Was talking to someone and they didn't like the word moist* and it got me to thinking and the only word that chafes my chaps is probably "furbaby". Are there any words you don't like?
It's a holdover from my IT days, but folks would claim to be hacked when an account would get taken over but nope, you were not hacked, you were phished. Might be getting terms wrong as well though haha!
It's a holdover from my IT days, but folks would claim to be hacked when an account would get taken over but nope, you were not hacked, you were phished. Might be getting terms wrong as well though haha!
And +1 for rizz, what now?
Not as bad as “Life Hack”.
Now for a work related one. Well. Work related two.
“Obviously”. A fine word used in the correct context. But when you’re explaining something to me, and it’s new information, Do Not Use Obviously. If it was obvious, I wouldn’t have asked you, would I? Because if it was obvious, I’d know already. Pillock.
“For Some Strange Reason”. Now. Look here sonny jim. Part of my career is being able to spot lies. Another part is putting those lies into context. Sometimes people tell me fibs, because they don’t think the truth will aid them. That I can understand and tolerate. But the second I hear or read “for some strange reason” I know you’re a filthy little liar, and don’t even have the common decency to be a good liar. Because that means you flipping well do know, and you know because you’re up to your idiot neck in it, and are in fact just wasting my precious time by trying it on.
Nevelon wrote: The over/misuse of “literally” literally kills me.
Over here in the UK there is a faux posh student accent that people put on. It's not a regional accent it's seems to be a class thing and they say um, literally in such a way that it makes my bones catch fire with irritation. I think it must be Hapsburg jaw that twists their mouths in such a way as to make it mind numbing.
I think for Americans the closest similarity would be the Valley Girl accent.
PS: well done for creating a post in Off Topic that wasn't absurd enough to be immediately locked
Like
Y'all
Literally
Life Hack
Pro Tip
The reality is
I'm sorry, but...
In this Essay...
Any and all modern buzz words starting from "epic".
Overread wrote: Oh and the over abundance of the word "like"
This is my wife. I love her dearly, but good god woman, learn to start your sentences better.
I also know a teacher who does this. This is an intelligent, well raised woman with with a degree in teaching, who's planing her Masters and has genuine aspirations of sitting on the federal board of education. Yet EVERY. fething. SENTENCE starts with 'like'.
Drives me round the twist.
It's a holdover from my IT days, but folks would claim to be hacked when an account would get taken over but nope, you were not hacked, you were phished. Might be getting terms wrong as well though haha!
It's a holdover from my IT days, but folks would claim to be hacked when an account would get taken over but nope, you were not hacked, you were phished. Might be getting terms wrong as well though haha!
See also folk on Facebook complaining about being 'hacked' when it's a scammer setting up a duplicate account.
insaniak wrote: 'Irregardless' is like fingernails on a blackboard.
Another good one.
I always have to remind myself that 'lucked out' is a good thing. Because it sounds bad.
Everyone I've known to ever use the term has said "lucked in" for good and "lucked out" for bad. It seems to only be the yanks who use it as a positive. And it really does make no sense.
More of a pronunciation issue and is therefore excusable, but another one that bugs me is people who say drug instead of dragged. "He was dragged off into the woods by a monster." Not drug off.
And pronouncing "says" as Say with an S on the end. Rather then Sezz.
More something I'm guilty of myself: when writing a publication I have the tendency to at least once use the phrase "It is noteworthy that..." and when I later read it again a little voice says "is it, though?"
Maybe because I'm not a native speaker, but it just sounds weird, when I read it out loud.
Considered. It is a meaningless word unless you give it a lot of context, but it's a lazy way to shorthand "here is a thing that sounds like it should be true".
When it turns up in reports I'm checking, it goes back to the author...
"It is considered that..." really means "I couldn't be arsed to do proper research"
Quick caveat. I am slightly hypocritical posting in this thread.
Many is the time at work where I’ve drafted a letter, toddled off for a cuppa, come back, read through my draft and thought “what a load of senseless crap”.
When it comes up in a meeting, I know - I KNOW - that the person speaking has zero clue about what we do, how to help us get it done, and what they can do to help us accomplish it.
At best.
More likely we're about to get the short and smelly end of the stick and it's time to polish up the ol' resume and GET OUT NOW.
We use what “The Man In The Street” might reasonably call jargon in our meetings. But, it’s because we’re referencing legislation, rules, principles and that. To the casual observer one would be forgiven for thinking we’ve all suffered head injuries.
Buzzwords though can get in the bin. Then on fire. Then in a bit. In the sea.
I see 'revert' being used to mean 'reply' a lot at work. I think it's an Indianism, but it bugs the gak out of me.
Also people saying itch when they mean scratch - the two things are not fething synonyms. The itch is the sensation and the scratch is the remediating activity.
Generally people butchering idioms - it's free REIN and derives from horse riding, not monarchy FFS.
You're not petting an animal. You're patting it. You're giving it a pat, not a pet. Petting is light sexual contact (hopefully between two humans). If you're petting an animal then I am not only concerned, but have some serious questions for you.
In addition to some already mentioned, "based off of".
It doesn't even make sense. When you use something as a base you put another thing ON it, not away from it (like "off the coast"). The "off of" part also just sounds terrible.
You're not petting an animal. You're patting it. You're giving it a pat, not a pet. Petting is light sexual contact (hopefully between two humans). If you're petting an animal then I am not only concerned, but have some serious questions for you.
Petting also means "to stroke or pat (an animal) affectionately". Words can, and often do, have more than one meaning.
Ahtman wrote: Petting also means "to stroke or pat (an animal) affectionately". Words can, and often do, have more than one meaning.
Yes, thank you for telling me how the English language works, I've only spoken it my whole life.
How petting came to mean (non-sexual) touching of an animal, I'm not sure. But if you want to continue to imply that you fondle animals then so be it.
The correct word however is, and will remain, pat.
And yet, both Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries disagree with you, listing "pet" in its sexual context as informal and using the default definition of
pet somebody/something: to touch or move your hand gently over an animal or a child in a kind and loving way
I'm not surprised by this, I guess the word that normally describes caressing a pet found its way into the informal vocabulary of sexual activities like a lot of words seem to do.
Also patting for me means a very different kind of hand movement than petting (which is more like stroking).
This will blow your mind then, up here in Scotland there is fairly common use of clap or clapping to mean petting of pets… it has never made sense to me.
Cyel wrote: And yet, both Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries disagree with you, listing "pet" in its sexual context as informal and using the default definition of
Many dictionaries also list things like 'irregardless' as words these days. Common usage changes meanings. That's not really the point of the thread, though... something can be both commonly accepted usage and also really irritating to people who grew up with different usage.
Cyel wrote: And yet, both Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries disagree with you, listing "pet" in its sexual context as informal and using the default definition of
Many dictionaries also list things like 'irregardless' as words these days. Common usage changes meanings. That's not really the point of the thread, though... something can be both commonly accepted usage and also really irritating to people who grew up with different usage.
While true, I think going straight to OED to illustrate that the oldest/most proper use of a word is different than how one is accustomed to it being used is good.
Earlier, someone mentioned "for some strange reason" . . . I use this one a few times a week at work. But, not because I'm lying, but rather, because the internal system that the company uses is hot garbage. so usually, in an email it will be "for some strange reason, [company system] did X thing, can you do Y to fix the situation?" because 1. I don't want to point fingers at anyone and suggest they can't do their job. 2. there are times where people who've been in this system since day 1 will go "that's weird. Why did it do that? It's supposed to do this when I do the thing"
For an addition to the thread: not so much words, but rather how they are used. . . In truck advertising, why does everything need to be BIGGER, BADDER, MOAR CAPABLE. . . when the vast, VAST majority of morons buying those trucks will never actually need big, bad, or capable, much less bigger, badder, or more capability.
Or. . . advertising in general. I hear the new iPhone ad. . . there hasn't been a single one on the current gen phone where they DON'T tack on "with Titanium" as if that's supposed to actually do something meaningful for the consumer
Cyel wrote: And yet, both Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries disagree with you, listing "pet" in its sexual context as informal and using the default definition of
Many dictionaries also list things like 'irregardless' as words these days. Common usage changes meanings. That's not really the point of the thread, though... something can be both commonly accepted usage and also really irritating to people who grew up with different usage.
While true, I think going straight to OED to illustrate that the oldest/most proper use of a word is different than how one is accustomed to it being used is good.
To "pet" an animal isn't some arcane use of the word but incredibly common and other dictionaries do list it so now we're devolving into "my dictionary can beat up your dictionary" foolishness.
But since were on the OED one of the fourteen definitions given was "To make a pet of, treat as a pet; to indulge; to fondle, to stroke" and originating about 1629. It also has "Originally U.S. To engage in sexually stimulating kissing, caressing, and touching." originating about 1921. I'm no chronoligist but I do believe 1629 is further back in time than 1921.
OED also lists one meaning of "pet" as "An act of breaking wind; a fart."
When hip young things use newspeak to try to insult you. The whole point of looking to insult someone is to…insult them. And let them know you’ve insulted them.
But when you use mindless TikTok drivel or what have you? I’m left entirely non-plussed, because I’ve absolutely no idea what you’re on about, and as a result, I don’t care.
I don’t know what a Mandem is. If you tell I’m Rizz, or Spackhandychoptubes? I’ll just revert to the classics. Including some largely banned ones. Because what we have here, is a failure, on your part, to communicate.
I am rarely bothered by different dialects and evolving slang, but that may be a product of my career as much as anything. I work in healthcare, which has a different and sometimes contradictory jargon for each specialty as well as being exposed to a wide manner of different ways of speaking expressed by patients. I've also worked in 3 distinct regions to add to that, and currently work in a clinic with national coverage. You kind of get used to people using all kinds of terms and switching between them.
I do get annoyed by incorrectly-used phrases though, some have already been mentioned in this thread.
To "pet" an animal isn't some arcane use of the word but incredibly common and other dictionaries do list it so now we're devolving into "my dictionary can beat up your dictionary" foolishness.
But since were on the OED one of the fourteen definitions given was "To make a pet of, treat as a pet; to indulge; to fondle, to stroke" and originating about 1629. It also has "Originally U.S. To engage in sexually stimulating kissing, caressing, and touching." originating about 1921. I'm no chronoligist but I do believe 1629 is further back in time than 1921.
OED also lists one meaning of "pet" as "An act of breaking wind; a fart."
To note. . . I'm firmly on the side of "you pet a dog", being completely non-sexual, as it is the most common way of expressing that act. I'm fully in agreement that it isn't, as you say, some arcane use of the word. that someone SOLELY associates that word with the sexual act of petting, is telling on them, not on the thousands, if not millions of people who use the word in other contexts.
And, I only pointed out that OED is perhaps one of the best sources for what words and terms mean. It isn't exactly "hey google, what does this word mean?" I never intended to come across as "my dictionary can beat up yours".
You're not petting an animal. You're patting it. You're giving it a pat, not a pet. Petting is light sexual contact (hopefully between two humans). If you're petting an animal then I am not only concerned, but have some serious questions for you.
You're not petting an animal. You're patting it. You're giving it a pat, not a pet. Petting is light sexual contact (hopefully between two humans). If you're petting an animal then I am not only concerned, but have some serious questions for you.
And unless you're quoting an American, there's no reason for you to be saying "y'all".
Other than the fact that English is a terrible language with no 2nd person plural pronoun?
You can either use the plural "you", and pick it up from context (and it can work like that in plenty of languages) or do like they do in my hometown and say "ye".
I've been an English speaker my entire life and have never once been misunderstood and therefore required the use of "y'all". I mean if you're from the US where it's a natural part of speech, knock yourselves out, but I find it incredibly embarrassing when Irish or British people do it, or when non-native speakers living outside the US do it.
Da Boss wrote: If you're not American, and you're not talking about your parents, I don't want to hear you saying "folks".
And unless you're quoting an American, there's no reason for you to be saying "y'all".
And as a high school teacher, "bro, bruh, bro, bro"
Please, stop.
To some extent I get y'all, but folk/folks meaning people is pretty common in a UK context too. It's a word that goes back to before old English* and pops up in multiple contexts, like folk music or folk ways.
Olthannon wrote: The company I work for now is full of awful corpo speak.
"Sense checking" is a loathsome phrase.
While(most) of my local branch is sane, every time we have a (mandatory) fireside chat, meet the leadership, quarterly update thing it flys thick and heavy.
Which is hilarious. It’s like they are speaking another language, on a few different levels. They are all synergistically fast-failing new paradigms to leverage innovation in the market space, and I’m just spinning like a little working cog, following the pathways and trying not to violate HIPPA laws. We’ve merged/been bought/been sold 3 times since I’ve been there, with different upper management. They all say the same things, tell us we are going to to do new things, with the latest buzzwords, but I still do my value-add one bit at a time at the bottom like I’ve been doing unchanged for years.
Most of the buzzwords actually make common sense if you think about them, but are so rizzed up (did I use that right?) that they become incomprehensible. Probably because someone paid a few million to a consultant and he needed to tell them something to justify his bill, and the “savings" get passed on to us...
'Best life' as in 'living my best life'
Its your best life, worst life and only life and you can't ever tell if its the best it could be so stop it. Say you are enjoying you life - its what you actually mean.
I also hate the number of americanisms sipping in to the UK. I dont mind americans using them - its their dialect they can sound as odd as they want, but why copy when we have our own everchanging slang without theirs?
Business jargon/buzzwords in non business situations I work in a college and the amount of bussiness jargon comming out of senior management is horrific.
Unnessecary acronyms - I already have to code switch between science, education and managment do we need so many highly specific acronyms that get changed so often?
You get an email informing you of what we are to do half in randon letter groups like its only half de-encrypted, then you have to make an equiry a few months latter about it and half have changed meanings, some no longer exist and the rest no one bothered to let you know what they mean becaus everyone knows them right? No - I have a science back ground not social services, not degree level education or bussiness management. I explain my acronyms when I use them and they don't change (DNA is DNA, FISH is FISH etc) we gain more but I explain the first time i use them in an email/essay/anwser every time why can they?
And unless you're quoting an American, there's no reason for you to be saying "y'all".
Other than the fact that English is a terrible language with no 2nd person plural pronoun?
You can either use the plural "you", and pick it up from context (and it can work like that in plenty of languages) or do like they do in my hometown and say "ye".
I've been an English speaker my entire life and have never once been misunderstood and therefore required the use of "y'all". I mean if you're from the US where it's a natural part of speech, knock yourselves out, but I find it incredibly embarrassing when Irish or British people do it, or when non-native speakers living outside the US do it.
Y'all possibly has it's origin in Scots-Irish contraction. I'm an English-speaking Irish man, and it's a phrase I use, interchangeably with 'ye', depending on with whom I'm communicating.
And unless you're quoting an American, there's no reason for you to be saying "y'all".
Other than the fact that English is a terrible language with no 2nd person plural pronoun?
You can either use the plural "you", and pick it up from context (and it can work like that in plenty of languages) or do like they do in my hometown and say "ye".
I've been an English speaker my entire life and have never once been misunderstood and therefore required the use of "y'all". I mean if you're from the US where it's a natural part of speech, knock yourselves out, but I find it incredibly embarrassing when Irish or British people do it, or when non-native speakers living outside the US do it.
Y'all possibly has it's origin in Scots-Irish contraction. I'm an English-speaking Irish man, and it's a phrase I use, interchangeably with 'ye', depending on with whom I'm communicating.
Mad. Where in Ireland are you from? I'm from Wexford, lived in Dublin and the Midlands, never heard anyone say "y'all" unless they were imitating an american for a joke.
Olthannon wrote: The company I work for now is full of awful corpo speak.
"Sense checking" is a loathsome phrase.
While(most) of my local branch is sane, every time we have a (mandatory) fireside chat, meet the leadership, quarterly update thing it flys thick and heavy.
Which is hilarious. It’s like they are speaking another language, on a few different levels. They are all synergistically fast-failing new paradigms to leverage innovation in the market space, and I’m just spinning like a little working cog, following the pathways and trying not to violate HIPPA laws. We’ve merged/been bought/been sold 3 times since I’ve been there, with different upper management. They all say the same things, tell us we are going to to do new things, with the latest buzzwords, but I still do my value-add one bit at a time at the bottom like I’ve been doing unchanged for years.
Most of the buzzwords actually make common sense if you think about them, but are so rizzed up (did I use that right?) that they become incomprehensible. Probably because someone paid a few million to a consultant and he needed to tell them something to justify his bill, and the “savings" get passed on to us...
"Thought leadership" is a phrase that gets used in place of "ideas" when said organization is out of ideas.
Enthused. That word really irks me. You can be enthusiastic about something, but enthused is a made-up word spoken by idiots if you ask me.
You know what else grinds my gears? People typing loose when they mean lose. You don't loose a game if you don't win, you lose it. I see it all the time on facebook and plenty of posters HERE ON DAKKA do it regularly like a bunch of monkeys (you know who you are). It drives me absolutely flying rodent gak crazy!
You know what else grinds my gears? People typing loose when they mean lose. You don't loose a game if you don't win, you lose it. I see it all the time on facebook and plenty of posters HERE ON DAKKA do it regularly like a bunch of monkeys (you know who you are). It drives me absolutely flying rodent gak crazy!
To be fair things like that are because English is honestly horribly messy - even half the "rules" we learn have so many exceptions that they aren't even rules.
Apparently the whole "i before e except after c" isn't even taught any more as there are so many exceptions it makes the rule almost pointless to learn in the first place.
Apparently the whole "i before e except after c" isn't even taught any more as there are so many exceptions it makes the rule almost pointless to learn in the first place.
Still not as bad as the one semester of French I took in high school. Teacher taught us all these rules in the French language, and the 2 times where the rule actually applied and how, beyond that. . . . they don't apply.
Another one that just cropped up in my mind. . . people who, despite education and age suggestion they *ought* to be able to say the actual word, can't.
What I'm referring to are people who want to get some "synonym rolls", or the guy who wants to "axe me a question". The lady who "brought some drinks at the store for the party", or having a nice dinner at Olive Garden and enjoying a plate of Biscetti. And truthfully, I've heard this sort of misuse of words across basically all income, age, and racial demographics, it isn't limited to any one in particular.
And no. . . I'm not referring to people who are learning English as a second language for whatever reason.
'Actually'. For a lot of interviewees, is seems to be a 'more formal' alternative to 'like'. It distracts from the point the person wants to get across.
BertBert wrote: "I had went home"
"The business was ran"
Is that a regional thing? I keep hearing this everywhere and it hurts because we had to learn 3rd forms by heart.
Yeah, pick one "I went home", or "I had gone home" I noticed it more when I moved to the UK Midlands, but it may just be more common now.
And unless you're quoting an American, there's no reason for you to be saying "y'all".
Other than the fact that English is a terrible language with no 2nd person plural pronoun?
You can either use the plural "you", and pick it up from context (and it can work like that in plenty of languages) or do like they do in my hometown and say "ye".
I've been an English speaker my entire life and have never once been misunderstood and therefore required the use of "y'all". I mean if you're from the US where it's a natural part of speech, knock yourselves out, but I find it incredibly embarrassing when Irish or British people do it, or when non-native speakers living outside the US do it.
Y'all possibly has it's origin in Scots-Irish contraction. I'm an English-speaking Irish man, and it's a phrase I use, interchangeably with 'ye', depending on with whom I'm communicating.
Mad. Where in Ireland are you from? I'm from Wexford, lived in Dublin and the Midlands, never heard anyone say "y'all" unless they were imitating an american for a joke.
I'm a Dub, but, to be fair, the phrasing is something I may have picked up rather than inherited...
Olthannon wrote: The company I work for now is full of awful corpo speak.
"Sense checking" is a loathsome phrase.
While(most) of my local branch is sane, every time we have a (mandatory) fireside chat, meet the leadership, quarterly update thing it flys thick and heavy.
Which is hilarious. It’s like they are speaking another language, on a few different levels. They are all synergistically fast-failing new paradigms to leverage innovation in the market space, and I’m just spinning like a little working cog, following the pathways and trying not to violate HIPPA laws. We’ve merged/been bought/been sold 3 times since I’ve been there, with different upper management. They all say the same things, tell us we are going to to do new things, with the latest buzzwords, but I still do my value-add one bit at a time at the bottom like I’ve been doing unchanged for years.
Most of the buzzwords actually make common sense if you think about them, but are so rizzed up (did I use that right?) that they become incomprehensible. Probably because someone paid a few million to a consultant and he needed to tell them something to justify his bill, and the “savings" get passed on to us...
"Thought leadership" is a phrase that gets used in place of "ideas" when said organization is out of ideas.
I had a manager say, in a meeting last week, "Let's double-click back on that". What the heck does that even mean?
Dysartes wrote: Mostly forum things, but people who...
- type Calvary instead of cavalry - type alot instead of a lot - type allot instead of a lot
Especially if they then get indignant when you gently ridicule their choice of "words".
Could you be more pacific?
Anyways. Rage bait aside.
I can’t stand social media posts which use stuff like “it be like”. Or “it do be like”
Now I fully accept and have no problem with the fact that’s just how some people speak. Given my fondness for slang in my own vocabulary, I can hardly begrudge that. But in the written form it’s simply cringe inducing. And perhaps just a little bit racist. Like you’re adopting a certain speech pattern to appear down and cool and rap with the kids. The same extends to Scots type. Such as “where are you fae” and similar.
some of my younger (ie 20's) ask "can you borrow me that card" instead of "lend". The also say "I versed him at Magic" rather than "played against" or "played with".
So now I have to find their English teacher and burn them at the stake.
Granted, any appreciation of a celebrity is going to be some degree of parasocial relationship. But when gossip mags use for example “Tay Tay” instead of Taylor Swift, that’s just too much. Waaaay too far. Suggesting a familiarity that just doesn’t exist.
Use their first name if you must. But creating nicknames or pet names is just bloody creepy.
Ahtman wrote: So far a lot of really good bits here. Hopefully there we will continue critiquing when I get back from the ATM machine.
I see what you did there, and I don't like it.
Some abbreviations kind of bother me too, or just confuse me. Like referring to Christmas as Xmas. I get it, it shortens it, but for some reason I don't like that abbreviation. And maybe someone who's British on here could explain why you folks sometimes refer to it as "Chrimbo"? That one has never made sense to me, but maybe that's because I'm an ignorant American or something.
ZergSmasher wrote: [And maybe someone who's British on here could explain why you folks sometimes refer to it as "Chrimbo"? That one has never made sense to me, but maybe that's because I'm an ignorant American or something.
Nobody seems to know for sure, but it's possibly just a children's mispronunciation that caught on with the masses back in the 1920s.
Just one of those slang terms. I’m sure somebody of a mind could track down its origin, but I for one can’t be bothered.
Xmas however was in use by at least 1973. This is evidenced by the title of Slade’s seasonal masterpiece “Merry Xmas Everybody”
Given that bands penchant for deliberate bad spelling “Mama We’re All Crazee Now”, “Gudbuy To Jane”, I wouldn’t say it’s beyond the realm of possibility Noddy and co first coined it.
Cursory google shows it significantly predates that though.
ZergSmasher wrote: [And maybe someone who's British on here could explain why you folks sometimes refer to it as "Chrimbo"? That one has never made sense to me, but maybe that's because I'm an ignorant American or something.
Nobody seems to know for sure, but it's possibly just a children's mispronunciation that caught on with the masses back in the 1920s.
I'm staggered it goes that far back. I don't recall ever really hearing it pre-millenium. It seemed to rear it's ugly head around the same time as things like nom and floofy.
It was certainly popularised by the novelty Christmas record “Proper Chrimbo”.
And as such regional words and terms enter the wider national vocabulary.
For instance, the word for a poor, dirty kid when I was a nipper in Edinburgh was “scaff”, seemingly stemming from a nickname for bin Lorrie’s known as Scaffy Trucks.
But when I moved to south east England? That was a word beginning with P which is racist. But said racist P word spread in prominence thanks to Guy Ritchie’s “Snatch” where it’s used quite liberally.
Hence, whilst scaff remains regional (if it’s even still in use. Been 33 years since I lived in Edinburgh), the racist word beginning with P has unfortunately become more common place, thanks to media exposure.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Just one of those slang terms. I’m sure somebody of a mind could track down its origin, but I for one can’t be bothered.
Xmas however was in use by at least 1973. This is evidenced by the title of Slade’s seasonal masterpiece “Merry Xmas Everybody”
Given that bands penchant for deliberate bad spelling “Mama We’re All Crazee Now”, “Gudbuy To Jane”, I wouldn’t say it’s beyond the realm of possibility Noddy and co first coined it.
Cursory google shows it significantly predates that though.
Well, I never!
Wouldn't surprise me if it originated in the US, and for the same reason we have neighbors instead of neighbours.
That was the common assumption when I was growing up, along with the idea that it was to de-emphasise the 'Christ' in 'Christmas'... but no, it actually dates back to 16th century England, and is an abbreviation of the old Greek word that 'Christ' is derived from.
insaniak wrote: That was the common assumption when I was growing up, along with the idea that it was to de-emphasise the 'Christ' in 'Christmas'... but no, it actually dates back to 16th century England, and is an abbreviation of the old Greek word that 'Christ' is derived from.
Makes sense. A lot of abbreviations date to that period IIRC because it was much easier to do on printing presses. The word would have been entering written use much more than in prior centuries.
One of my favorite things about my job as an efficiency expert is to just use made-up words for things!
Solutionizing- Create a solution
"This is not the meeting to be solutionizing"
Revericate - Go back and validate data
"We need to revericate these data points before we confirm the hypothesis"
Domission- Overcome an obstacle, typically technical in nature; to continue the project
"This is in Domission and is no longer a challenge for implementation"
The Needful - The act/action that needs to be done to move forward
"The engineer went back and did the Needful."
Red Button - Remove a step of a process that people can do, but causes issues because there is the opportunity to do it wrong.
"This process has a Red Button in step 7, Do the needful and domission it."
These are not real words or terms! Some aren't even trade or industry terms. Some I completely made up out of whole cloth! I just love using my role as an excuse to make up words and phrases, then get people to start using them! So funny to me!
Granted, any appreciation of a celebrity is going to be some degree of parasocial relationship. But when gossip mags use for example “Tay Tay” instead of Taylor Swift, that’s just too much. Waaaay too far. Suggesting a familiarity that just doesn’t exist.
Use their first name if you must. But creating nicknames or pet names is just bloody creepy.
Have you reformed or something? Who is this? Is this really MDG?
I seem to recall a similarly named user getting many a ban for using pet-names for famous folks and politicians, usually in a negative way!
Red Button - Remove a step of a process that people can do, but causes issues because there is the opportunity to do it wrong.
"This process has a Red Button in step 7, Do the needful and domission it."
OK, this one is actually a good one though. . . I know my wife tells me stories of things that go on at her work, and if she had this term as vocab, it would be great for her.
The Needful - The act/action that needs to be done to move forward
"The engineer went back and did the Needful."
While most of your list made my head hurt, 'needful' is a word, and the above was very common usage when I was growing up, although seems less prevalent these days.
"Red Button" always makes me think of the Space Madness episode of Ren & Stimpy.
I hadn't thought about it in a while but I hear people say "turret" as "turrent" semi regularly online. I don't know where the 'n' is coming from but I don't like it.
EasyE wrote:Have you reformed or something? Who is this? Is this really MDG?
I seem to recall a similarly named user getting many a ban for using pet-names for famous folks and politicians, usually in a negative way!
Different scenario entirely. Mocking nicknames of the powerful to show disdain. Not to create the illusion that someone famous is a friend, and therefore the constant prying into their private life isn’t intensely creepy, bordering on organised stalking.
Anyways. All this Red Pill/Black Pill nonsense. You’re not seeing “past the veil”. Oh no, rather you’ve “drunk the Kool Aid*”
*I am aware that line is inaccurate, as the victims drank Flavor Aid.
The Needful - The act/action that needs to be done to move forward
"The engineer went back and did the Needful."
While most of your list made my head hurt, 'needful' is a word, and the above was very common usage when I was growing up, although seems less prevalent these days.
'Do the needful' is probably an old English phrase, which I have only heard used by teams I used to work with in India.
The Needful - The act/action that needs to be done to move forward
"The engineer went back and did the Needful."
While most of your list made my head hurt, 'needful' is a word, and the above was very common usage when I was growing up, although seems less prevalent these days.
This is probably an old English phrase, which I have only heard used by teams I used to work with in India.
My Favourite usage of “needful” I’ve heard is as a euphemism for going to the toilet. Always makes me smirk now when I hear it used in other contexts.
The Needful - The act/action that needs to be done to move forward
"The engineer went back and did the Needful."
While most of your list made my head hurt, 'needful' is a word, and the above was very common usage when I was growing up, although seems less prevalent these days.
'Do the needful' is probably an old English phrase, which I have only heard used by teams I used to work with in India.
"Do the needful" is an incredibly common phrase by scammers based in India. "I'm Bob Johnson from America Corp. sending you this message in regards to your CV. To confirm you're identity do the needful and respond with a code we've sent you" and it will be a password reset code or code to allow them to make a Google phone number from you email. Stuff like that. Obliviously context matters but it is frequent enough that seeing "kindly" and "do the needful" are giant red flags that something is not on the up and up.
Caveat addition to Ahtman’s correct observation. You may read a scam email and chuckle at poor grammar and misspelling. That’s entirely deliberate, as it quickly weeds out those the least likely to fall for whatever follows.
The Needful - The act/action that needs to be done to move forward
"The engineer went back and did the Needful."
While most of your list made my head hurt, 'needful' is a word, and the above was very common usage when I was growing up, although seems less prevalent these days.
This is probably an old English phrase, which I have only heard used by teams I used to work with in India.
My Favourite usage of “needful” I’ve heard is as a euphemism for going to the toilet. Always makes me smirk now when I hear it used in other contexts.
That reminds me. . . and unfortunately may trigger some of my fellow US veteran comrades: behoove.
As in, "it would behoove you to stay off the fething grass before sergeant major sticks a boot up your. . "
EDIT: on the subject of military. . . Any use of your service's "word" in anything other than the most ironic/sarcastic way possible. By "word" I mean the army's Hooah!, Marine's Oorah! and that sort of thing. Anyone who uses those terms unironically wears their dogtags on the weekends, and goes to the mall in their boots.
My pet hate is one used repeatedly by media normally regarding a football player and it's "unplayable".
They think it means he/she played well. It doesn't. It means they could not play due to injury, poor form or whatever reason they can come up with.
I believe they mean unplayable against, which is completely different. It's another example of the butchery of language used frequently now.
It's just sheer laziness, bad enough when used by the public but inexcusable for an allegedly professional journalist.
Had a meeting at work with reps from one of the big social media platforms. The one dude was a walking business jargon/buzzword generator (like this but in a dress shirt and pants: https://www.atrixnet.com/bs-generator.html). Best I've ever heard, and I'm no rookie with this gak. After a while, I wanted to start writing those gems down but couldn't keep up because of how rapid fire they were coming.
Off the top of my head, I recall a line about "balancing externalities and synergies" but literally every sentence was loaded, like something out of a comedy show skit.
I find the more someone says phrases like that the more desperate they are to obfuscate the fact they don't really contribute anything useful and they earn a salary doing nowt.
I find jargon and hip-lingo particularly annoying as professionally I have to communicate in plain English.
I can use acronyms in my correspondence, but only after I’ve explained them. For example in the first instance I might say “Young Man’s Christian Association (YMCA)”, then simply use “YMCA” after that.
It absolutely boils my piss when I get a business file and they’re using acronyms without telling me what the blinking flip they mean. It means I have to go back and ask, and I can be chasing that simple “you should have used this the first time you cretin” information for a fortnight or more. Even then they’ll miss a few.
Easy E wrote: Best thing is, that guy's jargon was probably intended to confuse more than enlighten.
I'm not going to get specific about anything, but I felt like the reps were sensitive to and maybe overcompensating for the nature of the platform in particular. And maybe for who we were. So they may have felt like they had to zhuzh it up a bit, I dunno.
Easy E wrote: Best thing is, that guy's jargon was probably intended to confuse more than enlighten.
Every time I've heard it used, that's EXACTLY what it's intended to do. It's used to sound important and smart while saying very little or nothing of use.
Jaxmeister wrote: My pet hate is one used repeatedly by media normally regarding a football player and it's "unplayable".
They think it means he/she played well. It doesn't. It means they could not play due to injury, poor form or whatever reason they can come up with.
I believe they mean unplayable against, which is completely different. It's another example of the butchery of language used frequently now.
It's just sheer laziness, bad enough when used by the public but inexcusable for an allegedly professional journalist.
This reminds me of another, potentially uniquely American one. . . .
See, you Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, and general "commonwealth" types will know the term scrum. It's a specific action designed to put the ball back in play during a rugby match.
So, what could possibly be annoying about the term scrum??? Well, fine folks, I submit to you, the American sports commentator who, upon seeing any form of general pile of human bodies, particularly during an american football game, will declare "ohh the refs will have to dig the ball out of that scrum" . . . Or, "they blow the play dead amid that scrum of players" (when a better descriptor for that latter one would be a maul, but I digress). Like, are american football-isms and euphemisms not good enough, you have to butcher another, much better sport's words too!?
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: I find jargon and hip-lingo particularly annoying as professionally I have to communicate in plain English.
I can use acronyms in my correspondence, but only after I’ve explained them. For example in the first instance I might say “Young Man’s Christian Association (YMCA)”, then simply use “YMCA” after that.
It absolutely boils my piss when I get a business file and they’re using acronyms without telling me what the blinking flip they mean. It means I have to go back and ask, and I can be chasing that simple “you should have used this the first time you cretin” information for a fortnight or more. Even then they’ll miss a few.
My bosses got called out for that in a meeting/info-dump yesterday. They asked for questions, and the first one was for them to stop using acronyms without telling us what they mean first.
I work in tech, and TLAs (three-letter acronyms) are so prevalent, we can't have a conversation of less than 5 minutes without using them throughout. But that is to a like-minded audience. But a lot of the same acronyms are used elsewhere, in other fields, and we all get confused when they overlap.
I’m currently mentoring newbies, and I regularly find myself having to stop, go back, and explain what the heck I just said! For instance, we have an internal database called Discovery, which is commonly referred to as Disco. Clear communication requires me to explain that to the mentees, at least the first couple of times.
It’s just….respectful as well. Professionally, I want people I’m communicating with to understand me, and be somewhat enlightened about whatever it is I’m wittering about. Piling on nu-speak, bingolingo and TLA just…don’t achieve that so well.
I can’t imagine paying a consultancy’s rates, only for them to come in and talk utter, incomprehensible bollocks at me.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Clear communication requires me to explain that to the mentees, at least the first couple of times.
The repeat of information is often where some fail when it comes to teaching acronyms or indeed anything, esp to other adults. People forget that a huge part of learning something new or familiarising yourself with a new approach is built on the foundation of repetition of information so it sticks. I hate when those tasked to teach/mentor/introduce will mention something once and consider that enough. Yes you've mentioned it, yes that information is out there; but you've mentioned it one time, the chances of it sticking along with all the other new information is - less.
Of course newbies also have to take notes and put effort into learning, so its not all one sided.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Clear communication requires me to explain that to the mentees, at least the first couple of times.
The repeat of information is often where some fail when it comes to teaching acronyms or indeed anything, esp to other adults. People forget that a huge part of learning something new or familiarising yourself with a new approach is built on the foundation of repetition of information so it sticks. I hate when those tasked to teach/mentor/introduce will mention something once and consider that enough. Yes you've mentioned it, yes that information is out there; but you've mentioned it one time, the chances of it sticking along with all the other new information is - less.
Of course newbies also have to take notes and put effort into learning, so its not all one sided.
This used to be expected in some fields. I know a lot of senior doctors today were expected to follow the adage "see one, do one, teach one" when it came to learning new procedures when they were juniors 20, 30, 40 years ago. Some carry that mentality forward, but most recognise it is pretty dangerous and leads to poor outcomes.
I work in tech, and TLAs (three-letter acronyms) are so prevalent, we can't have a conversation of less than 5 minutes without using them throughout. But that is to a like-minded audience. But a lot of the same acronyms are used elsewhere, in other fields, and we all get confused when they overlap.
I work in IT in the cosmetics industry, if I refer to MAC I could be talking about 3 different things...
I work in tech, and TLAs (three-letter acronyms) are so prevalent, we can't have a conversation of less than 5 minutes without using them throughout. But that is to a like-minded audience. But a lot of the same acronyms are used elsewhere, in other fields, and we all get confused when they overlap.
I work in IT in the cosmetics industry, if I refer to MAC I could be talking about 3 different things...
This reminds me of a hospital I have worked in that had signs pointing in one direction towards CCU and in another towards... CCU... One was the Coronary Care Unit and the other was the Critical Care Unit! Both involved different kinds of intensive care too...
I work in tech, and TLAs (three-letter acronyms) are so prevalent, we can't have a conversation of less than 5 minutes without using them throughout. But that is to a like-minded audience. But a lot of the same acronyms are used elsewhere, in other fields, and we all get confused when they overlap.
I work in IT in the cosmetics industry, if I refer to MAC I could be talking about 3 different things...
This reminds me of a hospital I have worked in that had signs pointing in one direction towards CCU and in another towards... CCU... One was the Coronary Care Unit and the other was the Critical Care Unit! Both involved different kinds of intensive care too...
I’ve just been into our local hospital and they transferred us from A&E to the “Minor Injuries and Minor Illness” department after triage; instructions were “follow the purple line and head to Miami”, which brightened my day a bit…
Had a meeting at work with reps from one of the big social media platforms. The one dude was a walking business jargon/buzzword generator (like this but in a dress shirt and pants: https://www.atrixnet.com/bs-generator.html). Best I've ever heard, and I'm no rookie with this gak. After a while, I wanted to start writing those gems down but couldn't keep up because of how rapid fire they were coming.
Off the top of my head, I recall a line about "balancing externalities and synergies" but literally every sentence was loaded, like something out of a comedy show skit.
Does anyone ever call out that stuff, for example after a 10minute monologue just go "so leaving out all the word soup, what was the actual point in all that?"
Had a meeting at work with reps from one of the big social media platforms. The one dude was a walking business jargon/buzzword generator (like this but in a dress shirt and pants: https://www.atrixnet.com/bs-generator.html). Best I've ever heard, and I'm no rookie with this gak. After a while, I wanted to start writing those gems down but couldn't keep up because of how rapid fire they were coming.
Off the top of my head, I recall a line about "balancing externalities and synergies" but literally every sentence was loaded, like something out of a comedy show skit.
Does anyone ever call out that stuff, for example after a 10minute monologue just go "so leaving out all the word soup, what was the actual point in all that?"
Generally, one does that once early in one's career. Then you are persona non grata in that company, get all the crummy jobs, no raise, no promotion, get dumped on by management... Afterward that, one learns to keep one's mouth shut in meetings unless one is the highest-ranked person there.
Bosses don't respond well to having their bovine excrement questioned.
Had a meeting at work with reps from one of the big social media platforms. The one dude was a walking business jargon/buzzword generator (like this but in a dress shirt and pants: https://www.atrixnet.com/bs-generator.html). Best I've ever heard, and I'm no rookie with this gak. After a while, I wanted to start writing those gems down but couldn't keep up because of how rapid fire they were coming.
Off the top of my head, I recall a line about "balancing externalities and synergies" but literally every sentence was loaded, like something out of a comedy show skit.
Does anyone ever call out that stuff, for example after a 10minute monologue just go "so leaving out all the word soup, what was the actual point in all that?"
In my example it was a vendor coming into the office, and he was just one of the presenters. No real point to dunking on the guy in front of everyone.
Generally, one does that once early in one's career. Then you are persona non grata in that company, get all the crummy jobs, no raise, no promotion, get dumped on by management... Afterward that, one learns to keep one's mouth shut in meetings unless one is the highest-ranked person there.
Bosses don't respond well to having their bovine excrement questioned.
Eh, I've not gotten a promotion or raise in a decade, despite most definitely having earned either or both for years.
So as a result, I've stopped pulling my punches when it comes to calling management on its bs.
In essence it's been the reverse for me.
Crispy78 wrote: That reminds me of another one that really fecks me off. Everyday instead of 'every day'.
If you want to say something happens every day, that's two words. Everyday is an adjective meaning commonplace, routine.
We have professionally printed signs at work saying "Quality. Own it everyday." They make my teeth itch.
Not quite the same, but something that wound me up at work a few years back. Well, I say a few it’s probably a decade ago. In short, our offices were being renovated on floor at a time. When we moved in? Vinyl on the fridges declaring “brrrr!”, and by the sinks? “Splish splash”.
I ask you. We’re an office, we’re professionals. And we’re there because we’re clever, mature and rational. So why the nursery style “decorations”. Utterly ludicrous. What idiot signed that off.
Oh, and anyone that is a professional “consultant” or “consultancy” should be kept away from all businesses forever.
You don’t know what we do. You don’t know how we go about it. You don’t know why we do things the way we do, or the approach we takes. You’ve absolutely no idea what is involved in being good at what I do. And it takes a good six months to get a new recruit signed off - and even then it takes years to get a rounded experience.
So some tosser in a suit who’s no more than a poke-nose git trying to suggest we do things differently can get squarely in the bin, then in the sea. I don’t care what your degree makes you reckon would work. Because you’ve never done this job, and you may not even be capable of doing it - because not everyone is.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Oh, and anyone that is a professional “consultant” or “consultancy” should be kept away from all businesses forever.
You don’t know what we do. You don’t know how we go about it. You don’t know why we do things the way we do, or the approach we takes. You’ve absolutely no idea what is involved in being good at what I do. And it takes a good six months to get a new recruit signed off - and even then it takes years to get a rounded experience.
So some tosser in a suit who’s no more than a poke-nose git trying to suggest we do things differently can get squarely in the bin, then in the sea. I don’t care what your degree makes you reckon would work. Because you’ve never done this job, and you may not even be capable of doing it - because not everyone is.
Know you're just having a rant here, but this isn't universally true IME. I've seen every outcome when consultants were brought in. I've seen them bring some interesting insights. I've seen their advice completely screw up a business. And I've seen them assess situations accurately but not identify or suggest anything that internal folks haven't already offered. Two out of 3 of these results are solid outcomes. The third there may have been a waste of money, but it may also be a valuable confirmation of what you thought you knew.
But sure, I rant sometimes about putting so much value in the opinion of a 27 year old with an MBA from a fancy school. I took some MBA classwork too...there's no secret sauce there no matter how fancy the binders are. Still, the worst case I've experienced involved lots of more seasoned consultants...they just weren't very good.
That great thing about being a consultant, is you can charge the company a ton of money, deliver a recommendation, and then walk away and never see if they do or don't do it. You got paid whether they take the recommendations or not.
I actually love the fact that English is a constant and evolving language. Things that were a no-go in the past, can be acceptable today. Things that we use commonly today, will be gone next year. Keeps things interesting.
I'm still bothered that Hoverboards did not hover in any way. What is marketed as AI isn't really AI so I wonder what we will call it when he have an actual AI break though.
Ahtman wrote: I'm still bothered that Hoverboards did not hover in any way. What is marketed as AI isn't really AI so I wonder what we will call it when he have an actual AI break though.
Artificial Sentience, because that’s actually what we mean when we talk about artificial intelligence in a sci-fi context.
Ahtman wrote: I'm still bothered that Hoverboards did not hover in any way. What is marketed as AI isn't really AI so I wonder what we will call it when he have an actual AI break though.
Artificial Sentience, because that’s actually what we mean when we talk about artificial intelligence in a sci-fi context.
That is part of why it is so annoying. We used AI to mean sentient for decades and then in the last few years just switched it to describe something else. *shakes fist angrily at cloud*
There's levels. Artificial General Intelligence is the next step, where the AI is not limited to a single specific function but operates more like a sentient mind, and can perform similarly to humans at a variety of cognitive tasks.
Beyond that is Artificial Super Intelligence, which is where the AI can vastly out-perform humans.
Ahtman wrote: I'm still bothered that Hoverboards did not hover in any way. What is marketed as AI isn't really AI so I wonder what we will call it when he have an actual AI break though.
Artificial Sentience, because that’s actually what we mean when we talk about artificial intelligence in a sci-fi context.
That is part of why it is so annoying. We used AI to mean sentient for decades and then in the last few years just switched it to describe something else. *shakes fist angrily at cloud*
Marketing and sloppy journalism. It is so annoying.
Ahtman wrote: I'm still bothered that Hoverboards did not hover in any way. What is marketed as AI isn't really AI so I wonder what we will call it when he have an actual AI break though.
Ahtman wrote: I'm still bothered that Hoverboards did not hover in any way. What is marketed as AI isn't really AI so I wonder what we will call it when he have an actual AI break though.
Yeah, "Hover"boards tick me right the heck off.
They're just on wheels! They don't hover. At all.
Technically they do make the rider hover when they inevitably explode?
Only time I’ve seen one in real life, it was being ridden by a Hipster down my road, holding up the traffic.
That’s not an advert any product can come back from.
Flinty wrote: this gem of horror has just cropped up on the film review thread:
"Interquel"
Good grief...
Seriously. I looked up when the new Alien movie was set and I saw that word and thought I was having a stroke. Had to post it to make sure I wasn't the only one!
Is there a term for a more or less acceptable film, such as Alien Resurrection, where general appreciation increases because what follow was utterly dreadful?
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Is there a term for a more or less acceptable film, such as Alien Resurrection, where general appreciation increases because what follow was utterly dreadful?
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Is there a term for a more or less acceptable film, such as Alien Resurrection, where general appreciation increases because what follow was utterly dreadful?
I last read it about 30 years ago, but just skimming the Wikipedia entry almost gave me PTSD. As a Bene Gesserit is invited to watch an Honoured Matre complete her sexual domination of Duncan Idaho, but ah-ha. She didn’t count on secret Tlielaxu implant training, so now who’s the dominated one!
Flinty wrote: As a Bene Gesserit is invited to watch an Honoured Matre complete her sexual domination of Duncan Idaho, but ah-ha. She didn’t count on secret Tlielaxu implant training, so now who’s the dominated one!
I have to admit that was not a sentence I expected to see when I checked back in on this thread.
There's something about him and Ricky Gervais that really twist me. Smug little gits. They remind me of those fat kids who were desperate to avoid getting bullied at school so they hung about one step behind other bullies and picked on kids themselves.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Oh, and anyone that is a professional “consultant” or “consultancy” should be kept away from all businesses forever.
You don’t know what we do. You don’t know how we go about it. You don’t know why we do things the way we do, or the approach we takes. You’ve absolutely no idea what is involved in being good at what I do. And it takes a good six months to get a new recruit signed off - and even then it takes years to get a rounded experience.
So some tosser in a suit who’s no more than a poke-nose git trying to suggest we do things differently can get squarely in the bin, then in the sea. I don’t care what your degree makes you reckon would work. Because you’ve never done this job, and you may not even be capable of doing it - because not everyone is.
Consultancy is the flipside to the old "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem" adage. I prefer "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.", myself.
Consultancy: There's money to be made prolonging the problem.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Is there a term for a more or less acceptable film, such as Alien Resurrection, where general appreciation increases because what follow was utterly dreadful?
.
Or a series with good bookend titles but best to ignore whatever is in the middle. See Blade, Riddick, or the Highlander movies.
Haighus wrote: My partner has just encountered "componentry element" as a great example of corporate bullgak.
We have spent ten minutes trying to figure out what it could mean...
Component?
That would make sense if talking about fridge parts or something. Instead it was part of the "rationale" for a big digital departmental structural change...
Cards on the table? First couple of times, it was amusing in a twee way.
The of course it “trended” and became overused. Like Jim Carey playing Jim Carey in every Jim Carey comedy film until he showed he could do straight roles too.
Since this is about words it sort of fits here. Today I heard an ad for a prescription medicine (ask your doctor about ect) and I only noticed it because at one point it said "over ninety percent of users don't suffer a stroke"...
Along the lines of "years young" I loathe "fur baby".
Similar to those is "life hack" which invariably takes four times as long as doing a task normally and with worse results, for clickbait.
A personal bugbear is "heart attack", which is supposed to mean a myocardial infarction (where the heart muscle hasn't got enough oxygen supply) but gets frequently used for cardiac arrests, a much more serious condition that can arise from lots of causes even in someone with a previously healthy heart. A heart attack can lead to a cardiac arrest, but with modern medicine rarely does.
I can definately see the annoyance on terminology, but as long as saying “heart attack” leads to urgent medical attention then it probably gets the point across
Also people giving their age as '... years young'.
If the person using the phrase is north of 70, I'll allow it. But people roughly my age (lets just stick with under 40) using it for themselves is just dumb
Especially cleaning ones, where the real tip is “don’t be a mucky child born out of wedlock in the first place, and do your washing up every evening, thus precluding any need for especially deep cleaning you clarity, dirty sod”
I have two contributions.
"It is what it is." A phrase so tautologically stupid I'm convinced the user must have had oxygen deprivation during their most recent sleep.
"...the actual ...itself". Bear with me on this one as it may be unique to the UK military experience. Usually only used by representatives of the more academically challenged trades when giving instruction. For example "...aim the actual fire extinguisher itself at the base of the fire", "...take hold of the actual rifle itself and load with the actual magazine itself", etc.
I use that a fair amount, to acknowledge there’s stuff I can’t really influence. Private or professional life, sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do, it’s just not gonna go as hoped.
It can be overused, and used inappropriately. But as a way to help manage my anxiety, it works for me because I genuinely mean it.
I saw something recently that noted that scale (to climb), scale (balance for weight measurement) and scale (e.g. fish/lizard) all come from different language origins
Flinty wrote: I saw something recently that noted that scale (to climb), scale (balance for weight measurement) and scale (e.g. fish/lizard) all come from different language origins
Hooray for English
Similar to the common assumption that 'female' is derived from 'male' when the two words actually come from different roots entirely.
Flinty wrote: I saw something recently that noted that scale (to climb), scale (balance for weight measurement) and scale (e.g. fish/lizard) all come from different language origins
Hooray for English
Similar to the common assumption that 'female' is derived from 'male' when the two words actually come from different roots entirely.
Henry wrote: "...the actual ...itself". Bear with me on this one as it may be unique to the UK military experience. Usually only used by representatives of the more academically challenged trades when giving instruction. For example "...aim the actual fire extinguisher itself at the base of the fire", "...take hold of the actual rifle itself and load with the actual magazine itself", etc.
'the actual" and 'actually' are slipping in as 'academical' version of 'like' in sentences. People relaying instructions and in documentaries seem to have picked them up recently, and it is annoying once you hear them. They probably think it makes them sound more authoritative.
As a Polish person I can tell you that just the fact that you have the same letter standing in for different sounds (or no sound at all) is crazy OO
As for language pet peeves, It drives me slightly crazy when English (mostly native) speakers pronounce foreign words, or English words that are direct loanwords from foreign languages, as if they were English. For example I remember in one Warmachine battle report a player pronouncing Bjorn as if it was something akin to B-John...arrgh. For me it is kind of obvious that such words retain the prononciation of their language of origin - "junta" has Spanish pronounciation and "zeitgeist" has German, even when they are used as parts of an English or a Polish sentence.
As a Polish person I can tell you that just the fact that you have the same letter standing in for different sounds (or no sound at all) is crazy OO
As for language pet peeves, It drives me slightly crazy when English (mostly native) speakers pronounce foreign words, or English words that are direct loanwords from foreign languages, as if they were English. For example I remember in one Warmachine battle report a player pronouncing Bjorn as if it was something akin to B-John...arrgh. For me it is kind of obvious that such words retain the prononciation of their language of origin - "junta" has Spanish pronounciation and "zeitgeist" has German, even when they are used as parts of an English or a Polish sentence.
But I guess it's what it's...
For the most part, I think this comes down to a lack of awareness amongst most native English speakers of differing Latin-based alphabets. I think there is an assumption that all alphabets based on Roman characters are pronounced the same.
It means a word like dziękuję looks absolutely horrific when viewed through an English lense but is really not bad to pronounce at all if you are aware of the different sounds in the Polish alphabet for the same or similar letters. Obviously some phonetics that are found in some languages are completely or commonly absent in others, so not all pronunciation crosses over easily. The classic example being Japanese and the R sound being rolled into L.
On top of this, lots of English keyboards and software routinely block or make it difficult to use characters outside the English alphabet. So for example ł becomes l which really messes with comprehension of the word as they are entirely separate, unrelated letters.
As a Polish person I can tell you that just the fact that you have the same letter standing in for different sounds (or no sound at all) is crazy OO
As for language pet peeves, It drives me slightly crazy when English (mostly native) speakers pronounce foreign words, or English words that are direct loanwords from foreign languages, as if they were English. For example I remember in one Warmachine battle report a player pronouncing Bjorn as if it was something akin to B-John...arrgh. For me it is kind of obvious that such words retain the prononciation of their language of origin - "junta" has Spanish pronounciation and "zeitgeist" has German, even when they are used as parts of an English or a Polish sentence.
But I guess it's what it's...
Eh. Trying to pronounce foreign words "authentically" often ends up with this kind of thing:
You can't really expect folks to pronounce loanwords like a native speaker. Sometimes the sounds themselves just don't translate. Years ago, a Turkish friend was coaching me on how to pronounce a certain word. My third try was correct, and I didn't have a clue what I did differently from the first two. But there was something subtle in there that she could hear and I couldn't. *shrug*
Fun fact? It’s generally considered good customer service to pronounce someone’s name correctly. And to that end, there are websites out there which will give an audio pronunciation.
Takes me second to check it and get it into my head, and helps me get off on the best foot with a consumer, Spesh when I ask if I pronounced it correctly afterwards. After all, if I’m seen to be at least trying to get their name right, they’re more likely to accept I do give a damn about their complaint.
Exactly, any dictionary has audio nowadays and YT lets you check easily "how to pronounce X".
And note that I am mainly talking about actual English words here (present in Cambridge or Oxford dictionaries, like "schadenfreude" or "mojito") that are just directly loaned from other languages. You can immediately see it's not of English origin so pronouncing it as if it was is very much unwarranted.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Also, you end up less like Zapp Brannigan, which is always good
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Three different languages in a trench coat that can and will follow other languages down dark alleys to mug them for loose grammar and verbiage.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: Three different languages in a trench coat that can and will follow other languages down dark alleys to mug them for loose grammar and verbiage.
Can, will, and regularly DOES....
You stole our Putsch .-. TBF the rest of europe also stole it.
Get your own word for a small military coup! Also you are using it wrong aswell
Just because you made something by hand, doesn’t make you an Artisan, or the end product Artisnal.
Baking for instance isn’t that hard. Provided your measurements are accurate, and you know your oven? Anyone can bake a loaf of bread. To be Artisnal, it better induce some kind of dizzying high, you pretentious manbunned Hipster goon.
Just because you made something by hand, doesn’t make you an Artisan, or the end product Artisnal.
Baking for instance isn’t that hard. Provided your measurements are accurate, and you know your oven? Anyone can bake a loaf of bread. To be Artisnal, it better induce some kind of dizzying high, you pretentious manbunned Hipster goon.
As a former professional Bakery owner, I am about to be triggered.
Just because you made something by hand, doesn’t make you an Artisan, or the end product Artisnal.
Baking for instance isn’t that hard. Provided your measurements are accurate, and you know your oven? Anyone can bake a loaf of bread. To be Artisnal, it better induce some kind of dizzying high, you pretentious manbunned Hipster goon.
As a former professional Bakery owner, I am about to be triggered.
Dictionaries don’t define what we say, they record it.
And, without casting any aspersions on actual hard-working and well-qualified bakers, I think we can agree that artisanal is overused.
Your bakery, which makes each loaf with care? I don’t mind you taking that label. Panera Bread’s mass-manufactured bread bowl? I do mind.
Something I've noticed recently is the use of "right now" to emphazise a statement. Is that an American thing or just new like the use of "literally" in a similar context?
BertBert wrote: Something I've noticed recently is the use of "right now" to emphazise a statement. Is that an American thing or just new like the use of "literally" in a similar context?
Like, right now, that's literally what's going on!!!
Whenever I hear the word moist, I'm reminded of Tariq Nasheed trying to use it as a homophobic slur. Same with sweet, zesty and "having sugar in your tank".
Zoomer talk in general is annoying, especially the weird slang.
(three-letter acronyms) are so prevalent, we can't have a conversation of less than 5 minutes without using them throughout. But that is to a like-minded audience. But a lot of the same acronyms are used elsewhere, in other fields, and we all get confused when they overlap.
