What you say drives me crazy.

[raiderrescuer]

Drove me Crazy...

I use to say the term "umm" quite a bit.

Then when I went to Turkey, a Turkish Friend broke me of the habit...seems "umm" in Turkish refers to a Ladies Genitals.

Now I know why I got all those funny looks !

 

[Phil]

The number "language"

I rember that scene, it's amazing how word meanings are changed and twisted over time. But, as far as slang and all that goes, I'm tired of "hacker" language, better known as l33t 5p34k (leet speak) The "language" is based off of replacing letters with numbers or symbols. For example A could be written with 4, @, or /-\. This has become mainstream enough for Google to make it into a search language. As you can see, it gets very tedious to read. It bugs the heck outta me.

 

[Juniper]

I have to concur on "unique." Unique is an absolute. It means that there is no other thing like it. No two fingerprints are alike, so fingerprints are unique. They are not very unique. And if there were 2 fingerprints just alike, they would be not unique. They would not be sort of unique (although I'm a little unclear on whether they would be almost unique).

My other pet peeve in spoken English is "nauseous." So many people feel "nauseous," when really they aren't disgusting at all. I usually feel justified in telling them that they probably feel "nauseated," and that they shouldn't insult themselves.

As far as spelling goes, I usually grind my teeth a little when I see "definately"--not because I am too hung up about typos, but because it seems to be more common than the right spelling.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

You're "definitely" right. I'm a stickler for the spelling of that particular word.

Slang nowadays is a funny thing. So many euphamisms the young people have. The word "dope" drives me nuts. It's very popular here in Boston to say the word "wicked" as in "you're wicked smaaht" (must be said with Boston accent) or "that's wicked dope". Ugh:eusa_doh:

 

[Marc Chevalier]

You're "definitely" right. I'm a stickler for the spelling of that particular word. ... So many euphamisms the young people have.

Daisy, I've said it before and I'll probably say it again: you're a sweetheart.

.

 

[RadioHead]

Oh, lordy!

How about the completely fictional yet widely used word, "irregardless"?

.

I heard that one used 3 times in one fifteen-minute meeting with... my financial advisor! It made me wonder what else he might be doing incorrectly...

"RadioHead"

 

[RadioHead]

Ha! I get this ALL OF THE TIME. But, I'm just speaking as I normally do. I've also been told by many, many people that I enunciate (sp?) my words VERY clearly and I think that sets me apart from many people.

Indeed it does. Approximately 28 years ago, I drove a taxi for the lowest-class company in town (the dispatch office was in a condemned building...). One day I picked up a male fare and announced my destination to the dispatcher. The gentleman in the back seat was so shocked to hear me speak clearly into the microphone that he commented on the fact, and "congratulated" me on my diction. I was rather disappointed that he had to make such a comment; did he expect all cabbies to mumble or slur incomprehensibly?

Golly.

 

[J. M. Stovall]

I heard that one used 3 times in one fifteen-minute meeting with... my financial advisor! It made me wonder what else he might be doing incorrectly...

"RadioHead"

I heard that one at least twice last week.

I've also seen the word "then" used instead of "than" often in recent months. As in "she needs more then her fair share".

But that's really a writing problem and not a speaking problem.

 

[Feraud]

I have a co-worker that uses the word literally constantly! They always reference something being done or will be done to the literal word.
Having information revised or approved is not enough, it is, "literally being done right now." :eusa_doh:

 

[RadioHead]

But, on the other hand... no- wait...

I also think 'trendy' spellings on a lot of products you buy today have hurt future generations. When I was a kid, Id read the cereal box up and down. Now the Captain has become Cap'n, poor guy.

Hott, kewl, Cap'n, skool, madd, veggie, ez, sez, and the perpetual onslaught of trendy name spellings. I cant spell to save my life. I never have been able to spell very well, so I rely on spell check or most things. But grammar is a big thing to me and I hate reading something that does not flow.

LD

I'm rather ambivalent about the whole issue of English spelling. I also detest the "kewl" spellings which prevail on the internet and other places. I have never really had any problem spelling and was always astounded to realize that not everyone could spell equally well. However, a few points must be kept in mind:

A) The orthography of the English language is the antithesis of "phonetic", having only 26 letters to represent about 41 or 42 sounds commonly used by English speakers.

B) To be a phonetic language each sound should have one symbol, and each symbol should have only one sound. There should be no exceptions.

c) The fact that such things as "spelling bees" even exist is irrefutable proof that English spelling is nonsensical. From the moment a person is able to recognize the symbols of a language and to pronounce the sounds those symbols have been assigned, it should be ludicrous to have to tell them how to spell a given word.

D) It has been posited that many people spell incorrectly precisely BECAUSE the language is so messed up that it is illogical, and a logical mind can not deal with the incongruities.

5) Many people are stupid and pay no attention.

F) To the best of my knowledge, there is no language on earth, which, having a similar diversity of origins as the English language, conforms with paragraph B.

Even though this might sound like an apology for others who can not spell, it is neither that, nor is it an excuse for them not to LEARN to spell correctly!

So there. And as for grammar... Yo, dog! Don't be gettin' all up in my face right up in here!

"RadioHead"

 

[J. M. Stovall]

When I was a kid, Id read the cereal box up and down. Now the Captain has become Cap'n, poor guy.

I'm pretty sure it's always been spelled Cap'n. There are people on Ebay selling boxes and ads back to '76 and that's how it's spelled.[huh]

But other than that I agree with everything you said (I'm just a cereal nerd, among other things).

 

[Willi_Goat]

Irregardless, I'm going to the ATM machine, put in my PIN number and get one hundred and twenty dollars.

That is one of the things that get me. When people add the last word of an acronym after saying the acronym. I doubt any realize they are being redundant. Throwing an and in when expressing numbers get to me also.

I was, and still am at times but try to catch myself, a big umm'er. An instructor at the NCO Academy suggested I pause momentarily rather that us umm. It seems to be working pretty well so far.

 

[Lady Day]

I'm pretty sure it's always been spelled Cap'n. There are people on Ebay selling boxes and ads back to '76 and that's how it's spelled.[huh]

But other than that I agree with everything you said (I'm just a cereal nerd, among other things).

Really?!
Wow, that is lame.

LD

 

[J. M. Stovall]

What's lame, that people sell old cereal boxes or that I'm a cereal nerd?
Actually, nevermind. Lame would apply to both .

 

[Girl Friday]

"Quick... to the ex-scape goat..."

 

[Mr. Sable]

I know how to write and speak properly; English was always my best subject in school. I very much like to speak colloquially, though. I like to throw in a few 'them things' and 'ain'ts' in once in a while for a more Golden Age flavour.

It does drive me batty when people throw in an apostrophe at the end of every word ending in 's'. That's the one that bugs (bothers ) me most.

I imagine kids growing up with text messenging are going to seem outright retarded (as we used to say in the good o' days before political correctness) in later life.

 

[RedShoesGirl]

i find that i rarely use capitals any more. but i still use punctuation.

Unless I am writing a story for the paper, then I must use capitals!

biggest mistake that newscasters make "under $12 or under 500 people"

it is "less than"

under refers to a place — "under the bed".

same for "over $15"

it is "more than $15"

if it was "over" it would be on top of it!

an AP style thing but also correct grammatically. (hmmmm, did i spell that correctly?)

True story:

When my great-grandparents went for their marriage lisence, licence, license, whatever, the clerk asked her how old she was. One had to be 16 in order to marry.

Great-grandmother wasn't quite that old, but didn't want to lie about it. So her mother put a slip of paper that said "16" on it in her shoe, so she could say "I am over 16" and be truthful.

sheesh, i was so worried about my grammar i almost couldn't finish the story!

my mother, the original grammar not-a-nice-mom.

lara

 

[Lady Day]

I meant it was lame that Captain Crunch has always been Cap'n. Man that's lame.


Another thing that bothers be about what people say has a lot to do with personality. Case and point:

I was working at reception desk and a 'customer' came up. A frequent customer and I was checking him in. I asked for payment and he set it on the desk. I picked it up and said it was the wrong amount. He, is a very smug and superior gesture tapped the desk. Oh, I had forgot a bill. I said 'sorry', but every sentence out of his mouth after that was a comment on my mistake. Im over it, cant they be as well?

I know a lot of people who if they talk, it ONLY about complaints. Im not yapping' on normal bitchin', but I mean, they complain about everything.

Walking through a door: "This door is so heavy."

Waiting at the cross walk: "This is the longest light."

Ordering food: "I have to pay for extra cheese, that's silly."

I mean it never ends! Can someone just point out to people that nitpicking over things that you will forget in 5 seconds is exhausting? Are people's lives that tightly strung that they cant enjoy that wait on the sidewalk, or not have the cheese? It just such air polution having to hear some one pointlessly degrade a gesture, person,comment, or idea and offer no constructive criticism with it.



LD

ps, J. M. Stovall that was in NO WAY pointed at you

 

[mysterygal]

And those kinds of people usually find themselves VERY lonely. Who wants to put up with a habitual complainer? I do find though, that my closest friends are those who are very grounded and are more on the pessimestic side. I tend to be almost too optimistic about things!...I also think though that every one of us goes through 'ruts' in our lives where we do find ourselves moaning and griping about everything...hopefully their short lived.

 

[jamespowers]

I just love when they run all the words together like samattachew. A sentence in a word. :eusa_doh:

Regards,

J