Now, a small cadre of philistines in my office has been using the word "outreach" as a NOUN... "Were you able to establish some outreach with the printers?" etc.
What language abuses have been rubbing you raw lately?
― andy, Tuesday, 23 December 2003 22:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 22:35 (seventeen years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 22:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 22:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 22:37 (seventeen years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 22:37 (seventeen years ago) link
― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:21 (seventeen years ago) link
― Chriddof (Chriddof), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:26 (seventeen years ago) link
― El Santo Claus (Kingfish), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:45 (seventeen years ago) link
Four Words: Use Other Words Please"Use other words please."Commonly used phrases that inexplicably bug youMost irritating cliche/phrase/expression"Taking Things to a Whole `Nother Level!" words that annoyWords that should earn the author a slapPROVERBIAL and other tip offs to poor writing
― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:48 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― phil-two (phil-two), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― andy, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:00 (seventeen years ago) link
-- caitlin (wpsal...) (webmail), December 23rd, 2003. (caitlin)
Oh yes, yes yes. I second that one. And the people who say it, say it over and over.
― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:03 (seventeen years ago) link
I also have a horror of people who write prolifically in all caps.
― felicity (felicity), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:07 (seventeen years ago) link
This is true.
But, this is a topic that should be dealt with routinely and harshly... the only way we can correct the language and suppress it's organic growth is by exposing and banning every new usage as it occurs... Isn't that what the French do?
― andy, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:14 (seventeen years ago) link
Also: 'fridge,' girls who refer to each other as 'girl,' proactive...i'll be back when i think of more....
― roger adultery, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 01:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― Roderick the Visigoth. (Jake Proudlock), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 03:19 (seventeen years ago) link
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 03:30 (seventeen years ago) link
― BrianB (BrianB), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 05:26 (seventeen years ago) link
― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 20:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― Melly E (Melly E), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 21:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― barbara wintergreen, Monday, 29 December 2003 18:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― Salmon Pink (Salmon Pink), Monday, 29 December 2003 20:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 29 December 2003 20:34 (seventeen years ago) link
'poetic justice'. Used by the lazy to describe all 'justice' the speaker approves of, instead of a particular type. The adjective is rendered meaningless.
Agree re 'bird' for woman/girl, and lament its threatened return. Stinks of 'I'm being un-PC, where's my medal?'. Also the C-person uses it, which kinda ends the argument.
― Fred Nerk (Fred Nerk), Monday, 29 December 2003 23:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 30 December 2003 00:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 30 December 2003 00:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― barbara wintergreen, Tuesday, 30 December 2003 00:19 (seventeen years ago) link
― Fred Nerk (Fred Nerk), Tuesday, 30 December 2003 00:46 (seventeen years ago) link
― ermes marana, Tuesday, 30 December 2003 01:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Thursday, 18 August 2005 07:29 (fifteen years ago) link
― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 07:32 (fifteen years ago) link
― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 07:33 (fifteen years ago) link
― gear (gear), Thursday, 18 August 2005 07:34 (fifteen years ago) link
Wait, huh? Fridge is the thing you put food in, whats wrong with it?
― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 18 August 2005 08:01 (fifteen years ago) link
― Diddyismus (Dada), Thursday, 18 August 2005 09:10 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm picturing him saying things such as "Would you like me to remove another beverage from the refrigerator for you, whilst we watch some association football?"
― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Thursday, 18 August 2005 10:29 (fifteen years ago) link
― naus (Robert T), Thursday, 18 August 2005 10:38 (fifteen years ago) link
― Diddyismus (Dada), Thursday, 18 August 2005 10:39 (fifteen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 18 August 2005 10:42 (fifteen years ago) link
xps
― pomenitul, Thursday, 25 February 2021 16:39 (one week ago) link
Mmmm this can be a really important tactic to soften a question, if you are outranked by all the people you're presenting to. In fact a number of things noted here re teaching & facilitating are actually strategies to mollify & appear positive and unthreatening to listeners.― Ima Gardener (in orbit)
― Ima Gardener (in orbit)
It is, yeah. Thanks for articulating this, I couldn't quite get the right words for it. For me it's rarely a rank thing, more wanting/feeling a need to be deferential to clients. I worry that it comes off as lacking confidence, though, and I feel like lacking confidence probably comes off worse than being too 'forward'..? Guess it depends on industry/clients.
'jab' annoys me too.
But I hate learnings the most, learnings is the worst one.
― salsa shark, Thursday, 25 February 2021 16:43 (one week ago) link
I want to use this in a presentation some day:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/95/fc/a1/95fca1b5e282449ac701d93aeecb6e81.png
― jmm, Thursday, 25 February 2021 16:44 (one week ago) link
'jab' better than 'shot' imo. We get it, you like to shoot things
― kinder, Thursday, 25 February 2021 16:52 (one week ago) link
"Sick to my stomach" is one I really hate actually
― kinder, Thursday, 25 February 2021 16:53 (one week ago) link
‘Jab’ and ‘shot’ are both fine.
― pomenitul, Thursday, 25 February 2021 16:54 (one week ago) link
so much for the teaches of Peaches
― The Scampo Fell to Earth (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 25 February 2021 17:02 (one week ago) link
people at my company say "learns" as a noun. I've never heard this before coming here. "What learns can we take away from today's training session?"
― Mosholu Porkway (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 25 February 2021 17:03 (one week ago) link
Canadian media constantly uses the phrase "top doctor" to refer to the chief public health officer of a given region. "Ontario's top doctor," "Canada's top doctor," etc. It's constant. It's this bit of conspicuous journalese, kind of like "shots in arms," that starts to grate really fast.
"Top soldier" has gotten popular as well.
― jmm, Thursday, 25 February 2021 17:06 (one week ago) link
The softening language discussion reminded me that about 6 months into the pandemic, my partner and I noticed we were both unfailingly saying "I think I might" instead of "I'm going to." So "I think I might go for a walk" while already putting on shoes, "I think I might have a beer" on the way to the fridge, etc.
We couldn't figure out how it started, but it probably was down to wanting to be less declarative with the only other person we were interacting with regularly (plus some kind of language-is-a-virus mutual reinforcement effect).
― rob, Thursday, 25 February 2021 17:18 (one week ago) link
I do that a lot when I'm declining something.
"Do you want to come along?" "I think I might stay home this time."
― jmm, Thursday, 25 February 2021 17:22 (one week ago) link
How can you get learns if you don't make asks?
― display names are for n00bs (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 25 February 2021 17:26 (one week ago) link
+1 on "learnings" - overused by several colleagues who want to sound 'with-it' and cool by dropping inane jargon
― Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 25 February 2021 17:27 (one week ago) link
Also annoyed by the misuse of 'campus' - "Here at the Genentech Campus, we're solving today's blah blah..."
What they mean is bland business park and they should just admit it.
― Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 25 February 2021 17:29 (one week ago) link
"learns" is so unnecessary I imagine the manager's child has been kidnapped and threatened with death should the manager ever say the word "lesson"
― rob, Thursday, 25 February 2021 17:30 (one week ago) link
Ilx specific one but “thanking you”. It adds 3 unnecessary characters for the sake of doge-esque flare or something.
― Evan, Thursday, 25 February 2021 17:35 (one week ago) link
Some British people actually say that though
― kinder, Thursday, 25 February 2021 17:42 (one week ago) link
hmm idgi. Is it supposed to be an emphasis like "many thanks"?
― Evan, Thursday, 25 February 2021 17:45 (one week ago) link
― Long Tall Arsetee & the Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Thursday, 25 February 2021 18:10 (one week ago) link
“get jabs into arms” is objectively awful tho, we have our own Dutch equivalent too
― Long Tall Arsetee & the Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Thursday, 25 February 2021 18:13 (one week ago) link
lol owned
otm
― stilt in the wings (sic), Thursday, 25 February 2021 18:15 (one week ago) link
My best friend does ‘thx’ and it is the only irritating thing about her but mein gott is it irritating.
― scampopo (suzy), Thursday, 25 February 2021 18:16 (one week ago) link
Maybe you've been lucky enough not to hear 'jab' in every second sentence.
― Punk's not daft (Tom D.), Thursday, 25 February 2021 19:11 (one week ago) link
it's a word that means "person has been vaccinated against deadly pandemic" so it tends to make me happy as long as you don't call it "sticky thingy"
― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Thursday, 25 February 2021 19:12 (one week ago) link
thx is gr8, thanking you is for wankers
― Towards a Britain-Free Planet (Left), Thursday, 25 February 2021 19:16 (one week ago) link
ppl who say this are also most likely to call things "pants" ime
― Towards a Britain-Free Planet (Left), Thursday, 25 February 2021 19:18 (one week ago) link
Indeed. My current geographical location has no doubt helped.
― pomenitul, Thursday, 25 February 2021 19:19 (one week ago) link
No very good entries since tbh soz folx
― e-skate to the chapeau (darraghmac), Thursday, 25 February 2021 19:45 (one week ago) link
I hate the word "the", do we really need it
― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Thursday, 25 February 2021 19:46 (one week ago) link
― Evan, Thursday, February 25, 2021 9:35 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
― kinder, Thursday, February 25, 2021 9:42 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
this is classic wee old woman in a shop patter when you pay for your morning roll and newspaper
― himpathy with the devil (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 25 February 2021 19:51 (one week ago) link
Also annoyed by the misuse of 'campus'
What's weird to me is that the latin word 'campus' was ever chosen to represent the vicinity of a college or university. In latin it usually referred to a military encampment, although its oldest meaning was more like 'a relatively flat area of ground', which also happens to be the type of spot where you'd want to place a military encampment.
― Judge Roi Behan (Aimless), Thursday, 25 February 2021 19:55 (one week ago) link
For "jab" let's just substitute "prick."
― display names are for n00bs (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 25 February 2021 20:36 (one week ago) link
by all means, let's go Dutch!
― Long Tall Arsetee & the Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Thursday, 25 February 2021 20:49 (one week ago) link
(don’t think my lack of enthusiasm came across very well here)
― Long Tall Arsetee & the Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Thursday, 25 February 2021 20:55 (one week ago) link
"learns" is so unnecessary
― fbclid=fhAZ3l (f. hazel), Friday, 26 February 2021 06:31 (one week ago) link
It's February 2021 and a colleague just used this in an email: "Awesome-Sauce!"
― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 26 February 2021 17:46 (one week ago) link
That’s good not bad imo, especially in a professional context.
― pomenitul, Friday, 26 February 2021 17:47 (one week ago) link
"amazeballs" is even worse
― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Friday, 26 February 2021 17:59 (one week ago) link
I was re-watching Kim's Convenience and it struck me how much you all must despise Shannon from that show
― fbclid=fhAZ3l (f. hazel), Friday, 26 February 2021 18:12 (one week ago) link
"cool cool cool"
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 26 February 2021 22:29 (one week ago) link
"hustle and bustle"
especially in listings for apartments, spelled "hussle and bussle"
― maelin, Sunday, 28 February 2021 16:52 (one week ago) link
I just deleted this sentence from a report I've been asked to edit: "There are though a number of ways of structuring that body though and our ‘starter for ten’ approach will need further consideration."
I want to feel glee about deleting it but mostly I'm just annoyed it was even in there to begin with
― salsa shark, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 18:36 (six days ago) link
My GF works for a big tech giant and says "Let's park that outside" is in common parlance these days.
― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 18:41 (six days ago) link
"There are though a number of ways of structuring that body though and our ‘starter for ten’ approach will need further consideration."
OK, this sends what I thought was just a slightly twee conversational catchphrase into very strange territory. What the hell is that meant to mean? I suspect it wouldn't help much if I knew what kind of body we were talking about.
― Alba, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 20:12 (six days ago) link
I think it translates as: "There are a lot of ways the landowners involved in this project can structure a partnership. Our report offers some options to consider."
― salsa shark, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 21:00 (six days ago) link
"quote-unquote" followed by the thing you want to quote, which is by now outside of the quote marks and thus not quoted. Happy to see an example of this upthread!
― regression toward the meme (Matt #2), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 21:49 (six days ago) link
that logic doesn't make any sense, quote-unquote is used the same way "said" is, at the beginning of the utterance that is its referent. this, for example, is not what we do in English:
The other day John said I'm going to the store said.
...although some languages probably do exactly that.
― so tonight that I might ramona quimby (f. hazel), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 22:08 (six days ago) link
(object is probably a better term to use than referent there)
― so tonight that I might ramona quimby (f. hazel), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 22:09 (six days ago) link
Inspired by reading this: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/mar/01/us-soccer-removes-seth-jahn-speech
“I’m sure I’m going to ruffle some feathers with what I’m about to say, especially given the athletes council that I’m on, but given the evolution of our quote-unquote, progressive culture where everything offends everybody" blah blah blah
He'd have been better off waggling his fingers in the air and affecting a sneer as he said it. Maybe he did that anyway, to be fair to the lad.
― regression toward the meme (Matt #2), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 22:48 (six days ago) link
yes, it's often employed by jerks, it's just not syntactically problematic for an English utterance
― so tonight that I might ramona quimby (f. hazel), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 23:03 (six days ago) link