make 2011 the Year of Vocabulary

[veronica_rich]

I passed a newsstand today with a copy of the local rag in the front window - it contained the phrase "bucket list" and referenced the city council making one for the coming year.

Am I the only person who tires quickly of people's tendency to leap on a new phrase and hammer it to death through repeated use (and misuse)? "Bucket list" is one of those that makes me weary when I see it anymore, mostly because it's so often misued. Sort of like how "outside the box" affected me several years ago, because everybody and their spotted little dog was using it.

I'd just like these people to learn some vocabulary, is all. For example, a phrase I've gotten tired of in fannish discussions online is to "call out" someone on their attitudes, prejudices, etc. Call out people all you want, but could you PLEASE refer to in some other way? Ditto for invoking the word "privilege" (a related term). Either define the specific privilege you're mentioning, or find another word/phrase that means the same thing. Change it up once in a while; people tune out after hearing/seeing the same thing enough times. (Sort of how nobody could hear "My Heart Will Go On" from Celine Dion after 1998 without an automatic gag reflex - it's not like it was played on the radio 869 times every day or anything.) I understand it's easier to use a catchphrase most people already know by definition thanks to popular culture, rather than explaining what you mean each time you want to write/say it, but it's my peeve and it's my journal, so I can be annoyed with it. :-P

What are catchphrases you'd like to see replaced/eliminated?

Comments

[metalkatt.livejournal.com]

Theory/theoretically. The correct term for an educated guess is HYPOTHETICALLY.

Podium. You stand *on* a podium. You stand *behind* a lectern.

Hella. I hate this almost as much as I hate "ain't."

I'm sure I'll have more to add later.

[nobleplatypus]

I agree so much with that first one. I can't hear, "just a theory," without wanting to punch whoever said it. :P It's usually employed by people trying to dismiss science while revealing that they know jack-all about it: there's nothing just about a theory! Just a hypothesis, fine, but theories have quite a bit more weight behind them.

[smtfhw.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure where to start, there are so many... but I would appreciate it if people would stop using "like" as punctuation. I may be forced to kill over that one.

Oh, and the phrase "you know". If I know, why are you telling me?

[bonnie-halfelvn.livejournal.com]

Touch base.

[captsparrow4evr.livejournal.com]

Can I comment on the dramatic overuse/misuse of apostrophes instead of a particular word or phrase? There's a carpet store not too far from my house and every time I drive by, they have an outdoor sign advertising "1000's of Carpets." And then there are the people who say that proper punctuation and spelling don't matter anymore or, at least, not to them. If proper punctuation and spelling don't matter, how will I know what you are really trying to say? EEEEK!

[gobsmacked.livejournal.com]

A little reading online convinced me the other day that the only thing worse than a cliche is a cliche written down by someone who has no fucking clue what it means. Por ejemplo, "take it with a grain assault". (Does this mean "take it as you would if a wheat elevator was collaping on you"?) It recently joined those classics "for all intensive purposes" and "[I] pacifically told you not to do that" and of course "mixmash" *runs away screaming*

[captsparrow4evr.livejournal.com]

OMG, yes, yes, yes!! For my protection, I am sure, my brain has blanked on the one that most riles me but this very much bothers me.

[gobsmacked.livejournal.com]

"spurning a host of imitators"? "exuberant prices"? "fermenting unrest"?

[soleilpirate.livejournal.com]

LMFAO at all of this.

For a long time "should of" has bothered me. It's "should have"!

[placeofinsanity.livejournal.com]

The use of "mad" as very, I.E. "Those Popsicles are mad good!"

Also, "gay" as a term for stupid. I.E. "Is your phone working?" "No, it's being gay."

[gobsmacked.livejournal.com]

Substitution of "real" for very: e.g. "She did that vault real well". (The concept of an adverbial form ending in -ly seems alien to some American speakers of English).

[beldar.livejournal.com]

I will LITERALLY hurt someone if I hear "literally" misused again, especially when that person LITERALLY says it over and over, LITERALLY looking more and more like a moron.

And it's a common problem across the pond, so hearing it in lilting Brit accent "Lit'rally" doesn't make it any better.

[bonnie-halfelvn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that literally drives me up a wall. ;)

[pktaxwench.livejournal.com]

I love you. :D

[a-silver-rose.livejournal.com]

Eliminate "should". It's too subjective -- what I think "should be" isn't necessarily what someone else thinks "should be" -- and too often assumed to be what "is". Saying something "should be" does not absolve the speaker of ensuring what "should be" actually becomes what "is".