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

xp - dammit man! you plant a straight line and then hog it for yourself! I was all set to post: how many of those are zeroes placed at the beginning?

Lol

ha I almost searched for this thread earlier so I could add "cool beans" but then I didn't.

― (✿◠‿◠) (ENBB), Friday, August 31, 2012 5:49 AM (eleven years ago)

"A girl I had a huge crush on used to say "Cool beans!" I momentarily fell out of love with her each time.
― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, September 13, 2005 5:33 PM (6 years ago)"

HA!

― (✿◠‿◠) (ENBB), Friday, August 31, 2012 5:50 AM (eleven years ago)

I don't like the way "skinny" means "with skimmed milk" now. Makes my skin crawl to hear it.

This may just be me turning into an "old man yells at cloud" prescriptivist, but quirk used as a verb synonymous with smirk really irritates me, because I think half of the fantasy books I've been reading over the past few years seem to be running that usage into the ground.

Can you post an example? I’m having a hard time imagining that

I don't like the way "skinny" means "with skimmed milk" now. Makes my skin crawl to hear it.

I worked at a Starbucks briefly after college and during that time corporate told employees to say 'skinny' instead of 'skim'. Hated it.

Viv squinted hard at him and thought he’d outlast her, but then his mouth quirked at the corner.

Nothing tastes as good as skimmy feels

I dunno but I don’t feel I often read the word “sadly,” deployed in good faith. I feel like “sadly,” is usually written with a vindictive tone. You’re not sad.

That use of 'quirk' is the author saying "gee, I'm such a cutie, aren't I?" Your annoyance is understandable, because it's not really cute enough to outlast the third date.

Sadly, Donald Trump is still alive today.

I can't recall ever encountering "quirk" used like that before, but Merriam-Webster includes it as a standard definition and dates its back to the 19th century.

Lol I was just begging to be proven wrong etymologically! I’ve been seeing it a lot more in fantasy books published maybe after 2010 or so, I wonder if there’s an identifiable patient zero I can blame.

yeah it seems rare enough (afaict) that I wouldn't be surprised if there was a single popularizer!

It was one of the handful of phrases that notoriously recurred dozens of times in 50 shades

ah ha / oh no

That usage of quirk is so annoying. But etymologically it makes sense, "quirky" is the not-straight, the slightly off, the irregular.

Tell all the truth but tell it quirk

i'm pretending that this talk about quirk being a synonym for smirk never happened

genderquirk

"You just proved these signs work."

No I didn't, leave me alone.

i'm pretending that this talk about quirk being a synonym for smirk never happened

― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, March 26, 2024 2:09 PM (fifty-four minutes ago)

oh I should have said that that's not quite right. It's that "quirk" as a verb means "to curve or twist" (so you can quirk your mouth into a smirk)

It's really annoying when somebody uses "quirk" as a name.

https://i.postimg.cc/br04vMZC/quirk.jpg

Hilariously, one of the bibles of descriptive English grammar (A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language) is referred to by many as "the quirk book" because one of the authors is Randolph Quirk!

Fine for eyebrows, pushing it for mouths, hesitate to even imagine for anything else

Man, my dick sure is quirking today

Lol

His mouth twerked at the corner

Something that drives me berserk when I'm editing fiction manuscripts is what I call "disembodied parts action" like "His eyes rolled" or "Her fists clenched." Also, I don't know which YA writer pioneered the verb "huff", as in, "'I can't believe it!' she huffed," but that person should be set on fire.

and huffed on

that person should be set on fire

well you don't need to get so huffy about it

Gettin huffy on my Huffy

The Amador Club, formerly Wingtip, a haberdashery with a barber shop and wine cave that was geared toward wealthy Silicon Valley and FiDi finance workers, plans to offer seasonal oysters and caviar bumps alongside craft cocktails...

what's the consensus on 'caviar bumps'?

Oh, and this new spot is members only

i think it's shoving fish eggs up your nose

using a key that only members have

I've had caviar a couple times and just don't see the appeal

well you obviously weren't pushing it up into your nose, the way the rich and connected do

aiui a 'caviar bump' refers to a serving of caviar washed down with well-iced champagne. the existence of such a thing is outside my personal experience, but the rumors of it have reached me.

I did somehow go to a party in a big house where they had caviar, which I (accidentally) dropped on the floor and rubbed it into the carpet. I then got another and nobody noticed. I remember that but no idea where it was or how I got there. anyway it was shit

British people pronouncing Gen Z as Gen Zee.

I’ve never once heard Gen Zed uttered by anyone

That's because they don't want to confuse it with General Zod.

gen zee is correct because all of this stuff only really applies to yanks tbh

"appearances can be deceiving"
&
"beloved" 2 syllables with a swallowed e

so do you say striped or stri-ped

different word, false equivalency.

see: adjective vs past forms of "to learn"

I don't think it's the fact that people are welcoming people that is the issue. I welcome people all the time at work and it would be weird not to. It's the weird phrase "welcome in". I have never heard nor used that in my life.

So I was in the US last week and I have to report that I heard this phrase no less than 3 times. I heard it both used both in Florida and in Mass. Still don't like it but at least I know you all weren't pulling my leg.

the only rule with stuff like belov'd vs belovèd is to use the one you need for the meter

People need to stop calling things "Love Lies Bleeding." It only makes me think of Hemorrhage in My Hands by Fuel. This can be applied retroactively to Elton John and Victorian botany and anything else, as well.