Words, usages, and phrases that annoy the shit out of you...

XPOST

Yes, if you take only the literal words, and ignore the standard phrasing (the verbal cognate of a rolling-of-the-eyes), which acknowledges that the elimination of the negation is ironic, and not intended to change the meaning.

You hadn't. I was surprised that you of all people were taking exception to the term!

No, I think people the phrase does literally mean that, and therefore there's nothing sarcastic about the phrase. (sure, sometimes people use it when they don't mean it, i.e. hyperbolically, but the initial usage was not hyperbolic) I'm not saying that everyone who uses it thinks about the literal meaning of what they are saying, and why their intonation corrects for its literal incorrectness, but they do know the meaning of their words when intoned traditionally. And I don't think it's a bastardization when the 'common idiom' is less common than the bastardization.

Accent, it's actually supposed to be "the proof of a pudding is in the eating". Which makes a lot of sense, if you think about it, certainly more than the mis-abbreviated form.

Er, yes. Right, which is why I hate the abbreviated form so much. For the same reason as people don't like "I could care less". It doesn't mean anything.

Currently I also hate "of" being used instead of "have" because people don't understand contractions.

But it does mean something? Sure, it's sarcasm, which ain't great, but you can't say it doesn't mean anything without being wilfully ignorant.

Also, why does no one talk about "psychopaths" any more, but always of "sociopaths." That hard K sound gives the former more crazy authority. The latter just sounds like you have trouble on the school playground.

And this final gripe: the reason I gave up on Anne Rice's vampire books was not because the series shit the bed, even though it did—it was her constant use of the word "preternatural." She had to keep dropping it into the conversation. It's like she had a crush on a fucking WORD.
Having stylistic objections to Anne Rice is kind of dumb, I know. But those first books totally sucked me in. Even when they started to go bad, I followed for a little while.
Where are people's editors? Where's MY editor?
I'm going to stop myself. Right now.

: "How you doing today?"
: "Any better and I couldn't stand it."

My latest problem is the habit of media figures, bureaucrats, and students who want to sound intelligent appending a preposition to verbs. "Separate OUT," "divide UP," "play OUT," "win OUT" – why??? In every case they're redundant and look awful on paper.

"On April 18, 2008 CASA will hold our 1st Annual 'Light the Night' event at Immanuel Baptist Church (parking lot)."

You can't have an "annual" anything if it's only happening for the first time!

People who get con-fuzzed about things.

My latest problem is the habit of media figures, bureaucrats, and students who want to sound intelligent appending a preposition to verbs. "Separate OUT," "divide UP," "play OUT," "win OUT" – why??? In every case they're redundant and look awful on paper.

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, April 2, 2008 7:55 AM (Wednesday, April 2, 2008 7:55 AM) Bookmark Link

Because that is how American English tends to be spoken?

Many compound nouns have the form verb plus preposition: add-on, stopover, lineup, shakedown, tryout, spinoff, rundown ("summary"), shootout, holdup, hideout, comeback, cookout, kickback, makeover, takeover, rollback ("decrease"), rip-off, come-on, shoo-in, fix-up, tie-in, tie-up ("stoppage"), stand-in. These essentially are nouned phrasal verbs; some prepositional and phrasal verbs are in fact of American origin (spell out, figure out, hold up, brace up, size up, rope in, back up/off/down/out, step down, miss out on, kick around, cash in, rain out, check in and check out (in all senses), fill in ("inform"), kick in ("contribute"), square off, sock in, sock away, factor in/out, come down with, give up on, lay off (from employment), run into and across ("meet"), stop by, pass up, put up (money), set up ("frame"), trade in, pick up on, pick up after, lose out.[14][15]

Using "of" instead of "have" is tremendous

xp: err, I guess you're talking about verb forms rather than nouns

Yes. And in every case I cited the preposition is unnecessary.

language would kind of suck if it was efficient and orderly

orderly efficient useless language if w'asnt and be it would

the preposition thing seems more of a spoken thing that happens a lot, and looks really awkward on the page?

basically

I agree with Alfred here, but it's hardly surprising where spoken language goes written language follows.

...surprising THAT where...

haha ...where spoken language goes down, written language follows up.

my coworker:
"we weren't doin' much. just out fiddle fartin' around..."

ugh. hurts my guts when she does that.

the preposition thing seems more of a spoken thing that happens a lot, and looks really awkward on the page?

Reporters and columnists use these formulations all the time.

you're obviously reading the wrong journalists--they must be liberal hacks

j/k, to be fair, i can see why you would be annoyed by these things in like student papers and such--seems like a first draft kind of thing that you cut when you start to edit the paper

True, but a student walked in here a couple of hours ago and said, "The professor wanted to separate us out from" something or other. It's enough just to say, "The professor wanted to separate us from..."

The preposition thing is interesting, and I can't say it's particularly bothered me, especially since most of the time there is a slight (or sometimes significant) difference in meaning.

We wouldn't have a whole load of English words, from everyday ones to your more fancy or technical long words, if the Romans hadn't loved doing the same thing. A Latin verb without a prepositional prefix was considered rather plain, so they'd add them all the time. Sometimes the meaning would drift; sometimes it would keep the original meaning but be considered a more rhetorically stylish word.

No, I didn't have a point; yes, that was so poorly written as to destroy any point I might have thought I had. Hey, it's nearly hometime.

"starving"

You are not starving. Those little pregnant-looking babies in africa with flies around their eyes are starving. You are just hungry. Which is a fair usage.

^^^ Heh heh, I had a primary school teacher who used to get really pissed off about this.

jesus.

bugs me

I've been noticing an extreme overreliance on "essentially" lately.

"Utterly" used to fly into my ears several times a day, but luckily that died off somewhat after high school.

Yeah I find myself using "essentially" way too much in essays & whatnot.

You are not starving. Those little pregnant-looking babies in africa with flies around their eyes are starving. You are just hungry. Which is a fair usage.

Well technically they may well not be starving. Malnourished, yes, but not necessarily starving.

little pregnant-looking babies

babies can't get pregnant god are you retarded?

Re unnecessary prepositions, the one that bothers me the most is "off of."

'amazing'

Since when is hyperbole off-limits, starving-hataz?

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