"Use other words please."

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from what i can tell it's used to make ordinary (even boring) stuff people do when they're drunk sound more interesting or mischievous

La Lechera, Thursday, 9 July 2015 15:32 (ten years ago)

are the irish theme bars called 'shenanigans' part of a chain or do they just have the same name?

soref, Thursday, 9 July 2015 15:33 (ten years ago)

No clue

La Lechera, Thursday, 9 July 2015 15:41 (ten years ago)

earnest use of "shenanigans" def screams drama kid/poly/fedora/libertarian to me

gr8080, Thursday, 9 July 2015 16:47 (ten years ago)

See to me, it signals country/white hat/red solo cup.

how's life, Thursday, 9 July 2015 16:54 (ten years ago)

For me it's account manager who feels her partying days are over but she still likes to drink wine and gossip and calls that "shenanigans"

La Lechera, Thursday, 9 July 2015 16:55 (ten years ago)

curate

early rejecter, Thursday, 9 July 2015 17:41 (ten years ago)

'Hilariously'

(no offence to people) (dog latin), Wednesday, 22 July 2015 23:58 (ten years ago)

music writers saying a song is 'all x and y'

Vasco da Gama, Thursday, 23 July 2015 00:15 (ten years ago)

reveals

j., Thursday, 23 July 2015 00:28 (ten years ago)

"putting out fires"

gr8080, Tuesday, 28 July 2015 00:07 (ten years ago)

alt.shenanigans was a quality usenet newsgroup

brimstead, Tuesday, 28 July 2015 00:18 (ten years ago)

exclusive

fact checking cuz, Tuesday, 28 July 2015 01:39 (ten years ago)

any ___splaining construction other than mansplaining (straightsplaining, whitesplaining, etc.). None of them work.

five six and (man alive), Tuesday, 28 July 2015 01:46 (ten years ago)

splainsplaining

(no offence to people) (dog latin), Tuesday, 28 July 2015 09:18 (ten years ago)

two weeks pass...

ok, which one of you did it

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/wrg/5176556495.html

for sale: baby shoes, never worn your ass (katherine), Monday, 17 August 2015 16:10 (ten years ago)

Hard to believe there's a lack of decent copyeditors at the Time's

cis terfs /r/ doing it for themselves (wins), Monday, 17 August 2015 16:15 (ten years ago)

seeing various folks using "lane" a lot

Caramanica re Drake: And that’s true — by creating his own sound, and lane, he ensured no one could best him

curmudgeon, Tuesday, 18 August 2015 15:04 (ten years ago)

agitprop
"agit-pop"

marcos, Tuesday, 18 August 2015 15:11 (ten years ago)

I have to let it out: stop the "at once _____ and _____", where the blanks are essentially opposites.

Everything can be summed up in terms of opposites, which is a neat notion about existence in general, but in most cases I've read this, the terms used are either too vague, or one seems obviously more apt for the music than the other, and comes off as hedged (and lazy). If you're describing music that can be at once "this" and "that", then why not also describe "the other", or each of the millions of alternatives? Or, you could just do the much harder thing, and attempt to describe what the music actually sounds like, or makes you feel, without setting these weird limits that traverse almost infinite detail.

Dominique, Thursday, 20 August 2015 13:06 (ten years ago)

I get why it happens, and I'm sure I've done it many times myself - performing this act of reaching for an ineffable thing. It's a construction riddled with pathos - basically trying to catch something of what "bittersweet" conjures with regard to personal experience. But not actually that descriptive... should be dashed away by the same editors who should be catching strings of effusive modifiers that are all near-synonyms for each other.

Gorefest Frump (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 20 August 2015 13:10 (ten years ago)

yeah, I know I've done it in the past too -- I think that's why I hate it so much

Dominique, Thursday, 20 August 2015 13:14 (ten years ago)

confess to overusing 'at once x & y'
also to 'strings of effusive modifiers that are all near-synonyms for each other'
(bbbbut distinct shades of meaning!)
(have to) make an effort in editing to cut that stuff out

drash, Thursday, 20 August 2015 13:28 (ten years ago)

two weeks pass...

never thought it would happen but i have tired of a function word

"this"

La Lechera, Thursday, 3 September 2015 21:38 (ten years ago)

"swear" as a noun (e.g. "he said a swear") Is THE WORST.

EDB, Friday, 4 September 2015 03:42 (ten years ago)

"mainstream" and, far worse, "underground"

EDB, Friday, 4 September 2015 03:43 (ten years ago)

"this"

― La Lechera, Thursday, September 3, 2015 4:38 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

""this""

Hideous Lump, Friday, 4 September 2015 03:47 (ten years ago)

"Disconnect".

I'm not a prescriptivist (I speak and write in non-standard English every day - heavy Glaswegian dialect). And I'm not opposed to nominalisation in principle (certainly not the word "disconnection"). But there is just something about the proliferation of that word, especially in British print journalism when it's so clearly an Americanised turn of phrase, that just makes my blood boil.

you too could be called a 'Star' by the Compliance Unit (jim in glasgow), Friday, 4 September 2015 04:06 (ten years ago)

I want to call time on "did a thing" on social media, as a coy substitute for "wrote a feature" - e.g. "I did a thing for the New York Times", as if you just scribbled a few lines in your downtime.

mike t-diva, Friday, 4 September 2015 10:48 (ten years ago)

Yep, similarly the use of 'so this happened'

MaresNest, Friday, 4 September 2015 10:55 (ten years ago)

don't much care for 'did a thing' but that's mainly because it sounds twee as fuck

speaking personally here, I tend to be comparably self-effacing about stuff I've written because of my gnawing sense of shame about failing to have learned any skill apart from writing about minority interest topics

Hector Ringtone (DJ Mencap), Friday, 4 September 2015 11:25 (ten years ago)

two weeks pass...

'denier'

soref, Monday, 21 September 2015 00:35 (ten years ago)

one month passes...

when did ppl start saying "drop dead" wrt deadlines? it drives me crazy

gr8080, Friday, 13 November 2015 14:50 (ten years ago)

as in "what is the drop-dead date?"

gr8080, Friday, 13 November 2015 14:50 (ten years ago)

I heard somebody use the words "moxie" in two separate sentences last week as if that's a thing that real human beings actually say.

tsrobodo, Tuesday, 17 November 2015 09:26 (ten years ago)

"double-down on (something)"

Sam Weller, Tuesday, 17 November 2015 09:59 (ten years ago)

seven months pass...

"...if that makes sense."

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 13 July 2016 13:24 (nine years ago)

a rare sentence-final hedge!

weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 13 July 2016 13:40 (nine years ago)

"incestuous" to describe a tight-knit community who prefer to work/associate with each other rather than with outsiders. Don't try to make it salacious, it's not that interesting a scenario.

Josefa, Wednesday, 13 July 2016 14:35 (nine years ago)

one month passes...

sarcastic "it's almost as if"/"it's almost like" construction could do with some time on the bench

llandfillpollgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (wins), Wednesday, 17 August 2016 18:27 (nine years ago)

yeah i wilt at verbose sarcasm. one of the reasons i can't handle john oliver.

bagging area (map), Wednesday, 17 August 2016 18:34 (nine years ago)

"it's almost as if"/"it's almost like"

yeah have consciously retired this in recent years.

le Histoire du Edgy Miley (difficult listening hour), Wednesday, 17 August 2016 18:35 (nine years ago)

"perfect pop"/"perfect pop song"

punksishippies, Wednesday, 17 August 2016 19:24 (nine years ago)

you guys would put john oliver out of business

chicken lit (rip van wanko), Wednesday, 17 August 2016 19:25 (nine years ago)

"...if that makes sense."

i'm really good at this one

who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, 17 August 2016 19:29 (nine years ago)

music writers saying a song is 'all x and y'

i'd like to yell everyone about this one though

who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, 17 August 2016 19:30 (nine years ago)

Xxxpost ooh, good point! let's also add asides of the form '' --- and this is true ---''. been losing potency ever since dave barry wasn't making things up 25+ years ago.

Silence, followed by unintelligible stammering. (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 17 August 2016 19:32 (nine years ago)

"for white people" is gross, both in it implication about white people and non-white people

punksishippies, Wednesday, 17 August 2016 19:32 (nine years ago)

two months pass...

"blew us away"

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 8 November 2016 08:32 (nine years ago)

three months pass...

"batshit insane"

had a great run, truly wonderous, but now it's time to fucking stop

sleepingbag, Sunday, 19 February 2017 18:43 (nine years ago)


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