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

I’ve referred to my wife’s sibling as my brother-in-law and to his spouse as my sister-in-law but never really considered the implied incestuousness until now

I’ve never been able to keep track of the conversation when ppl constantly refer to their relatives by their relation. Siblings I get but “my sister in law’s husband” is so much more confusing than “Jeff, my sister in law’s husband” who is then Jeff going forward. How important could it possibly be for conversation participants to know the full relation??

They should all just be referred to as “my relative” be they wife, son or second cousin once removed.

just call them all "er indoors"

or "Cathy's Joe"

better than "Cathy's Clown"

"Insta" is bad enough but I'm getting increasing numbers of promo emails calling their wares "insta-worthy"
I can't stand it

I prefer “pizza-worthy”

I suspect languages other than English have more precise terms for family/relations.

"OMG that's so random!"

But they don't mean 'random' at all, they mean lame or bogus.

― Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, June 10, 2021 9:01 PM (six days ago) bookmarkflaglink

I specifically remember the first time I heard other kids my age saying "random." It was 1991 and I was randomly (!!) paired up at a youth conference with a roommate who used it in every sentence. I switched roommates.

these are my kin

over there? my otherkin!

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/im_so_random.png

stadia

“I’m not saying ____ but I’m not not saying it either.”

any variant of the "fixer-upper" sort of insufferable suffixes. particularly when it's something like "i'm the best cleaner-upper i know!" or some shit like that. aaaaaaaaa

I had a huge argument in my college syntax and semantics class with the professor because she insisted "fixer-upper" could only refer to the person fixing up the house, not the house itself. Whereas I had only ever used it referring to the house being fixed up.

You're right that that's how it's used, but it's always seemed syntactically odd to me. 'Fix-upper' would maybe make more sense; something to be fixed up, not something to be fixered up.

It is odd and linguists like to talk about it! Generally in English the -er suffix applied to a verb indicates an agent... a fixer is someone who fixes things. But some English -er words the suffix indicates a patient, an thing being acted on, such as the chickens you can buy called broilers or fryers, or a house that's a fixer-upper.

(that extra -er in fixer-upper I can't explain)

i always use it to refer to a house, as well, but i just thought saying "fixer-upper" was short for "fixer-upper house"

I wonder if the "er" in some speakers' minds is an echo of 'er as in "her"

Fix 'er up.

Git'r'done.

(that extra -er in fixer-upper I can't explain)

my theory is that this and similar doubled-'er' locutions are poetic additions to terms that sound too awkward with just a single -er. The resolution, by doubling the -er, is a bit twee, but twee seems more acceptable than clunky.

What's the 'up' even doing in the phrase 'fix up' anyway? US English especially is full of these added(-on!) prepositions that seem mainly there for poetic cadence. There's also:

Head up, close out, change up (I know this meanS something specific in baseball), beat out, swap out, build out

“I’m not saying ____ but I’m not not saying it either.”

cf. HAAAAAATE "sorry not sorry"

I'm not too keen on 'in spite of, or perhaps because of'

I often wonder why in British/Australian usage, “washing” as a noun means laundry but “washing up” means kitchen dishes.

That's funny. In American usage, "washing" as a noun is uncommon, and "washing up" means cleaning your face/hands, e.g. from being outside before a meal

My parents sometimes call the dishwasher the washing-up machine.

On the subject of laundry, I often find myself lost for words when I'm trying to describe liquid laundry detergent. I mean, I should just call it that, I guess, but it seems kind of unwieldy. I think in the UK I might have called it washing liquid, but that seems not specific enough even there.

don't forget "warshing"

What's the 'up' even doing in the phrase 'fix up' anyway?

They're call phrasal verbs and English has thousands upon thousands of them... very tricky for non-native speakers since the prepositions and particles tacked on are for the most part semantically empty.

US English especially is full of these added(-on!) prepositions that seem mainly there for poetic cadence.

verb + preposition is just a phrasal verb -- they are rampant in english and brutal for learners
there's usually a one-word alternative and bonus for comprehension you have to be able to parse both as well as tell the difference between a phrasal verb and a prepositional phrase. poetry or rhythmic flow doesn't have much to do with it afaik

lol xp!!! <3

one of my favorite markers of Southern American English is that we don't put things away, we put them up.

xpost great minds <3

In the UK, does one brush their teeth, or clean their teeth? I feel like I've seen both

Both.

exception -- most of my generation 1.5 students used the term "search up" for "perform an internet search" ("i searched up the instructions") which i took as an interesting turn in the life of phrasal verbs

(xp) ... or either, rather.

poetry or rhythmic flow doesn't have much to do with it afaik

What do you consider the prepositions are there for, La Lechera – do you disagree with f.hazel and me that they are largely semantically empty?

I'm not even sure I agree with myself. "I ate up my dinner" is slightly different to "I ate my dinner", say. It kind of means "I got it down me", which is itself one of those idiomatic phrases that must be nightmare for learners of English because it's made up of such common words.

Idly wondering to myself why Excel has a Lookup function. That certainly can't be about poetry right? The preposition seems completely unnecessary.

Equally, I'm not going to be the one to tell Grace Jones Pull Up to the Bumper Baby isn't poetry so.

In SW England some of us ask where things are to

OK my longest-running worst thing on adverts - nonsense causality.
"M&S believe our strawberries are the tastiest ever, SO I'm going to meet one of the growers". Why would the second part logically follow from the first?

"At Sainsburys we believe that being with family and friends is important, which is why bananas are half-price this week"
Just have two separate sentences!

i do not find them semantically empty and i almost always agree with f hazel! my most controversial thought about phrasal verbs is that they are insider/outsider markers but i think that about almost everything lol :)

look up = search up = search

Making me think of an old joke(?) about running up a dress.

I think the 'up' in "knocked up" is actually pretty important to the phrase

my most controversial thought about phrasal verbs is that they are insider/outsider markers

they certainly function as markers, but it seems unlikely to me they originated purely to serve that function.

does how they function matter less than how they originated? i don't think so

from your calling this out as being a controversial opinion I inferred you meant to say it was their only function, not an acquired one after the fact.