BS: Irritatin' phrases....

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Don Firth
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 12:37 PM

I just heard another doozey on the radio this morning. The story had to do with demolishing a small building used by the city and replacing it with a new one. Instead of referring to the building being "demolished," the person being interviewed kept talking about the building being "demolishioned."

I was fixing my morning hit of caffeine at the time and didn't get the whole story or who was being interviewed, but I think she was a member if the Seattle City Council. I hope it wasn't someone I voted for.

What the hell have they been teaching in our public schools in the past few decades anyway!???

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: MBSLynne
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 06:56 AM

And perhaps a slight thread creep....I hate the phrase "I'll take a rain check on that", but what does it mean? I know what people use it for now, but what are it's origins? Where does it come from? Anyone know?

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: MBSLynne
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 02:50 AM

And the opposite of 'verbing'. You get an invitation, NOT an invite!

Secetary instead of secretary.

MischievIous.

Prioritising instead of giving priority to

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Gurney
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 02:09 AM

"Oh My God!" as someone said up there, is gratituously asking for trouble. If I was going to break one of the Commandments, it wouldn't be that one. Others sound much more fun.

"At the Coalface." Usually by someone who couldn't handle a days physical work. I was a miner long ago, so I know what a stripper looks like. They look like a bundle of wire rope.
Stripper = coalface worker.
Person who disrobes for money = Striptease artist.

"Have a nice day." I'll have any kind of day I want.

"Growun", recent repronunciation for grown and groan.

"Ahead of....." when they mean before. Ahead of the field, yes. Ahead of time, no. American usage that is infiltrating the Media.

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 01:26 AM

Alleged & allegedly – I understand why the news media frequently use the word alleged or allegedly when reporting crime news--it's not polite (and possibly libelous) to imply that someone is guilty of a crime if they haven't been convicted. But I sometimes hear news reporters insert alleged or allegedly in places where it doesn't make sense. For example: "His friends say they can't believe he allegedly did it." Does that mean they can't believe he did it? Or they can't believe someone would allege that he did it? In any case, "His friends say they can't believe he did it" does not imply that he did it, so "allegedly" is unnecessary.

Don, you might enjoy these:

Corinth Civil War Interpretative Center

Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center

Oregon Trail Interpretative Center

White River Gardens Botanical Complex and Interpretative Center

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: GUEST,Billy
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 09:36 PM

Mainly used by radio and T.V. sports pundits - " It's a big ask " What an ugly phrase. These people are being paid to communicate, surely they can use the language properly - but that is probably too big an ask ! The worst manglers of our beautiful language are of course football commentators on the radio. Try counting how many times they say "at the minute", instead of " now " or " ever so " rather than " very " It's ever so annoying at the minute. Just another pedant. Oops, just thought of another one. Every aspect of a game is now " Key ". I heard a half-time analyst in a rugby match describe how the scrummaging would be " key ". He then went on to explain how keeping possession of the ball would be " key ". Not content with that , the kicks at goal would also be " key ". They needed locksmiths not rugby players !

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Celtaddict
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 09:31 PM

I will concede a place for "verbing" (wouldn't Doug Hofstadter be proud?) in some uses, such as to carpet a floor, paint a room; those uses have become standard English.
But why in the world can't anyone TRY anything anymore?
"We are trialing a new product..."

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 09:05 PM

The unthinking use of "incredible" as a term of praise is rather irritating.

It is usually more praiseworthy to be credible.

For instance, I find most of Bush's speeches incredible, and I don't mean that as a compliment.

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: leftydee
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 08:22 PM

Using the word AWESOME for mundane stuff. "That was an AWESOME donut, dude". "OOOH, these new shoelaces are AWESOME". Come on....

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: GLoux
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 08:18 PM

Might could

a very regionalized American southern phrase that even very educated folks use...

It drives me nuts...(my wife used to say it)

I hope someone comes to the defense of this one, because I'll argue it to the death...perhaps mine...

-Greg

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Don Firth
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 07:59 PM

Jeez, don't get me started! [How's that!??]

Well, here's one linguistic oddity which is becoming less odd, unfortunately. The stuffing of extraneous syllables into words by people who either want to demonstrate how literate they are (which has the opposite effect) or by those who just don't know any better (the latter, at least, are forgivable on that account, having probably been misled by listening to the former). Two examples:

"Orientated" for the correct "oriented," which means figuring out where you are and which way you're pointing, and "preventative" for preventive, as in "preventive medicine."

When you look up the extra-syllable version in almost any dictionary, it refers you to the shorter word. There are lots of these out there and they seem to be proliferiferatatatinginging!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: kendall
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 07:40 PM

"Different than" instead of different from.
a half an hour

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Donuel
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 06:35 PM

"but the computer says..."

"I'm sorry YOU feel that way"

"Nobody else said no"

"lets not go there"

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: GLoux
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 06:15 PM

Sorcha sez:

Impacting and other nouns turned into verbs.

A good friend (who happens to be a radio dj) calls this practice VERBING ...he "collects" them when he hears them and jokes about them on the air and off...

-Greg

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Pseudolus
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 01:07 PM

Leenia,
   I hear the phrase "I could care less" quite often. It may have been a fad, but it certainly is not over.

Frank

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 12:43 PM

Here at National Defence Headquarters, I spend my workday in jargon heaven where perfectly sensible people converse entirely in catch-phrases. Inured as I have become to this bullcrap, I still flinch every time I hear the traffic report on the radio: "Traffic going westbound on the Queensway ..."

TRAFFIC GOING WEST, you tautological twerp! Or WESTBOUND TRAFFIC ON THE QUEENSWAY, perhaps.

BUT NOT BOTH IN THE SAME DAMNABLE PHRASE!!!!

There. I feel better.

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 12:25 PM

I believe test pilot Chuck Yeager, who broke the sound barrier, was fond of using the phrase "push the envelope."

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Morticia
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 12:19 PM

'Well' as used for very.......e.g well good, well hard......seems to be an afflication of british youf at the moment......

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 12:17 PM

in my humble opinion - rarely actually humble
with all due respect - usually prefaces an insult
as it were
if you will

"the edge" seems to be the with-it metaphor now. Every pop band was on the cutting edge last year. Now they are all edgy.

BazT, I think "pushing the envelope" comes from math and engineering. I remember graphs with a curving line, below which a material would be stable, and beyond which it might fail. The safe "area" (i.e., safe combinations of parameters) was said to be inside the envelope. Thus, pushing the envelope would mean going into risky territory.

Also, regular Americans have stopped saying "I could care less." That was a fad, and its day is over.

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 11:27 AM

Impacting and other nouns turned into verbs.

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Alice
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 11:04 AM

Stay the course!

Or, as W would say, "We're gonna stay the course".

War on terror (instead of terrorism)

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: jonm
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 11:03 AM

We need to take a helicopter view of management jargon...

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: GUEST,BazT
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 10:54 AM

Now there's a good one - "Pushing the envelope". I think that it means "Go the extra mile", but whereas the latter makes sense (to me at least) as an expression, I'd love to know the origin of "pushing the envelope" I always imagine someone pushing an envelope across a desk, but that can't be right - does it mean "try and put more stuff in the envelope"?

Confused and ready for bathtime, Lancs.

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: kendall
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 10:35 AM

Pushing the envelope
State of the art
Get a handle on it
The cutting edge.
Particuly instead of particularly
Weathermen who say "Precip"
EXpecially
Eggzit instead of Exit.
And the one that really sets me off IRREGARDLESS.

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 10:19 AM

and here's one missing phrase that has been bothering me for several years. The phrase "you're welcome" seems to have almost dropped out of existence. This particularly noticeable in TV and radio when moderators thank guests for their appearance or contribution.

"Thank you for that report, John."

"Thank you." ??? for what?....for thanking me?

VERY occasionally someone will say "thank you for having me.", but "you're welcome" is becoming rare. Why?

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: GUEST,BazT
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 09:59 AM

Poor use of language on TV annoys me, but can also be amusing. One phone-in show host made me laugh AND cry when he said "Lots of callers for today's show.....the phones are literally melting here!"

I bet they weren't.

Baz.

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Amos
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 09:58 AM

American slang often evolves into contradictory phases where words become their own opposites. A simple example is "bad", often used now to mean "very interesting or desireable or valuable" by youngstahs.

It's the bomb, man.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: SINSULL
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 09:34 AM

Sports figures who say "Irregardless" and "110%". AAAARGHHHHHH!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Pseudolus
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 09:26 AM

I think the "I could care less" is a sarcastic version of "I couldn't care less" like Lynne said, however it has taken on a life of it's own and lots of folks who use the phrase aren't being sarcastic at all, they are just using the phrase incorrectly...just lazy I think...but then again, I couldn't care less!

Frank

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: GLoux
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 09:14 AM

I hate to tell you...

Okay, then don't...

-Greg

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From:
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 08:32 AM

I hear "lets touch base" far too many times at work adn it really irritates me.

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: GUEST,Redhorse at work
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 08:29 AM

"I'm not being funny, but..." is just another case of "I'm not racist, but...", "I've got nothing against Jews but.........", "I'm not narrow-minded but....." etc. etc. which always identify a racist, anti-semite, puritan etc.etc.

My pet hate is "The fact of the matter is....", which normally precedes an opinion, usually with no visible means of support.

nick

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Mooh
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 08:13 AM

Yous guys. (Refer to the "plural of you" thread for more.) Mooh

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 07:48 AM

"Cheer up it might never happen." Shouted from scaffolding by a primate.

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 07:46 AM

"Oh my God!". The most over-used expression of surprise, particularly by people who seem to have no God at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: MBSLynne
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 07:12 AM

Oh Morti, I have a friend who ALWAYS says that when she's about to say something unpleasant about someone. Drives me mad!

Baz..perhaps it's meant as kind of irony? Like the phrase "Like I care?"

I also hate cliches that get used to death, like "Go on, make my day"

Hehe! Just thought...the same friend I mentioned above says something else that annoys me. When she's talking about someone getting cross about something she says "He went mad!" I always imagine the individual foaming at the mouth and being carted offf in a straight jacket!

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Morticia
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 07:05 AM

my pet hate which almost certainly hasn't reached the States yet, and I hope doesn't, is ' I'm not being funny but.......' well,they are usually right inasmuch as they aren't funny at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: GUEST,BazT
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 06:29 AM

This one doesn't so much annoy me as confuse me....perhaps an American can explain it for me?...

In the UK, when we don't care about something we say "I couldn't care less" i.e.

Work Colleauge: "Hey Baz, David Beckham has had an affair with his mother's dentist's housemaid's sister and they've been sending each other dirty text messages! What do you think of that then!"

Me: "I couldn't care less"

Whereas in America (and please bear in mind that the only Americans I hear speak are on TV) people say "I COULD care less". But, if you COULD care less, it means that you do care a bit. Doesn't it? But if you COULDN'T care less, then you really DON'T CARE. The most recent example of this was on some cop show (maybe CSI).

Desk Sergent: "Hey, the DI says that you'd better get some evidence together pronto or he'll have your ass!" (I paraphase of course. You can see now why I never became a professional scriptwriter.)

Hero: "I could care less"

Please cold someone explain this?

Thanks,

Baz (Pedant)

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 04:50 AM

How you doing? That really gets up my nose.... although I notice a disturbing tendency to use it myself. What does it mean? How you doing? How you doing what? It's just plain laziness missing out the 'are'.

Although when Matt le Blanc says it as Joey from 'Friends', it means something completely different!

Oh, and people who say 'you know what I mean?' after every sentence.....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 04:34 AM

Innit.

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 04:32 AM

It's the effect of the haunted goldfish-bowl that dominates so much of our lives nowadays Lynne - too much East Enders et al.

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: MBSLynne
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 02:41 AM

I agree with you about "At this point in time" Bruce.

I also become almost apoplectic when I hear someone reporting conversation saying "And he was like, and she was like" instead of "He said, she said"

"Let's take it on board."

Another thing that annoys me to the point of actually correcting people (very dangerous thing to do!) though it's not a phrase, is people missing the letter 'T' out of the middle of words, as in "Compu'er", par'y". And in the same vein, the number of people who can't pronounce 'th'. Both these two are fine in the context of a proper regional accent, as in the south east of England, but it has now spread to the whole of the country.

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 02:25 AM

disposable income - I always dispose of it, and a bit more

EQ - when they mean treble and bass

put together an attractive for you - meaning watch out! count your fingers after we've shaken hands on the deal

multi functional - every knob on this machine does several things, depends if its in a certain frame of mind - so once again watch out!

let's raise our awareness - you are stupid, you should have noticed....

gentle comedy - totally unfunny

ground breaking comedy - you're probably too stupid to get it

off the wall comedy - totally unfunny, the bosses son wrote it

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Peace
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 12:42 AM

Gotcha.

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: number 6
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 12:40 AM

to which a quick retort of Touche ... ends it all.

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 12:36 AM

Punctuation is important, yes. The phrase I had in mind, however, was without commas, and with emphasis, as in "Fuck you," and its corollary, "No, fuck you."

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: number 6
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 12:27 AM

Hmmmm .... good point Peace.

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Peace
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 12:06 AM

"Fuck you" has always been a little disturbing ..."

Depends on the punctuation. "Fuck, you?"

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 12:03 AM

At this point in time I would like to register a vote of non-confidence on behalf of those who, like, cannot think outside the box and celebrate the differences in, like, life. Who said life is fair? We could all become more empowered, etc, you know what I'm sayin'?....if we, like, could see clearly, at the end of the day and then all pull together and move forward, with firm resolve! Works for me. Anything else is tantamount to abuse.

Subject: RE: BS: Irritatin' phrases....
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 11:59 PM

"Fuck you" has always been a little disturbing ...