'The word pedants' top 10 | It's specific, not Pacific...' blog discussion.

ralph_wilson

chrismbt wrote: »

By the way, "cheap at half the price" makes no sense!

This is a deliberate nonsense, as in the way "Del Boy" forms his phrases. It's just tongue-in-cheek.

murzlee

Perhaps it's because I am a product of Scottish education but I find it grates when I hear on the News that someone 'fell to the floor' instead of 'fell to the ground'. Floor is inside a building,ground is outside.
Also on television adverts,I keep hearingabout various products to clean/condition/shine a persons 'heh' instead of 'hair'.
You'll probably find that now I've mentioned it it will annoy you all too,sorry!

earthmother

I still remember my great grandmother complaining about a Blue Peter presenter saying 'these ones'. Even 25 years later, whenever I hear the phrase, I can hear her saying, "It's not 'these ones', it's either 'this one' or 'those'.".

Jim02

chrismbt wrote: »

Two pet hates are "ask" pronounced "arks" and "quite unique".

"Unique" means that there is only one of it, there are no degrees of "uniqueness", if there are two or more then its not unique. Nothing can be "very unique". Unique seems to have become a synonym for "rare".

Definition of "quite" from OED:
1. Completely, fully, entirely; to the utmost extent or degree;

also
3. Somewhat; moderately; fairly.

Its meaning is dependent on context. "Quite unique" is perfectly valid. It doesn't mean "fairly unique" in this context.

ginger_!!!!!! wrote: »

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you. The term "decimate" IS linked to the number 10. The origins of the word stem from the Roman times where it was used to instill disciplineand "encourage" performance by killing every tenth person in a poorly performing legion.

Again, from the OED:
1. Select by lot and execute one in every ten of...

2. Kill, destroy, or remove one in ten of; loosely destroy a large proportion of, cause heavy losses or fatalities in.

So yes, its meaning has changed over the years. But to "totally decimate" something is still a valid statement.


I don't like seeing the English language !!!!!!!ised through ignorance or laziness, but nor do I want to go around talking and writing like Chaucer. Language evolves whether we like it or not.

As a mildly grudging watcher of X Factor (my wife likes it), my pet hate is when someone pledges to give more than 100%.

I also see "there/their" and "your/you're" misused depressingly often.


p.s. Disappointing to see the word "bast.ardised" redacted on this forum. For any mods that might be reading - "Bast.ard" is not actually a swear word, you know.

damncat

In adverts, an impossible percentage of people agreed the product was superior; 79% of people....and at the bottom it says (in tiny letters) 106 people surveyed. Where are all these half people? Another was, in the olden days, "Cats prefer Whiskas" To what, exactly?

OK, these are not quite the same as miss-used words - and I have bee waging a campaign against all of the above examples for years!

Jim02

firstinflight wrote: »

Sorry, but I, and many people I work with regularly "give 110%", in that we work beyond our capacity, we put in effort that is disproportionate and unsustainable, and we get no thanks for doing so.

No - you don't work beyond your capacity. You might work longer than your contracted hours, but that's a different thing altogether.

Jim02

damncat wrote: »

OK, these are not quite the same as miss-used words - and I have bee waging a campaign against all of the above examples for years!

Why are you getting a bee to do your dirty work for you?

kneelbeforezod

lmuk2k wrote: »

OK, as we're being pedantic, my pet hate is customers asking the person serving them in a shop or bar "can I get a coffee please?" (or whatever it is that you want them to pass over from their side of the counter.)

"Can I have a coffee please?" is now pretty rare.

Mmmm...my girlfriend says this all the time and it drives me round the bend

The sales assistant is GETTING the coffee - she's just asking for it.

BrooksideTim

lmuk2k wrote: »

OK, as we're being pedantic, my pet hate is customers asking the person serving them in a shop or bar "can I get a coffee please?" (or whatever it is that you want them to pass over from their side of the counter.)

"Can I have a coffee please?" is now pretty rare.

That's an Americanism as are many of the wierd spellings and phrases that people use.

kneelbeforezod

Eco_Miser wrote: »

There is nothing wrong with 'almost unique' - there are two objects in the set. You'd need 110% effort to have a very unique object though.:)

Worse is the phrase 'rare and unique...'

Surely it's either one or the other? :wall: