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

[KaliYoni]

sentence-ending punctuation is always supposed to go inside the quote mark.

The quotation is not a question, therefore the question mark should not be included within the quotation marks.

I'm too lazy to look this up in a style manual or grammar guide before posting but isn't the "inside rule" for direct quotes? For example: The Prime Minister said, "Lightning ports on iPhones are unacceptable!" vs. Lightning ports on iPhones are "unacceptable"! . Or maybe that's a false memory...

And while I'm here, two more word usages that bug me...

• Share instead of announce, post, publish, release (because there is no altruism or distribution of a resource involved)
• Beloved (because it is overused as click bait by lazy writers for headlines and article titles)

 

[skottichan]

I used to have an exhaustive list. Then I realized I was being a pretentious edge lord, internally dictating how other people use language.

As long as it's not hurtful/hateful, enjoy your language, and enjoy watching it evolve with people younger than you.

 

[KaliYoni]

I used to have an exhaustive list. Then I realized I was being a pretentious edge lord, internally dictating how other people use language.

As long as it's not hurtful/hateful, enjoy your language, and enjoy watching it evolve with people younger than you.

I'd write a post in agreement but I'm too busy trying to figure out which cable, which charger, and which dongle are going to work for charging my iPhone first...

;-)

 

[Nermal]

Share instead of announce, post, publish, release

That one got me when I first started using the video recording feature on a PlayStation. "I'm sure one of the advertised features was a way to upload from the PS to YouTube". I ended up having to copy to a USB drive, then onto my Mac, and finally upload from there.

After getting frustrated with doing this a few times, I did a Web search. It turned out that Sony decided to call the option "share" instead of "upload", and for whatever reason I just didn't notice that in the menu (probably because I was looking for a word like "upload" or "publish" and therefore my brain skipped a seemingly-unimportant word like "share").

Now that I'm thinking about it, in the context of computers, "sharing" (via a shared folder, for example) has historically involved keeping the file on your own computer and letting other people access it over the network. That's not how Sony's using the term!

 

[usagora]

I'm too lazy to look this up in a style manual or grammar guide before posting but isn't the "inside rule" for direct quotes? For example: The Prime Minister said, "Lightning ports on iPhones are unacceptable!" vs. Lightning ports on iPhones are "unacceptable"! . Or maybe that's a false memory...

What I was saying is that a question mark or exclamation mark should only go inside the closing quotation of a direct quote if it was part of the quote itself. So in your example, the exclamation mark would indeed go inside the quotation marks because the direct quote is itself an exclamatory statement. However, here's an example of where the direct quote isn't exclamatory, and thus the exclamation mark would go outside the quote:

My friend said, "I don't really like ice cream"! Can you believe that?

In that example, the exclamation mark is indicating your surprise/shock at your friend's statement. Your friend didn't make an exclamatory statement when they said those words.

 

[adrianlondon]

Sober Christmas! 😉

Just thought of another word that makes me cringe: "delish" (for "delicious") . . . . ughhh

om nom nom

Somehow I despise the “reached out” construction and ALWAYS replace with “be in touch with”…

Ah, you lucked out with that one.

 

[icanhazmac]

It's not a phrase, but a gesture. College and NFL players signaling a first down when they make a play that gets a first down. Or defensieve players doing the incomplete gesture when a pass isn't caught. (even when they had nothing to do with it, like a dropped pass).

And they do it ALL the time, it's not just here and there. It just irritates me.

I'm with you on these but more annoying is an individual that overly celebrates a good play when their team is down 35-0. You don't get to celebrate individual success when playing a team sport and your team is getting pwn3d.

 

[Nermal]

I used to have an exhaustive list. Then I realized I was being a pretentious edge lord, internally dictating how other people use language.

As long as it's not hurtful/hateful, enjoy your language, and enjoy watching it evolve with people younger than you.

That reminds me... this is distinct from grammar and whatever "Gen TikTok" are getting up to, but an annoyance of mine is when people spell things incorrectly and then take some sort of bizarre pride in their ignorance when people correct them, usually replying with something like "well, everyone knows what I mean".

The thing is that they're not doing themselves any favours like that. The other day on a different forum, someone asked whether anyone had any experience with a particular type of product. Someone responded with "yes, and it was covered earlier in this thread, but you won't find it with a search because the person consistently spelled it wrong so you'll need to use [wrong spelling] instead".

 

[usagora]

I used to have an exhaustive list. Then I realized I was being a pretentious edge lord, internally dictating how other people use language.

As long as it's not hurtful/hateful, enjoy your language, and enjoy watching it evolve with people younger than you.

Well, I can't speak for others posting here, but I'm definitely not telling other people how to speak. I don't believe I've ever told anyone directly "Don't say ___" or "I hate it when you say ___" etc. So I'm venting here instead 😉 There are words and phrases that simply annoy me and that's just the way it is. I'm sure I say things that annoy others and they don't say anything to me either. And I mean "annoy" in a fairly light-hearted way, not something I spend a lot of emotional energy on 🙂

 

[Rafterman]

I'm with you on these but more annoying is an individual that overly celebrates a good play when their team is down 35-0. You don't get to celebrate individual success when playing a team sport and your team is getting pwn3d.

Last week, a D player sacks the QB and the QB is down, got hammered prtty bad, laying in agony, and the player, I think it was the Giants' Thibodeaux, lay right next to him, doing a snow angel in celebration for like 5 or 6 seconds, completely unaware. A guy is almst knocked out, and he's doing a stupid celebration 1 foot away from guy.

 

[icanhazmac]

Last week, a D player sacks the QB and the QB is down, got hammered prtty bad, laying in agony, and the player, I think it was the Giants' Thibodeaux, lay right next to him, doing a snow angel in celebration for like 5 or 6 seconds, completely unaware. A guy is almst knocked out, and he's doing a stupid celebration 1 foot away from guy.

I saw that, stupid and tasteless, I don't even know why snow angels would be the first thing that comes to mind after a average play, I mean he was untouched so I wouldn't consider it a great play by any means. Some argued that in the moment Thib didn't realize how hurt Foles was but then he goes back to the bench and makes more tasteless gestures, well after he knew Foles was really hurt. He reminds me of summer... no class.

 

[wilberforce]

The phrase that annoys me the most, especially when I use it myself (!): "it is what it is."

Fortunately, I think this phrase is dying off. I feel like an uneducated idiot when I use it.

 

[usagora]

The phrase that annoys me the most, especially when I use it myself (!): "it is what it is."

Fortunately, I think this phrase is dying off. I feel like an uneducated idiot when I use it.

So I'm guessing you're also not a fan of "que sera sera"? 😂

I'm not sure why you think "it is what it is" is dying off, however. I'm pretty sure it's here to stay, and I hear it all the time. Doesn't really bother me. It's just a shorter way of saying "There's nothing we can do about it, so let's just suck it up" which is often good advice!

 

[wilberforce]

So I'm guessing you're also not a fan of "que sera sera"? 😂

I'm not sure why you think "it is what it is" is dying off, however. I'm pretty sure it's here to stay, and I hear it all the time. Doesn't really bother me. It's just a shorter way of saying "There's nothing we can do about it, so let's just suck it up" which is often good advice!

Except that it gets overused, as a useless response to everything when one cannot think of something intelligent to say:

It's really cold today!
It is what it is.
Taxes are too high!
It is what it is.
This is a terrible traffic jam!
It is what it is.
Apple's computers are too expensive!
It is what it is.
You sound like a bot!
It is what it is.

 

[TechRunner]

Well, I can't speak for others posting here, but I'm definitely not telling other people how to speak. I don't believe I've ever told anyone directly "Don't say ___" or "I hate it when you say ___" etc. So I'm venting here instead 😉 There are words and phrases that simply annoy me and that's just the way it is. I'm sure I say things that annoy others and they don't say anything to me either. And I mean "annoy" in a fairly light-hearted way, not something I spend a lot of emotional energy on 🙂

Same for me. Terms like "Optics", "Influencer" and "Foodie" are for me, but I don't correct or chastise people who use them, as my command of the complexities of the English language are far from perfect, and I'm sure I aggravate others on a daily basis.

My least favorite phrase is currently "Thrown under the bus". I really can't pinpoint why, but its overuse is grating to me.

 

[Gregg2]

... It sounds like you're taking it to mean "We can't accept that this happened" as if they're in denial, but that's not the meaning of "acceptable" in this context.

I can't accept that.
As I said, these pet peeves are probably unique to me.

un·ac·cept·a·ble | ˌənəkˈseptəb(ə)l | adjective
not satisfactory or allowable: unacceptable behavior.

To me, if it already happened, it can't be "not allowable". That's just me.
I can't accept another definition for "unacceptable".

 

[Gregg2]

I'll defer to you on the sports-related items, as I'm not big into sports, but there's actually an exception to the "always put ending punctuation before the ending quotation mark."

So you've done it the prescribed way there. I would violate the rule and put the period outside the quotation mark because it isn't a quotation. Just a quirk I have, which I know isn't correct per the experts.

 

[Gregg2]

It's not a phrase, but a gesture. College and NFL players signaling a first down when they make a play that gets a first down. Or defensieve players doing the incomplete gesture when a pass isn't caught. (even when they had nothing to do with it, like a dropped pass).

And they do it ALL the time, it's not just here and there. It just irritates me.

So I suppose you don't like it when basketball players signal whose ball it should be (their team, of course) when it gets knocked out of bounds. They could stop that gesture by making it a technical foul.

 

[Mousse]

So I'm guessing you're also not a fan of "que sera sera"? 😂

Yeah, not really of that song. I can only tolerate it when it's sung by Doris Day.

I'm not sure why you think "it is what it is" is dying off, however. I'm pretty sure it's here to stay, and I hear it all the time. Doesn't really bother me. It's just a shorter way of saying "There's nothing we can do about it, so let's just suck it up" which is often good advice!

I still hear it quite often among contractors when one of their workers mess up. It's right up there with "aww ****" usually said by the worker who messed up.

 

[usagora]

I can't accept that.
As I said, these pet peeves are probably unique to me.

un·ac·cept·a·ble | ˌənəkˈseptəb(ə)l | adjective
not satisfactory or allowable: unacceptable behavior.

To me, if it already happened, it can't be "not allowable". That's just me.
I can't accept another definition for "unacceptable".

Well, a pet peeve is one thing; definitions of words is another. Using your logic, you would have to say the government considers murder "allowable" because murders happen. No, murder is most certainly not allowable, which is why murderers are prosecuted by the government. Just because something is unacceptable doesn't mean it's impossible for it to happen. Any parent would certainly understand that one!

So you've done it the prescribed way there. I would violate the rule and put the period outside the quotation mark because it isn't a quotation. Just a quirk I have, which I know isn't correct per the experts.

Yes, but I was saying there are cases where you'd be correct (even "per the experts") when it comes to question marks and exclamation marks 😉

 

[KaliYoni]

On topic: I'll add "winningist", "gifting" and the Apple-caused misuse of "font" for "typeface". The first two just sound grating to my ear while the last goes against what I was taught while learning how to set up and run offset printing jobs.

Off topic: for anybody interested, here is what the US-based Modern Language Association says about quotations and other punctuation marks (I had a suspicion, confirmed there, that the norm of always placing terminal punctuation inside quotation marks was related to typography, not grammar, much like the typewriter custom of double spacing after a period that is not needed anymore for visual clarity):

Why do periods and commas go inside quotation marks in MLA style? | MLA Style Center

The MLA Handbook notes, “By convention, commas and periods that directly follow quotations go inside the closing quotation marks” (267). Thus, in the following sentence, the comma is placed after taught: “You’ve got to be carefully taught,” wrote Oscar Hammerstein II. The rule is the same for a...

style.mla.org

 

[Rafterman]

So I suppose you don't like it when basketball players signal whose ball it should be (their team, of course) when it gets knocked out of bounds. They could stop that gesture by making it a technical foul.

Eh, not as annoying as football first diwns and inxompletes.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

"Wazzup", usually asked as a question, in an email, or text, by the sort of person who invariably demanded a lengthy and thoughtful reply, and who thought that they were cool by writing such a thing.

Not only was it intellectually lazy, it was grammatically horrible, and it looked disgusting on the page.

Anyway, - yes, it took some time - eventually, I taught myself, trained myself, not to respond, not even with an acknowledgement, to such an (illiterate) overture.

 

[Herdfan]

"Wazzup", usually asked as a question, in an email, or text, by the sort of person who invariably demanded a lengthy and thoughtful reply, and who thought that they were cool by writing such a thing.

Not only was it intellectually lazy, it was grammatically horrible, and it looked disgusting on the page.

Anyway, - yes, it took some time - eventually, I taught myself, trained myself, not to respond, not even with an acknowledgement, to such an (illiterate) overture.

It is also one of the Top 20 ad campaigns ever. 😂

World’s best ads ever #15: Budweiser simply asks, ‘Wassup?’

We asked our readers to vote for their favorite commercials of all time. Top creatives from the World Creative Rankings and The Drum’s Judges’ Club then ranked the ads. Now, we bring you the definitive 100 best TV and video ads of all time.

www.thedrum.com

 

[Scepticalscribe]

It is also one of the Top 20 ad campaigns ever. 😂

World’s best ads ever #15: Budweiser simply asks, ‘Wassup?’

We asked our readers to vote for their favorite commercials of all time. Top creatives from the World Creative Rankings and The Drum’s Judges’ Club then ranked the ads. Now, we bring you the definitive 100 best TV and video ads of all time.

www.thedrum.com

That is probably where it came from (I'm not a Budweiser drinker, although I am more than partial to a good beer).

But, good God....as a text, or email?

Or, rather, as a text or email from anyone who claims to know me?

Or, rather, as a text or email from anyone who claims to know me, and yet (inexplicably) somehow expects a response to something so intellectually lazy, aesthetically offensive, and grammatically obscene?