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

I've read the recent posts and have concluded that "myriad" is a cool word

As I have said, I write and edit for a living. Of course I have opinions but the audience that matters is the person approving my timesheet or signing my paycheck. If they don't like something, I don't argue.

Going against the grain here - I have only ever used myriad as an adjective and didn't know it could be used as a noun.

i use myriad as an adverb

Hard to say how often we'll need to cover this ground, but in the world I inhabit both usages are understood and accepted by ordinary readers or listeners, so both are acceptable in informal prose or speech. If you're working in an academic or professional capacity that is more strictly rule-bound than informal prose or speech, then you'd better follow the rules or be seen as being in error.

such a pleasant sounding word

how do we feel about howard cosell mentioning 'a veritable cornucopia of [noun]'

it's fine either way; he's dead

Aimless is right. I would never correct someone speaking or writing in a casual context. But at work I have to adhere to the standards of my profession, even though they are somewhat arbitrary.

Why did everyone online start saying "my brother in christ" all the time. Yer not religious, wtf is going on.

omg 'bro' has gotten out of hand. don't get me wrong, i'm fine with it, but every sentence cmon

My bro in Christ

Trayce I hate that one. It's meant as a zing I think

Going against the grain here - I have only ever used myriad as an adjective and didn't know it could be used as a noun.

That's not going against the grain btw.

is "on accident" an American thing? gets my hackles up

i detest “on accident,” no idea origin. as annoying as pronouncing jaguar “jagwire.” unless it’s a bike cable.

jag-you-war is just ridiculous, but is at least how the milkshakes sang it.

Never heard (of) it.

... 'on accident' that is... and 'jagwire'.

To British ears, the common US pronunciation of jaguar sounds more like jag-wah than jag-wire

On accident is Southern, if I’m not mistaken.

I think on accident is cute

same as eggspecially

“oh god that guy… what a total jagwire”

Xp alba, the greatly predominant (ime) us pronunciation is JAG-war, which is i think the one you mean. starting in the 90s i started to hear JAG-wire. i sorta think it’s a southernism and has spread in part as a result of the creation of the nfl football team jacksonville (FL) jaguars est 93 first season 95.

as to brit pronunciation i assume it must go deeper than medway

In "Maneater," Darryl Hall definitely sings "jag-you-are," but that may just be artistic license.

I think the more common English pronunciation (not sure if different in Scotland/Wales) is jag-you-uh not jag-you-are - in the Milkshakes song they kind of use both, jag-you-are when it rhymes with car and jag-you-uh the rest of the time

Well you pronounce the r in Scotland but the same otherwise.

yeah I thought that might be the case

Terry Hall does the same in Rat Race - bar/jag-you-are

I think the more common English pronunciation (not sure if different in Scotland/Wales) is jag-you-uh not jag-you-are - in the Milkshakes song they kind of use both, jag-you-are when it rhymes with car and jag-you-uh the rest of the time

Got you, Hunt3r

Pretty sure there was an 80s metal band called Jagwire or maybe Jagwah

“my brother in christ” is meant as sarcasm, and is honestly part of a meme culture that is a few years old at this point— haven’t seen it in a while, tho i now use it when i’m driving to avoid totally freaking out at bad drivers. “my brother in christ, you are tailgating the hell out of me” is a lot more calm and assured that “get the fuck off my bumper you fucking KIA piece of shit”

i like it

It doesn’t annoy me, but why did so many people say “Brother Wayne Kramer” on social media recently when Wayne Kramer of the MC5 died? Is it some connection with the John Sinclair/White Panther activism of the late 60s/early 70s?

Yes.

Going against the grain here - I have only ever used myriad as an adjective and didn't know it could be used as a noun.

That's not going against the grain btw.

Depends on who you ask, clearly. This must be regional and/or generational because while I think the proscription is obnoxious (as is any style guide usage recommendation that isn't about consistent spelling or punctuation) using myriad as an adjective in the pedagogy I grew up in is the incorrect usage. If you're trying to be erudite, it is always and only to be used as a noun.

But my interest in the matter is that taking ANY side on the issue at all is toxic to English writing on the whole - both usages are fine, neither are even slightly ambiguous, and all taking sides does is alienate a big swath of the population and make them reluctant to contribute their own writing to the world.

OTM

i use otm as a noun

myriad of otms

whats so great about consistency of spelling or punctuation

by the same token

whats so great about consistency of spelling or punctuation

hard agree, can we celebrate imperfection

/communication

whats so great about consistency of spelling or punctuation

pays my bills so who can say if its good or bad

what's grate about. it is; thatt, you can beter connect! with your frans `

whats so great about consistency of spelling or punctuation

just for the record, there are some practical benefits. it makes reading much less work because it allows familiarity and habit to do some of the heavy lifting of recognition. standardized spelling makes written words more like factory-produced interchangeable parts. before standardization reading was more of a struggle.

a less happy consequence is that it shifts more of the work to the front end, when you're learning to read and write and are expanding your vocabulary. compared to learning a language by hearing ans speaking, reading and writing are unnatural add-ons that our brains are less well adapted for. spelling words phonetically, but haphazardly, is a less rocky path when you don't know or care what the standardized spelling is, but you're making your reader work harder to figure out what they're looking at.

whats so great about consistency of spelling or punctuation

my favorite Elvis Costello demo

typically profiting off nick lowe

Nick lowercase

But my interest in the matter is that taking ANY side on the issue at all is toxic to English writing on the whole - both usages are fine, neither are even slightly ambiguous, and all taking sides does is alienate a big swath of the population and make them reluctant to contribute their own writing to the world.

this is so weird. why would you even open this thread in that case. like are we allowed to have harmless opinions on a thread about annoying usage without being called toxic and obnoxious