quote:

Originally posted by Amanda:
Back to pet peeves, there are certain words I've grown allergic to.

For starters: robust and agile
(ugh)

The big overused word in the news media is ROIL. In every other article! As in: Breakaway factions roil GOP!

Somebody get these writers a thesaurus!

quote:

Originally posted by RealPlayer:

quote:

Originally posted by Amanda:
Back to pet peeves, there are certain words I've grown allergic to.

For starters: robust and agile
(ugh)

The big overused word in the news media is ROIL. In every other article! As in: Breakaway factions roil GOP!

Somebody get these writers a thesaurus!

And not just in articles - speeches! On the job and newscasters. I don't think there's a major corporation whose PR reps don't resort to them de rigueur

I've even heard them from the mouths of certain family members and certainly in LinkedIn profiles. Am sure they turn up in graduation addresses from both valedictorians and keynote speaker.

quote:

Originally posted by RealPlayer:
Somebody get these writers a thesaurus!

Very cute, Steve!! Certainly a bugaboo of
public speaking.

Hair flipping.

When I eat out, I often sit at the bar so I don't take up a whole table...

Sitting near young women with long hair means I have to guard my dinner plate. They often turn their back to me and then...FLIP! FLIP! FLIP!

Sometimes I think I should strategically locate a pot of ketchup on the counter.

People who drive Audis.

A recent poll in Britain had BMW drivers as the most annoying, with Audis second at half as many votes.

Around here, many BMW drivers are jerks, but nearly all Audi drivers are. If I’m going ten over and someone passes me on the right, it’s usually an Audi.

quote:

Originally posted by pianojuggler:

quote:

Originally posted by Jack Frost:
“Her and me are going to the store.”

Jf

Overcorrecting on that:

“Please contact Ralph and I.”

Urg.

The linguist in me says that these are common usages and examples of how spoken language often deviates from prescriptive/normative grammar rules. They're not "wrong" and in fact, are perfectly clear and communicate the speaker's intention with no ambiguity.

The average citizen in me really, really, really hates “Please contact Ralph and I.”

quote:

Originally posted by RealPlayer:

quote:

Originally posted by Amanda:
Back to pet peeves, there are certain words I've grown allergic to.

For starters: robust and agile
(ugh)

The big overused word in the news media is ROIL. In every other article! As in: Breakaway factions roil GOP!

Somebody get these writers a thesaurus!

Yes, that's a roil pain.

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:

quote:

Originally posted by pianojuggler:

quote:

Originally posted by Jack Frost:
“Her and me are going to the store.”

Jf

Overcorrecting on that:

“Please contact Ralph and I.”

Urg.

The linguist in me says that these are common usages and examples of how spoken language often deviates from prescriptive/normative grammar rules. They're not "wrong" and in fact, are perfectly clear and communicate the speaker's intention with no ambiguity.

The average citizen in me really, really, really hates “Please contact Ralph and I.”

I do not understand how native speakers with degrees from prestigious universities and law schools cannot get this right.

I hated “please contact the undersigned” when it was popular in corporatespeak. I hate the use of “I” as a direct object even more.

Less vs. fewer is beginning to bother me.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
Less vs. fewer is beginning to bother me.

This was even a joke on Game of Thrones. I laughed out loud.

“Drop” as a verb to mean “to release”. Whenever I see it I think it means the opposite of what the writer intended.

Elton John drops a new album.

Glen Frabbitz drops a single malt whisky.

The Paducah Weekly Blat drops a column on local critters.

In all of these, I assume it means “to stop doing something”.

I detest headlines that say "So-and-so opens up about thus-and-such."

I don't recall seeing them prior to the age of clickbait. Or perhaps they are the fallout of reality shows, which are designed to stir up huge emotions and then get an emotional person on camera for a (scripted) emotional catharsis conducted for all the world to see. And I suppose those moments are the outfall of those segments during sportsball events where the action stops so that one of the players can emote about the struggle it took to get there.

Anyway, "opens up" implies that this person has owed us their innermost thoughts for a long time and some enterprising reporter has pried those thoughts out of them. It also ignores the fact that most of these people who are "opening up" are celebrities who will benefit monetarily from the media reporting on their emotional revelations. How about we return to the more seemly "speaks"?

And how about we learn to distinguish between news that bears reporting and gossip that has been solicited for our entertainment?

“Her and me are going to the store.”

And there’s “She and myself are going to the store” for those not sure whether I or me is correct.

J