There’s no absence of world events to discuss, but they’re not moving quickly and, at any rate, I have nothing to add to anyone’s view of those events. Therefore, we’ll have a new entry in the continuing series of words and phrases I detest.
Note that language evolves, and yes, some of these odious words are actually used, and may even be used in a way the dictionary authorizes. But you don’t need to tell me that language evolves, for I already know that. The point here is simply to state some bits of the English (actually, American) language that irritate me when used. I may have posted some of these in days of yore, but I proffer four today.
And, of course, I would like readers to add their own bêtes noires. As usual, I give an example of the usage.
1.) inspo, meaning “inspiration”. It’s widely used on social media, and I detest it. If you want to shorten “inspiration”, then why not “inspi” (pronounced “inspee”)? Here’s one example from Facebook:
2.) vacay, meaning “vacation”. This is another linguistic shortening whose use is meant to show that you’re au courant. Here’s an example from HuffPo, which I had hoped would disappear by now. It is a gold mine for “with-it” language.
Get ready to hear a lot of “I should’ve thought of that” from everyone else on your next vacay. https://t.co/KS7ScnGQZS
— HuffPost Women (@HuffPostWomen) April 19, 2026
3.) merch, meaning, of course, “merchandise.” I fear this one is so widely used that it will be impossible to dislodge, even through mockery. All we can do is use the right word. It reminds me of “lurch” and is thus unpleasant. Here’s one of many examples: this one is from an Amazon site called “Merch on demand” and is aimed at “content creators” (another phrase I detest. I guess I’m a c.c. myself but I’d never describe myself as one.)
4.) The double “is”. You know what I’m talking about: the phrase “The thing is, is that. . . . “. There is no need for two uses of “is”: one can say “The main thing is that. . ” or “The important thing is that. . . “. The fact that this is jarring is proven by its constant usage in verbal language but nearly complete absence in writing. That’s because it’s both unnecessary and ungrammatical.
Your turn. Since it’s Friday, you must be somewhat splenetic and ready to blow off steam.
“Breaking” News
“Inspo” is new to me! This is the first time I’m hearing about it.
You know what I detest? Well, “detest” is a strong way to put it. It’s a real word and not some possibly fleeting slang: gubernatorial. It’s so stupid! After all, nobody is a gubernor of a state. Think about it: senator, senatorial race; governor, governorial race. My logic is impeccable.
Now, I understand language can’t be legislated into existence. I’m just surprised that “governorial” has never emerged, that no one has thought to use it (except me, apparently). Maybe John McWhorter or Steven Pinker might have something interesting to say about this. But I don’t want to hear about Latin roots. We’re talking English here, people! (I sound like Dustin Hoffman, if you recognize the allusion.)
There’s a Seinfeld episode – I cannot find – where George and Jerry are pitching ideas of some nature, and George is rejecting them and giving reasons.
One is rejected for being :
“too … gubernatorial“.
Wow! I had no idea. Thanks for mentioning that.
Okay, so that makes two of us with the complaint: me and Jerry Seinfeld. Or maybe three: Larry Charles, who was a principal writer for the show for years.
Words that arise from the switching of b and v are quite common. I have no idea why.
That’s interesting. The sounds are related in some way. In some Spanish countries they are pronounced the same, and the average person often mixes up b and v when writing a word.
And often when typing a word.
Z X C V B N M , . /
The sounds are both labial (articulated with the lips), only differing in the manner of articulation (b is a stop, v is a fricative – although v is actually labio-dental, involving the teeth as well as the lips).
As Barbara notes below, the word for ‘govern’ in English originally comes from a Greek word meaning ‘to steer’ – in Ancient Greek the b [beta] was a stop but in Modern Greek it’s a fricative.
In Spanish what are spelled as b an v are pronounced as a bilabial fricative between vowels and a stop elsewhere. If you don’t know or can’t remember the spelling of a word it’s easy to mix them up when writing.
Yes, we are talking/writing English here, but the Norman Conquest put a lot of French into it, like it or not, and French is unashamedly derived from Latin. And don’t even blame the French for the ‘b’ in “gubernatorial”, they used ‘v’ — the chain is English govern from Old French governer from Latin gubernare from Greek kubernan “to steer” (also from which Norbert Wiener got “cybernetics” for his foundational 1948 book Cybernetics: Or control and communication in the animal and the machine). Deal with it.
(Yes, I’m a word nerd. Etymologies are my favourite part of a dictionary.)
Fascinating! I was a big fan of A Way With Words when Martha Barnette and Richard Lederer were the hosts. I should get back into it.
It may be that not a few goobers have run in gubernatorial races.
This is true.
My sources tell me it’s from :
Seinfeld “The Deal” Season 2, Episode 9 (1991)
Jerry says it – about a bust of … Nelson Rockefeller.
Still can’t find the exact dialogue.
English is stuck with its roots, although the stems change a lot of sounds and letters — systematically as it turns out* — as they wend their way to us. As Barbara says, c(k)ubernan became governor (in the 14th century) but the dormant root imposed its ‘b’ on the less commonly used sucker, “gubernatorial” that sprang up as recently as 1734, (says AI) just in time (linguistically speaking) for the American Revolution. I have never heard the word in a Canadian context even though we have various types of governors here, albeit none who are elected in gubernatorial races. When I first heard it years ago I thought it was a joke word, like “transmogrify.”
I suspect that if “gubernatorial” had cause to be used more widely in more contexts, this b, also, would morph into a v. Try spelling it that way: “govern(at)orial”, and see how it goes. Bet you a dollar it catches on.
(*centum cornua in caelis became a hundred horns in Heaven, even though C and H were never pronounced similarly in Latin so far as we know….but we still say “centenary”, “centennial”, and “bi-cornate”, and the French call a hundred rainbows cent arcs en ciel. Guarantee and warranty mean the same thing. A wager is a pledge and so is a wage; both started out as gagel and gave us “mortgage.” Don’t get me started. It’s too late.)
My favourite example of this is the trio cattle, chattel and capital, all of which came from the Latin capital (< caput ‘head’) but via different routes.
In defence of “transmogrify”, it might be a joke word, but it’s a very old joke (1650’s). Admittedly, it is actually needed in 0% of modern communication;
Unlike my favourite sounds-like-a-joke word “fungible”, which sometimes is precisely the right word to use. (BTW, it has no relation to fungus, either among us or not, just as “transmogrify” has no relation to gender dysphoria in cats. 🙂)
I like “gubernatorial” because it carries some of the majesty of the Latin “gubernator.”
Agreed on every one.
How about forbidding the word “like” inserted into every phrase. I used to forbid students from using it to answer questions. An example from a course in influential ideas in biology:
Me: What is the theory in biology that has lasted longest without being invalidated, who proposed that theory. Describe its major mechanism.
Student: Like, um, the theory of like, Evolution? Like, Darwin? And like, “natural selection”?
At least she knew something.
Agree, I always thought it was just kids, but apparently it’s generational, or example, Narte Silver uses it all the time (to the point of distraction), and he is clearly educated, intelligent and (loss clearly) 48 years old.
I mean, like, cell theory? Like, I mean, Scheiden and Schwann? (I see you included the upspeak in your example)
Like, ya know, high rising terminals.
Like, Loudon Wainwright III: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1gSbMCL7w4
I just remembered something else that’s similar to “like”: It’s people ending sentences with “right.” I hear everyone do this. It’s as if the “right” means “Are you following what I’m saying?”
From a woman appearing as a guest Chris Hayes’s show on MS NOW in response to a question by Hayes: “I think it’s important to take it in context, right?” But the “right” is rarely emphasized as a question. It’s just an add-on to a statement.
So why this “right”? Again, seemingly everyone does this.
I, too, despise that use of “right.” It assumes agreement on the part of the listener. Time to start interjecting “wrong!” after every such “right.” 🙂
I just heard it again this morning when listening to Maurene Comey’s attorney being interviewed by Ali Velshi. But my “heard it again” is silly because—sorry for the all caps—I HEAR IT ALL THE TIME FROM EVERYONE. However, I can think of an exception to this: I never hear Ali Velshi stick in “right”s to his remarks. So that’s one person.
Worse still, hearing this response to your statement of something obvious: “I know, right?” (Translation: “… you know, I know, you know?”
AGREE
Here’s a tangential language thing I heard – but – I get a guilty pleasure out if it:
The department store named “Target” – in certain context – can be mis-pronounced :
tar-ZHAY
As in l’accent Français.
The alchemical nature of this – transformation of … something inelegant … into élégance – by mere sound – just knocks me into a sublime state of levity.
(Replying to Bryan.) Consider the similar transformation of ordinary garbage into would-be elegant gar-BAZH. (I recall this from Jonathan Winters.)
And a related sound, I have seen a British person, who stresses the first syllable of “garage”, claim that he thinks it a pseudo-French posture when all the Americans he encounters stress the second syllable and de-affricate the final consonant: ga-RAZH.
Also J.C. Penny pronounced similarly with PenNAY
Which always reminds me of the British sitcom “Keeping Up Appearances,” where the main character’s last name is Bucket, but she insists on pronouncing it “BOO-kay.”
Then there is Psmith who was tired of slinging salmon for his uncle. He was Smith but did not like the common surname. So he writes his name with a silent pee.
My petty peeve is when I ask someone for the facts on something and they say “I don’t know exactly,” but they really don’t know at all. I wish they would just say “I don’t know.”
I’ve just found another one to detest: “Petty peeve” jejeje
Ah! An eggcorn. A novel coinage misheard by the incurious. To be cherished and nurtured as soon it will enter the language as standard. Right now it comes out of the mouth of the diversity, equity, and inclusion facilitator/commissar educated beyond her intelligence with her, er, white board and, er again, Power Point slides but I’ll bet that one catches on.
Put me down as detesting “facilitator” by the way. I would prefer “skids greaser”.
The double “is” is da worst🙀
Well, I’m often bothered by someone writing “lead” when it should be “led” — the past and past-participle form of the verb. Thus: “This has lead to serious consequences.”
The underlying problem is that the written “lead” is sometimes correctly pronounced as “led” — when it means the metal / metallic element Pb. But when “lead” is used as the verb, it will be pronounced “leed”. But something goes off track and someone hearing or internally saying “led” writes “lead” under influence of that pronunciation used for the metal.
The clearest cases are when I’m looking at subtitles / closed-captions to a movie or TV. Then I hear “led” and see “lead” and know what has gone wrong. It’s often clear enough too in reading running prose.
But occasionally the grammatical structure is ambiguous and it loos like this error was made, but possibly a present tense or infinitive (pronounced “leed”) would fit, and justify the spelling “lead”.
“They did not see that such an attitude would have raised hackles and lead to disputes.” Which is that?
Music trivia: The rock band Led Zeppelin was supposed to be called “Lead Zeppelin”, as in a dirigible made of lead, but the band thought that people might think that ‘lead’ was a verb and mispronounce the name as LEED Zeppelin, hence they deliberately misspelled ‘lead’ as ‘led’.
On the internet, “lose” is often spelled “loose:” “They will loose the election.” Strange that a four-letter word gives people so much trouble.
When I was in 4th grade, the teacher clearly explained the difference between “lay” and “lie:” “I am laying the book on the table. The book is now lying-(not laying)-on the table.” Most people today seem to use “lay” to mean “lie” as in “I’m going to lay down.” Do schools no longer teach this?
Also “the lay [sic] of the land”.
Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady, Lay” drives me nuts. Is he singing to a hen?
“Wow!” “I’m not crying; you’re crying.” “I have the receipts.” Each one bids me to cast a cold eye and urges the reader to quickly pass by.
In my more serious reading, I still loathe “our democracy” when invoked by those who stake claim to “the right side of history.”
I used a “Wow!” in a response to someone above. Sorry about that.
And I have the receipts!
But wow, how did I forget my greatest peeve? There are only two types of men: those who “LOL” and, well, perhaps there is only one type.
Splenetic, indeed!
Yes, I gave you a receipt, unwittingly. Guilty as charged.
I’m still a corporate schlub so I hear a lot of business-speak, most of which are silly words that are designed to gussy up mundane concepts in order to make the speaker seem smarter, or are weasel words that deliberately obfuscate and confuse. A lot like the language academics use!
For a long time, I thought that “synergy” was the worst of this business-blab. But, with an AI bubble looming, the term “derisk” (which was big 15-20 years ago) is reappearing and might be even more annoying.
It’s actually in the dictionary, but it sounds like something the Ministry of Truth would come up with.
“Moving forward…”
Yes! Gotta drill down on that one, run the numbers, and then run it up the flagpole to be sure!
“Forward planning” is IMO worse. What’s wrong with just “planning”?
“benchmarking”
“stakeholders”
Inspo is new to me but has an Australian feel to it. You can hear Crocodile Dundee saying it.
It does, doesn’t it? hehehee
I notice Aussie English has added some new words since my departure in the early 1990s: Ambo (for ambulance) and Tradie (for tradesmen) as two examples.
D.A.
NYC 🗽
“This place we call home” irks me. Just say “home.”
Not quite the topic, but as I’m feeling “splenic,” I still can’t believe how many people confuse “regime” with “regimen.” I’ve seen it in otherwise reputable news articles and heard it on NPR.
I once asked my doctor about a “regime” and he sharply corrected me, saying that the right word was “regimen.”
Even worse!! I grew up in a largely illiterate community — with a passion for reading…
You mean the ‘g’ in ‘enigma’ is not silent?
LOL
Your doctor is a learned man.
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My last post in this thread, about some of the words accepted by all today, and the consequences.
A colleague and I were walking in a major US state university, and she overheard an undergraduate telling her friend that she was going to get a Botox injection. My colleague asked “Pardon me, but do you know what Botox is? What the word stands for?”
After receiving a reply in the negative she said “it’s botulinum toxin. A neurotoxin that has killed many people. And you think it’s a good idea to inject a small amount of this toxin into yourself?”
Student, snarkily: “Like you said, it’s just a small amount”
My colleague: “if I may ask, what is your major?”
Student: “Education”.
“low key”
Example, “I low key think everyone should get free college.”
It is a buffer around the reality of reality. The damn youngers have adopted this everywhere. They don’t want to be pinned down, but they want to throw their emotional fat on the fire as truth. “Oh you know what I mean but only take it low key, if you challenge it I’ll deny I actually meant it.” This way, they never have to defend their claims.
I high key wonder where courage of conviction went.
I blame Loki.
UGH
In how many years will it end – 6? 7?
“Tasty.” Even if it tastes horrible it still tastes.
This made me laugh!
Yes, similar to the lazy use of “ethnic” to mean “ethnic minority” rather than the quality of ethnicity. And indeed “quality” to mean “high quality” rather than a distinguishing characteristic.
And yet “smelly” is always horrible.
Okay, I have two.
1) I can’t stand when people call any unit of music a “song”. The Moonlight Sonata is not a song! A song is when someone sings.
2) This one won’t be popular here, but when someone uses “data” as a plural it makes my ears hurt. “The data are conclusive.” Ouch! It’s like saying “The sand on the beach are hot.” Sorry, but does anyone actually think data as plural sounds right?
Sorry, Burt, but when we add up all those little datums we get data and we just have to call it what it is.
Hmm. ISTM that datums as plural datum is rather like diddums as plural diddum.
Old school academic editors, at least, think data as plural is correct. See also: datum, the singular. I was raised by an editor from the era when university presses published serious, cogent work and so “data is” does not read or sound correct to me. O tempora, o mores! (The punctuation is an anachronism.)
Interpunctio est anachronismus. 🙂
I do, and use “data” as plural as opposed to “datum”, which is a single fact. “Data” is in fact the latin plural.
As a retired database administrator and manager, I am thrilled to see “data” used correctly as plural. Thanks!
Collective noun vs. plural noun. Battle of the ages. Does this trip up a lot of second-language English speakers?
Darn those third declension Latin nouns.
It seems that in the U.S. “millenniums” are starting to supersede “millennia.”
I think milleniums refers to people of the millenium, whereas millenia means thousands of years.
This is a new one, and niche. I’ve started collecting records (Hawaiian), mostly 78s, but occassionally LPs. There is a sub-reddit called r/vinyl that I look at. People refer to an LP or record as “a vinyl” or worse “vinyls”. It drives me nuts. It’s a record. It’s not a vinyl-player, it’s a record player or turntable. It’s clear that many of the people collecting LPs aren’t even aware that there are other formats, such as 78s and 45s. I’ve seen people post pictures of 45s and not know that they need an adapter to play them. Get off my lawn!
Yes, I’ve noticed this and found it hilarious. But the whole resurgence of LPs, when by any objective criteria CDs (and streaming, if one must) are superior, fills me with a mixture of annoyance and bewildered hilarity.
Nice that we have this topic again. Here are my contributions:
Based – not sure if I fully grasp the meaning, but I understand it as a right-wing version of cool.
GOAT, and especially when used as adjective goated – my hypothesis is that this was invented by someone very religious who didn’t want to use God’s name in vain so instead of calling someone excelling at something a god, they called them a goat adding that “uh… it means greatest of all time!” Still feels like an insult instead of a compliment. And goated is just awful.
GOAT is short for “Greatest Of All Time.” I agree, it sounds like an insult: “I could’ve been the hero; instead I’m the goat,” as Charlie Brown used to say.
I wonder what the implications of GOAT are for “scapegoat.”
And predictably, the acronym, by making the term easier to use, also makes it easier to debase. Is that athlete/president/author/actor/scientist really the greatest of all time, or are they just one you like a lot among those you happen to know about?
“Based” is surely based on… is an abbreviation of “Based in Reality.” It has a right-wing flavor only because (some of) the Left has gone crazy, accepting all sorts of balderdash as scientifically true.
I’ve heard “infamous” intended to mean “very famous”.
I was aware of “merch,” but not of the others. It’s great to know that, in our ever expanding universe, there is an ever expanding list of words to detest as well!
I have noticed the double “is,” but I didn’t know that it was a thing. I just thought that it was a quirk—a momentary mistake. Now I know. The thing is, is a thing!
I find “merch” to be infelicitous in all uses save one: “merch booth” where you buy merchandise at concerts or festivals. That locution has been around forever and it is just fine—indeed it is the correct designator for what it refers to.
Agreed, telling your concert buddies you’re headed to the “merchandise booth” would sound very out of place!
You can always say, “I’m going to buy a souvenir.”
If they want a short term, I think “swag” is more fun, anyway. But I have to admit, “merchandise” is a somewhat cumbersome word. Then again, so is “cumbersome”.
I can’t decide which is more horrid, the word ‘inspo’ or that woman’s nails.
Same reaction I had when I first heard someone say “merch.” I thought, “Why is it so hard to say merchandise?”
And “vacay” is even more annoying.
“Vacay”, “cray cray” — oy vay.
Overuse of acronyms. It seems every scientific paper has to invent a new acronym to cover some trivial technique that is only a minor variation on something old. It’s impossible to single anything out because they’ve become so common.
The Big Company where I work even has an acronym database to help out. Some have multiple meanings or are not what you think. For example, POS = probability of success (people actually say that one with a straight face).
I always told my students “KATAM”: Keep acronyms to a minimum.
I used to tell people that there should be an American Association for the Abolition of Acronyms, or AAAA for short…
Especially when they used a lot of TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms).
‘Bro’. I often hear young people nowadays use it at the beginning of a sentence in an affected manner, trying to sound hip or street or whatever, but it just sounds cretinous.
They also use it even when speaking to women/girls, which doesn’t make sense, since it’s clearly a shortened version of “brother”! I can just barely accept the use of “dude” and “guys” in an androgynous way, but “bro”?
At one time I thought ‘gee’ was a new word. But it’s there in The Big Sleep which was written in 1939. From one gee to another and all that…
I think merch and vacay are perfectly fine, and may one day end up in the dictionary. The English language has always embraced shortening of words, like:
refrigerator to fridge
horseless carriage to car
application to app
internet to net
telephone to phone
influenza to flu
(and hundreds of others)
Can you imagine people complaining about these shortened versions back when they were first catching on?
Umm. . . reread what I wrote about knowing that language evolves. That does not for a minute make me feel less dislike for the words above.
Agree 100% with those specific examples.
Love how the largest comments WEIT gets is from people p***ed off with language!
I feel it! 🙂
D.A.
NYC 🗽
I feel it too! I think it’s related to disdain for bastardization of language by the kinds of far-left progressives who gave us the genocide in Gaza and who insist that transwomen are women. Give me clear plain meaning that uses English words as they are commonly understood.
Hah! Just when you think that people are no longer visiting your site, there’s this. It’s an extravaganza!
Yeah, but if I posted something serious, I’d get bupkes.
It ain’t necessarily so, Prof. It would depend on the field of seriousness, surely. Most of the time when I’m reading your posts, I can have nothing to add because the subjects are way above my level of understanding and I’m too busy learning from what I’m reading. Which I do every day.
Gaslight
Ghost
I still don’t know what they mean.
I intend to read Gas Light to find out. But I have no idea what ghost means. Another word people use all the time is god. Ask god this and ask god that and god told us this and god told us that… I have no idea what any of it means.
Ghosting someone is when you disappear without saying goodbye and without explaining why you are leaving. Like you go to a party with a friend and the friends leaves while you are in the bathroom.
Gaslighting is when you lie about something having happened in such a way that people you lied to start to disbelieve their own memory of the event. It’s different from a mere lie because while a lie might be something you say to cover your ass or pump yourself up, gaslighting has a more psychologically manipulative purpose.
Thank you, very clarifying.
Can you please give me an example of gaslighting? I hear this phrase often and can’t seem together.
It definitely gets overused these days.
An example in the political arena perhaps would be right wing pundits going on TV and dismissing the January 5 riots as people going on a peaceful tour of the Capitol, or Hamas lumping its guerilla fighters into the civilian death toll to make Israel seem more evil on the international stage.
In personal relationships it would be more nuanced but think of a couple in an argument. One starts a fight but argues that actually the other person was the real instigator of the argument and that he is merely responding to the other’s verbal attack even though that wasn’t the case. This leads the victim to be the one making the apologies instead of the other way around.
Got it. Thanks
Gaslighting is explained by other commenters. The term comes from the stage play Gas Light (1938 AI tells me) where the villain convinces his wife she is going insane by dimming the gas-powered lamps in their home and telling her she is only imagining that the rooms are darker.
On the PBS show This Old House, I often hear contractors say, “what we’re going to do next is we’re going to…”, which makes me want to go ahead and change the channel.
“Mog” for the same reason as “inchoate.” I never can remember what they mean.
Not sure how to email directly – but am here at the pond around 1 on Friday and the female duck (forgive me for forgetting her name) is happily cleaning her feathers with Armon. I have pictures to share if you’d like.
Yes, Vashti seems to be in the pond in the afternoons but not mornings. She may e laying eggs somewhere (I looked at her old nest and she is not using that one)
In the late afternoon they both were resting at the south end of the pond for quite some time. I was surprised that they weren’t even phased by a Coopers Hawk that was nearby for about 10 minutes. Fingers cross for both of them.
“Base OFF, Base ON.” Mr Miyagi
“Based off of”!!! I tell my students “A base is a foundation! Do you want your deductions, inferences, conclusions, and decisions OFF of your foundation, or firmly ON the foundation??” Based ON!
Again, I’d like to say that answering questions by beginning with “again” to indicate the question was already answered, even when it wasn’t, is annoying.
My four decades in education (manus primarium) have given my a visceral reaction to the use of “so” without antecedent.
My particular field– computer engineering/software engineering– gives me too much opportunity for some common usages, such as number vs amount, as well as the aforementioned data vs datum. When a student uses “amount” to refer to a number of persons, I ask them how big the blender was. When the response, as it often is, is “you just don’t understand me”, or a similar cop-out trying to imply it is a generational issue, I just reply with “my point.”
Also, the period goes before the closing quote. Strunk and White spin in their graves over this one.
I agree that in reporting a direct quotation substantially intact, the period (or the question or exclamation mark if what the speaker said seems to require it) goes inside the quotation marks. The umpire’s voice rang out over the hushed Mudville bleachers as the air was shattered by the force of Casey’s blow. “Strike!” No argument there. However, what do you think about what are sometimes called “scare quotes”? See what I did there? I’m open to opinions about this.
You gave a perfect example of what I’ve sometimes felt confused about, being a follower of the notion that all following punctuation should reside within the quotation marks. I see what you did there, and I like it. But is it “breaking the rules”? I don’t know. (Give us examples of some quotes that are scary!)
I don’t use the term “scare quotes” myself. I always thought the expression was “air quotes”, the gestures speakers make with their fingers to indicate a phrase is to be understood as contained in quotation marks.
I use air quotes around written phrases that:
Many of PCC(E)’s special xxx-lovers’ days are quotations because otherwise the reference is incomprehensible. Back in the 1960s there was National “Take a Negro to Lunch” Week. Without the air quotes, this would have looked nonsensical. Why is National being told to take anyone to Lunch Week? Is that a new restaurant?
And note if the expression itself was emphatically exhortative enough to need an exclamation mark, it would go inside the air quotes, right after Lunch, as for any direct verbatim quotation, even if the sentence noting that it was NTaNtL Week was simply declarative. Whereas the sentence, Is there any such thing as a “transwoman”? is correctly punctuated in my view.
On TV news programs, the host invariably introduces a commercial with: “When we come back.” That’s my signal to switch channels back to the ball game. There’s just enough time during the commercial to watch a couple of batters hit and to see that the Mariners had lost the lead and are now two runs down.
I hate when someone says to someone else “do it like you own it”.
This is usually said to someone when encouraging them to take on something difficult. I’ve heard it used in the context of someone about to do an activity where there is an audience, like a speech, lecture or play a sport.
The one that makes want to literally throw someone out of a window is when they say “based in” to mean “where I live”. Companies are based in a place. People are not, unless they are living there temporarily because their job told them to, like a soldier or a reporter deployed to Kandahar. It’s the brandification of people in the social media age. All the wannabe influencers, HuffPo style editors, and nightclub DJs are not “based in Brooklyn”. It’s literally where they pay taxes and rent. It’s their home. But hey, maybe these folks are permanent transients who never really think of anyplace as “home”. That might be sad, but it doesn’t change the fact that they’re going through that window.
(My last comment here, unless the thread grows tremendously)
One that I forgot to include is Inappropriate use of “historical” and “historic.”
“We had a historical election today” annoys me an iota more than “We had a historic election today” does, but more generally the use to imply important, rather than just using the correct word is painful. I saw both earlier this week regarding some US primary results.
Historic certainly implies a significant event, but measured against other events in the past, not the present when the significance is yet to be determined.
I think most everyone here knows the problem with using “historical” in this context….
I’ve noticed more and more during interviews a person makes a statement followed by “right?”. I seems less a question but rather that the statement must not be questioned.
I can barely make it throught “Washington Week with The Atlantic” because of the number of times I hear it. Perplexity a.i. defines it as a tag question, sometimes called a discourse marker. Its use seems to have increased dramatically recently.
I’m surprised I don’t see hone in used mistakenly for home in.
Do not forget ”tow the line” used when it should be ”toe the line.”
I’m late to the party (just got home from work), but I can’t pass up the chance to mention the worst word in modern English usage . . . wait for it . . .
WELLNESS.
I will never stop hating that word.
And I will mention it every time PCC(E) starts one of these threads. You’re welcome.
“Separate out.” Is “out” not inherent in “separate”? Does one ever “separate in”?
Something is “not able to be done.” As opposed to “can’t be done.”
A year or so ago an NPR host used the phrase “on the DL” interviewing a guest. I didn’t know then what it meant. “My bad,” I guess. T’was the first time I perceived that I needed to look up a phrase used on NPR. (I know what it means now, “Bro.” Or is it “Bruh”?) Recently the same host interrupted a reporter when she uttered the word “nadir,” the host feeling the need to define the word for listeners supposedly not familiar with it (but no doubt familiar with “on the DL”).
Not a word/phrase but a predilection pervasive across the fruited plain, to-wit: people who have significantly lived beyond their adolescent days apologizing for having memories and knowledge of and/or witnessing historical events/cultural changes, prefacing their recollections with “I guess I’m showing/revealing my age.” Is there somehow a need to apologize for knowing a thing or two because one has seen a thing or two?
The same with knee-jerk disclaimers about one’s innumeracy. During the conclave of cardinals selecting the current pope, a major cable news program host felt the need to say to the effect “I’m not good at math, but,” then proceeded to say that the 2/3 of the total (133) needed to select a new pope was 89. (Why not have that confirmed off set and declare it on air without calling attention to one’s math insecurity?) I gather not a few of these media types have Ivy League journalism school graduate degrees. Is there an associated math requirement? Perhaps a journeyman carpenter could provide remedial instruction.
I’ve just become aware of “crash out”, meaning having an extreme reaction to something. It’s really irritating.
Why is a store “Closed” yet “Open” rather than “Opened”?
I came back here to answer a reply from @retroformat but I want you to know I haven’t been able to sleep since I read your question! (Three a.m., staring at the ceiling, “Closed”…..”Open”…..)
Tis a puzzlement. Hope you finally got to sleep.
On the subject of “the thing is”: My brother and I used to know someone who frequently began sentences with “Is what it is, is….” Even now fifty years later, he or I will occasionally say “Was what it was, was….” in her honor.
Shiitake mushrooms. It’s enough to say shiitake.
I often hear the response, “perfect,” usually uttered by the cohort Gen-Z, to mean (I think) ‘understood’ or ‘ready’.
This transpired last week when ordering breakfast in a restaurant:
Waitress: “How do you want your eggs cooked?”
Me: Scrambled.
Waitress: “Perfect”
Waitress: “Do you want home fries or fruit cup?”
Me: Home fries.
Waitress: “Perfect”
Waitress: “Bacon or ham?”
Me: Bacon
Waitress: “Perfect”
Waitress: “Toast or english muffin?”
Me: English muffin
Waitress: “Perfect”
I “aced” my breakfast order! I’m so excited!
Similar to: “woman – elephant – TV – giraffe.”