Irritating words or phrases

[midlifebear]

I foisted a writing exercise on all of my students (college age and adult) to write a simple paragraph without using any form of the verb to be. This includes is, am were, was, will be, has been, etc. Writers and language instructors call this form of writing "E-Prime." You can easily write about the human -- or any other state or condition -- without ever using a form of to be. Don't believe me? Try it. The grammatical rules of English never insist that any form of to be as necessary.

John is the boy I like who is taking me to the prom. [weak]

I like John. He will take me to the prom. [strong]

I liked foisting this writing exercises upon my students because if often made them cry. But once they got the hang of it they improved their writing 1000%.

By the way, there are many famous authors who write strictly in E-Prime and, if you read their works, you've probably never even noticed. But you may have noticed how well they write.

So, I vote we get rid of to be and all of its forms.

 

[CUBE]

at the end of the day...

 

[Calboner]

at the end of the day...

At the end of the day we have to look at the bottom line going forward.

 

[RawDog]

The wrong use of the word "anymore".

People who mispronounce "across" (some people in my neck of the woods pronounce it "acrossed")

On a side-note, "It is what it is" is a bit overused, but a lot of times appropriate when trying to console someone who got laid off. In other words, I'm guilty of using that one often lately.

 

[Calboner]

"Double-check." People use this, not to mean "check twice" or "check a second time," but simply as a cretinous overstatement of "check." In fact, I don't remember the last time I heard someone say, "I'll check that." No, it always has to be, "I'll DOUBLE-check that." It always tempts me to say, "Checking it just once will do," but, even apart from the rudeness of such an utterance, I'm sure that they would be utterly baffled. People so often flap their mouths without any attention at all to how they are using words and what degradations they are inflicting on them.

 

[B_subgirrl]

Oh, I have more (although now I'm getting into misspelling rather than plain old irritating phrases).

1. If something was once the case, but now things have changed, the word is USED (as in 'I used to be a grammar freak'), not USE ('I use to be a grammar freak').

2. Past and passed mean different things. Really. They are not interchangeable, as many people seem to believe. Past refers to time ('In the past, I was a grammar freak'). Passed refers to location or movement ('I passed a grammar freak in the street').

I feel much better now I've got that off my chest.

 

[RawDog]

Speaking of misspellings, I have to admit one thing. I just found out yesterday it's, "At your beck and call". I always thought it was "At your beckon call"

Oooohhh.. just realized something else. the use of the 's to denote plural. English is not my first language, but from what I know, 's is a possessive not something to make a word plural. Any writers want to verify this please?

Here's one more; The use of the word "-Nazi" for emphasis. Prior to marrying my wife (Jewish) I never thought twice about that. Seeing her cringe now every time someone says it gets me a bit pissed. I know Seinfeld used it for the "Soup Nazi", but it just made it more acceptable now. Am I being too PC?

 

[midlifebear]

I used to use a grammar whore as my sex slave. One day she passed me in the street. Since than, I'm past all of that.

 

[B_subgirrl]

Oooohhh.. just realized something else. the use of the 's to denote plural. English is not my first language, but from what I know, 's is a possessive not something to make a word plural. Any writers want to verify this please?

You are correct. There are a few exceptions though. For instance, it's means 'it is', rather than 'belonging to it'. 'Belonging to it' - its - has no apostrophe, despite the fact that it is a possessive.

Here's one more; The use of the word "-Nazi" for emphasis. Prior to marrying my wife (Jewish) I never thought twice about that. Seeing her cringe now every time someone says it gets me a bit pissed. I know Seinfeld used it for the "Soup Nazi", but it just made it more acceptable now. Am I being too PC?

I feel the same, hence my avoidance of the word earlier (yes, that was intentional).

 

[B_subgirrl]

I used to use a grammar whore as my sex slave. One day she passed me in the street. Since than, I'm past all of that.

I didn't do anything wrong, did I? I must have, for you to get over me so quickly :frown1::tongue:

 

[paigexox]

"I could care less"

:12:

 

[D_JohnUpHerPipe]

The worst phrase of all time has to be...I'm not being funny but...

So many things wrong with that phrase!

 

[B_subgirrl]

And now I have yet another one!

'No offense, mate'. Usually said right after they intentionally or knowingly insulted you. Grrr!

 

[RawDog]

There, They're, Their... not interchangeable.

(one from my wife) "I don't mean to be..." - and then proceed to be exactly what they don't mean to be.

I never realized I had so many issues. Not quite as therapeutic as punching a heavy bag, but this thread id cathartic in a way. I'll stop now, I'm probably guilty of most of the other things mentioned in this thread.

 

[Calboner]

Oh, I have more (although now I'm getting into misspelling rather than plain old irritating phrases).

1. If something was once the case, but now things have changed, the word is USED (as in 'I used to be a grammar freak'), not USE ('I use to be a grammar freak').

I more often notice the opposite mistake. I have several times encountered in BOOKS--not postings on the Web but books published by serious, reputable publishing houses with editorial staffs--the phrase "didn't used to." "DIDN'T USED"!! What kind of shit-for-brains can think that a word remains in the past tense when it is governed by the auxiliary verb "do"?

 

[HiddenLacey]

My grammar is very bad. I'll be the first to admit it. I rush through everything, then read it later and think I wrote that drivel? I find it easy to ignore grammar mistakes here. I'm the first to type hear (here), there (their) etc. I do know the difference. I'm not quite sure why I do it?

My irritating words or phrases

"Like," which I use excessively when I become nervous. I'm trying very hard to break myself of that habit.

Words or phrases that other people say

"Whatever," no it's not whatever, say what you were going to say. Please don't throw the word whatever at me because that is not the proper way to end a conversation.

"End it," yet another phrase that I hate. No, the conversation isn't over because someone says end it. The issue is not resolved to my satisfaction and I would rather continue talking about it now, not later.

"Nevermind," ugh, no what were you going to say?

"You're shitting me," no I'm not, so stop saying that.

"Stupid, you're stupid, that's stupid," actually I'm quite intelligent.

"You people or those kind of people" excuse me?

I'm sure I can think of a lot more.

 

[B_subgirrl]

There, They're, Their... not interchangeable.

This one annoys me too!!! I can sort of understand people mixing up 'there' and 'their', but surely the use of an apostrophe to substitute for a letter or letters is not a complex concept. When we say they're we are contracting 'they are'. It is beyond me how anyone gets it confused with the other two.

I never realized I had so many issues.

Those who don't understand spelling and grammar at all are probably much happier than we are.

I more often notice the opposite mistake. I have several times encountered in BOOKS--not postings on the Web but books published by serious, reputable publishing houses with editorial staffs--the phrase "didn't used to." "DIDN'T USED"!! What kind of shit-for-brains can think that a word remains in the past tense when it is governed by the auxiliary verb "do"?

This one drives me mad as well, but I don't seem to see it as often as I see used/use.

 

[Riven650]

'Then' being substituted for 'than' irritates me more than a little. (Notice I didn't say 'more then a little'.)

 

[SilverTrain]

Referring to plural cents as "cent". As in, that scone only costs seventy-nine cent." [Makes me batshit crazy when people do this]

Unless you're putting on a hillbilly accent for comedic effect*, don't ever use "ain't".

Basically, any sort of mangling of proper grammar, vocabulary, syntax irritates me quite a lot.


* A dubious endeavor itself.

 

[Calboner]

My grammer is very bad. I'll be the first to admit it. I rush through everything, then read it later and think I wrote that drivel? I find it easy to ignore grammer mistakes here. I'm the first to type hear (here), there (their) etc. I do know the difference. I'm not quite sure why I do it?

I think we are being baited here. :33: