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

too many people don't use simple english in business, it's bullshit

"we plan to establish a brand strategy for internet search exposure going forward" -> "we got adwords"

when did ironic/faux-naïf comma splices come into common use, I use them myself sometimes but I'm not really sure how I feel about them. is this Saramago's fault somehow?

― the baby grew up to be a secessful kid (unregistered), Friday, June 23, 2017 5:22 PM (yesterday)

the lagoon effect, i do it too now

Saramago and lagoon, driving common usage

it's great, everyone do it

I am also not 100% on what is meant by ironic/faux-naïf comma splices btw

what is an ironic comma splice really, hard to tell, all i know is it's Good

"We identified that there were two key issues to be addressed."

i.e. 'identify' governing a 'that'-clause. It's so common in the reports I have to read and edit for work that I don't try to correct it, but it never sounds good to me. It can often be replaced by making the object in the clause the object of 'identify' ("We identified two key issues to be addressed"), which sounds way better.

― jmm, Saturday, June 24, 2017 1:51 PM (five hours ago)

The original sentence works better than your fix if they don't actually know what the issues to be addressed are, but they do know that there's two of them. I admit that this is probably a very niche use.

but you wouldn't say "identified" in that case. Discovered or found would be better.

They would be better, true. But I don't think it would be wholly inaccurate to use identified in that case. Maybe I'm wrong and it's still too much language twisting?

it wouldn't be inaccurate, in that a reader would understand the meaning of the sentence, it just would be an awkward use of the word "identified" when other words would be more appropriate.

I don't know much about comma splices but I know, what I like

In casual writing I've become addicted to mid-sentence end marks! which I know, is mad and wrong, but do I care? apparently not.

Progressive

I mean is this all a sudden the new backpatting selfdescriptor or have I just not noticed it before, shit is everywhere

https://irishelectionliterature.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/hsmyth1.jpg

https://ptmoney.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Progressive-Logo.jpg

Can anyone point me to a thread that's the opposite of this? IE. Words, usages and phrases you love

I tried it once phrases you like

& there was another one recently that had a few more takers I think

thanks Wins :-)

commas are fine the world would be better if everyone took a pause when they saw one

e.b.white said you have to pull out a chair and sit down when you see one = the opposite of capitals

i am a "person of color" but holy shit i am really starting to hate this term, it so clumsy and awkward

"of color"

like something about it so dumb yet this is the accepted unoffensive term

Try it with a u?

Still not good imho

I'm used to it by now tho

"Living my best life" can sod off as well.

― off-site man days (Mr Andy M), Friday, April 28, 2017 2:36 AM (two months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

my wife's good buddy/co-manager has a roommate who says this a lot and everyone hates it

Just from an editor's point of view, I've never quite got how PoC is different from saying CP.

And yes, I've linked to that Bloom County strip before, it doesn't help my argument.

here is where I remind people that an actual HR department suggested "pe0p1e of ethnicity" instead
and got arsey when questioned about it

googleproofing because I sure as hell googled it

Yeah that just doesn't read significantly worse than the accepted phrase to me, this feels like a déjà vu argument tho

only noticeable diff between PoC and CP is added emphasis on their being people as opposed to their color.

people of ethnicity is universal though. Everybody has an ethnicity or has Kaspar Hauser syndrome i.e. unless one is totally isolated from the people around one you pick up an ethnicity of some kind.
Always strikes me as weird that white bread type people don't recognise their own ethnicity. Maybe it is an idea of norm that 'we' are automatically 'normal' and anybody labeled as having an ethnicity is obvioulsy working away from that norm. When the norm itself denotes an ethnicity in itself, innit?

Everyone has a skin colour too

How dare u

clear privilege

everytime i see POC i just think of the irish rugby player paul o'connell.

everyone does

i prefer using white, black, brown tbh (purple too)

damn - i'm sorry he's had to go through so much.

xpost

I think of poo oyster cult

i feel like "brown people" has become hugely more prominent lately to mean "anyone who isn't of white ethnicity"

Meh. I like brown. I identify as brown, because it's less awkward than having to explain English-speaking Latino. As a term it's imprecise, but there's something empowerment of the imprecision. It feels inclusive, and I like it as an ethnic/racial analogue of "queer."

hanging out in los angeles in the 90s i saw lots of mexicans, central americans and chicanos wear t-shirts with this, actually say this and graffiti this a lot

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/40/b0/36/40b0367fb35a3424b439209522ef50b6--chicano-rap-latino-art.jpg

at that time i knew a guy who was trying to get into mara salvatrucha and him and his pals were into this

he had a huge tattoo of his surname written in blackletter/gothic script that took up half of his back

i always think it stands for 'piece of chit'.

Sneaked instead of snuck.

man, after all the times i've seen some well-meaning person referring to somebody from england or whatever as "african-american", i'll take about anything else without complaint.

"Our entire office is filled with rock star co-workers you will surely call friends of yours after a few weeks".

Uh, NOPE - kinda doubt working in a corporate office is anything like working with rock stars

feel like both of those things are different kinds of suck