It has been in mine for some time now, much to the annoyance of my beloved...
For extra brownie points -- What film did the term come from?
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Words or phrases that annoy you (even if you can't explain why) . . .
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It has been in mine for some time now, much to the annoyance of my beloved...
For extra brownie points -- What film did the term come from?
Not to mention a multi pass.
A couple at the moment…
1. When people add ‘even’ to a sentence, as if to reinforce their questioning. E.g “Why do you even do that?” It comes across as quite patronising to me and is probably another example of YouTube culture infiltrating everyday language.
2. Using the word ‘amazing’ to describe something that is moderately impressive, or praising mediocracy/normality. For some reason it seems to happen regularly to me at coffee shops, where I’m told that my choice of coffee and decision to hand over cash is amayyyyzinnng, as if I’ve just discovered a cure for the common cold.
1. When people add ‘even’ to a sentence, as if to reinforce their questioning. E.g “Why do you even do that?” It comes across as quite patronising to me and is probably another example of YouTube culture infiltrating everyday language.
2. Using the word ‘amazing’ to describe something that is moderately impressive, or praising mediocracy/normality. For some reason it seems to happen regularly to me at coffee shops, where I’m told that my choice of coffee and decision to hand over cash is amayyyyzinnng, as if I’ve just discovered a cure for the common cold.
Add copious amounts of vocal fry for extra annoyingness.
See also “awesome”.
Conversely, using the word “hate” to indicate one has a mild dislike of something.
I think that "even" in that context is to stress a sense of disbelief when questioning the action.
All of these strike me as examples of a sort of verbal inflation in the use of language, for, as certain words (adjectives) seem to lose their relative power, weight and relative value, thus, they may need to be strengthened by an injection of words that appear somewhat excessive in how they serve to stress the meaning (or emotion) of the speaker (or writer).
Oh, I agree. The problem arises as we run out of supplemental adjectives, so things actually requiring them are harder to express.
This is where the British way is best.
After all, the sun is indeed really quite hot.
English is exceptionally well equipped with supplemental adjectives, which allow for the expression of exquisite degrees of nuance, but, it seems to me that the problem (or, one of the problems) with this inflation of language is the desire to emphasise strength, or intensity, of feelings, or meanings, as though ordinary words (or understood meanings) no longer suffice.
Personally, I do not think it (at all) necessary, but then, I'm old school on such matters, and am of the view that the vast vocabulary of the English language is more than well equipped to allow for robust expression, in speech of in the form of the written word.
Icarus had a bit of a bother with the sun, in fact, I would say he would be in agreement with this, well if he hadn't fallen and drowned.
Unfortunately, yes. I suppose what bothers me is that these people feel the need to stress such words to the point that they lose meaning.
I’ve noticed many children beginning to add ‘even’ to the simplest of questions, which is quite worrying (I work with young people) and again reinforces my view that this can only have been picked up from online.
Why are you even doing that?
Why is that even over there?
Is there even any point?
It just sounds awful in situations that don’t require such emphasis.
"I know, right?" as a way of expressing amused agreement. The first time a complete stranger said it to me a few years ago my train of thought evaporated and was replaced by "what did he just say, and how am I supposed to respond?"
"(something) is a good value". "Value" is uncountable in that context so "a" is wrong and/or redundant. "A value" crept in to the language at some point and stuck, particularly in US English, and probably from annoying TV ads. See also "A $50 value" etc
Verbing nouns. I heard "Brexiting" and other tenses of the (notional) verb "To Brexit" used recently by Anthony Scaramucci in a YouTube video. This is another tendency found often in US English. I think Americans just do it to poke fun at the Brits. I don't hate it, I find it to be creative use of the language and funny when done well.
"(something) is a good value". "Value" is uncountable in that context so "a" is wrong and/or redundant. "A value" crept in to the language at some point and stuck, particularly in US English, and probably from annoying TV ads. See also "A $50 value" etc
Verbing nouns. I heard "Brexiting" and other tenses of the (notional) verb "To Brexit" used recently by Anthony Scaramucci in a YouTube video. This is another tendency found often in US English. I think Americans just do it to poke fun at the Brits. I don't hate it, I find it to be creative use of the language and funny when done well.
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Oh yes, I forgot these three.
"...to be honest", often expressed as "TBH". When someone states that it's either a red flag that a partial truth, or worse, a total fabrication is coming. If not, it's totally redundant anyway, or logically implies they've been less than honest up until that point!
People who ask, as a greeting, "What's up?", or "What's happening?". My first thought is "None of your business, and you don't really care anyway"
People who state "I'll just do (something) real quick". Apart from being bad grammar, it's often an excuse to not do something else more important first.
"...to be honest", often expressed as "TBH". When someone states that it's either a red flag that a partial truth, or worse, a total fabrication is coming. If not, it's totally redundant anyway, or logically implies they've been less than honest up until that point!
People who ask, as a greeting, "What's up?", or "What's happening?". My first thought is "None of your business, and you don't really care anyway"
People who state "I'll just do (something) real quick". Apart from being bad grammar, it's often an excuse to not do something else more important first.
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Ah yes. When a British gent complains about something being a "bloody nightmare."🧐 It's usually something mild, like the internet is slow. But when the same gent says something "isn't ideal."🧐 It usually means it's a horrific problem, possibly career ending.
They make it so difficult to tell when something offends them. The only way I can be sure is when one says, "I beg your pardon?"🧐🧐🧐 That's when I know I have offered great offense and should shut up before he rends me limb from limb.😬
This table is much more right than it is wrong:
I watched someone on Instagram do a list like this with the proper inflections and it was quite wonderful.
One more:
When the British say: “much more right than it is wrong”
What the British mean: “this is completely accurate, I’m just being modest”
What others understand: “slightly less than half is incorrect”
Those who feel some animus towards you might be inclined to express that in person, with some vigour.
For me, AI narration on YouTube results in an instant click on both the “dislike” and “do not recommend this channel” buttons, with no exceptions.
I just saw "Low temps will drop tomorrow" and I'm not sure whether it means that there will be low temperatures tomorrow, which is expected or the low temperatures will be lower than expected tomorrow.
"will drop" tends to be used when some product is about to be released but using "low" and "drop" in the same sentence seems ludicrous.
"will drop" tends to be used when some product is about to be released but using "low" and "drop" in the same sentence seems ludicrous.
It's a double negative. Temperatures will rise.
It's like when the weather announcers say someplace had 20 mls of rain. That translates to 20 millilitres. A tablespoonful. Not much at all. When really, they had 20 millimetres of rain, nearly and inch. Which is a fair amount.