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

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (10444 of them)

it's a decades old english language idiom

-_- (jim in vancouver), Monday, 27 November 2017 21:51 (six years ago) link

Dying on a hill died quite some deaths on hills already. Not particularly new.

Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 27 November 2017 21:52 (six years ago) link

I know it’s not a new idiom but it’s spread like wildfire lately gonna do a google analytics thing in a sec

flappy bird, Monday, 27 November 2017 21:54 (six years ago) link

xps

'dying on this or that hill' has been around for at least a couple of decades, but has had an upsurge recently for reasons unknown to me. it will fade into the background again in a few weeks or months, like most faddish phrases.

A is for (Aimless), Monday, 27 November 2017 21:55 (six years ago) link

it's upsurge is probably because taking stances on issues is such a big part of posting on social media and so many people have bad takes and strange hobbyhorses

-_- (jim in vancouver), Monday, 27 November 2017 21:58 (six years ago) link

Fuck horses are dying on the hills too??

flappy bird, Monday, 27 November 2017 21:59 (six years ago) link

where did the dying on hills thing come from

just to clarify, you do understand that choosing to die on a particular hill is a military metaphor for holding a position at any cost, don't you?

A is for (Aimless), Monday, 27 November 2017 22:13 (six years ago) link

clarity is important

mark s, Monday, 27 November 2017 22:27 (six years ago) link

yeah yeah i know it's an old term i meant why has it spread so suddenly in pop culture/discourse in the last week or two

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=%22hill%20to%20die%20on%22

flappy bird, Monday, 27 November 2017 22:30 (six years ago) link

Kamikaze attacks on hills up seventy percent state office would make no comment when approached by this reporter

fake pato is kind of racist, dude (darraghmac), Monday, 27 November 2017 22:48 (six years ago) link

is this the hill you want me to kill you on

ogmor, Monday, 27 November 2017 23:14 (six years ago) link

Hill killton

fake pato is kind of racist, dude (darraghmac), Monday, 27 November 2017 23:17 (six years ago) link

Abe said where you want this killin done
God said up on hilltop 61

President Keyes, Tuesday, 28 November 2017 14:17 (six years ago) link

“a phenomena”

rove mcmanus island (Autumn Almanac), Wednesday, 29 November 2017 20:50 (six years ago) link

Criteria instead of criterion.

lefal junglist platton (wtev), Friday, 1 December 2017 06:54 (six years ago) link

Not 100% on point in this thread, but in my tiredness the phrase "have sex" just suddenly struck me as odd. The active "have" is already odd to begin with ("I'm having a slice of cake"). But "have sex" is this weird level of abstraction from the act. "Fucking" clearly describes a specific action/activity. "Engaging in intercourse" is more abstracted but it's still clear that you are doing a thing. But "having sex" sounds like some kind of strange, suspended state rather than an action.

IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (man alive), Friday, 1 December 2017 07:15 (six years ago) link

xp yes fucking yes

rove mcmanus island (Autumn Almanac), Friday, 1 December 2017 07:39 (six years ago) link

weird xp

IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (man alive), Friday, 1 December 2017 08:18 (six years ago) link

having sex is holding it in your hand

flappy bird, Friday, 1 December 2017 08:47 (six years ago) link

i’m having a sex right now

rove mcmanus island (Autumn Almanac), Friday, 1 December 2017 08:55 (six years ago) link

^now that's a phrase/construction i dislike

flappy bird, Friday, 1 December 2017 18:14 (six years ago) link

apparently people still don't understand how to use hashtags

rove mcmanus island (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 2 December 2017 09:35 (six years ago) link

"it's #raining in #melbourne!!! #watchout for #floods and #rain #thisisscary #dontgooutside #bringyourumbrella"

no

rove mcmanus island (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 2 December 2017 09:37 (six years ago) link

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/smartphone-apps/apples-date-related-bug-causes-headaches-for-device-users-20171202-gzxhua.html

A bug in Apple's software is causing headaches for many device users, with apps that use local notifications causing their devices to crash as of Saturday.

Apple users took to the internet to complain of the glitch


stop saying "took to the internet"

rove mcmanus island (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 2 December 2017 21:05 (six years ago) link

http://www.theage.com.au/world/despite-condemnations-donald-trump-is-impervious-to-the-uproar-he-causes-20171130-gzvvpe

On Wednesday, local time, Trump took to Twitter before sunrise to share three unverified videos

but... he's already on twitter

how do you "take to" something when you're already using it

rove mcmanus island (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 2 December 2017 21:07 (six years ago) link

like a duck takes to water
like a Trump takes to Twitter

jmm, Saturday, 2 December 2017 21:19 (six years ago) link

okay that works

rove mcmanus island (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 2 December 2017 21:29 (six years ago) link

takin' it to the tweets

'cause there's always been an it i can't truss (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 3 December 2017 02:57 (six years ago) link

the revolutionary moves among the people like a duck takes to twitter

mark s, Sunday, 3 December 2017 11:29 (six years ago) link

how do you "take to" something when you're already using it?

I don't see a particular problem with this. 'Took to' to me means someone logged into their account/opened an app in order to post. And even if the app is already running, the action of bringing it to the foreground is still required in order to post.

dubmill, Sunday, 3 December 2017 12:21 (six years ago) link

but... he's already on twitter

how do you "take to" something when you're already using it

I don't understand the objection unless he's literally using Twitter 24/7?

Action of Boyle Man Prompts Visitor to Stay (Tom D.), Sunday, 3 December 2017 12:47 (six years ago) link

It's like, if a ship is harboured and then takes to sea... isn't it?

Action of Boyle Man Prompts Visitor to Stay (Tom D.), Sunday, 3 December 2017 12:50 (six years ago) link

If Trump has a thought, picks up his phone, opens the Twitter app, and posts, then you can perfectly legitimately say he 'took to' Twitter. But in the case of him sharing the Britain First videos, you might assume he saw them on Twitter in the first place, in which case he was clearly already using Twitter and the 'took to' idiom is not appropriate (unless, that is, he watched the videos on Twitter, left Twitter, then thought to himself, 'I'm going to share those videos I saw', and opened up the app again in order to do so).

dubmill, Sunday, 3 December 2017 12:57 (six years ago) link

Yes, of course, duh... except a ship at harbour is still 'on the sea', sort of, it's just not sailing on the sea, to extend my tortuous analogy to breaking point... ummmmmmm.

Action of Boyle Man Prompts Visitor to Stay (Tom D.), Sunday, 3 December 2017 13:04 (six years ago) link

What if a boat spends all afternoon sailing round and round the harbour, is it at sea?

dubmill, Sunday, 3 December 2017 13:08 (six years ago) link

A harbour is not the sea, of course, so even that doesn't work. I did say a ship and not a boat though, a ship sailing round and round a harbour wouldn't be the done thing.

Action of Boyle Man Prompts Visitor to Stay (Tom D.), Sunday, 3 December 2017 13:17 (six years ago) link

Come to think of it, the phrase normally used is 'put to sea'.

dubmill, Sunday, 3 December 2017 13:21 (six years ago) link

A presenter used the word "deprivatize" at a workshop I was at last week--as in, "Deprivatize your strategies with other teachers at your school." As in, "share."

clemenza, Sunday, 3 December 2017 16:16 (six years ago) link

People just standing about are already on their feet, yet if they begin to run we may say they "took to their heels and ran".

A is for (Aimless), Sunday, 3 December 2017 19:17 (six years ago) link

lol @ deprivatize

makes sense though -- the word focuses on the proprietary nature of some teachers and their teaching materials

weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Sunday, 3 December 2017 19:50 (six years ago) link

The ameliorating language of receptionists/similar junior-staff gatekeepers: asking you to do something eg. “Could you wait over there FOR ME?”

AAAARGH

kim jong deal (suzy), Sunday, 3 December 2017 20:01 (six years ago) link

come on, do it for mommy! :)

weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Sunday, 3 December 2017 20:06 (six years ago) link

In office terms, the people saying it to me are basically twelve.

kim jong deal (suzy), Sunday, 3 December 2017 20:16 (six years ago) link

Sir! Please reprivatize yourself immediately!

mick signals, Monday, 4 December 2017 02:00 (six years ago) link

"slutshame" is kind of ridiculous word esp used by a us senator in reference to another us senator

marcos, Tuesday, 12 December 2017 19:30 (six years ago) link

"late capitalism"

yeah, for sure, on it's way out, any day now...

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 14 December 2017 00:58 (six years ago) link

it keeps getting later
and later and later
i feel like i'm in
a falling
elevator

― difficult listening hour, Thursday, March 12, 2015 9:35 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

difficult listening hour, Thursday, 14 December 2017 01:28 (six years ago) link

i stand by my defense of "late capitalism" offered ages ago in this thread. though i am sure it is annoying in many hands. maybe "later capitalism" would be better.

the pleather of pleather paul (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 14 December 2017 01:53 (six years ago) link

The term "late capitalism" was first used by Werner Sombart in his 1902 magnum opus Der Moderne Kapitalismus

Basically if we've been in "late capitalism" for like 48% of the years since Wealth of Nations was published it does seem like we're ready for a new phase

President Keyes, Thursday, 14 December 2017 15:00 (six years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.