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

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (11404 of them)

Language is the source of misunderstandings

Wuhan!! Got You All in Check (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 13 April 2020 18:53 (five years ago)

Interpretation is the source of misunderstandings

A is for (Aimless), Monday, 13 April 2020 18:56 (five years ago)

And everything we perceive is an interpretation.

A is for (Aimless), Monday, 13 April 2020 18:57 (five years ago)

the amount of info we can convey with language across even the noisiest channels should make you weep with joy each morning upon waking, it's probably one of the most amazing things in the entire universe. and all the various things people complain about are, for the most part, manifestations of an underlying playfulness that is essential to making language work as well as it does.

avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Monday, 13 April 2020 19:07 (five years ago)

otm

A is for (Aimless), Monday, 13 April 2020 19:09 (five years ago)

Unnecessary stains upon silence and nothingness iirc.

coviderunt omnes (pomenitul), Monday, 13 April 2020 19:09 (five years ago)

if humans didn't have language, and therefore expressive silence, then the universe could not ignore itself

avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Monday, 13 April 2020 19:16 (five years ago)

It would ignore itself passively rather than actively. A more consummate ignorance.

coviderunt omnes (pomenitul), Monday, 13 April 2020 19:18 (five years ago)

dude

reality disliker (Left), Monday, 13 April 2020 19:18 (five years ago)

Cats have expressive silence, imo

jmm, Monday, 13 April 2020 19:19 (five years ago)

booming post f hazel

Fleetwood Machiavelli (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 13 April 2020 19:19 (five years ago)

is not the dance of the celestial bodies itself a form of

reality disliker (Left), Monday, 13 April 2020 19:21 (five years ago)

to gainsay Beckett is to agree with him, to do it out loud is a point for language. whatever else, he did give Andre the Giant rides to school from time to time.

avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Monday, 13 April 2020 19:28 (five years ago)

'I love the word, words have been my only loves, not many.'

coviderunt omnes (pomenitul), Monday, 13 April 2020 19:30 (five years ago)

xp In his little pick-up truck, no less. One of the defining images of the last century, surely?

Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Monday, 13 April 2020 19:32 (five years ago)

Anyhow, to ground one's apologia in dialectics is to err on the side of language by default, for better or for worse (usually both).

coviderunt omnes (pomenitul), Monday, 13 April 2020 19:35 (five years ago)

adulting

fuck right off.

budo jeru, Tuesday, 14 April 2020 01:43 (five years ago)

yeah I hate that one

genital giant (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 14 April 2020 01:47 (five years ago)

Heyday of “adulting” is a couple years in the past lucky for you

silby, Tuesday, 14 April 2020 01:49 (five years ago)

where, it's still said all the time. my most recent ex used to say "adulting" and "sportsball" all the time, which drove me insane.

genital giant (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 14 April 2020 01:53 (five years ago)

(not why I broke up with her tho)

genital giant (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 14 April 2020 01:53 (five years ago)

'Adulting' is a bona fide abomination. Nor has it vanished completely, alas.

coviderunt omnes (pomenitul), Tuesday, 14 April 2020 01:55 (five years ago)

"aspirational"

clemenza, Tuesday, 14 April 2020 04:48 (five years ago)

I like how it could also mean "makes you feel like vomiting"

avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Tuesday, 14 April 2020 05:00 (five years ago)

Not quite - aspiration of vomit is when you inadvertently breathe it in (sorry for the tmi)

an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Tuesday, 14 April 2020 05:30 (five years ago)

i aspire to vomit

genital giant (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 14 April 2020 05:31 (five years ago)

better things aren't possible

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 14:30 (five years ago)

We are saddened to learn that Legendary Wrestling Ring Announcer, Howard Finkel has passed away at the age of 69.

^^^this comma

mookieproof, Friday, 17 April 2020 21:28 (five years ago)

that is not a good usage of commas
when in doubt, leave it out!

weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, 17 April 2020 21:29 (five years ago)

As someone who has never really been taught the fundamentals of grammar (it seemed less than an afterthought in 80s Britain) commas make me want to cry - I simultaneously over and underuse them. When students ask me, I manufacture an excuse and look the other way.

Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Friday, 17 April 2020 22:26 (five years ago)

Originally a comma was merely a clue to one who was reading aloud that the author recommended a pause to be inserted at that point. More rigorous 'rules' for their use are not rules of grammar per se, but only strictures placed on upon usage, which may be safely ignored in any writing not governed by a manual of style, as imposed by an editor.

A is for (Aimless), Friday, 17 April 2020 22:44 (five years ago)

yeah if you read any 18th/19th century lit, it's commas all over the damn place... we live in an age of comma minimalism

avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Friday, 17 April 2020 23:00 (five years ago)

Sometimes commas call attention to themselves; sometimes they fade into the background and you hardly notice them.

They have come and gone in English usage. They're kinda like... a comma chameleon.

Fleetwood Machiavelli (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 18 April 2020 01:49 (five years ago)

why do people adopt awful new slang so eagerly?

CRINGE
SHOWING THEIR WHOLE ASS
SAYING THE QUIET PART OUT LOUD

Why are you saying these things in these ways? No one did a few months ago. Why are you now?

"Social distancing" would absolutely apply if it weren't incredibly important at the moment

remember what Laurie Anderson said: LANGUAGE IS A VIRUS!

flappy bird, Saturday, 18 April 2020 20:58 (five years ago)

fwiw people have said those things for years now

mookieproof, Saturday, 18 April 2020 20:59 (five years ago)

also they're all good

mark s, Saturday, 18 April 2020 21:03 (five years ago)

"showing their ass" appears in fuckin Reservoir Dogs

genital giant (Neanderthal), Saturday, 18 April 2020 21:06 (five years ago)

"Cringe" is slang? I've using that for decades (I cringe a lot). But your basic point is the fundamental question of this thread: what motivates people to start using some dumb phrase everybody else is suddenly using? It should work in exactly the opposite way.

clemenza, Saturday, 18 April 2020 21:09 (five years ago)

"been using"

clemenza, Saturday, 18 April 2020 21:09 (five years ago)

they mean cringe in this formulation: "this entire thread is cringe"

mark s, Saturday, 18 April 2020 21:19 (five years ago)

If it's being used as a noun now, then yes, that is annoying.

clemenza, Saturday, 18 April 2020 21:20 (five years ago)

this thread is now basically "new school slang u don't like"

genital giant (Neanderthal), Saturday, 18 April 2020 21:23 (five years ago)

i hate it, i've said this many times in this thread

mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Saturday, 18 April 2020 21:24 (five years ago)

it's meant to be annoying, it's a mocking criticism

mark s, Saturday, 18 April 2020 21:26 (five years ago)

saying the quiet part loud is over two decades old

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMHt481HsFU

Number None, Sunday, 19 April 2020 05:31 (five years ago)

If it's being used as a noun now, then yes, that is annoying.

This has been around since 1950:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_cringe

The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Sunday, 19 April 2020 09:06 (five years ago)

language isn't enough of a virus imo

mark s, Sunday, 19 April 2020 10:52 (five years ago)

(xpost) Honestly didn't know that--I've never heard it used that way ever. Is that more of a British thing?

clemenza, Sunday, 19 April 2020 11:28 (five years ago)

yes if by british you mean australian

mark s, Sunday, 19 April 2020 11:36 (five years ago)

They have more to cringe about. Probably not. I first heard the phrase used in connection with Scotland of course!

The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Sunday, 19 April 2020 11:40 (five years ago)


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.