hear a lot that sets my teeth on edge.
Also: you “present” a “presentation.” If you’re “presentating” you’re doing it wrong. (Although a colleague and I have decided that presentating is what you do when someone else is presenting, and you’re just doing the awkward forwarding-of-the-slides for them. It’s as close as we could come to extracting some humor from the situation.)
I despise the word “irregardless.” I’ve been told it’s a word, but I refuse to accept that fact. Also, “Libary” instead of “Library.”
Languages change, grow, get older, or younger. As speakers of different languages come in contact with each other, the evolution manifests by the borrowing of words in both directions. Technology and science also help language adopt new words. What’s important here is not to get lost in lexicography as change (or should I say evolution) is part of every language.
For me, its the difference between ‘Meanwhile’ and ‘In the meantime’. I have noticed news readers saying ‘Meantime, police continue to interview…’ You are a newsreader for goodness sake; proper usage of the English language is your job! Also, I have noticed the American word ‘Thunk’ starting to creep into our language pool here instead of ‘thought’.
Can’t STAND hearing words wrong or seeing them used wrong. I have the urge to correct it every time! Great article. Made me have a nice silent laugh tonight!
Well, your first sentence is missing a subject. But, hey, it doesn’t bother me. Just pointing out I think we all need to relax a little about language and what people say. I live in a shared house with many nationalities, so there are many ways of saying things and we don’t always agree. The best thing is if we can all relax and accept that people talk differently. I think it’s beautiful! Even if someone says “conversate” or “disorientated,” I just admire their individuality. Also, Australians refer to winter squash as pumpkins. That’s ok! I can still love them!
Your lack of a subject is perfectly acceptable in Japanese, so if it sounds fine, I says there’s nothing wrong with it to me (although a grammar teacher would disagree).
tryrandom.wordpress.com
Hi! I cant help but agree with you all. Speaking of, “y’all” is a favorite of my friends to use instead of “you all”. There are times I feel lost in the conversation when they use a lot of shortened words.
“Needless to say” if its needless…don’t say it!
LMAO!!! This word drives me nuts…..It’s because people paste it anywhere they want, even if the incident or an even is not that hilarious. They just want to make their presence felt….
Haha how do you feel about the LMFAO band/group?
i totally agree with disorientated! :))
I am a bit anal when it comes to grammar, but I am guilty of using actually, as in I ‘actually ran away’, where some people say literally. I hate the uneccessary use of literally, but thinking about it, actually is just as bad, actually!
Oh dear, I’m a terrible person!
Haha hey – you’re honest about it :) that counts!!
My Mum, Aunt and Grandma all use LOL but instead of Laugh Out Loud, they use it as Lots Of Love. Which confuses me sometimes when I read it on a text and wonder what was funny :D
Although it may be obvious why, I throw hatred at chav’s who show no effort to understand the English language. Yes Yorkshire dialect has naturally shortened words from here to ‘ere, but chav’s use it in a different sense. They use it to grab attention and to fill gaps where their brain is struggling to place real words. We have a complex, respectable and impressive inventory of words being English, yet chav’s show no remorse when adding their own disgusting twist on our poetic language.
So yes, that annoys me.
Alex
Thank you for the laugh!! English is my second language and I HATE it when people who speak it as their first language make mistakes.
I was extremely fond of using the word “literally” before almost every verb I used until I came across this person who was worse. That’s when I realised how stupid it sounded, “I literally had tears in my eyes”. As opposed to what? Virtually having tears in your eyes?
What really bothers me is that some people have no idea what different punctuations mean and where they are used. I feel like punching people in the face when they put an apostrophe before ‘s’ when writing the plural form of a word, like ‘word’s', ‘door’s’. Same goes with ‘your’ and ‘you’re’
I agree with Shannon, I use the word ‘actually’ a lot too along with ‘like’. But not as frequently as most people do. I know people who insert ‘like’ around 20 times in a sentence.
And, what’s with the overuse of the phrase, ‘last but not the least’? I was in a conference this morning where a woman thought she sounded very smart using it. The voice in my head was yelling, “Stop saying that!” I am so tired of that phrase.
Now that I re-read my comment, I think it should be ‘same goes for’ and not ‘with’ hehehhe….
OMG- Disorientated makes my skin crawl too!!! I think I have to follow you now, for that reason alone! Nice job on this blog btw…very funny- and true.
Gosh yes…. It just makes my whole body tense when I hear it! Haha thankyou :)
I used to be a wedding coordinator at a little chapel in Oklahoma and received the weirdest emails from brides with grammar and spelling errors I never thought possible. One bride emailed me and asked if June 30th was “avail”. I almost didn’t reply.
Hahahaha :)
English is not my native language either, however I recognize one annoying point almost in all languages. People “hate
… people “hate” a sound, they “hate” a word or the way the word is pronounced, they “hate” this and that constantly.. “hate” is a very strong feeling, much stronger than “dislike” … I wonder whether people do feel such a strong feeling against words, sounds, pronounciations… I think a simple verb “dislike/to be annoyed/to be irritated would do so good to express our feeling for incorrect use of words.
I’ve trained myself quite long time to quit using the verb “hate” very often…. Now I feel light with my language :)
Reblogged this on KristineJowelle.
I love this and can relate! I find most abbreviations annoying only because I have to google the meanings of most of them besides… lol and wtf.
I can’t stand when people don’t the difference between there, their and they’re… it’s not that hard!
Call u l8r.
U R cute.
Written in an email of course!
Also in my country we mix English with the national dialect and people make up stuff. I was floored to hear from one customer service agent saying, “Ask ko lang…” It was supposed to mean, “May I ask” but that came to mean “Ask you me”. Ridiculous.
THANK YOU!
A friend of mine had to tell her mom to stop saying WTF because it doesn’t mean where’s the fun..seriously!!
I cringe everytime the word personable is misused-it means handsome and in no way refers to personality and people misuse it all the time. My team was discussing a candidate for employment ( all interviews were done over the phone) and three different people made reference to how personable the candidate was…I mean if he was hot that’s cool.
Sorry, but personable is a synonym for amiable and in many ways refers to personality.
per·son·a·ble, adjective
1. of pleasing personal appearance; handsome or comely; attractive.
2. having an agreeable or pleasing personality; affable; amiable; sociable.
I use it all the time and you kind freaked me out here so I looked it up. The number two definition is obviously outpacing the first since no one outside of romance writers uses “comely”.
Well thank you so much for setting me straight because since the 7th grade when my teacher said “do not be deceived into thinking this word refers to a person’s actually personality, IT DOES NOT”!! It was the same week we learned the word respite, I remember it like it was yesterday! And for the last 30 years I have cringed because others had been Deceived into thinking this word was a in reference to personality – the things that stick with you are sometimes the funniest, especially when you found out you’ve been wrong for so long – THANK YOU!
Hahaha oh you’re very welcome :) thank YOU for reading. P
Hahahahah where’s the fun hahahah this had me in stitches!
Articles with original information like yours are an uncommon occurrence. I enjoyed how you used your own unique writing style to make you points clear.
http://beyondsteel.wordpress.com
Agree, however, I do quite like winding my daughter up with ‘hols’ and ‘sarnie’! But cannot stand the word ‘nice’. A nothing word if ever there was one.
When people refer to their parter as their “other half”, it seriously makes me want to light them on fire. I also find it irritating when people use irregaurdless, it makes me cringe every time.
“Light them on fire”…wow, I like your image of anger. :-)
Hahahhahaha
I cannot stand when people say liberry instead of library. Whenever people say liberry I ask them where I could get a lieing berry.
Noooo who says that? Shame!
I know right, pronounce your words right people!!
I do not judge, because when I do, then I make a mistake, then am embarrassed all the more because I have been judgmental of someone else–I have lived and learned, and been publicly incorrect, so I now try not to be so harsh on others
I like the fact that SOMEONE in this world likes proper grammar!
Enjoyed the post – thanks! I remember having a showdown with a student one time about using ‘oriented’ rather than ‘orientated’ and it made me question myself… but as with disoriented/disorientated, either/or is okay. And the ‘partner’ issue… yeah… ‘other half’ makes me sound incomplete but I’ve actually started to enjoy confusing people with ‘partner’ sometimes. It sure lets you know who is bristly.
Words I hate to hear #6: Expecially. As in, “I eXpecially love this post.”
You had me at… disorienTAted! I clench my teeth when someone uses that word. And I’m such a nazi when it comes to spelling, it makes me crazy when people do not know how to use words like: there, their, or they’re, to or too, and your or you’re. And when one is typing like they are texting, especially in an email or on Facebook, I just want to scream… yes, LITERALLY! :-) I really enjoyed your blog post, I was starting to think those things only bothered me. It is so refreshing to see so many comments from others that are just as bothered. Great post, and congratulations on being Freshly Pressed!
Hahaha you’re the same as I am by the sounds of it! This should really be a support group haha. Thanks for reading, much appreciated :)
“Irregardless” gets me every time!
“Quaff” is the word I hate. It is not incorrect. It just sounds pretentious and gives me the heebee jeebees. Oh, and i think I would have a hard time if I ever went to the US. Heard someone on tv last night pronouncing the word wrath with an ‘a’ sound as in ‘rat’. This kind of thing would kill me on a daily basis, I think.
Excellent post! I know a lot of people who confuse “wary” and “weary” when speaking. In writing, my skin crawls when they confuse “compliment” and “compliment,” especially in something like a national advertisement.
That’s funny that you think “fiancé” is contrived, though. I speak French, so to me it is simply the appropriate word for an engaged man. I wrote a post for my blog on how to use it appropriately. Most of the words for a non-marital partner are awkward though, especially “lover.”
I can’t believe how true this is… Although, I’m a funny one, and just cringe at words like ‘peg’ even though everyone says that correctly. I also cringe at the word ‘cringe’, but that’s a different story.
I was equally confused over the ‘disoriented’ thing (I’m a ‘disorientated’ kind of girl, ngl (something that also irritates me)).
Thanks for the brilliant post, though. I’m new to blogging, and this was an awesome (cringe) post to come across so early on.
First off, love this post. Its about time someone said something out loud about the many cringe worthy words. I have the same problem, except its both my parents, and grandmother that have used abbreviations in text messages. It has come to the point where even I can’t follow it. There have been more than one message back asking them to speak in English.
My cringe list is fairy short. I find the word ‘uber’ really awkward. As though its one of those things that means something, but is ultimately lost in translation. At least to me. Another one is ‘like’. Although that doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore, or people have grown out of it. I remember back in grade 4 when the teacher actually spent the entire year stamping that word out of our vocabulary.
Hahaha thanks for reading and for the kind words.
so funny to come across this blog post as i just had a conversation about someone using ‘problematical’. we both thought it was wrong and the person was dumb. turns out it is a word, it just sounds dumb. my personal cringe list is very long but my biggest frustration is with people who use ‘myself’ incorrectly and people who say ‘expresso’.
Hahaha expresso is not a word!
Well, it was to my shock that I recently read an article telling me that I’ve been using the word “nauseous” while meaning “nauseated” (feeling sick) my whole life long! Yes, English is my second language, but still… it’s just embarrassing!
I hate soooo much whe people say “schedule,” like ‘shed-yool.’ aaaaaah! Drives me nuts. That, and when pele say “sick”. For something that is particularly good, like “oh, that’s sick.”. Kids today!
I swear I heard some one at school used this word: proclamating.
Come onnnnnn
Brilliant, fantastic! Another couple of words much overused, often wrongly used, here in the UK – even on the BBC almost everything that happens in the world is “fantastic”. Drives me nuts. I wish I’d written this blog – it’s ‘fantastic’.
Hahahha thank you!
The thing that annoys me most is not individual words, but language snobbery. People should study languages more so they realize how much evolution happens in languages. The point is that things are less a matter of right and wrong so much as they are a matter taste.
Examples of language snobbery are:
1. People who don’t approve of the use of “due to,” as in “language snobbery due to being an arrogant person.”
2. Nauseous and nauseated. Who cares? Meaning in language comes from how people use it. Languages change. It’s like the “disoriented” and “disorientated” issue. Different people from different areas pronounce things differently. It’s not a big deal.
3. Over-the-top opposition to starting sentences with “and” or “but.” There are plenty of examples of famous authors doing it. But, it’s a matter of taste and like in this sentence, it can be done poorly.
4. The whole controversy of ending sentences with a preposition.
5. Snobbery related to pronouncing words that came from French. I speak French and lived in France for 2 years, so I’m qualified to say this. Words that are borrowed into the language take on an English pronunciation and intonation which is consistent with the English language. If you try to pronounce the word in a French way, unless you are a speaker of French, you will butcher the pronunciation, saying something that is neither French nor English. If you ARE a speaker of French, then still, please use the English pronunciation when speaking English. It sounds weird to mix phonologies in a sentence.
6. Using French words or expressions that most people don’t understand or are silly to pronounce in English. I don’t think you should say or write things like “je ne sais quoi,” “sans,” and “à propos.” A propos in French has a “de” after it so it sounds weird using it English. “Sans” has a perfectly good equivalent in English: “without.” Also, how do you pronounce “sans” in English? The obvious choice, which rhymes with “con” sounds horrible.
I blog a lot about language issues. Check out my blog if you’re interested.
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I had a look at your blog. You don’t say why you feel qualified to “blog a lot about language issues”. I do agree with you about the use of foreign words and phrases when it’s not necessary. However, evolution of a language is not the same as destruction of it and many of the points made in the original littlegreybox blog (not to mention that it’s a superb bit of writing and very funny) and the many comments are valid.
From your blog. You say that something is only ‘equal’ to itself; not true – the word equal has more meanings than this. You say that translation is difficult, imply that it is sometimes impossible, because of the different grammars. I disagree, what makes it difficult, but not impossible, is the different cultures and a word-by-word translation often will make little sense, but it’s usually quite possible to translate the meaning, which is what is important. It can be impossible when the culture does not allow for understanding of the concept (I can think of several instances when attempting to translate between Romanian and English, and I suspect it might be so between Japanese and English too). We will, frequently, use the word ‘stereo’ here in the UK; I don’t know about Japan or France. Finally, a common mistake – use of ‘amount’ with a countable noun, rather than ‘number’.
Nevertheless, you do make some good points and I frequently ‘break the rules’; I think that beginning a sentence with a conjunction often results in a better communication of the feeling of the writer – it’s a matter of style.
Reblogged this on Grumpytyke.
Very funny – I literally lol’ed (that was on purpose, seriously!). Anywho, back to my thought. I really don’t like it when people say anywho. I just don’t get it. There are also certain body part words (the anatomically correct ones) that totally make me cringe. Not sure why, they just do. And I think my most cringe worthy moments occur when someone adds an f-bomb between syllables of a word as if to give the word some extraordinary emphasis that is required to add credence to whatever they’re saying. I hate that……
I’m greatly opposed to using the text acronyms while speaking (OMG, LOL…). I’m not charging by the minute, just say the words!
I often find them irritating in writing, especially when they are not written out in full first (as all journalists are taught).
I hate the word “legit”. I also despise when people use the word “like” more than five times in a sentence. So it was with great horror that I found myself combining both of these linguistical misdemeanors into one sentence yesterday. But, hey, it was, like, a totally legit use of the word “like”. =P
LOL Loving this post, I must admit being engaged it sounds weird saying Fiance, or boyfriend while wearing a ring so I do say HUBBY
I don’t think anyone has mentioned the horrible ‘title’ we’re now often obliged to use in the UK with all its ‘politically correct’ nonsense – Ms (pronounced Mz!) – so that no-one can know whether the ladies are married or not, which is said to make them equal to the men (sorry if this starts a furore!). As a male ‘feminist’ I support the idea, but why not just leave out the Mr/Mrs/Miss altogether? And I quite agree with the many comments about ‘partner’. How about ‘lover’?
i hate the usage of LOL and ROFL in sentences. ex: I LOL’d at his pix. I ROFL’d at his story. aargh.I hate it.
Ulgh me too, if it was that funny then give it the proper respect it deserves not a ROFL
How awesome would it be if whatever council it is that decides what is officially recognized as a new English word would also add the the definition the year in which the word was recognized. :/
Oh, and, you know, the thing that’s special about English and American English is that it’s bound to nothing but ever changing-ness. I totally just made that up and it works because, well, our English is made up by a bunch of rules and those rules change all the time. We don’t speak in the same kind of English people spoke hundreds of years ago so really, there are no bounds to this language. Other languages have some set rules, even going so far as to have actual government-type organizations which make new words so that cognates don’t have to be used. Inasmuch as there are words that suffice, no language has it all and since spoken word tends to be more useful than written, it’s kind of douchey to make fun of people who don’t say words the “right” way. So. yeah.
Great post! The thing that annoys me the most is the phrase that started a few years ago “Not gonna lie”. Ugh! Basically every time I hear that, there is no point in the person saying it. “not gonna lie, but I’m exhausted from partying all night”. Why would you lie about that to begin with? “Not gonna lie, but that bar was awesome”. What is there to lie about? What the hell?
Loved this. Hilarious, yet true. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much to everyone who has read, commented, liked and shared this post. I really appreciate it and am so glad our shared hatred of certain words and phrases could bring us all together :)
I bartend… when people come up and order “jag bombs” I cringe. Jager is already an abbreviated word- from Jagermeister. Is it really that hard to utter two syllables?
This was hilarious :D I have the exact same issues (apart from my disoriented/ated problem is the other way around!). That s*** cray has become my best friend’s catchphrase.. Glad to know I’m not the only one who’s confused by the English language these days!
hahahaha got to love a good catchphrase! Glad you enjoyed the post :) thanks for reading x
My biggest peeve? “Where you at?” or “Where’s that at?” UGH – drives me nuts. “Where are you?” and “Where is that?” are just fine the way they are, no need to put “at” onto the end of every question regarding location. And like many others have stated:
pacific instead of specific
ax instead of ask
irregardless (my former boss said it ALL the time *cringe*)
Thanks for venting for all the logophiles out here!
I remember emailing some young man years ago and they kept using the phrase LOL. I was so confused… For example….. I fell over LOL. I kept thinking why he is putting” lots of love” after everything he writes. So LOL is probably up there with 24/7 and the word “regardless” now that one is like chalk down a blackboard to me!
Funny creatures aren’t we….. Paranoid about the apostrophe but I am sure I got that one right, if not someone is sure to pull me up on it LOL……arghhhhhhhhhhh!
Nicely written…!
FUSS-trated has to be my BIGGEST peeve. I always want to shout, “OMFG IT’S NOT FUSS-TRATED! It’s FRUST-RATED!” Ugh!
Reblogged this on Drops Of Ink.
Thanks for the reblog! P.
No problem I thought it was a good read.
Incorrect word usage is a frustrating action to endure, for clear communication is based on words and their definitions. Slang, easyspeak (with a nod to George Orwell), acronymics, jargon and colloquialisms can and do become acceptable communication factors through usage over time, and for those who regard the language more seriously than others, it’s just a matter of dealing with it internally and plodding on from there. A good post, littlegreybox!
ha ha Great post :) I too don’t like the word “Other half” or “better half”. It sounds too tacky but the word I hate the most is “rocks” as in “you rock” or “our class rocks”. Everytime some one says that, I just feel like clenching my teeth ..
Reblogged this on dogacres and commented:
So funny and sad and true, all at once.
Thanks for the reblog :)
My boyfriend has the awkward habit of purposely using Jamaican slang with his friends because apparently, that’s cool. Example: “What’s gwappin my yute?” (What’s going on, my youth?)
I should also mention he’s Filipino.
Hahahaha boys! I would have no idea what he meant if he said that to me. Maybe you could work as a translator? :p
One of the reasons my husband and I decided to marry ( not the main one, of course!) is that we didn’t know what to call each other. None of the usual words applied, as you’ve noted. He is an amazing man, so boyfriend just didn’t cut it. So now I say husband, and that perhaps best conveys our relationship. :) Maybe we need a new word. Something that says, themanIwanttospendtherestofmylifewithalthoughIdon’tnecessarilyfeeltheneedtomarryanyone, but perhaps shorter.