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» I SAID, 'DO YOU SPEAK-A MY LANGUAGE?' from The Bemusement Park
Vidiot is talking about word usage pet peeves, and he's got some goodies: decimate, nauseous, imply/infer, less/fewer, disinterested, chaise longue, bemuse I was almost offended by that last one. Anyway, here's my list of Language Things Which Rub Me T... [Read More]
» I SAID, 'DO YOU SPEAK-A MY LANGUAGE?' from The Bemusement Park
This was about the point where my wife's pregnancy kicked into full gear.--mh Vidiot is talking about word usage pet peeves, and he's got some goodies: decimate, nauseous, imply/infer, less/fewer, disinterested, chaise longue, bemuse I was almost offen... [Read More]
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It's nice to know I'm using bemusement properly. But how come I can never get 'that' and 'which' straight?
Posted by: Mark Hasty | May 20, 2004 at 10:19 PM
A few of my pet peeves: when people use the word 'nonplussed' to mean the exact opposite of what it means, and when people use 'literally' when they mean 'to a great extent': "He literally let the cat out of the bag". Oh, and "White supremist". It's 'supremacist', godammit!
Posted by: monk | May 21, 2004 at 08:41 AM
An evening with me would drive you mad. I'm a famous language mangler. However, enough of a hypocrite that it pisses me off when other people do it. I mean, they're just wrong...I'm a neologist. *laughing*
My #1 peeve? Irregardless. That one, tied with those who put "er" on the end of words that should have "more" or "less" in front of them. As in "uncomfortabler." Or God forbid, both: These new chairs are more uncomfortabler than the old chairs.
Posted by: antigeist | May 21, 2004 at 10:08 AM
How 'bout "a whole 'nother." That one drives me up the freakin' WALL!
Here's another great site for us word geeks:
http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/mispron.html
Posted by: Ayelet | May 21, 2004 at 12:35 PM
Oh yeah, "literally" is one that gets misused all the time. My boss said that someone "literally hit the roof" a while back. I had to keep myself from blurting out "This I gotta see!"
And heck, AG, I've spent evenings with you and it wasn't bad. Besides, misusing these things in print is a whole 'nother level of annoyance (oops!) than in casual conversation.
And I'm a hypocrite too. (But not, as one local newspaper recently spelled it, a hypercrite.)
Posted by: Vidiot | May 23, 2004 at 04:33 PM