most hated, frequently misused phrases

GOOD IDEA FOR A THREAD!

http://www.google.com/search?q=site:en.wikipedia.org+%22cult+following%22

ultimate (ŭl'tə-mĭt)


adj.
Being last in a series, process, or progression: “As the ultimate arbiter of the Constitution, the Supreme Court occupies a central place in our scheme of government” (Richard A. Epstein).
Fundamental; elemental: an ultimate truth.
Of the greatest possible size or significance; maximum: Has the ultimate diamond been found?
Representing or exhibiting the greatest possible development or sophistication: the ultimate bicycle.
Utmost; extreme: the ultimate insult.
Being most distant or remote; farthest. See synonyms at last1.
Eventual: hoped for ultimate victory.
n.
The basic or fundamental fact, element, or principle.
The final point; the conclusion.
The greatest extreme; the maximum: actions that represented the ultimate in political expediency.

extreme (ĭk-strēm')


adj.
Most remote in any direction; outermost or farthest: the extreme edge of the field.
Being in or attaining the greatest or highest degree; very intense: extreme pleasure; extreme pain.
Extending far beyond the norm: an extreme conservative. See synonyms at excessive.
Of the greatest severity; drastic: took extreme measures to conserve fuel.
Biology.
Characterized by severe, usually oxygen-poor environmental conditions.
Having an affinity for such conditions: an extreme microorganism.
Sports.
Very dangerous or difficult: extreme rafting.
Participating or tending to participate in a very dangerous or difficult sport: an extreme skier.
Archaic. Final; last.
n.
The greatest or utmost degree or point.
Either of the two things situated at opposite ends of a range: the extremes of boiling and freezing.
An extreme condition.
An immoderate, drastic expedient: resorted to extremes in the emergency.
Mathematics.
The first or last term of a ratio or a series.
A maximum or minimum value of a function.
Logic. The major or minor term of a syllogism.

"awesome". (and yeah I know I'm the worst offender)

peruse

verb
To look at carefully or critically: check (out), con, examine, go over, inspect, scrutinize, study, survey, traverse, view. Informal case. Idioms: give a going-over. See investigate.

closure
penultimate
prurient
hyperborean

decadent

decadent when referring to food is especially egregious

those aren't phrases.

Definitions of phrase on the Web:

an expression consisting of one or more words forming a grammatical constituent of a sentence

To be fair Jon probably only called the thread "hated...misused phrases" because the one he wanted to cite happened to contain two whole words. Hahah xp

what are words for when no one listens anymore.

good contributions, kevin

yoooooou make noisin' fun

I think I'm going to spend the afternoon going through wikipedia and removing any reference to "indie" or "cult" from movies like Juno or Napoleon Dynamite.

i try, see you tomorrow!

someone got there first!

vicious circle

"but what are you going to do?"

"it is what it is"

Main Entry: vis·cer·al
Pronunciation: primarystressvis-schwa-rschwal
Function: adjective
: of, relating to, or located on or among the viscera <visceral organs> -- compare PARIETAL 1
- vis·cer·al·ly /-rschwa-lemacron/ adverb

utilize

"[everything|anything] but ..."

the girl

I just read a facebook status that called folding laundry a "pain staking" task.

This girl used to fancy herself very, very smart in high school.

Pain staking. What the fuck does that mean, and does laundry qualify?

i think you know what it means

proverbial

I really hate when people misuse "begs the question," not so much because it's wrong as because people usually misuse it in a highly pretentious tone.

I noticed people using the jargony "transparency" in relation to work-flows, as in, "that process should be transparent" meaning that everyone involved can see how it works. But I've noticed a rash of people confusing "transparent" with "seamless". Example: "That process is the other person's problem, so it should be transparent to me." What the speaker really means is that the transition should be SEAMLESS or, more specifically, OPAQUE. WHICH IS THE OPPOSITE OF TRANSPARENT.

At first I heard this from some low-levels dummies, but someone important just mis-used it in a meeting. This is going to make me crazy. Crazier.

"literally"

just got an invitation to some professional event that used the phrase "generates a hub" ... this just seems wrong to me.

I dunno, the function of my windshield is transparent to me. it keeps the wind and bugs out of my face but I don't really notice it. cuz it's transparent. it's seamless, too. the seams help keep the wind and bugs out. but if it was opaque I'd be in trouble.

no you'd be in a ditch :)

sara, agreed. Maybe they took it from "generates a hubbub"?

I had a boss who said "duplicity" when he meant "duplication"

it drove me nuts but he was a sweet guy and I never had the heart to correct him

xp Laurel - the full sentence is "(org name) generates a hub of learning and collaboration" ...

I'm with you on the transparency/seamless thing

Maybe I was on the right track with the word "invisible" -- as in, whatever is being done by the other party should be so smoothly handled that I don't even see it. I suppose that could be the aim of the expression. But I think that's more of a stretch logically, considering how "transparency" is also used to describe matters of data availability & accountability. I don't WANT the data, in this case -- I want someone ELSE to be responsible for it.

No, you're right -- it looks like someone put "creates" or "builds" into the thesaurus machine on the internets and didn't realize that "generates" isn't really interchangeable.

"nanotechnology"

why wouldn't something be transparent when it performs a function but you don't notice it (due to its transparency)? I don't see how that's any more of a misuse than calling a process transparent because everyone is privy to its workings. the process itself isn't transparent, the barriers to visibility have been removed, so whatever the barrier was, that's what's transparent.

let's argue about this on the internet

I think my brain went the other way, Edward, because I was already hearing "transparency" about the White House and political things SO FREQUENTLY that it got stamped with meaning, "visible to the scrutiny of all" in all businessy, jargony usage. Now that I'm thinking about it as invisibility, I'm much less annoyed.

invisibility and transparency aren't the same thing though.

for the record I support all forms of transparencies except when they're on an overhead projector

i used to work as an a/v technician and had some young lawyer ask me if the overhead projector could do "landscape mode"

roffles

i said "yes, everyone has to tilt their heads at a 90 degree angle"

"...until the newer landscape-capable model comes in"

people who say "tiresome" when they mean "tired"

unless they say "I'm getting tiresome" in which case I agree enthusiastically

you are literally tiresome

using "e.g." and "i.e." interchangeably

^^ that bugs the shit out of me.

not literally though ...

that would be an odd form of pedantry

When our ancestors look back at the year that was 2012, it'll be pretty clear that it belonged to One Direction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wipkZYT8iX8

Please don't belong.