BS: Absolutely!

Subject: BS: Absolutely!
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 01:13 PM

Has anyone else noticed the over-use of the word "absolutely!".

I idly recorded (via ticks on a piece of paper) how many times I heard it used, on radio and TV, on a normal day between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm the other day - and came up with 102 (OK, I was bored that day and confined to the house with a cold). "Absolutely!" now replaces such words and phrases as:

"I agree with you."
"I agree with you very much."
"How true."
"That's true."

and

"Yes."

I find it a bit annoying - but I'm not sure why ... ?

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: GUEST,999
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 01:20 PM

The censors have a problem with "Fuckin' right ya are!"

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: SINSULL
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 01:20 PM

Absolutely Fabulous!

Another Stoli please.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: fat B****rd
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 01:32 PM

OMG like Y'know.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 01:34 PM

I thought it was used mostly as a shorthand for:

"you're too stupid to argue with so I'll accept that there is plausible cause to believe you may have accidentally said something containing a miniscule fragment of factual content."

On reflection, it seems that it's becoming more frequent to use the term for

"Hey, I'm as gullible as you are."

John

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 01:41 PM

WONDERFUL. This has been one of my pet hates for years. When someone responds to a question with the absolutely word, my response is always to shout at the radio ABSOLUTELY FUCKING WHAT ?????????????????????
It's almost as overused as 'Diva'

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: rumanci
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 04:32 PM

"It's almost as overused as 'Diva'"

or AWESOME

or BLESS

Pardon me while I heave at 'em all

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Amos
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 04:37 PM

Oh, god bless you absolutely for mentioning it!! I abso-fucking-lutely agree completely. Literally.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Lighter
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 04:38 PM

Sure you're not thinking of "totally"?

Forty years ago it was "definitely."

And, if memory serves, before that it was "positively."

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 04:41 PM

My grandson has been using "surely" recently. I hadn't heard it used in years, at least not often. It sounds good and different.:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 04:43 PM

I hate 'em all.. yaknowhadimean?

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Beer
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 06:01 PM

Hate this one " Right On".

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 06:05 PM

Hey, man, that's too kewl!

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: saulgoldie
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 06:21 PM

This can only get worse before it gets worser, still.

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 06:36 PM

"I hear you." (Nothing like stating the totally fucking obvious, is there?)

"Don't go there." (Do they really mean that when they say it?)

"I could care less." (No you couldn't, moron. And that is the whole point. You couldn't care less! If you could care less, then you would care less, wouldn't you?)

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 07:20 PM

ABSOLUTELY!

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 07:27 PM

You're well in order raising this, innit.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: JennieG
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 07:37 PM

Yep........

A popular one here is "as"....a friend who was describing her fairly new granddaughter recently said "she's as cute as"......as what? a daisy? another baby? a chimp? I think it started off as a teenage thing but has spread to the older generation. Sort of like mumps in reverse.

It bugs me. Absolutely. It is as annoying as.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 07:38 PM

Yeah, what is that "I could care less" Merkan thing all about? And, while we're at it, "me either"?

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 07:40 PM

And what's this new-fangled "going forward" crap all about?!

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 07:54 PM

I agree about "going forward." The only thing that's really "going forward" is time. I wonder if people who use the term are from some other universe where "going backward" is an option?

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 08:08 PM

Yeah, people, absolutely quit using "going forward" as of right now. Period. End of.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 08:10 PM

I saw a thing on the telly a little while ago that had a female teacher saying to a class of all girls "OK, listen up now, guys..."

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 08:15 PM

Steve Shaw: (Good ol' Steve Shaw),
Yeah, people, absolutely quit using "going forward" as of right now. Period. End of."

Considering the source, YOU might prefer, 'Going backwards'

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Joe_F
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 08:15 PM

..., Mr Gallagher!
Positively, Mr Sheen!

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 08:35 PM

""My grandson has been using "surely" recently.""

Gently respond with "Don't call me Shirley!"

Five or six times, and it will disappear from his vocabulary.

Worked on my son.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 08:36 PM

Fuckin' aye, dude. Damn fuckin' straight!

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 08:50 PM

Not the first incomprehensible post I've ever read from Gusts So Insanitary. Not by a long chalk, like. Innit.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 10:10 PM

This thread is brilliant." : )

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 10:38 PM

Rapparee: "Fuckin' aye, dude. Damn fuckin' straight!"

Took the words right out of my mouth!!!!....except, I would have omitted, "dude"......Dude!

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: JennieG
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 12:59 AM

Steve Shaw, I used to work in a girls' school - and many's the time I heard teachers address a gaggle of teenage gels as "guys".

You know what really peeves me? (I could say pisses me off, but I'm a lady) (sometimes) It's people who swallow their words and mumble indistinctly, so that "absolutely" comes out "absy".

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 05:41 AM

I'm a great fan of 'Lee Nelson's Well Good Show' on TV. He makes me die with his London jargon such as 'Innit?' and 'Qualitee!' I'm afraid language and usage are constantly evolving, 'twas always thus. Take comfort in the fact that annoying usages will soon die out and be replaced by new (equally annoying?) ones!

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 05:44 AM

Agreed, Jennie. And I'm old enough to remember a posh newsreader telling us of the round-the-world sailing exploits of "Sir Frawncis Chishhter." In addition, it seems that you're disqualified from reporting for the Beeb unless you think the word is "deteriate." And will the Home Seckertry be making any speeches next Febry?

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 05:53 AM

And that's Home Seckerty with a Haitch!

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: MartinRyan
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 06:02 AM

"guys" is an interesting one. I seem to hear it mostly used by women addressing mixed gender groups - a kind of "halfway house" approach, I suppose. In Ireland, you will often hear "Ah, lads!" used in a similar way.

Regards

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: saulgoldie
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 06:22 AM

Unfortunately (for those who hate them) but fortunately (for those who appreciate new words and phrases), some of these abominations will end up in the dickshunairy. Language is dynamic. New ways of expressing a thought are always popping up, and olde ones fade away. Some have longer lives than others. Use what you think is useful, and shun those you don't. And, of course, mercilessly correct those you think are abusing the language. You gotta!

"I could *NOT* care less." If "you *COULD* care less," than [whatever] may be not very important, but is still not of no concern at all.
and
"The sixty-four thousand dollar question!" (Look it up.) Geddit right, or don't use it!

BTW, Save the semicolon!

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Leadfingers
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 06:46 AM

Over use of 'Absolutely' is NOT exactly a new phenonemum ! I remember hearing a song making the point Twenty Years ago - Dave Something from Ooop North somewhere

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 06:55 AM

So as to avoid errors in posting, let us remind ourselves of the rules of good English:

1.        Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.
2.        Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3.        And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4.        It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5.        Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat)
6.        Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
7.        Be more or less specific.
8.        Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually)    unnecessary.
9.        Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
10.        No sentence fragments.
11.        Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.
12.        Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
13.        Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary;   
it's highly superfluous.
14.        One should NEVER generalize.
15.        Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
16.        Don't use no double negatives.
17.        Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
18.        One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19.        Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20.        The passive voice is to be ignored.
21.        Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words> however should be enclosed in commas.
22.        Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
23.        Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
24.        Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth shaking ideas.
25.        Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
26.        Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
27.        If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
28.        Puns are for children, not groan readers.
29.        Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
30.        Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
31.        Who needs rhetorical questions?
32.        Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement. And finally...
33.        Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 10:24 AM

Then there's 'very unique', and responding to the question, 'How are you' with the one word "GOOD"
People in the UK who have no idea about baseball, using the expression 'Stepping up to the plate'
Then there's upskilling, and summitting, not forgetting leveraging.
I will continue anon.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 10:47 AM

Joe hates it when I keep saying LOL
but it is easier than laughing my ass off ... and more politically correct lol lol lol

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 11:28 AM

Brilliant, Steve! Lol! I will like absolutely keep that to refer in future with.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Mr Happy
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 11:33 AM

..........& then there's concepts described as 'fantastic' , 'fabulous', 'unbelievable' all of which, particularly when used in advertising give me always the opposite impression of what the users may've intended i.e. all these statements are untrue aka lies!

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 11:37 AM

Today the young kids use the word "sick" to describe something great
"Oh I your earrings are like so sick" what it that about

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 11:43 AM

It's the same as saying "bad" or "wicked" when you mean "good". "Bad" became very popular in the 1980s, so much so that Michael Jackson built a whole song around how "bad" he supposedly was. He was trying to be even "badder" than Prince, but I don't think he succeeded.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Amos
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 12:14 PM

I recall a day when greatness had scale and merit; today, anything of the most mediocre scale and the most ordinary import has greatness thrust upon it by weak minds. Isn't that great?

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Mr Happy
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 12:32 PM

As a UK'er I find it irritating when the adjective 'great' is applied as in 'Great Britain' to mean 'the best' , 'champion' rather than as it's intended to mean as 'large Britain' as opposed to 'small Britain'[Brittany]

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: rumanci
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 01:00 PM

ref: your earlier post Mr Happy about spurious advertising claims I always remember one from my early years about washing powder i.e.
"nothing works better than ****"
I used to immediately think
well, use nothing then!

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 01:11 PM

True soap advertising

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: GUEST,Lizzie Absolutely Cornish
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 01:29 PM

"The censors have a problem with "Fuckin' right ya are!"

That's well good, Bruce! :0)

Hey, some of you guys are gettin' old!

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: SINSULL
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 01:42 PM

at this point in time...ARGHHHHH!

There's an insurance or used car ad running that opens with the usual "Nobody can save you more." A quiet well dressed man then introduces himself as Nobody.
LIKE

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 03:02 PM

Nobody would dare do that!

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 03:27 PM

Indeed! Meaning I concur with all of the above.

Ya'll have a nice day, ya hear!

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Bert
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 03:50 PM

Guys,

the word man has always been allowed to be inclusive. It is women who have their own special word.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: JennieG
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 04:43 PM

For some years now, sporting matches here have been described as "clashes".....as in, "Norths and Wests will clash on Saturday". When is wrong with saying "North and West will play on Saturday"? It's become very prevalent. Do other countries have clashes on their fields of sport, or is this peculiar to Oz? Peculiar it is......

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 04:47 PM

Hockey brawls are sometimes referred to by Canadian sports commentators as "a brouhaha" or "a donnybrook". This makes it sound a little higher class and intelligent than just calling it a brawl or a fight.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 05:05 PM

What really gets me mad is people callin' apes "monkeys" all the time! Apes are not monkeys!!! I am gonna prosecute 'em all for specist hate crimes after I get elected.

- Chongo

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: JennieG
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 06:30 PM

Fair enough too, Chongo! I heartily concur.

"Donnybrook" sounds quite Irish (which of course it is - although there are many places named Donnybrook in the rest of the world, including three in Oz) and "brouhaha" sounds quite English and posh, although it's apparently of French origin! "Brawl" sounds very lower-class, as does "fight", so you are probably right, you know.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 07:18 PM

I fume when Media journalists (who are presumed to be writers) refer to "a phenomena" or "one criteria", both plurals.

It appears that their education in their mother tongue bypassed the singular "phenomenon" and "criterion".

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 08:05 PM

Three pronunciations I dislike, especially when they pop out of my very own mouth (and before anyone gets mad, I know some of these are regional pronunciations and are fine elsewhere, but not where I have always lived):

Jewlery (or jewlry) for jewelry
Nuculer for nuclear
Relator for realtor

And I also get mad at myself when I use an all-too-frequent local way of pronouncing words by putting an r-sound where it doesn't belong or leaving it out where it does. Examples are the names Pauler instead of Paula and Heatha instead of Heather.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 09:18 PM

What about that well-known lady policeman, Laura Norder?

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: GUEST,Donal
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 09:32 PM

Plan ahead, it's much better than planning retrospectively.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: frogprince
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 09:43 PM

Chantey Lass, f'goodness sake find a better excuse for getting mad at yourself than pronouncing things the way people around you pronounce them. : )

My father-in-law is from Massachusetts, although he has lived here in Michigan for many years now. One of the first times I was at his home, he kept mentioning that he needed to go to Lenid. For the life of me I couldn't think of a Lenid, Michigan. Leonard, however, is just a few miles from his place. But then I guess he needs to save up rs for when he refers to things like Marr Bell, the telephone company.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 22 Mar 12 - 04:44 PM

Laura Norder lives in Letsby Avenue.

Subject: RE: BS: Absolutely!
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Mar 12 - 05:34 PM

It is what it is.

I'm just sayin'.