OT: What words or phrases annoy you?

On Mon, 14 Jun 2021 20:29:59 +0100, NY posted for all of us to digest...

Once you have an IV started it goes in the injection port.

No it doesn't. I don't get confused when someone asks me to click on part of my phone screen.

Why did the word have to be changed for phones anyway?

No, they shouldn't. The word fewer is superfluous and was actually invented by an author 100 years ago who in his own personal opinion thought it sounded good.

More apples, more water. See how we get by with more for both?

It can be ambiguous when there isn't another word to help. For example is DEFCON 1 or 5 the highest?

My video camera says welcome, with a picture of a road, while playing a silly Chinese jingle.

You actually know/care the difference?

I've never seen ie and eg confused, they're so different in meaning I can't imagine anyone using the wrong one.

Or different to? Who cares? Than/to/from has no meaning. The "different" contains the meaning.

Does anyone actually know what the meaning of "of" and "have" is? They're just noises you shove between the words that mean something. A better way to speak would be pigeon English. "Car better, new engine make very fast." means precisely the same as "The car is now much better, the new engine makes it go very fast."

I've heard that a lot, and never correctly. I've always wondered WTF they're talking about.

Indeed, a complete and utter lack of numerical skills. Probably because they only learn one math instead of all of them.

Of and have have no meaning, why does it matter what you put there?

I say them the same way. Leever and leeveridge. One of each is nonsensical.

I can't even think what that would mean.

Outside the box I've heard, I assume it's the same meaning. Why does it annoy you?

I would find it very hard to run up a flagpole. I'd rather climb it for a polegasm.

Why do you distinguish between sincerely and faithfully?

As a matter of interest, who is that author? Do you have a reference to support your factoid?

It *is* odd, though, that we have two words "fewer" / "less" for countable/uncountable objects, but only one word "more" which covers both cases. I wonder why there isn't a countable opposite to "fewer", and we have to use the uncountable "more" instead?

I don't like "fewer", but that could just as a child I often heard the word spoken by someone with an always nasty voice.

Thinking of differences in countable and uncountable, I remember hearing a strange thing in first grade when a kid spilled milk. The teacher said "Go get you another milk.".

On Jun 16, 2021 at 11:25:10 AM MST, ""Rod Speed"" wrote snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net>:

Right. Our dictionaries and grammar rules are descriptive... the grammar exists even without them and it changes.

That sounds fine to me. There's an implied "container of" in there, as in, "Go get you another container of milk."

OTOH, "Go get you" could just as well have been "Go get".

on 6/16/2021, Snit supposed :

My favorite example is the following:

Horror Horrible Horrific <== all bad Terror Terrible Terrific <== One of these things is not like the others.

On Jun 16, 2021 at 2:17:22 PM MST, "FromTheRafters" wrote <sadpp3$6s7$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

And why do flammable and inflammable mean the same thing?

Or even go "get yourself", which is the normal phrase. Whereabouts uses "go get you"? I'm intrigued.

That reminds me of another bugbear: people who ask a waiter or barman "Can I get a pizza" or "Can I get a Guinness" instead of "Can [May] I have a Guinness" (or else, "Can you get me a Guinness"). "Can I get" implies "Can I go behind the bar and pull myself a pint" ;-)

But "Can I get..." seems to be standard usage for anyone under the age of about 40.

Because "inflammable" means "liable to inflame" - ie "liable to catch fire".

Firemen and H&S officers and so on never use the word "inflammable" because the "in-" is too often misunderstood to been "not".

I wonder if schools etc still teach the word "inflammable" as part of a child's vocabulary or whether they are scrupulous in always using "flammable" (and its opposite "non-flammable").

It's like the emergency exit signs on German buses/trains "Notausgang". I always have to remind myself that "Not" is German for emergency, and the sign *does not* mean "this is not an exit". ;-) The same thing is true of other Germanic languages: the Norwegian and/or Danish words are very similar to the German one - maybe "Nod" rather than "Not".

Similarly, "gift" in German does not mean a present. It means POISON :-(

On Jun 17, 2021 at 1:21:26 AM MST, ""NY"" wrote <saf0mc$n3o$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

Right... that is the common meaning of the prefix. But not here.

Seems that would be challenging for those of us who do not speak those languages.

I was in France for a while with a French class (I was a chaperone and had not taken the class). It was pretty amazing how much I could read -- generally getting the basic meaning of most signs. Of course signs are made to be easy to read, I am not suggesting I could read a novel. Or even short story.

There might be some overlap in those concepts. :)

I'll ask my kids after school. I would hope that they do teach the word inflammable, along with its proper meaning and why it is best not to use it - to ensure that they understand if they ever come across it.

I have certainly mentioned it myself.

On Jun 17, 2021 at 1:39:06 AM MST, "Steve Walker" wrote <saf1na$psr$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

I am confident both of my kids know the word -- but they are teens now.

Diner addressing the garcon in a french restaurant : ... Excuse me, but do you have frogs' legs?

Garcon : Mais, Oui! Monsieur!

Diner : The hop over the counter and get me a sandwich!

Instead of "please pass me the napkins" I've too many times heard "can I see the napkins"

C and F on faucets have caused me problems. When I was a kid my father and uncle plumbed sinks and tubs the easiest way so I have no presumptions which side has the cold water.

It sounds American.

Similar to "I'm going to get me a..."

Actually, that would probably be "I'm gonna get me a..." and of course it substitutes "me" for the correct "myself".

"Can I get a...?" means exactly what *you* suggest.

The only possible logical answer is something along the lines "I'm sorry sir; only staff are allowed behind the counter / bar".

I knew it had currency in the USA. The first time I ever heard it in the flesh in the UK was in the McDonald's in High Holborn, probably twenty years ago. Queuing for a bacon and egg sandwich* and a coffee, I was amused to hear the person in front of me ask "Can I get a porridge?".

At least he had enough dignity not to ask for it by the term attached to it on the menu (which I cannot recall, but it wasn't "porridge"). And not to add "to go".