Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.

Subject: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 01:45 PM

The germ of this popped up in another thread and it got me thinking: How I loathed it when the noun "party" became a verb. Yechhh! When I would hear someone say "Let's party", or "yah, we partied the other night etc." I'd equate their communication skills with those who said "Like I go, and then he goes...." in place of "I said...".

Same with the "verb", "dis". I know it comes from African-American "disrespect", which some call "ebonics" and others call "bad grammer", but then I started thinkin' a bit further.

The vocabulary of musicians is FILLED with "Black slang", and I don't just mean folkies or Jazzers. Most Classical players under a certain age know the terms "gig, riff, head, quote from, shit (that's dope OR good playing) as in "That's SOME shit he layed down!"

Anyway, I've started to use the "word" dis, so I guess it'll end up being as comfortable as any other "modern" term.

But I STILL hate "party"!

Any other favourites?

Rick

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Áine
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 01:50 PM

My all-time especially hated new "word" is -- proactive -- stupid, insipid, just down right WRONG!!!

-- Áine (steamin' at the ears just thinkin' about it!!)

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: little john cameron
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 01:58 PM

Weel Rick, like,ah guess,like,that lets me oot like ,as ah dinnae ken oney ,like,new words. Like,ah'll jist huv' tae mak' dae,like ,wi' the auld anes,like.
Little John Cameron,like.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Homeless
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 02:00 PM

Homes, homey, reoccuring, pre-existing, orientate.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 02:01 PM

"Network" as a verb, comes to mind.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 02:15 PM

Not a new word but I think my biggest dislike is the modern useage of gay.

Thinking of computer words how about data being used as a singular noun as in "the data is used to..."?

Jon

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Jim the Bart
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 02:15 PM

At my last job, the company had reached the stage of de-evolution that is commonly known as "management by consultants". The place was infested with 'em, asking us what we knew and then feeding it to the suits in the corner offices. Little packets of previously rejected wisdom, now acceptable because of the outrageous fees attached. (Bitter? I am not bitter.)
Consultant-speak is, IMHO, the lowest, most annoying form of communication available. "down-sizing", "right-sizing", the aforementioned "pro-active", "talking points", "action items", and eventually for me "out placement" - there are so many that make my skin crawl. But the one that I found most-irksome in it's sanitized cuteness was the call for a "bio-break". I guess when your business is slinging crap, you don't want to come out and say that you have to take one.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: The Shambles
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 02:17 PM

Slater.

I used to hear this name called out all of the time and think that it must be a bloke I should know.

In fact, due I think to the influence of 'soaps', it is actually...See you later.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 02:20 PM

We call a lot of schools and usually ask for the principal. Now, school secretaries generally come from the shallow end of the gene pool but when they say, "He's conferencing with a parent", we want to say, "Do you mean he's talking with someone?"

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Peter T.
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 02:24 PM

Two worst words in a single word: "prioritize" or "priorize" (except in the sense of founding a priory). Yuuchh. "Impact" is pretty bad too: "That idea really impacted on us." (I would give everyone who uses impacted an impacted wisdom tooth.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 02:25 PM

The way the verb 'do' is used as in, "let's 'do' lunch." Or, used as a noun in the cop shows, "The 'doer' fled the scene."

Or as a euphemism for sexual activity: He was 'doing' her. She was 'doing' him.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: kendall
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 02:25 PM

Just a few.. the cutting edge, state of the art, pushing the envelope. I always eschew obfuscation.. why doesn't everyone?

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Peter T.
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 02:28 PM

I should say that I have become fond of the computer jargon term "wombat". I use it all the time. ("waste of money, brains, and time").
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 02:40 PM

Actually, I hate "talking with" in stead of "talking to" almost as much as I hate "visiting with" in stead of "visiting".

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: kendall
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 02:50 PM

What really drives me around the bend is listening to people who should know better mis-pronounce words such as: Particularly, it has 5 not 4 syllables. Nuclear, not NEWKILLER, (you listening Dubbya?) he's guilty of both. So is the Governor of Minn.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,dan evergreen
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 03:14 PM

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Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Whistle Stop
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 03:25 PM

Wow, this is painful. I'm the one who mentioned "dis" to Rick and evidently encouraged him to start this thread. But then I read Bartholemew's posting, and realized that I'm not immune. I also work in a field that is overrun with consultants (of the environmental sort), is subject to fairly intense government regulation (that's where I come in), and is a breeding ground for litigation. Combine the consultant-speak with the government jargon and the legalese, and before you know it Ebonics starts sounding like the Queen's English.

"Data" as a signular noun is everywhere in my line of work; similarly, people often refer to "media" as a singular term (either in reference to mass communications, or to a particular type of material). I am also quite accustomed to hearing (and using, I'll admit) "proactive," "pre-existing" and "pushing the envelope" on a regular basis. But my personal favorite is kind of specialized jargon in the environmental field -- we don't clean up hazardous waste sites, we "remediate" them.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Kim C
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 03:33 PM

"Pre-owned" instead of "used." How many people actually own something without ever using it? Yes, I know, it can happen, I've bought consigment clothes with the tags still on em. But I doubt anyone's ever owned a car that nobody drove.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Peter T.
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 03:36 PM

The big problem of course is that English is prone to making new verb forms (like "remediate") out of nouns, which only sound ugly because they are new. Shakespeare created all sorts of these verb/noun forms, as did the Elizabethans generally. There are three different issues here: is the new word filling a function that a previously useful word was handling perfectly well ("impact" as opposed to "affected by"? does the new word just sound ugly (prioritize)? does the new word capture something ugly in the society that we don't like, and we attack the word because it refers to the thing we don't like?

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Midchuck
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 03:47 PM

Messing up the use of "effect" and "affect" (which is four words, since each one is both a noun and a verb, with four different meanings in all).

I once saw a document that used "implement viable funding alternatives" (meaning "find a new way to scarf up some bucks") with a straight face, I presume.

Of course, after a lifetime of lawyering I should have grown a shell....

Peter.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Áine
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 03:48 PM

Peter T. -- Those are very interesting points you've brought up. I believe that many of the "new" words are mere inventions by television/radio presenters and/or writers who are looking for a verbal 'hook' for their stories. This words or phrases are meant to add punch to their (to use another grossly overused phrase) "soundbytes".

And to name another word that sends shivers up my spine -- facilitate -- May all the body parts of all users of that little gem become and remain 'facile' . . .

-- Áine

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: kendall
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 03:49 PM

I worked for the U>S> government, the champion of obtuse lingo. They once sent me to report writing school for writing reports in plain English. The school encouraged us to write in plain English. As a prime example, the instructor said.."If you wish to say, Mary had a little lamb, then, for chrissake say Mary had a little lamb. Dont say, Mary possessed a diminutive sheep." I continued to refuse to refer to potential trouble spots as "Critical High response areas" .I used to puzzle over reports from other agents that were so full of governmentese that I literally could not fathom what the hell they were saying. Yes, Spaw, I know what you are thinking, but, I'm not the dullest knife in the drawer. It is my firm belief that they did not want anyone to understand what they were saying. Why? because they. in fact, were saying nothing at all!!

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Fiddlin' Big Al
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 03:54 PM

Weaselspeak all. Circumlocutors speak in twisted phrases hoping to display their intelligence and training. Bio-break indeed. What happened to shit & piss, defecate and urinate. I say bullbio-break on overpaid business consultants and other spreaders of verbal vermin.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Micca
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 03:55 PM

A friend in the communications industry ( where a lot of these Neologisms occur) printed a grid out of Excel with a "new" word in each box and took it to a meeting , as each word came up in the course of the meeting he struck it off the grid, when they were all struck off he stood up and yelled BINGO!!! loudly... Luckily his boss had a good SOH...
One of my pet hates is pecularialy English and that id pronouncing the word written" Certificate" as if it was "Serstifficate"
I LOVE these language threads on the 'cat!!!!!

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Amergin
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 03:56 PM

And then there's aine which means site crasher....

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: lamarca
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 04:00 PM

Peter, I like to refer to that odious practise as "verbing nouns"
I verb a noun.
You verb a noun.
He/she/it verbs a noun.

Ex: party, impact, message ("He messaged me this morning" - Aarrgghh!), verbing...

I work for the federal government, one of the worst sources of "new" words or constructs. One of my pet peeves is the lengthening and complication of names for things to either hide their true meaning or make them sound more important. Some examples:

Library - Interactive Media Center (IMC) (just because it has more than books doesn't mean it's not a library...)
Used - Pre-owned or vintage (this started with high-end luxury automobiles, but now has travelled to clothing and other products - who do they think they're fooling?)
"Junior High" became "Intermediate" which became "Middle school" Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) - National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) (the more letters in your acronym, the more important you are...)
Garbageman - Sanitation engineer (one of the original PC job title expansions, now grown so common it's frequently parodied...)
Life jacket - Personal Flotation Device (PFD)

I could go on, but I'm getting annoyed just thinking about it. I guess I'm achieving early curmudgeonhood...(ECH)

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Llanfair
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 04:11 PM

At a Social Services meeting in the '80's, a social worker declared that she was about to "share" some information with the rest of the meeting. I fell about laughing, and then discovered that they were all taking it seriously!!! Oh, these caring, sharing Oh so right-on social workers, sorry, "care managers"!!!!!! I couldn't get out soon enough!!! Hwyl, Bron.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: SINSULL
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 04:23 PM

Anything "...challenged". I was recently accused of being "Case Challenged" when I accidentally tuned on the Capslock feature.

Except Song Challenged. Aine could set one up to see who could use the most annoying number of the above mentioned "eses" in a single song. Then we could watch Midchuck get affected by the effect, like.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Bert
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 04:25 PM

like?

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: SINSULL
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 04:38 PM

Bert,
"Like" is LJCameron's favorite word to hate. Like, read the thread, Homey...OK???? Or are you time-challenged and Nevermind! "I feel your pain". (Another personal favorite). SS

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Giac
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 04:55 PM

I hear you.

or

I heard 'at!

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Áine
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 04:59 PM

Man, do you know what I'm sayin'??

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: BlueJay
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 05:10 PM

As a nurse, I see lots of wierd lingo. How many of you know off the top of your head that "bradycardia" refers to a slower than normal heart rate? Stuff like that is fine, mostly Latin and Greek combinations designed by physicians to impress the lay public and each other. It's easy to learn.
What bothers me is when they start elevating simple words to that level. My pet peeve is "orientated", commonly used to describe how to do a job. "I was orientated to the new unit", for example. This has always stuck in my craw. I can't say it. I see no use whatsoever for the extra syllable. Show me how to do a job. Show me the ropes. Even orient me, but please don't orientate me, I find it insulting. I know, "orientate" is listed as a synonym for "orient", but I still hate it.
On the subject of "verbizing" nouns. In my corner of the world, a caboose at the end of a train is also called a "waycar". Virtually nonexistant these days. Somehow, the noun "waycar" became a verb, as in "Go waycar track #3, meaning to put a caboose on track#3. Horrible usage, but such examples are becoming more common. Quit "verbizing" our nouns! BlueJay

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 05:19 PM

wussup?...and 99% of everything above...

"verbing" is a particular pain...saw 'surface' used awhile back.."My staff has surfaced some new material on this"..

'like' 'you know' and 'yuhnowhadimean'will get me frothing...

Heard a black woman on a talk show a few years ago touting and defending Ebonics as a subject worthy of being TAUGHT in schools! SHE was perfectly fluent in English, too, but was willing to allow inner city kids to grow up unable to compete in job searches because Ebonics was not tolerated in most businesses above the janitor level.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Homeless
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 05:21 PM

I once made up a word just to be obnoxious. When working with someone on the computer I asked them to "biggerize" the window. While at first laughed at, other people in our company started using it, and much to my chagrin I have to hear it quite often now.

Other words... asap, foobar (sic), snafu, asp, com. These are acronyms, people!

Others on my pet peeve list... OTOH, IMO, IMHO, LMAO, etc., but most of all C U L8R

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Mbo
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 05:22 PM

WHat I can't stand:

Pronouncing "elementary" as "ellamennery"
Pronouncing "interesting" as "inneresting"
Pronouncing "important" as "impordant"
Pronouncing "horrible" as "hoorable"
Not to mention: "Ya know what I'm sayin'"
"And whatnot"
And the queen mother of detested words "basically"!!
ARGGGGGG!!!!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Mbo
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 05:36 PM

Of course, my sister and I are NOTORIOUS for inventing new words, especially verbs, such as "gruffled," "soused," and "quirked." Others words include "conundrumaic," "actionate," "chilth," "gwarp," "boko," "putrino," etc.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: SDShad
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 05:42 PM

Oh, no, Embow, I beg to differ. The Queen Mother of all detested words for me is "irregardless." There's "regardless," and there's "irrespective." But "irregardless" simply isn't a friggin' word!

I'm also bothered by "useage" and "utilize" in place of the perfectly acceptable "use," and incorrect useage of the verb "comprise."

You know, and whatnot, basically. IMHO.

Shad

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Kim C
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 05:42 PM

Nobody's mentioned You Da Man!

I have to confess, though, being a Southerner, I am very fond of regional colorful speech. Let me say, I was an English major, I know the rules of grammar and will use them when necessary. But it ain't always necessary. And now, I reckon I'm fixin to mosey over yonder.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: little john cameron
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 05:47 PM

Right,no question about that,that being said,this thread could last for years.
Absolutely right on man!
VJC"VERTICALLY CHALLENGED JOHN CAMERON"

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Kim C
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 05:51 PM

I forgot "expresso" for "espresso" and "Calvary" for "cavalry." Drives me BATTY!

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Mbo
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 05:51 PM

Oh, Kim, I love "You da man!" I especially like the "Yeah..I'M THE MAN!!" from the Wednesday commercial. Another one I detest is "no-brainer." And for any one who has watched the Today Show, or anything else on NBC, their over use of the word "that." It really bugz me! As in "That little Cuban boy," "That forest fire," "That airplane crash." Like it's just some kind of unimportant topic that maybe you'll remember or something...

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: wysiwyg
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 05:57 PM

HOW do you PRE-DRILL a pilot hole for a screw??? Don't you just DRILL it????

And what is THE HOMELESS??? Isn't IT a THEY? Would it take that much more air time for the TeeVee newsreader to say, HOMELESS PEOPLE or PEOPLE WHO ARE HOMELESS????

And TWEAK. I edit copy for people, and real skill is involved-- and when someone talks about TWEAKING a written piece I want to TWEAK them! (Or better yet, PUNCH them up a bit.)

For awhile things had to have SIZZLE. Now there are two ugly words making the rounds in home decor circles.... the color POPS the room or the thing has WHIMSY.

Good. Now we can all VERBALIZE our feelings and VALIDATE each others' about this stuff. Not that I care-- I am nicely DETACHED about it. Well. You know. It's a PROCESS.

~S~

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 05:58 PM

MBO RULES!

There, I've used my all time least favourite word....and I feel much better. BUT......those who say "EXCAPE, EXPRESSO, and....give me strength...EXCETERA", well....just stop doing it...hear?

Little John, just remember your diminutive stature made all the ladies think you were "cuddly". Never remember Kay complaining! Quite the opposite....and that woman DID talk!

Rick

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Mbo
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 06:05 PM

Aw, c'mon Rick, I love the word "rule," "rules, "rulz". BTW if I said you rule, would you take it as an insult? I also like "This/you/he/she/it/they ROCK/S!"

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Rollo
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 06:07 PM

"... O mi! How giddy I is! Perhaps it is along of the cliff of Ain Giddi: perhaps of the glass of sherry & water close by - only I ain't drank it yet..."

(Edward Lear in a letter to Chichester Fortescue)

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 06:10 PM

I think its fantastic that we can all share like this, I mean it's really cool. I could listen to this stuff 24/7 and still be good to go. Know what I mean? Fogeddaboudit!

Speaking of "orientating", I used to work for a distributor of graphic arts products, and it was very desirable to handle a manufacturer's line exclusive of other dealers. Somehow this exclusive relationship was deemed exclusativity. I cringed when I first heard this, but it got worse. Exclusativity was like a contagious virus infecting everyone in the company. I would look for opportunities to use the proper term, exclusivity, whenever I could, but no one seemed to know what I was talking about."OH! You mean exclusativity," they would say. It began to have a physical impact on me, like a hammer blow between the eyes ...exclusaTIVity. Ouch. Enough to make you go crazy and run around butt naked. Don't get me started...

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Mbo
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 06:24 PM

I also hate "preparedness." And EJ, there is a pizza place 40 feet from my apartment called "Fuh-Gedda-Bout-It Pizza" ! My sister and I say this over and over in the "unnastan?" voice to annoy people on purpous...

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Peter T.
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 06:27 PM

Like I'm like, "like is like not as", and like, she's like, "like" is like 'not as'? Like, sure (as if)!", and I'm like, "like", you know, it's like, similar to" and she's like, "Like similar to what, like, really?" you know; and like, really, I'm like, "similarity, like a simile, like", and she's like, "like compared to what?" and I'm like, "no, "as" compared to what, that's the difference." And she's like, "What?" And I'm like, ""As", and she's like, "As what?" and I'm like, "Exactly!" and she's like, "You are as an asshole, like really." And as I go away, I'm like thinking, as I must, is that like all there is to it? (AS IF!!)

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Áine
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 06:30 PM

Hey LEJ,

The appropriate phrase is, I believe, butt nekid -- Remember, if you naked, you are simply without clothes; if you are nekid, you're up to something nasty!! *BG*

-- Áine

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: little john cameron
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 06:35 PM

Rick ye auld deevil,you keep your mooth shut an' ah'll dae the same!! Whit aboot big Barbara B******.Ah hae mind o' the time she threw Tyson inta the lake at Mariposa!! LJC

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Pixie
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 07:30 PM

Hey, I hear ya!....ya know what I mean??? Puhlease, I'm gaggin! Irregardless of what you think, I'm lovin' it....all these "bad" words!Give me a break!!!!

My job requires a level of non-commitalism in writing, and I have become very tired of "pro-active", "sustainable", "ensuring", "quality", and on, and on, and on....hey, if someone passes wind, can I just call it a fart?

Bring English back to the base-ics, please???

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: kendall
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 07:30 PM

the worst non word is..IRREGARDLESS aaarrrgggg!!!

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Homeless
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 08:24 PM

NOT!

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: little john cameron
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 08:27 PM

Kendall ah wis gaun tae say that but ah couldnae remember hoo tae spell it. An'hoo aboot bottom burping for fart? LJC

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 08:31 PM

Well, I personally detest Surveil (as to put someone under surveillance). Thurber said it best:

neologism = carcinomenclature

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Banjo Johnny
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 08:35 PM

This discussion has kept me laughing for an hour!

I'm only mildly irked with people who want to "axe" a question. And only slightly moreso by those who call me "yall". I suppose these are Americanisms.

But to me the all-time international annoyance is the misuse of the word "hopefully". (Hopefully, I don't have to explain why.)

The next person who begins a sentence with "hopefully" will be taken out and shot.

There was quite a discussion here about teaching Ebonics in school. (Or "skoo", to use the Ebonic.) A question arose as to what would be done about a student who flunked Ebonics. Would he then be required to attend a course in Remedial Ebonics?

Johnny in Oklahoma City

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Mbo
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 08:45 PM

Hooked On Ebonics.

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: bob jr
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 09:18 PM

i got to lodge another vote for "wazzupppppppppppp" and all its kin

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Mbo
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 09:24 PM

I like Busta Rhymes classic salutation the best--"What the dilly, yo?"

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Áine
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 09:38 PM

Dear Banjo Johnny,

I must protest your "dis-ing" of the term "y'all" -- This is a regional expression and, thankfully, it has resisted persistent "yankeefying". Personally, I don't believe it falls under the category of "Worst New Words in the English Language." It is not an affectation of any sort, but merely a contraction that is commonly used in colloquial Southern speech. However, it should always be used in the second person plural, and never in the second person singular.

And if ya wanna arm-rassle about it, I'll take ya on!

-- Áine

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Bugsy
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 09:56 PM

Do you remember the day when, if you said that you were gay,
It meant with joy that you would sing or shout.
When a fairy was enchanting and dressing up and camping,
Was something you did with the scouts.
Those halcyon days, when an urgent case of aids
Was powdered milk we sent to the Sahara.
A poof was something for your feet, a fruit was something you could eat,
And a queen was an old tart in a tiara.

Ah, Look what we've done to the old Mother tongue,
It's a crime the way we've misused it
It's been totally tiswassled, crombed and blombed and collywobbled,
And we've strangled, frangled, mangled and abused it.

Do you remember the time when a bong meant a chime
And a buzz was a noise insecticidal.
A joint was something between bones and getting really stoned
only happened to bad people in the Bible.
When if you had a bad trip it meant you fell and hurt your hip
Cold turkey just meant Christmas at Aunt Dottie's.
Coke was something that you burned, smack was something that you earned
from your Mumsy Wumsy when you had been naughty

Ah, Look what we've done to the old Mother tongue,
It's a crime the way we've misused it
It's been totally tiswassled, crombed and blombed and collywobbled,
And we've strangled, frangled, mangled and abused it.

Long gone are the days when only eggs got laid
and only the rhinoceros got horny.
When kangaroos jumped and only camels humped
Getting stuffed meant a little taxidermy.
Swinging was for trapezes and Tarzans Chimpanzeeses.
Tossing off was something scotsmen did with Cabers
Now it means something quite obscene and a heavy ugly scene
Is any movie starring Arnold Schwartzeneger.

Courtesy of Mr Eric Bogle.

As for my pet hates, How long have you got?

Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 10:02 PM

I have always detested the use of "assurance" instead of "insurance" as in "life assurance" . As a cabinet-maker, however, I must take issue with Praise re."Pre-drill". It is actually a very useful term, substantively diffent from "drill".

Murray

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,mary g
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 10:03 PM

I think the word wannabe cannot be used in a respectful, non-put-down way...

mg

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 10:08 PM

MBO, I'll allow you to use "RULES" 'cause you're proving to be a certified knowledgable Mudcat weirdo (a great compliment in MY book) but when 45 year old DJs use it to describe the Back Street Boys I wanna chuck my lunch!

When Canadians say "Eh?" I know they watched the Bob and Doug MacKenzie movies......but it doesn't help! I still want to avoid them.

Mudcat is totally awesome.

Rick

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Banjo Johnny
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 10:21 PM

Oh good, another chance to groan about misused words!

DISCONNECT -- There used to be a "gap" between rich and poor, for example. Now there is a disconnect.

PERSONAL -- It started with Personal Computer, one suitable for use by an individual rather than a group. Now you can buy "personal suppositories". One shudders to think of the alternative.

PERSONAL (2) -- As in "up close and personal". Every TV interview is up close and personal.

INTERESTINGLY -- The thought introduced by this pseudo- adverb is always less than interesting.

Here are a few more cliches that will make you grind your teeth. At the present juncture ... even as we speak ... in harm's way ... rush to judgment ... dare to compare ... if you will.

I wonder what irks us about this kind of thing. Can it be that we who have taken the trouble to study our beautiful language are living on beans, while TV "personalities" are earning $1000 per minute with their moronic drivel?

== Johnny in Oklahoma City

By the way, Mbo, your "Hooked on Ebonics" remark was REALLY FUNNY - Thanks!

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Banjo Johnny
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 10:30 PM

Dearest Aine, (who has been so gracious and helpful), according to my Official Yayhoo Dictionary, the plural form of "y'all" is "all-y'all". This usage is confirmed in everyday conversation here in Oklahoma City. == Johnny in OKC

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Áine
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 10:38 PM

My Dearest Sweet Johnny in OKC,

Well, that's them dang Okies fer ya, ain't it -- y'all! *BG*

-- Áine (whose Daddy was born Enid, OK - but he always denied it!)

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Banjo Johnny
Date: 27 Jun 00 - 11:57 PM

Thanks, Aine! (I'm guessing it's pronounced Annie, but with an Irish spelling.) Which reminds me -- Caitlin is an Irish name, pronounced Kathleen, not "kate-lin" as some air-heads would have it. However if a woman is named Caitlin and wants to be called Kate-lin, ...

Back to the topic. I'm getting tired of hearing "big- time" at the end of every sentence. I think this was begun by Oprah Winfree (sp?) on television, and adopted by office workers, big-time. Office workers have been responsible for many cliches. Do you recall a time when no document could pass from one to another without the phrase, "Comin' at 'cha!" being uttered?

Enid, Oklahoma is a beautiful and prosperous small town, which anyone can be proud to call his birthplace, but it is not really a center of linguistic purity. Regards to your dad!

== Johnny in Oklahoma City

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: sophocleese
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 12:08 AM

I was accused of gabbling when I told a long-winded acquaintance that her vocabulary was "somewhat jargonistic". Later in the conversation I was also told I had no subtlety, Ahhh those university discussions sparkling with wit and humour...One graduate even told me she had been burglarized, compassion won out over bad humour but it was a close thing.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Áine
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 12:09 AM

My Dearest Sweet Johnny in OKC,

My, my, my . . . you really have opened the proverbial 'can o' worms' now! My daughter is named Caitlin (more properly, in Irish, Caitlín). Its English equivalent is Kathleen; however, in the Munster and Connacht dialects of Irish, it is properly pronounced as "Kaht-leen" (from hence the American pronounciation of "Kate-lin" comes). In the Ulster dialect, it is pronounced more like "Kotch-leen". So, in my book, it's just fine for an Irish-American girl/woman to be calling herself "Kate-lin". We use both pronounciations in our family; the Ulster one at home and the American one when we're with the inlaws (they're from Waxahachie, and find Irish pronounciations difficult).

I'm so glad to hear that Enid is doing fine. And upon consultation with my Dear Hubby (a Waxahachie native, of course), I must point out that "all-y'all" is indeed a proper second person plural for "y'all", but only when applied to a group of persons larger than three, but less than 20. *BG*

Gotta love them Okies, Áine

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 12:19 AM

Well, I hate that 'ironic' has become a synonym for 'weird' or 'coincidental.'

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,piet with an "i"
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 12:22 AM

Um... the computer mags use "prosumer". Gives me a rash.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Matt Woodbury/Mimosa
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 12:30 AM

How about "Whatever." as a sentence. There's no way to say it respectfully.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Banjo Johnny
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 12:59 AM

To Aine again -- Your daughter is named Caitlin! What are the chances? Totally IRONIC - I mean like big time! Sorry for the airhead remark, but I was thinking of those "trendy" names like Heather and Courtney and Brent. Please don't say your dad's name is Brent.

To avoid this becoming a two-way chat ... someone mentioned COOL. My only objection arises when it is used to describe something for sale. Hey kids, buy this cool T-shirt! I think "coolness" can only be confered by others, not self-declared. To call oneself cool is un-cool. == Mr. Cool in OKC

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 04:19 AM

Most of my pet hates have been mentioned above. I particularly hate "meet with" instead of just "meet" and "I have to say" as an introduction is usually followed by something better left unsaid. (Perhaps I should start all my Mudcat contributions with it!)
RtS

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Bugsy
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 04:36 AM

"one spoonful" "Two spoonfulls","Two shovelfulls"Two handfulls". That get's my bile gland working overtime.

Also when I go into a shop and the assistant asks me' "You right mate?" If I was "right" I wouldn't be there in the first place and I am NOT his "Mate".

Cheers

Bugsy

Whoisquittingnowbecauseoncehegetsgoingonthissubjecttherewillbenostoppinghim. LOL

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Gervase
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 06:27 AM

Basically, at the end of the day, any words that people use to obscure fuzzy thinking or to stake some claim to exclusivity.
But George Orwell put it far mor succinctly than ever I could, in The Prevention of Literature and Politics and the English Language.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: JennieG
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 06:38 AM

A phrase that annoys me is "at this point in time" - I'm never sure just what it means; does it mean "now"? Why not just say "now" or "at present"?
And if the word "like" was suddenly removed from the English language, every teenager in the country would suddenly be struck dumb.........come to think of it that's not such a bad idea...........
JennieG

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Hilary in NZ
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 07:01 AM

I'm not positive, but I don't think anybody yet has mentioned that language is a living thing and if it's not continually evolving and growing it will become a dead language, something I'm sure we don't want. Myself, I love making up new words for things [loved that "biggerize"] and if they are creative and help make us understood - well - isn't that what language is for? Music, painting, in arts like this we applaud new things, new ways of looking at things...why is everyone always so stodgy about language. I consider that an art too. luv [sic] Hilary

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Homeless
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 07:26 AM

Hillary - as one who makes up new words (biggerize), and uses unusual spellings (tho, thru, thanx) I'm not against language changing if, as you said, it will "help make us understood." But so much of what has been mentioned here either doesn't clarify, or even worse, make things harder to understand. Like, well, you know. (If "you knew," I wouldn't have to explain it.)

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Nicole Leonard
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 07:40 AM

Here in New Zealand more American phrases have been creeping in recently, especially at work. My pet hate (at this point in time!) is in meetings when somebody 'talks to' something, usually a report or other document. 'I am now going to talk to this report'. (Well, what are you going to say to it? 'Hello there, report'?) Why not talk about the report instead? Another phrase that is becoming very common is to 'touch base' with someone. Let's meet, talk, contact, communicate, anything but 'touch base'! I once read about some people who were 'burglarized', but here we get 'burgled' instead. We also have the Bingo game (it is called 'Wank Words').

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: kendall
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 07:52 AM

how about Mother in laws or attorney generals . More governmentese.. "I communicated telephonically, with the subject. apparently, the predicate doesn't know anything..

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Mooh
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 07:57 AM

Like you know, "probably" doesn't have, like, two syllables you know.

"I feel your pain." Bull.

Mooh.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 08:31 AM

There's a good article in the latest issue of Utne Reader regarding the decline of literacy in language, and how vocabulary (or lack of it) affects the depth and breadth of thought. Although only subtle reference is made to Orwell and sinister implications, thought-control theorists won't be surprised by any of the salient points the author makes.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Margaret V
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 08:32 AM

Well, in the museum field I keep fending off the word "edutainment." It's the implication that education itself can't be or isn't somehow fun in the first place that bothers me! When I'm planning museum education programs, I just assume that it had better be engaging or noone will bother to pay attention. Also in the academic land of history / material culture studies, the word "nuanced" is really overused. A richly nuanced interpretation of this or that. . . does that just mean a scholar has payed attention to the details and come up with some interesting conclusions of her own? I suppose it's not completely without meaning, but it is certainly used (utilized?) to excess. By the way, I have always ranted about the use of "utilize" instead of plain old "use" but just now I looked in the dictionary and there is a, um, nuance to "utilize" that I hadn't realized. "Use" is defined simply as "the act of employing anything," while "utilize" is defined as "to make useful; turn to profitable account or use" (and, lastly, "to make use of"). There is a difference (and richly nuanced, at that), but the problem is that people use them interchangeably. Why use one syllable when three will do? Margaret

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Mbo
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 08:34 AM

HEY, "like" is a big part of my vocabulary, even though I didn't go to regular school where most kids would pick it it. It is a useful word, and you can't image the fun ways you can annoy people by over using it on purpous. There' my infamous "like" schtick, that I do in a Cockney accent "it's loik loik loik um y'know loik um loik loik loik..." Get's 'em everything...laughing that is!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: bbc
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 09:04 AM

At the risk of contributing to a non-musical thread, albeit one that is neither negative nor fingerpointing...most of my new words, lately, seem to be coming from the teacher of the adult Sunday School class at my church, who works at a large company--segue & "face" time come to mind. Segue has become a regular part of my family's vocabulary now (or "vocab" as my teenaged son always says it), almost invariably preceded by "smooth." "Face" time, I hate. Anybody need definitions or are these common terms?

bbc (still fighting for proper use of its/it's, can/may, me/myself, his/her/their, etc.)

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 09:08 AM

I will axe y'all not to continue using "The Mother Of All..." when describing a major event. The Mother of all Splinters, The Mother of all Pit Bulls, etc.

I am still amused however at the Smothers Brothers wishing Richard Nixon a "Happy Mother's Day".

menestration for menstruation, manarina for marinara.

Enough! This is turning into the "Mother of All Aggravating Threads".

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Kim C
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 10:08 AM

Personally I like whimsy, mostly because I seem to have a lot of it myself.

The word "Axe" for "ask" actually goes back to Middle English and you can find it in Chaucer. A 19th century etiquette book I have (it's a reprint)denotes it as being improper by that time. However I still like to use it once in awhile just to vex people.

I have a book of letters by General Jeb Stuart, which spans his life from the time he was 13 years old until just before he died in 1864. At 13 he was in a boarding school in Wytheville, VA or thereabouts. I could not believe the command of language and grammar he had at the age of 13...... no 13-year-old I know of in the year 2000 would write like that. In one letter he was complaining of not having heard from his family in awhile, and he said something like "how could you ignore a poor, insignificant little whelp away from his mammy?"

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Ringer
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 10:35 AM

"Leverage" used as a verb. Don't know what it means, and don't folking want to.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Ella on the spare puter round the corner
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 10:50 AM

Hello

Here's game to keep any work meetings lively.

Bull shit bingo...

Draw a grid with a few boxes on it.

In the different boxes put all the stock jargon words that people use whilst giving a talk or in meetings - like exetentialism (or whatever)network, proactive, etc

and photocopy the sheet and hand out to the people at the meeting.

The first one to tick off all their words during the meeting shouts

BULLSHIT

?

What do you reckon - I have done it, actually fun - but wasn't a serious meeting - keeps things light.

Ella

Soon to be going home

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: bbc
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 10:53 AM

I believe "duh" was mentioned, but "doh" (from the Simpsons cartoons) bugs me, too.

bbc

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Mooh
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 12:01 PM

My favourite local use is "yous" as the plural of "you". Sometimes as the singular too. "Yous guys goin' drinkin'." I've even seen it spelt "use". Mooh.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: kendall
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 12:40 PM

Mbo, I cant speak for others, but, personally, when someone keeps saying "like" every three or four words, it's the same as someone saying ahh or uh every three or four words. It turns my head off and I quit listening. I find that sort of thing similar to profanity for the sake of profanity. Definition of profanity..The effort of a feeble mind to express itself. I get bored very quickly with someone who is so limited, dare I say "grammatically challenged?" New words, finalize.. Pres. Eisenhower. Normalcy. Pres. Harding. Probably the dullest knife in the White house drawer.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Penny S.
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 01:18 PM

What really bugs me in management-speak is putting sets of possibly-rhyming-or-if-that-fails-alliterating words together in a sequence which is supposed to define some process or other as if they mean somthing different from the original meaning.

I was introduced to this via a sequence about group working which included forming, storming, conforming, reforming and another one, probably not in that order, and spent my time not doing any of those things but wondering why it was essential to include the break up of a successful team in the sequence. I wanted to inform the manager that I would deform him if he tried it on. And I cannot remember the lesson, because it was stripped of meaning.

I recently, in my tours round churches, found one which was in the throes of forming a united parish with another. There was a leaflet about this, telling the parishioners that the process of change was like that of bereavement, with recognisable stages - ending in acceptance, of course, done in such a managerese sequence, which left no room for a process of telling anyone how you felt about it if it didn't fit the word-string. Ugh.

Penny

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Gary T
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 01:27 PM

I miss the verb "lend", which has been all but obliterated by "loan".

For quite a while I've been hearing the verb "vet", I believe most recently in the phrase "He ws vetted...". Now, I don't think of myself as particularly slow to grasp language concepts, but I have not yet been able to deduce its meaning from the contexts where I've seen it. Any help?

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Micca
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 01:37 PM

I always assumed that when someone was "vetted" they came second in a ball-race with a Veternarian? **BG***

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Morticia
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 01:42 PM

My personal bile and loathing is saved for those t-shirts and bumper stickers that use a heart symbol to stand for love, as in 'I heart my dog'......saw one once that sported 'I spade my cat', oh how we laughed.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Gary T
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 01:45 PM

Several years ago I saw an ad in a magazine for little self-adhesive drawings of a screw, just the right size to cover the heart symbol on those bumper stickers. I still wish I'd bought some.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Mbo
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 02:05 PM

I also can't stand "Your money back." Not only is it a fragment and grammatically incorrect, but it makes no blinkin' sense!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Bert
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 02:28 PM

Mbo, you just reminded me. < blink >

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Clinton Hammond2
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 02:46 PM

Great thread!

I'm ROTFLMFAO here!
As a frequent chatter online, I feel I must leap to the defence of those stupid strings of letters... It's all to easy to lose the emotion of an exchange on the net and 'emoticons' are almost a necessity...

My personal language pet-peve is "My bad"... If you're sorry, say so! Likely what bugs me most is that it seems like the people who use "my bad" are not really sorry for whatever it is they feel they must "my bad" for...

Oh and no need above janitor level for ebonics... that's true but they still teach ethics too, no?

{~`

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Banjo Johnny
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 03:20 PM

I don't think anyone objects to new, useful words. It's the misuse of our old favorites that gets our undeys in a bundle.

Is this a good time to put in a complaint about the verb "to diagnose"? Perhaps an injury or ailment can 'be diagnosed' by a doctor. However, a patient cannot "be diagnosed with phlebitis," for crying out loud. The sufferer is not the disease.

Incidentally, my motorcycle mechanic assures me that 'mainly dogs get flea-bite-us.'

I, too, have wondered about 'vet', so I looked it up in the Big Fat Dictionary, which gives, "2. Brit. vt. to examine closely." How about those Brits!

This thread is good because it reminds us all of the blunders to avoid during conversations with ordinary (non-musical but educated) people.

Johnny in Oklahoma City, "Toe-Tappin' Tunes & Fancy Patter"

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 03:48 PM

What I want to know is, when did weather become an event? As in "rain event" or even "sun event." And a tornado become a "micro burst"? And when did tv and radio people who aren't quite stars become "personalities"?

My husband's current irritant is "content provider." He's a writer, fer-pete's-sake! And a good one!

And even if I were one, I'd resent being identified as a "consumer." (Except, perhaps, of dinner.)

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 03:54 PM

SDShad and Kendall, I once lost a $50 bet on "Irregardless." A friend used it in a conversation one night, and I stated that there was no such word. He averred that there was, and in fact, that it was in the dictionary. The bet was made, and the following day, in he comes with a Webster's, and sure enough the bloody word was there, admittedly with the admonition "incorrect, but in common usage." So now I use the word knowing full well that it is incorrect, but in the perpetual hope that some smarty-pants will wager me $50 that iin the dictionary, and I can recoup my loss. All the best. Seamus

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Gary T
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 04:01 PM

Seamus, you'll find that the word "gullible" is NOT in the dictionary.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Mbo
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 04:10 PM

Yet ANOTHER thing I dislike is the use of the word "experiencing". In Japan it was always "We are experiencing technical difficulties" or "We are experiencing tropical weather conditions" like it was the crowning moment of your life or something!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 04:15 PM

Sit through "My Cousin Vinny", you'll find a million of them. Everyone's favorite: Yutes.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Naemanson
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 04:26 PM

Hi All,

I guess I have to agree with much of what's been said here but the best point was made by GUEST,Hilary in NZ, and Homeless. English is an evolving and changing language. As long as it continues to evolve in this way it will continue to be the dominant language on the planet.

Still, some of the new words and uses of words are painful to encounter. There is one that gets me every time I drive by a video store. Why do we have to PRE-book a new videtape? If you book something aren't you reserving it? So what do are you doing when you pre-book something?

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 05:07 PM

copied & pasted from a thread last September on regional humor...it says something about the use of language..and maybe about that 'other' thread on religion that is going now:

just remembered a true story my father told...

He was a Western Union lineman (dug the hole, put up the poles, strung the wire)from about 1927 to about 1947. This often entailed living for days or weeks in 'outfit' cars on the railroad..(you may have seen some..grey cars with windows and stairs at each end..kind of a cheap, wooden bunkhouse on tracks)...anyway, they had to cook for themselves, just like in Bruce Phillips story.

So, one night, they were sitting down to dinner for the usual plain fare...some sort of fried meat, boiled potatoes...etc...when a guy from Texas called to a guy from Arkansas at the other end of the table..."hey, Shorty, pass the spuds.."....well, Shorty got this look on his face and glared at 'Tex'...and admonished him, "Tex, dammit..don't call 'em 'spuds'...call 'em 'taters, whut they aire."

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: kendall
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 05:12 PM

I wouldn't have paid the bet. In proper English, there is no such word.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Homeless
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 06:14 PM

I agree with kendall. Yes, it was in the dictionary, but the dictionary stated that it was incorrect - hence, not a word.

I just got an e-mail from a national company that stunned me with its mistakes. It said, "its' entirety. Be sure and visit . . ." Its is a possessive and doesn't need a quotation mark. And don't they teach what an infinitive is? I can't believe how many people say "Try and (insert verb of choice here)." And while I'm ranting I'll throw in "could/would/should of."

Phew. I feel better now.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Mooh
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 06:44 PM

Knowing that my Dad, a retired clergyman, heartily disliked the word "humungous", I glanced at him to revel in his grimace when we heard it from the pulpit (of all places), spoken by a young relatively inexperienced preacher. He hadn't reacted, I suppose because the message transcends mere words at the proper times in life. Maybe I should have been paying more attention to the message.

Still learning to listen, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Banjo Johnny
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 07:23 PM

If you try that "irregardless" trick, you had better check your dictionary beforehand -- not all words (or non-words) appear in all dictionaries. I have in my hands a very large Webster dictionary that does not contain the word "varsity". Is it a word, or not? Another dictionary grudgingly describes it as a corrupt form of 'university'. If so, how can there be a high school varsity team?

The Webster also fails to include "reprise". Musicians, do you know what a reprise is? Of course you do, but is it in your dictionary?

ASIDE: If there are any Brits still reading this long thread, can you please explain "Bob's your uncle"? I have a vague idea that it means "prove it". In any case, WHY does it mean anything? Is it one of your Cockney Rhymes? Thanks for your help!

Johnny in Oklahoma City

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 07:58 PM

I think that something Peter T said, up the thread, neatly sorts out the different issues involved here:

"There are three different issues here:

is the new word filling a function that a previously useful word was handling perfectly well ("impact" as opposed to "affected by"?

does the new word just sound ugly (prioritize)?

does the new word capture something ugly in the society that we don't like, and we attack the word because it refers to the thing we don't like?"

All these are valid reasons to be irritated. When it's just a case of some words being seen as "not good English" I think it's a bit more suspect.

Whether a word is in a dictionary doesn't matter too much - all the words we use were in common use before they ever made it into a dictionary. Shakespeare and Chaucer never saw a dictionary in their life, because they did't exist, and Sakespeare especially seems to have made up his spelling as he went along (including that of his own name), and it doesn't seem to have hurt his use of langage.

The third category Peter gives is the one where I find myself getting angry. Especially the use of language as a way of pretending that things are better than they are. "Downsizing" instead of "sacking"; "terminate" instead of "kill" ("with extreme prejudice").

And the phrases tossed around by Social Workers (of whom I used to be one till I retired) so glibly - "I hear what you say" (with the unspoken meaning "But I don't give it any weight"), and most of all "In a perfect world" (meaning "I'm not going to stick my neck out to help you get what you need"). Here it's not the language itself. but the use of it as a shield against real contact. Like "sharing", which is a great word, and a great concept, but misused and exploited so that it can become almost impossible to use.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Amergin
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 04:07 AM

What about that thing you hear on the tube all the time (I don't watch the bloody thing but my housemates do):yada yada yada instead of just and so forth, or something of that sort?

Amergin

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Airto
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 05:26 AM

I've just tried to enter the biztravel.com site only to be told that it is "temporarily unavailable due to a scheduled maintenance outage".

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Nicole Leonard
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 08:00 AM

Wow, this thread is fascinating! I have never heard of some of this stuff! What are "segue", "face time" and "my bad"? I have never heard of any of them and have no idea what they might mean. (On the other hand, "vet" is no problem).

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Nicole Leonard
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 08:04 AM

Wow, this thread is fascinating! I have never heard of some of this stuff! What are "segue", "face time" and "my bad"? I have never heard of any of them and have no idea what they might mean. (On the other hand, "vet" is no problem).

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Mbo
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 09:12 AM

Banjo Johnny, my sister has the whole story on the term "Bob's your uncle" which of course means "it's that simple", or "simple as that." The long and the short of it was that a rather inexperienced man received a high-ranking position in the British government, solely, because of his uncle Robert, also known as Bob was a hugely popular and well-respected goverment official. My sister has all the names and dates and specifics...I'll post them later today.

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Morticia
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 09:24 AM

Just picked up another from a social services conference I was at this morning ...you know we may be the worst offenders of all....anyway, it's 'having a dialogue with'.....rather than talking to

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: MikeofNorthumbria
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 09:54 AM

I agree with most of the examples cited above. But one irritant that seems to have escaped notice so far is the conversion of 'key' into a free-standing adjective - as in "Yes, that's absolutely key!" (A response often used by government spokespersons on radio or TV, when the interviewer has just asked them the question they were hoping for, and not the one they were afraid of getting.)

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Willie-O
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 10:53 AM

I'm with Meebo on "no-brainer". It is a particularly insulting and lazy way of saying "I can't be bothered explaining this logically, but you're an idiot if you don't take my word for it."

Like Kendall, I had some eye-opening exposure to Plain Writing, a movement which not only encourages and teaches simple direct communication, but looks at the reasons why people write such awful mishmash. One is, indeed, that they don't wish to be understood. Another even scarier reason is that they're trying to impress rather than communicate--and somehow a lot of people have genuinely gotten the idea that bigger words make better writing, even if they don't understand them or fit them in a sentence correctly. (The literacy program I worked for once got a letter of application for a teaching assistant job which stated "I believe it would be an asset for me to work with youse".

One of the funniest things I ever read was a sharp analysis of New Age jargon written by two 14-year-old girls who grew up at Findhorn Community in Scotland. Wish I could find that article, which was in one of Findhorn's many publications. What I remember is:

• "Focus!" = "Shut up and listen to me!"
• "I support you" = "I am faintly interested in what you are talking about but not willing to do anything."

Willie-O
who does go on but tries to have a point here and there.

p.s. Nicole, a segue is a clever transition between two different musical pieces or conversational topics. No idea what the other ones are. No-brainers fer sure.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Pixie
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 06:55 PM

Hey, Kendall! IRREgardless.....is definitely NOT one of my favorite words, but I get exposed to it all the time...which is why it is included in my thread....Could it be a double negative?????

How about the mis-use of "atypical" where "atypical" becomes the "norm" instead of the "unusual"?

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 08:02 PM

I don't like "sad" in it's newest meaning ("to be regarded with contempt") - it's the attitude involved that I find distasteful, which is covered by Peter T's third category ("does the new word capture something ugly in the society that we don't like, and we attack the word because it refers to the thing we don't like?").

It also comes under a fourth catergory which he didn't mention, which is, "does this use of the word take away our freedom to use this word in an existing and valuable sense"

That's the reason why so many people regret the reassignment of "gay" - it's not that there weren't valid reasons for people wanting a new non-pejorative word for homosexual - but "gay" was a really handy word where it was (and especially good for rhyming purposes), and there isn't really a replacement for it that I can think of. "Jolly"? "Lighthearted"? Neither means the same - or sounds it either. Too ponderous by half.

Within a few years I suspect "gay" will have worn out it's newer meaning, and be dropped - but I doubt if it will ever come back to its earlier meaning.

So that will mean we'll have lost both sad and gay.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,John Hill
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 10:41 AM

Since when was "orientate" a new word..

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,JulieF
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 11:58 AM

I hate the phrase - "its a nightmare" as a soon as its said I know that whoever I've gone to see is going to moan like hell and I'm not going to get any emphusiasim for the project.

My all time least favourite word has to be poorly - local dialect meaning not well /ill , even worse is proper poorly - it just seems to trivialise it. As in being really poorly in hospital. I played the heavy parent and had the word banned at home.

Julie

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Mbo
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 12:00 PM

I also dislike the term "non-event". It makes no sense!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Hollowfox
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 12:01 PM

Plain Writing has a long history. I was shown an example of hard-to-decipher calligraphy that (I'm told) was used by the Vatican when some higher-up didn't want the meaning of the missive to be easily understood. Herre's two to hate: "situation" e.g. children are in a play situation (used to be called playing), and "service" as a verb. We had a speaker for a professional training day tell the entire staff that we were working there to service the patrons of our library. Nobody laughed or seemed insulted. the only time I've heard service as a verb involved either brothels or artificial insemination (a bovine brothel?).

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: phil h
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 01:13 PM

How about "ourselves" & "yourselves" instead of us and you, and why is the personnel department now called "human resources"? Phil

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Peg
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 02:07 PM

Gee whillikers! (she said hoping to inject some arcane enthusiasm) this is a fun thread...as a former teacher of college English, I have to say, this country is going to hell in a handbasket in many ways, not the least of which having to do with the utter illiteracy of America's youth. They can't write, folks. Why? In the main because they don't read anymore. Pure and simple. Total lack of familiarity and comfort with the language: speaking it, reading it, thinking about it, recognizing it...it is a shame, really. I tried assigning my students essays critiquing their favorite books and most of them did not even have one; many in fact asked if they could write about a movie that had once been a book! (only viewed on video of course)

One of my professors in graduate school (a rather famous African-American writer) once said something which really struck home: he said he believed that one of the major problems with our country was that kids (and adults ) did not read anymore; and that reading about other people and their problems and joys and solutions to life's problems allowed us to walk in their shoes for a while; in other words, it taught us to have sympathy and empathy for them. Nowadays, we don't give a shit about anyone but ourselves. Think of that next time you are cut off in traffic, snubbed in a singles' bar, sniggered at by a group of strangers because of your looks or your dress or your accent or your taste in booze, women, men, dogs...

to read is to immerse ourselves in ideas, emotions, images, conversations, mysteries, love affairs, jokes, history lessons, recipes, games, myths, rituals, songs of spirit, songs of heart's blood, songs of life...we cannot help but become richer and smarter and nobler as a result...

(but while we're on the subject, I get really annoyed when people say or write "suppose to" when they mean "supposed to" or when they mix up there, their and they're, or your and you're, or it's and its...)

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: MMario
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 02:37 PM

"my bad" is jargon for "I'm bad" , "face time" I believe is direct contact rather then communication through memo or e-mail or phone.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Whistle Stop
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 03:46 PM

Wow -- long thread! The one that sticks in my craw is the tendency to use "they" as a singular pronoun, as in "If your child stays home sick from school, make sure they bring a note in the next day." This is done to make up for the fact that the English language does not contain a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun; the rules of grammar dictate that one should use the word "he" in this context, even if the subject's gender is unknown. I can understand that this offends some people, but the solution is to invent a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun. Using a plural pronoun as if it were a singular pronoun is just bad form, in my opinion.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,MoloMolo (Guest)
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 05:04 PM

Devastated!! They were devastated by........(fill in the blank.)

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Mbo
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 05:08 PM

I hear ya Molo! Last year, during the terrible record-breaking floods we had here in eastern North Carolina due to Tropical Storm Dennis/Hurricane Floyd, every thing on the news was "inundated" this, "inundated" that. I never want to hear that word again!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Clinton Hammond2
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 05:14 PM

Non-event!! LOL!!!!!!

that's a good one...

Everyone here shoiuld check out George Carlins Book, "BrainDroppings" Alot of great rants based on language and people who mangle it!

If i had the time I'd key 'em in but it's a pretty thick book and my typing sucks!

{~`

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,bbc (on vacation in Missouri)
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 06:14 PM

Hi, Nicole,

Segue was already covered--a conversational transition is the usage I know, as in "That was a smooth segue!" We usually use it ironically in my family, as in the case of my son saying, "As I was saying" when he hasn't been speaking! "Face time" kills me. In a business setting, one executive requests "face time" of another, as in "face-to-face" time, as opposed to communicating by phone, email, fax, etc. It's an interesting commentary on modern society that we need to specify "face time," don't you think?

best,

bbc

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Colwyn Dane
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 08:03 PM

Make me a beautiful word for doing things tomorrow; for that surely is a great and blessed invention.

G.B.Shaw - Back to Methuselah (1921)

Any suggestions folks?

'Tompotentialising', from me, is not gonna win any beauty contest.

Toodle-pip.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Joerg
Date: 02 Jul 00 - 12:12 AM

Colwyn - what about 'mananaing'. Maybe not 'beautiful' enough...

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: GUEST,Crazy Eddie
Date: 02 Jul 00 - 03:38 AM

New words I can cope with, but complete disregard for any form of grammar bugs me.

"A is different than B" WRONG BUT, which is correct: "A is different FROM B" or "A is different to B"

"Between 8 to 10 people" EITHER "From 8 to 10" OR "Betweenn 8 and 10"

Question. A man divided $100 between his children. How much did each child receive? Answer: $50. If there were more than two children, the question would have read, "A man divided $100 AMONGST his children"

Between used to mean between TWO. Now everyone uses "between" for any number.

My favorite phrase, "currently functioning in a non-operational mode" was used when the copier broke down!

Good new words from my twelve year old niece are "chillax" meaning chill out and relax and "chill-pill" as in "take a chill-pill" meaning don't get upset/excited. LOL :o) Eddie

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 02 Jul 00 - 04:45 AM

Here in California, you get your lawn mowed by a "landscape architect," your hair is cut by a "consultant." and now everywhere there is no more spaghetti, only "pasta." How about "cuisine"/ It's not the word itself that's wrong, just it's use in all sorts of non-French foods. Restaurants that advertise "Chinese cuisine" etc.

Subject: RE: Worst New Words in the 'English' Lang.
From: robroy
Date: 02 Jul 00 - 07:08 AM

I'm impressed by the fact that English can be used in this manner because every one seems to understand what is meant, howevr clumsily or even ungrammatically.

Derryn Hinch a journalist on Australian TV,once stated during his commentry on a cyclone in the Philipines that as it passed over 30,000 people evacuated. On the otherhand I never got over my 'Lavatorial' sense of humour