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

[Scepticalscribe]

Because 1. it sounds stupid and 2. it is normally used in a condescending, disrespectful way, not a friendly one. If someone uses that phrase with me, I'm immediately on the defensive. I don't feel any kinship.

If someone can't figure out a way to approach those two example situations and others without using this phrase without provoking a fight, then they have severely poor communication skills!

Well, I must say that I see nothing wrong with it.

Actually, they seem to me to be a part of that family of informal male greetings that are so prevalent in US society.

While they are not a part of my culture, I can see where they might serve a useful linguistic and/or social function, one that may serve to signal a non-aggressive stance to someone with whom, otherwise, you might come into conflict.

 

[usagora]

Well, I must say that I see nothing wrong with it.

Actually, they seem to me to be a part of that family of informal male greetings that are so prevalent in US society.

While they are not a part of my culture, I can see where they might serve a useful linguistic and/or social function, one that may serve to signal a non-aggressive stance to someone with whom, otherwise, you might come into conflict.

Well, as someone who lives in the US, I'm telling you how it's normally used here when said to strangers. So if you visit here, I'd suggest not using it. "My friend" would be better when addressing a random stranger (and would also cover both sexes) or simply don't call them anything at all.

 

[adrianlondon]

"My guy" sounds weird.

"My man" sounds nice and friendly.

"Mate", which I prefer, can be friendly, but as a Londoner unless I'm saying it to a friend it's often dripping with sarcasm.

 

[usagora]

"My guy" sounds weird.

"My man" sounds nice and friendly.

"Mate", which I prefer, can be friendly, but as a Londoner unless I'm saying it to a friend it's often dripping with sarcasm.

You also hear "my dude" (forgot to mention that in my original post about this). And your last sentence is the key. In the US, "my guy/man/dude" is normally not a positive thing when said to stranger. It has the sense of "are you trippin?!" to it.

 

[adrianlondon]

You also hear "my dude" (forgot to mention that in my original post about this). And your last sentence is the key. In the US, "my guy/man/dude" is normally not a positive thing when said to stranger. It has the sense of "are you trippin?!" to it.

That's what I like about this really interesting thread. It's very personal and of course has cultural influence.

Thanks for starting it.

 

[AL2TEACH]

I read a few pages back and didn't see woke. The way the press and politicians use "woke" is wrong or slightly misleading from the original meaning.

 

[MmkLucario]

I read a few pages back and didn't see woke. The way the press and politicians use "woke" is wrong or slightly misleading from the original meaning.

Could you explain in more meaning?

 

[usagora]

I read a few pages back and didn't see woke. The way the press and politicians use "woke" is wrong or slightly misleading from the original meaning.

Could you explain in more meaning?

Respectfully, I think we should probably not, as it's a hot-button political issue and could easily derail this thread (you two probably wouldn't but someone else would jump in with some partisan remark, and then it goes downhill from there. @MmkLucario Easy enough to Google the term for more than you ever want to know.

 

[AL2TEACH]

Could you explain in more meaning?

Most articles about woke state that it was first used in the 40's but those are mistaken.
This is from an article on Vox

"To understand how “woke” came to stand in for an entire political ideology, it’s helpful to trace how the term traveled so far and wide within the American mainstream — and what that journey reveals about a polarized society.

“Stay woke” began as a watchword for Black Americans​

The first time many people heard “woke” in its current context was likely during the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, Black citizens took to the streets nightly to protest the police shooting death of Michael Brown. As they did so, they urged each other to “stay woke” against police actions and other threats.

But “woke” and the phrase “stay woke” had already been a part of Black communities for years, long before Black Lives Matter gained prominence. “While renewed (inter)national outcry over anti-Black police violence certainly fueled widespread and mainstream usage of the word in the present, it has a much longer history,” deandre miles-hercules, a doctoral linguistics researcher at the University of California Santa Barbara, told me.

The earliest known examples of wokeness as a concept revolve around the idea of Black consciousness “waking up” to a new reality or activist framework and dates back to the early 20th century. In 1923, a collection of aphorisms and ideas by the Jamaican philosopher and social activist Marcus Garvey included the summons “Wake up Ethiopia! Wake up Africa!” as a call to global Black citizens to become more socially and politically conscious. A few years later, the phrase “stay woke” turned up as part of a spoken afterword in the 1938 song “Scottsboro Boys,” a protest song by Blues musician Huddie Ledbetter, a.k.a. Lead Belly. The song describes the 1931 saga of a group of nine Black teenagers in Scottsboro, Arkansas, who were accused of raping two white women.


Lead Belly says at the end of an archival recording of the song that he’d met with the Scottsboro defendants’ lawyer, who introduced him to the men themselves. “I made this little song about down there,” Lead Belly says. “So I advise everybody, be a little careful when they go along through there — best stay woke, keep their eyes open.”


The url to the article, https://www.vox.com/culture/21437879/stay-woke-wokeness-history-origin-evolution-controversy

 

[MmkLucario]

Most articles about woke state that it was first used in the 40's but those are mistaken.
This is from an article on Vox

"To understand how “woke” came to stand in for an entire political ideology, it’s helpful to trace how the term traveled so far and wide within the American mainstream — and what that journey reveals about a polarized society.

“Stay woke” began as a watchword for Black Americans​

The first time many people heard “woke” in its current context was likely during the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, Black citizens took to the streets nightly to protest the police shooting death of Michael Brown. As they did so, they urged each other to “stay woke” against police actions and other threats.

But “woke” and the phrase “stay woke” had already been a part of Black communities for years, long before Black Lives Matter gained prominence. “While renewed (inter)national outcry over anti-Black police violence certainly fueled widespread and mainstream usage of the word in the present, it has a much longer history,” deandre miles-hercules, a doctoral linguistics researcher at the University of California Santa Barbara, told me.

The earliest known examples of wokeness as a concept revolve around the idea of Black consciousness “waking up” to a new reality or activist framework and dates back to the early 20th century. In 1923, a collection of aphorisms and ideas by the Jamaican philosopher and social activist Marcus Garvey included the summons “Wake up Ethiopia! Wake up Africa!” as a call to global Black citizens to become more socially and politically conscious. A few years later, the phrase “stay woke” turned up as part of a spoken afterword in the 1938 song “Scottsboro Boys,” a protest song by Blues musician Huddie Ledbetter, a.k.a. Lead Belly. The song describes the 1931 saga of a group of nine Black teenagers in Scottsboro, Arkansas, who were accused of raping two white women.


Lead Belly says at the end of an archival recording of the song that he’d met with the Scottsboro defendants’ lawyer, who introduced him to the men themselves. “I made this little song about down there,” Lead Belly says. “So I advise everybody, be a little careful when they go along through there — best stay woke, keep their eyes open.”


The url to the article, https://www.vox.com/culture/21437879/stay-woke-wokeness-history-origin-evolution-controversy

Hmm. Interesting. I won’t say what my opinion is due to it mostly likely containing political content, and out of respect to @usagora. Besides, this is a tech forum, not a political forum, and I have no intentions of being in a painful, drawn-out argument. I just wanted so what he meant by that word.

 

[AL2TEACH]

I just wanted so what he meant by that word.

It was just to explain the word nothing more.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

You also hear "my dude" (forgot to mention that in my original post about this). And your last sentence is the key. In the US, "my guy/man/dude" is normally not a positive thing when said to stranger. It has the sense of "are you trippin?!" to it.

And what exactly does "are you trippin'?" mean?

Across the Pond, this is not a phrase I have ever come across.

While we are on the topic of linguistic ticks that annoy one, I must say that dropping the final "g" in a verb denoting the present tense really irks me, unless it is used when describing - or transcribing - the direct speech of someone who naturally speaks that way.

 

[Gregg2]

Why does that bother you?

No explanation required. See thread title.

 

[Gregg2]

Respectfully, I think we should probably not, as it's a hot-button political issue and could easily derail this thread (you two probably wouldn't but someone else would jump in with some partisan remark, and then it goes downhill from there. @MmkLucario Easy enough to Google the term for more than you ever want to know.

What, this isn't the PRSI Forum?

 

[usagora]

And what exactly does "are you trippin'?" mean?

Across the Pond, this is not a phrase I have ever come across.

While we are on the topic of linguistic ticks that annoy one, I must say that dropping the final "g" in a verb denoting the present tense really irks me, unless it is used when describing - or transcribing - the direct speech of someone who naturally speaks that way.

Easy enough to google, but it means basically, "Are you crazy?" And, yes, the spelling matches the pronunciation.

Here's a great resource for you whenever you encounter terms like this:

Urban Dictionary, September 30: Jobby

A portmanteau of "Job" and "Hobby"; usually derived from the fact you live paycheck to paycheck in a capitalist hellscape, Your Hobby becomes a source of side-hustle income that you tend to rely on, rather than it simply being a way to relax and gain enrichment as a human. Ironically, as a nod...

www.urbandictionary.com

 

[Rafterman]

Hockey players and media who put -ie at the end of everyone's first name. Pattie, Dougie, etc. No, it's Patrick or Pat and Doug. No one calls Patrick Mahomes Pattie Mahomes. Drives me crazy.

 

[usagora]

"defo" instead of "definitely." I just read this atrocity:

"As a sociology teacher, with a joint honours degree in criminology and sociology, I found this video deeply insightful and engaging! Will defo show my class . . ."

Sort of funny how they brag about their professional credentials but then use the term "defo," which is anything but professional and makes them sound like a student.

 

[rm5]

"defo" instead of "definitely." I just read this atrocity:

"As a sociology teacher, with a joint honours degree in criminology and sociology, I found this video deeply insightful and engaging! Will defo show my class . . ."

Sort of funny how they brag about their professional credentials but then use the term "defo," which is anything but professional and makes them sound like a student.

People get annoyed at me that I type (for the most part) texts/messages out completely (with no abbreviations for words), but I have good reason, which is to avoid cringy stuff like "defo."

 

[ThisBougieLife]

Why does that bother you?

Is it not a way of claiming a sort of casual kinship in order to be able to deliver a reprimand - or signal disagreement - without provoking a fight?

On the internet at least, “my dude/guy” definitely has a condescending connotation. The way I see it used is often “are you okay there, my dude?” with the implication that the other person is freaking out/overreacting/unhinged. “Dude” alone is simply a friendly appellation, but “my dude” has this pitying, condescending nature to it.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

Something else I've noticed fairly recently now is the term "unhoused...." Why has that suddenly become popular, do people really think it sounds any better or represents a different or better situation than "homeless"?

Without getting political, "unhoused" seems to be an attempt at resetting pejoration, a type of semantic drift whereby a term originally intended to be inoffensive or scientific in nature takes on a pejorative sense. A glaring example would be the word "lame", a term originally referring to a disability that now simply means "stupid". The same thing happened with other "stupid"-meaning terms, like "dumb", "idiot", and "moron". All terms originally intended to be medical in nature (referring to inability to talk and different levels of mental faculty respectively), now simply insults. The effect with "homeless" is more muted, but some people using "unhoused" think that "homeless" has become a pathological term, that "homeless" conjures up the image of a bum in rags, of a person who has brought their situation on themselves and is to be shunned by society. "Unhoused" is purported to be a neutral descriptor that doesn't have these connotations. The problem with attempting to "reset" pejoration, however, is that it is often an inevitable drift that will soon repeat itself: a new term is coined to replace the old offensive term and with time it too becomes a pejorative, leading to yet another term and so on and so forth.

That said, there are a few differences in that "unhoused" is not a new term, but has been around for a while. "Homeless" is just more common. "Homeless" is also not used as an insult, the way "hobo" and "bum" sometimes are. There's some evidence that it's regional as well, with "unhoused" being more common on the West Coast of the U.S. In either case, "unhoused" being "the new term" is probably pointless.

 

[Deedlez]

Mine is "I could care less", where what they mean is "I couldn't care less". For some unknown reason it really bugs me whenever I see it, as it basically means the opposite of what the writer thinks it does.

Just think about it for a second "I could care less" means you DO care somewhat. Grrr

The other one that bugs me is people writing "you" instead of "your". And I accept that this is almost always just a typo, but it annoys me far more than it should. E.g. "just charge you phone when the battery is low"

 

[Mousse]

"defo" instead of "definitely." I just read this atrocity:

I feel the same way about "sus." Man, just because I choose the red player all the time.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

^Sussy baka.

 

[icanhazmac]

Oooops, meant to quote @ThisBougieLife : The problem with attempting to "reset" pejoration, however, is that it is often an inevitable drift that will soon repeat itself: a new term is coined to replace the old offensive term and with time it too becomes a pejorative, leading to yet another term and so on and so forth.

Couldn't agree more! Few things infuriate me more than words used accurately, based on their definitions with no ill intent, that have become weaponized because TeamA feels that TeamB is using the terms in a derogatory way.

Examples:

Definition of RETARDED

affected by intellectual disability : intellectually disabled; very stupid or foolish… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

retarded : adjective

1: dated, now offensive : affected by intellectual disability : intellectually disabled
Note: The term retarded is increasingly considered offensive. The use of intellectually disabled is now preferred over retarded in medical, educational, and regulatory contexts, as well as in general use.
2
informal + offensive : very stupid or foolish

Even Merriam-Webster now bows to this stupidity.

I was in a conference room with a few coworkers and I was discussing classic cars with a couple of people and as part of this discussion I said "you might want to retard your timing a bit" and another person, that was not active in our conversation, scolded me and said I shouldn't use that term. I politely stated that I was speaking about the ignition timing on a car and using the widely accepted terms of advancing or retarding timing, she didn't care one bit and promptly left the room.

I will grant that if one says to another "you are a retard" that can and should be frowned upon but if one says to another "their child is mentally retarded" there really shouldn't be any issue with that as it is a properly used description.

Illegal alien is another now changed to undocumented immigrant and to your point soon undocumented immigrant will be changed to something else.

 

[Nermal]

I was reading something the other day about someone who learned English as a second language and could speak it perfectly well, but couldn't read. She had dyslexia, but the "anti-labels brigade" had apparently decided that saying that was offensive, and therefore nobody had actually told her that she was dyslexic. She went for years just thinking that there was something about her that made reading English next to impossible.

Eventually she had a chance encounter with someone familiar with dyslexia, who had documents in a special font that's designed to be readable. Only at this point did she learn that she was dyslexic, that it affects other people, and that fonts and other tools exist, and she was absolutely thrilled to discover that she could read.

Who knows how much of that is true (I read it on the Internet, after all) but it makes you think...