Words, usages, and phrases that annoy the shit out of you...

i do drug
my favorite is meths

no britishers say "maths"

And yet this fucking annoying advert is currently being inflicted on Britishes TV viewers...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qwLe_EDiaA

I hope it catches on and Microsoft retrains the UK :)

How about "cyber-" as a prefix signifying information technology or the internet? Grates on me every time, like some clueless high level manager who's never used a computer trying to sound like his/her business is ready for the information age. "Cyber-bullying", "cyber-security", AARGH it's not even what the term MEANS.

is there ever an occasion to say "female" or "females" outside the context of something scientific or statistical?

when you are learning a language w gendered nouns

Didactic context is fine. But as a substitute for woman/women, generally crepey

Proof of creepiness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m9m5-n-aP8

... Jesus, that song is terrible, apologies to everyone.

the stranglers were terrible, the clue is in the name

and in john mcternan editing a fanzine dedicated to their oeuvre

I bet McTernan liked Magnum as well, and had "mixtape" C-90's that he labelled "various good stuff"!

How about "cyber-" as a prefix signifying information technology or the internet? Grates on me every time, like some clueless high level manager who's never used a computer trying to sound like his/her business is ready for the information age.

Its even worse now, clueless older white politicians and whatnot just saying things like "we will focus on cyber". Just the word cyber. On its own. MEANINGLESS TWADDLE

I believe it is now called "the cyber."

As far as the cyber, I agree to parts of what Secretary Clinton said. We should be better than anybody else, and perhaps we’re not. I don’t think anybody knows that it was Russia that broke into the DNC. She’s saying Russia, Russia, Russia—I don't, maybe it was. I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, okay? (...) We came in with the Internet. We came up with the Internet. And I think Secretary Clinton and myself would agree very much, when you look at what ISIS is doing with the Internet, they’re beating us at our own game. ISIS. So we had to get very, very tough on cyber and cyber warfare. It is a huge problem. I have a son—he’s 10 years old. He has computers. He is so good with these computers. It’s unbelievable. The security aspect of cyber is very, very tough. And maybe, it's hardly doable. But I will say, we are not doing the job we should be doing. But that’s true throughout our whole governmental society. We have so many things that we have to do better, Lester. And certainly cyber is one of them.

nnnrrghrghhhh *twitch*

https://frinkiac.com/meme/S04E17/1012260.jpg?b64lines=QXMgZmFyIGFzIHRoZSBjeWJlciwgCkkgYWdyZWUgdG8gcGFydHMgb2Ygd2hhdAogU2VjcmV0YXJ5IENsaW50b24gc2FpZC4=

aaaaaaAAAARGH

nnnrrghrghhhh *twitch*

― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Wednesday, November 8, 2017 4:26 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i kind of instinctively do this any time i see trump on tv

fwiw, the use of cyber you're annoyed by was promulgated by people clipping the older "cyberspace" down to "cyber", after which it lost some of its definitional boundaries and has floating further and further into vague hand waving toward "something-something internet blah-blah-blah".

a/s/l?

lol I havent heard that in years!

"the cyber" is instantly funny to me for some reason

https://youtu.be/M-iwT86kIWo

The misuse/misunderstanding of "nonplussed." I searched the thread convinced this would already be mentioned but there's just one use of it in here and it's incorrect. "Nonplussed" does not mean indifferent, aloof, or disinterested. It means surprised/perplexed/confused. OED:

1. So surprised and confused that one is unsure how to react.
‘Henry looked completely nonplussed’

the incorrect usage of the word is the second entry, listed as "North American / Informal." what a strange way of saying WRONG

Does nonplus perplex you? You aren't alone. Some people believe the "non" in nonplus means "not" and assume that to be nonplussed is to be calm and poised when just the opposite is true. If you are among the baffled, the word's history may clarify things. In Latin, non plus means "no more." In the earliest known uses, which date to the 16th century, it was used as a noun synonymous with quandary. Someone brought to a nonplus had reached an impasse in an argument and could say no more. Within a few decades of the first known use of the noun, people began using nonplus as a verb, and today it is often used in participial form with the meaning "perplexed" (as in "Joellen's nasty remark left us utterly nonplussed").

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonplus

wait until 2030 when both meanings have equal standing

language evolves, in ways we don’t like or want to accept, and seeing it happen is a marker you’re old

"Nonplussed" does not mean indifferent, aloof, or disinterested.

This is the first time I've ever heard of this definition, but I'm not North American and informal.

lol

I like to think whoever wrote the BBC styleguide entry on Americanisms did it in one sitting, filled with rage pic.twitter.com/5JFMmJE0tS

— Dave Lee (@DaveLeeBBC) October 25, 2017

but then it ends with ‘eg’ followed by ‘etc.’

showwhatnow?

Never heard an American say "post a total" (of runs). What is this?

Shopping center & shopping mall are different things in America.

No American has ever said "to rubbish."

I shudder to think what might happen if I shouted OUSTER in the town square

robin hood wld punch you in the bollox

ch ch cheerio

wait until 2030 when both meanings have equal standing

language evolves, in ways we don’t like or want to accept, and seeing it happen is a marker you’re old

― mh, Sunday, November 12, 2017 7:19 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this isn't like the abuse of "literally." this isn't popular culture or the 'everyman' molding language. most uses of "nonplussed" are in writing by writers trying to sound smart and the fact that it means the exact opposite of what they think it means, and that it's so obvious why everyone gets it wrong, makes it particularly irritating.

I think the nonplussed war is already over at this point

I've been banging on about it for years

I can't describe how I feel about the issue

i'm thinking chalant

my theory re the misuse of nonplussed is that it sort of rhymes with "not fussed" so ppl think it means that?

similarly "craven" means cowardly but about half the time I see it used ppl seem to think it means something more like "brazen", again I'm going with the "it kind of rhymes" theory

I'm against prescriptivism in general but when ppl get the meanings of words wrong I reserve the right to drop a "you keep using that word..."

yeah, there's nothing wrong with telling people to use words malaproperly

nb I reserve the right but it's not like I exercise it often

basically if you're having a normal conversation with someone & they think "enormity" means enormousness you are a dick if you butt in & correct them, but if you're being subjected to a a prolix op-ed by some windbag and they keep making that error there is some value in being that dick

otm

You little prolix

I am on record as prioritizing audience-awareness and context-awareness WAY above right/wrong. In any given writing/editing task, I follow the rules that I think the audience cares about. Or rather, I follow the style guidance that tends to produce text that the audience will read without being distracted either by real, or apparent, wrongness.

Also I agree with wins. You generally don't help matters by correcting casual conversation but it can be enjoyable to point and laugh at windbags.

The crankiness level of that BBC thing made me smile. I should say that the USian meaning of "power cut" is a totally different thing - it's a physical feature of the landscape (trees cut down to facilitate passage of power lines), not an electrical outage.

"power cut" sounds like an industry term for something like a Rush song from the mid-80s

it's also a Wings song from 1973!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F-ISSGbTJI

I have never heard of tree trimming around power lines as a "power cut" in my life. It's just tree trimming.

or a specific hairstyle imp