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Words or phrases that annoy you (even if you can't explain why) . . .

Okay, why in god’s name would you EVER address an older (I’d assume he’s probably in his 60s or 70s) person as “kiddo.” In fact, why would you address anyone who’s not a child as “kiddo?” I just saw this on the Book of Faces. Very strange and deeply unsettling.
 
Today I have been ridiculously annoyed by expressions such as "high of a...".

How high of a fence do you have round your garden?

As so often, an excess "of" in the USA form.

And the "proofing" of dough when making bread. Rather than what I was brought up with, "proving".
 
*natch*

I just submitted a Post with said content, and immediately became annoyed with myself.

Kiddos these days!
 
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This is nitpicky but it drives me nuts when hearing it - using 'and' and 'to' improperly. Most people won't even get this because it's so engrained in our culture, but I grew up with an English teacher grammar n*zi who taught me to cringe when hearing people get this wrong.

"Let's go outside and look at clouds."

Technically incorrect. The correct usage would be:

"Let's go outside to look at clouds."

When you have a conjoined statement ultimately describing the result of a single task (looking at clouds), you use 'to', not 'and'. In this case, 'and' is used for listing complete statements / results, which is not what is actually happening, because looking at clouds is dependent on going outside in the first place.

The correct way of using 'and' in this situation would be:

"Let's go outside and let's go look at clouds." You're doing two separate activities here, first going outside and then looking at clouds - the correct way to list.
 
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drmeatball said:
This is nitpicky but it drives me nuts when hearing it - using 'and' and 'to' improperly. Most people won't even get this because it's so engrained in our culture, but I grew up with an English teacher grammar n*zi who taught me to cringe when hearing people get this wrong.

"Let's go outside and look at clouds."

Technically incorrect. The correct usage would be:

"Let's go outside to look at clouds."

When you have a conjoined statement ultimately describing the result of a single task (looking at clouds), you use 'to', not 'and'. In this case, 'and' is used for listing complete statements / results, which is not what is actually happening, because looking at clouds is dependent on going outside in the first place.

The correct way of using 'and' in this situation would be:

"Let's go outside and let's go look at clouds." You're doing two separate activities here, first going outside and then looking at clouds - the correct way to list.
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I'd endorse your comment even more strongly, if I didn't catch myself doing so all too often. :)
 
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drmeatball said:
This is nitpicky but it drives me nuts when hearing it - using 'and' and 'to' improperly.
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I notice that all the time too, except when I'm guilty of using "and" where it should be "to" myself. I don't know for sure that I do, but it's so prevalent that I probably do it all the time without noticing. I wish I could hear my mistakes as well as I can hear those that others make.

It's incorrect, so it's not being nitpicky just because it's a common mistake.
 
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Why must 'certain people' insist on getting the date wrong? We all know that July the 4th this year will fall on 4/7/25, so why write 7/4/25? It bamboozles any sane person, and lacks the elegant and essential grading of time from small to progressively larger units. Lists and escel sheets are rendered incoherent by this nefarious practice.
I could write a long list of similar errant 'Merkanisms, but what's the point?
 
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^July 4th falls on April 7th? Now who's inelegant? ;)

drmeatball said:
This is nitpicky but it drives me nuts when hearing it - using 'and' and 'to' improperly. Most people won't even get this because it's so engrained in our culture, but I grew up with an English teacher grammar n*zi who taught me to cringe when hearing people get this wrong.

"Let's go outside and look at clouds."

Technically incorrect. The correct usage would be:

"Let's go outside to look at clouds."

When you have a conjoined statement ultimately describing the result of a single task (looking at clouds), you use 'to', not 'and'. In this case, 'and' is used for listing complete statements / results, which is not what is actually happening, because looking at clouds is dependent on going outside in the first place.

The correct way of using 'and' in this situation would be:

"Let's go outside and let's go look at clouds." You're doing two separate activities here, first going outside and then looking at clouds - the correct way to list.
Click to expand...

I would dispute this one. "Let's go outside and let's go look at clouds" is just unnecessarily clunky. "Let's go outside and look at clouds" is simply eliminating the repetition of the subject. "Let's go outside to look at clouds" is a different sentence, i.e. a statement of purpose. "Why are you going outside? To look at clouds". The first one is just saying that two things happened, and not implying any purposive connection between them. In other words, I would agree that "and" as a substitute for "to" is incorrect, but that dropping the subject is what's really happening, and thus not incorrect.

It's like the difference between "I went to the store to buy paper towels" vs. "I went to the store and bought paper towels". The first sentence implies the entire purpose of going to the store was to buy paper towels. The second means that paper towels were one thing you bought and not necessarily the reason you went to the store (and there is an implied subject "I" before "bought").
 
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I mean, not really.

The way we write the date in the US mirrors the way we speak. Month first, date second. We say “April 7th”, thus we write “4/7”. “Fourth of July” is the exception, not the rule, and that’s because it’s effectively the proper name of a holiday.

Yes, I’m going to be insufferably contrarian in this thread. ;)
 
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nielshutch said:
Why must 'certain people' insist on getting the date wrong? We all know that July the 4th this year will fall on 4/7/25, so why write 7/4/25? It bamboozles any sane person, and lacks the elegant and essential grading of time from small to progressively larger units. Lists and escel sheets are rendered incoherent by this nefarious practice.
I could write a long list of similar errant 'Merkanisms, but what's the point?
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Here's the thread for discussing the date format and other "'Merkanisms":
forums.macrumors.com

Why the heck does America still use outdated measurement and date units?

Okay guys, this is probably my angry 1 AM self again posting here, but this is something that has been bothering me for a few weeks now. I am posting it here because I know this is a website primarily of American people, and I don't know who else to rant this about. Okay, first off...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
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VisceralRealist said:
^July 4th falls on April 7th? Now who's inelegant? ;)



I would dispute this one. "Let's go outside and let's go look at clouds" is just unnecessarily clunky. "Let's go outside and look at clouds" is simply eliminating the repetition of the subject. "Let's go outside to look at clouds" is a different sentence, i.e. a statement of purpose. "Why are you going outside? To look at clouds". The first one is just saying that two things happened, and not implying any purposive connection between them. In other words, I would agree that "and" as a substitute for "to" is incorrect, but that dropping the subject is what's really happening, and thus not incorrect.

It's like the difference between "I went to the store to buy paper towels" vs. "I went to the store and bought paper towels". The first sentence implies the entire purpose of going to the store was to buy paper towels. The second means that paper towels were one thing you bought and not necessarily the reason you went to the store (and there is an implied subject "I" before "bought").
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I can see your argument. However, I think the single most common form is "I try and get it right". Which is different to "I try to get it right" though used as if it weren't.
 
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VisceralRealist said:
The way we write the date in the US mirrors the way we speak. Month first, date second. We say “April 7th”, thus we write “4/7”. “Fourth of July” is the exception, not the rule, and that’s because it’s effectively the proper name of a holiday.
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The European way, 4 July 2025, requires insertion of the word of: "4th of July" when spoken. The American way, July 4, 2025, does not: "July 4th". Although both renderings use the "th", the second is more efficient.
 
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Efficiency – yes, that's an American trait, allegedly. I'd go a little further than Gregg2; a 'non-American' way of talking would likely give "July the 4th, 2025". (Maybe that's a contraction of "July, the 4th day thereof, 2025". Quaint.) Similarly, splifingate's ""Wanna go make a fire?" seems an abbreviation of ""Wanna go and make a fire?", which is more lyrical, less of a quick-march rhythm.

American efficiency could extend to letters, too – "color" instead of "colour". But it's not a rule. (I have seen one 17th century English manuscript that used "color" while most others included the "u".) Maybe American pioneers, those prim and purse-lipped Puritans, considered any excess in speech or writing a Papist (or High Church) sin.
 
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nielshutch said:
Efficiency – yes, that's an American trait, allegedly. I'd go a little further than Gregg2; a 'non-American' way of talking would likely give "July the 4th, 2025". (Maybe that's a contraction of "July, the 4th day thereof, 2025". Quaint.) Similarly, splifingate's "
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Just amazes me there isn't a USA way of writing time - such as ss:hh:mm.
 
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polyphenol said:
Just amazes me there isn't a USA way of writing time - such as ss:hh:mm.
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Why would you put seconds first, then hour, then minute?

I record swim times for our team and while we don't ever record anything as long as an hour long swim, our times get reported as 1:05.24 for one minute, five seconds, 24 hundredths of a second. I am sure long distance runners have a standardized way of recording their times as well.

And clock time is pretty standardized - 1:05am or 1:05pm. In the military they'd use a 24 hour clock.
 
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mollyc said:
Why would you put seconds first, then hour, then minute?

I record swim times for our team and while we don't ever record anything as long as an hour long swim, our times get reported as 1:05.24 for one minute, five seconds, 24 hundredths of a second. I am sure long distance runners have a standardized way of recording their times as well.

And clock time is pretty standardized - 1:05am or 1:05pm. In the military they'd use a 24 hour clock.
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For some reason, the smiley I included in my post - and checked and re-checked - didn't appear in my posted reply. :)
 
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"increasingly less important"

What is wrong with decreasingly important? (Or "becoming less important" if you actually want to say it simply.)
 
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