Thread: Epic overuse/misuse of words

I don't care what words someone uses, as long as they don't try to throw in big words out of context in order to sound intelligent. Personally, I hate it when some idiot learns a new big word and tries to use it as often as possible.

I believe it was Einstein that said the true meaning of intelligence was getting your point across in the fewest words possible.

Ever notice that the truly smart people you know never TRY to sound intelligent? They are what they are; they don't need to try.

There aren't any particular words I have a problem with, but there certainly are speakers I can't stand...

Small grammatical mistakes do get on my nerves though. And although this doesn't really apply to a forum, the tone of someone's voice can push me pretty close to the edge sometimes. Or someone who acts like they know what they're talking about and they clearly don't. Oh, and impolite conversation topics - god I can't stand it!

I have thought about this off and on today, and I remembered how much it irritates me when people say "I feel so badly" when they should say "I feel bad."

But, if they burned their fingertips on the stove, they may feel badly...

Aluminum.

I mean, why would anyone drop an important syllable willy-nilly? It's Aluminium! Well, at least the Periodic tables I learned from said so.

(Only slightly cheekily aimed at X, )

Originally Posted by majurey

Aluminum.

I mean, why would anyone drop an important syllable willy-nilly? It's Aluminium! Well, at least the Periodic tables I learned from said so.

(Only slightly cheekily aimed at X, )

Silley limeys, with your redundant syllables and extra Us

Oh wait, that's everyone but the US

"We know the quickest and best way that burns the least calories!", says the fat American.

The one that bugs me is "respect".

It's not so much the word itself, but the way its thrown around by some people as if its their right to have it. They dont mean it in a "mutual respect" way, just in a "do what I say, when I say and dont question me" kind of way. And thats not respect at all, its just bully boy tactics.

I've always thought that if you want to have respect, you have to earn it and you have to show it to other people.

All these people who think they should be shown respect because they are loud and obnoxious, or because they have a knife, or just because really annoy me.

There was a case over here a while back now where a kid was excluded from school for refusing to stand when the teacher entered the room (which we all used to do at my schools by the way), which was a rule at this particular school.

So the father was all up in arms about it, and saying how the teacher had to earn his boys "respect" and his lad didnt have to show any respect for the teacher until he had earnt it...

Besides the fact that the teacher is an adult and the kid wasnt, the teacher has already earnt the position that he holds, the authority and respect that go with it.

That kid should be sent off to join the army. Try telling an RSM of 30 years experience that he has to earn your respect, and see where that gets you..!

So its not respect per se, just when its used by people like this as if its their God given right to be kow-towed to.

Good post, Stu Bear.

Much respect

Right or wrong it erks me when I hear will you call me BACKor return it BACK. Seems like call me or return it would be enough.

Also to me the word TRUTH has lost it's meaning these days and has become a matter of personal opinion.

Originally Posted by BeBerlin

What really annoys me are grammatical errors that can ambiguise entire sentences, like "they're/their/there" or "its/it's".

The most bothersome mis-use of words for me are insure versus ensure and less versus fewer. To insure something means that you take out an insurance policy. You don't insure that certain work will get done, yet people write it all the time. Less and fewer seems more innocuous to me, but it's such a simple rule, I don't understand why it’s so misused. If you can count it, use fewer. If you can't count it, use less. It's like the rhyme, "Those signs in the grocery store, they certainly are peculiar. They say ten items or less when they should say ten items or fewer."


And while we're on the topic, whatever happened to the use of the word whom? Who is a subject and whom is an object. It's not that hard, but we’ve gotten so bad at distinguishing them that even the dictionary now says to use who as an object.