Pals-
I noticed Lake Superior State University has their 2007 list of "banished words" out. Among them, was (from their web site) HEALTHY FOOD -- Point of view is everything.
Someone told Joy Wiltzius of Fort Collins, Colorado, that the tuna steak she had for lunch "sounded healthy." Her reply: "If my lunch were healthy, it would still be swimming somewhere. Grilled and nestled in salad greens, it's 'healthful.'"
Well now that makes sense to me! Anybody else have any word peeves? Mine - I am getting really tired of all the baby-talk cute words used to describe food. No, I do not want a yummy veggie sammie. The only good thing about it is that it is enough to make me not want to eat it!
In the UK "Healthy" is correct, whereas you US guys with your "healthful" what's all that about?
The most annoying word that I hear most days is "innit" It's the abreviated form of "isn't it" and most Indian-English use it at the end of EVERY sentence.
See when I went to they shop they were like in my face, innit. And so I said he should go do this, you know what I'm sayin' innit?
It's like people used to use "yeah?" at the end of every sentence but it's WORSE because you can only say "isn't it" when you ask or state something IS something. You CANNOT say, "My cat climbed the curtains, isn't it."
Okay, my old boyfriend's mother used to do this and it DROVE ME CRAZY!! She would say, "The dishes need washed" or "the garbage needs taken out" or "the yard needs mowed" and she would totally ignore the two words, "to be". It used to just drive me NUTS!! I loved her, but every time she did that, it was like she dragged her fingernails on a chalkboard.
OH and I have more - "not to mention." Why say "not to mention" and then mention whatever it was that you weren't mentioning??
For example: "Come to the big sale at Bonzo's Store! We've got sale prices on women's clothes, men's clothes, accessories and jewelry. Not to mention Baby Clothes!"
don't get me started......students should not exhibit "Inappropriate familiar behavior",(touching) but get praised and a high grade for acting "Appropriately Agressive"..........
and he goes ... I don't want fries let's just grab an apple or something
and I'm like so you think I'm fat?
and he like turns red and everything and goes I never said that
and I'm like so angry I can't believe it so I'm like sayin'...
I hate the ubiquitous phrase "less calories, less fat" - it should be "fewer calories, less fat." We need to watch those plural words.
Like Techwife, I also hate the absense of the forms of "to be." The worst is "where you at?" Not to mention (sorry Spinymouse; I just couldn't resist) ending the sentence with an unnecessary preposition.
Admittedly, my grammar isn't perfect, but so many people just don't try.
Susan: Like, were you a valley girl at some point in your life? Totally gnarly!!
I have a woman I work with at the salon and all she does it sell hair product from the time the customer sits in the chair till they leave. And she constantly uses the phrase "and stuff" This is her: "So, do you use any hair product?", Customer: "Well, I use shampoo from time to time." Stylist: "We have a great hairspray that is really light and stuff and it works so well on your type of hair and stuff and you would really like it. It's $14.95, but you should really treat yourself to it because us women always spend all our time and money on our husbands and kids and stuff. Excuse me while I get it off the shelves so you can look at it, Hon." HON is another one that drives me NUTS. And the worst part is she's an absolutely AWFUL hairdresser...totally terrible. She's so nervous her hands shake while she's cutting hair. And she always ends up sitting right next to me, killing any chance I might have of casually mentioning our products on sale. Who wants to talk about shampoo and hairspray after listening to HER prattle on for a half hour, doing the hard sell? It makes me want to grab a big ole bottle of hairspray and put it right where the sun don't shine and say, "there ya go, HON!!"
I need to "lose" fat, not "loose" it (it's loose enough, all hangy and flabby, besides wouldn't it then be "loosen" it if you just wanted it looser but not gone). I've been seeing this even in weight loss articles lately, so I'm beginning to wonder if someone has changed the meaning of the word "loose" without my noticing.
My teenagers sometimes use the phrase "my bad" when they have done something wrong. Drives me nuts.
I have always been particular about correct spelling. The other day, I had posted about Oats and how they fill me up. I was so glad I proofread that post. I had typed "feel me up" instead. LOL.
I need to "lose" fat, not "loose" it (it's loose enough, all hangy and flabby, besides wouldn't it then be "loosen" it if you just wanted it looser but not gone). I've been seeing this even in weight loss articles lately, so I'm beginning to wonder if someone has changed the meaning of the word "loose" without my noticing.
I was thinking this on the way to work this morning!!!
I need to lose weight in order for my clothes to feel loose.
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Not to mention (sorry Spinymouse; I just couldn't resist) ending the sentence with an unnecessary preposition.
While there are certain times when prepositions just don't work at the end of a sentence; a preposition can be the perfect thing to end a sentence with. This is actually a reworded quote from EB White from the book Elements of Style by Strunk and White. But an unnecessary preposition--you're right about that.
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Like, were you a valley girl at some point in your life? Totally gnarly!!
Maybe Susan wasn't but, like, I was, like totally!! Moon Unit, move over!
Okay, my big peeves:
The misuse of the word your for you're (you are).
The misuse of me and I in sentences.
I'm sure I could find some more, but those are my two biggest peeves.
I have a huge number of wordy pet peeves. But my biggest of all time is misspelling a word so badly it turns into another word. Homonyms trip a lot of people up. Some of it I can understand, like principle/principal and stationery/stationary. But there were several posts on other boards about a "security breech" which happened on some website or other. Really, y'all saw security's butt?"
Then there's a local one that annoys me greatly. I listen to the Spurs game on the radio, and always at least once during the game one of the announcers will proclaim "That's a Manu Trace!" At least, that's what it sounds like. The man actually means "très", or three. It took me a very long time to figure out what the heck they were talking about; you'd think guys in San Antonio could pronounce that word correctly!
ETA: The HEBs around here (they're a grocery store) actually have "10 Items or Fewer" on their express lanes! They're the only ones I've ever seen get that right!
Anybody have Word Peeves?
