Thread: Epic overuse/misuse of words

I know I learned it over and over, but I can never remember when to use whom instead of who.

Of course if I were to use whom people would probably just think I was trying to be pretentious.

Originally Posted by mbrossar

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.

For the topic of the post, I find the two culprits of catch-words that most of us come to hate are politicians and the hollywood culture.

This and last years political big-gun was "Transparent" or "Tranparency"

Hollywood...I cringe when I see some middle-age dipstick referring to everything from people to places as being "Hot"

Originally Posted by bbshriver

I know I learned it over and over, but I can never remember when to use whom instead of who.

Think of it this way, if you change the question to a statement and you would use 'he', then you would use 'who'. If you would use 'him' in the statement, then you would use 'whom' in the question. Two examples:

1. Who is going to the store? Who is the subject that is going.
2. Whom should I give this box to? I am the subject that is going to give the box to whom (the object of the sentence).

But when in doubt, just try the 'he/him' substitution to check.

The misuse that really gets on my nerves is the improper use of the reflexive case. "Please see George or myself if you need help." Sorry, the only person who can see yourself is you.

Or, "I'm fine, how about yourself?" I'm always tempted to answer, "Myself is fine, thank you. I am also fine."

If we have to pick a single word, how about "actually"? I worked with a guy for a few weeks who used it every sentence. "We're actually going to put the screw in this hole. Let's actually use thread locker. I'm actually going to tighten it finger tight." That actually got really old.

Fred

With stubear on "respect". It's become a concept of self-centered wankers who, interestingly, show a great lack of the damn thing. The biggest trash speaks of "respect", making me instantly rank the person lower on the scale.

Otherwise, with jockeys when I'm at work. Lots of management-ish people use semi-technical terms to underline how "good" it is what they intend to do.


When not at work and "out in the real world", I sometimes go to the local supermarket. If today's school- and collegegirls were incapable of using the words "like", "totally", the combination "like totally" and the stretched version of "so", I think they could sound intelligent.

edit: fpatton's "actually" needs to be added. Both to the supermarket and the office scenarios.

Originally Posted by fpatton

"I'm fine, how about yourself?" I'm always tempted to answer, "Myself is fine, thank you. I am also fine."

Fred, that is one of the funniest damn things I've read in a long time. Thanks for the laugh.

"Sexy" My wife is sexy. Ursula Andress is sexy. Straights are not sexy...what is it with this word? Everyone wants to apply it to everything from a sports car to a tooth brush.

Over used and misused words are one thing I'm spared from here. However, the Japanese tend to overuse some of their words like you couldn't believe.
おいしい - oishii = tastes good
すごい - sugoi = great/horrific

If you watch the tv or go out with someone you'll hear them about 500 times a day. 500!

I find the word "Hackneyed" is overused.

James.

Originally Posted by JMS

"Sexy" My wife is sexy. Ursula Andress is sexy. Straights are not sexy...what is it with this word? Everyone wants to apply it to everything from a sports car to a tooth brush.

Guilty.
I have referred to several of the restores here as "hot" or "sexy". I guess I've fallen victim to the same thing I am whining about... I certainly don't have a sexual attraction to any of the razors; yet I refer to some of them as sexy.