Amen, sister. Can you please do the same for mute/moot??? That one drives me straight up the friggin' wall. "It's a mute point." Oh, really? The point has lost its powers of speech? Arrrgh!
Oh, are we doing a grammer pet peeve poll? Mine is centered "around". How can you center anything AROUND something else? It's centered ON, people. It's really bad when I hear the news folks saying it. ARRGGGHHHH!
since/sense
they're/their/there
There are so many pet peeves and misused words that drive me insane. I was pretty surprised that someone actually needed to know the difference.
And what about voila/viola? How does that even happen?
I recently heard of a new site called wordia.com. I haven't really checked it out, but it's sort of a wiki/youtube/online dictionary. The premise is that people can make videos of someone defining a word and then post it. eventually, it'll be very robust. right now, it's small, but a fine time to get in on the ground floor and set the record straight on your favorite words.
Oh and is anyone running around saying nucular instead of nuclear this year? It's all the sudden a hot topic again and I can just see some guy pacing around backstage saying "Don't say nucular, don't say nucular, don't say.... D'OH!"
Oh, and we really did have the dictionary out last night at dinner... Gather round the big, dorky table, children! We're serving up some mighty big words tonight!
I love this. My mom was the office manager for a multi-dentist office for years. One day, the main dentist in the practice came up to her and said, "It's f-l-u-o-r-i-d-e." She was mortified that she'd gotten it wrong for years and no-one had bothered to tell her. Oh, my pet peeve? Irregardless. And of course my current boss says it all the time - even in printed letters!
Is this what prompted you? Seems like simply the wrong word for what she's trying to say.
HANNITY: Senator Barack Obama yesterday was attacking Senator McCain for saying that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. Do you believe that the fundamentals of our economy are strong?
PALIN: Well, it was an unfair attack on the verbiage that Senator McCain chose to use. The fundamentals that he was having to explain afterwards, he means the work force, he means ingenuity of the American people. And of course, that is strong, that is the foundation of our economy. So that was an unfair attack based on verbiage that John McCain used. Certainly, it is a mess, though.
A little late to this, I kept forgetting to come back and ask if you had seen the piece in the New Yorker? http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/13/081013fa_fact_wood?currentPage=all
I think Bob T might find it more elucidating of the issue here. She's not the President and there's no reason to start running the autocorrect feature on her statements just yet.
The last lines of the linked piece nicely put:
"[...]what is being done is the coinage of “verbage.” It would be hard to find a better example of the Republican disdain for words than that remarkable term, so close to garbage, so far from language."
The anti-intellectualism is scary in its blatancy and its consequences. I don't want a President with whom I'd like to have a beer, go bowling, hunting or fishing; I want a President who is thoughtful of their words and actions, and the consequences and responsibilities thereof and won't get this land I love nuked or indentured to foreign powers. Dammit.
Share this page
About this Entry
This page contains a single entry by Marnie published on October 9, 2008 10:49 PM.
Concise.
Amen, sister. Can you please do the same for mute/moot??? That one drives me straight up the friggin' wall. "It's a mute point." Oh, really? The point has lost its powers of speech? Arrrgh!
Very nice! Although, am I the only one wondering what prompted this? (grin)
My biggest pet peeve is weary/wary. Exhausted does not equal cautious or hesitant.
I am humbled and appreciate this post, as I've evidently always spelled that word wrong, although not deliberately.
Oh, are we doing a grammer pet peeve poll? Mine is centered "around". How can you center anything AROUND something else? It's centered ON, people. It's really bad when I hear the news folks saying it. ARRGGGHHHH!
since/sense
they're/their/there
There are so many pet peeves and misused words that drive me insane. I was pretty surprised that someone actually needed to know the difference.
And what about voila/viola? How does that even happen?
I recently heard of a new site called wordia.com. I haven't really checked it out, but it's sort of a wiki/youtube/online dictionary. The premise is that people can make videos of someone defining a word and then post it. eventually, it'll be very robust. right now, it's small, but a fine time to get in on the ground floor and set the record straight on your favorite words.
Oh and is anyone running around saying nucular instead of nuclear this year? It's all the sudden a hot topic again and I can just see some guy pacing around backstage saying "Don't say nucular, don't say nucular, don't say.... D'OH!"
Oh, and we really did have the dictionary out last night at dinner... Gather round the big, dorky table, children! We're serving up some mighty big words tonight!
I love this. My mom was the office manager for a multi-dentist office for years. One day, the main dentist in the practice came up to her and said, "It's f-l-u-o-r-i-d-e." She was mortified that she'd gotten it wrong for years and no-one had bothered to tell her. Oh, my pet peeve? Irregardless. And of course my current boss says it all the time - even in printed letters!
Loose written for lose really bugs me.
Is this what prompted you? Seems like simply the wrong word for what she's trying to say.
HANNITY: Senator Barack Obama yesterday was attacking Senator McCain for saying that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. Do you believe that the fundamentals of our economy are strong?
PALIN: Well, it was an unfair attack on the verbiage that Senator McCain chose to use. The fundamentals that he was having to explain afterwards, he means the work force, he means ingenuity of the American people. And of course, that is strong, that is the foundation of our economy. So that was an unfair attack based on verbiage that John McCain used. Certainly, it is a mess, though.
A little late to this, I kept forgetting to come back and ask if you had seen the piece in the New Yorker?
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/13/081013fa_fact_wood?currentPage=all
I think Bob T might find it more elucidating of the issue here. She's not the President and there's no reason to start running the autocorrect feature on her statements just yet.
The last lines of the linked piece nicely put:
"[...]what is being done is the coinage of “verbage.” It would be hard to find a better example of the Republican disdain for words than that remarkable term, so close to garbage, so far from language."
The anti-intellectualism is scary in its blatancy and its consequences. I don't want a President with whom I'd like to have a beer, go bowling, hunting or fishing; I want a President who is thoughtful of their words and actions, and the consequences and responsibilities thereof and won't get this land I love nuked or indentured to foreign powers. Dammit.