Early retirement for media phrases?

[steelyman]

I will add the use of the word "folks" to this list. It makes us all sound like we are the Beverly Hillbillies.

Could be an Obama effect (N.B. I approve of him).

 

[Midpack]

No big deal, but:
orientated, when oriented will do
preventative, when preventive will do

 

[Gumby]

Things that annoy me:

The improper use of "beg the question" to mean "raise the question".

The improper use of "loathe" when "loath" is needed.

The use of "grow" as a transitive verb, as in "grow the economy".

The use of "at this point in time" or "at this juncture" instead of "now".

 

[TromboneAl]

It seems that "To be honest" is becoming very common.

 

[toofrugalformycat]

All of the above, plus
Refudiate
Obamacare
Lamestream media
man up
I could care less (s/b I could not)

 

[Khan]

"selfish"

 

[RunningBum]

It's finally seems to be dying out, but I really got tired of the term "disenfranchised", especially since it was rarely used correctly.

"pundits" is another one I hate.

"if you will"--what if I won't?

 

[TromboneAl]

Things that annoy me:

The improper use of "beg the question" to mean "raise the question".

The improper use of "loathe" when "loath" is needed.

The use of "grow" as a transitive verb, as in "grow the economy".

The use of "at this point in time" or "at this juncture" instead of "now".

You must be annoyed a lot because, from what I've seen, the errors you describe are more subtle than the ones I'm seeing all the time:

"I need some advise."

"I am having trouble peddling my bicycle"

"The breaks on my car aren't working"

"The reason I do that is because it's a good idea."

"Your not doing it right"

"Me and Bob are going fishing"

One of the headlines on our local paper is:

"Teachers Slashed" instead of "Teachers Jobs Slashed."

Sign at store: "Hel-lo" (no reason for the hypen.

Sign for Cafe: "CAEE"

Sign at trailer park: "WINTER PARK" with the "N" backwards.

"Pundents (instead of pundits)"

"Spring is literally around the corner"

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

"In order to" is almost always unnecessary. Just say "to."

"Save up to 15% or more." Enough said.

As a Navy guy, I hate when reporters say "chopper." It's a "helo," dammit!

And thank God I haven't heard the term "wall of water" in any reporting about Japan. Seems like every time there's a flood, the reporter talks about a "ten foot wall of water." Walls generally don't move, and water rises in a flood. A stack of ice cubes could be a wall of water, and the tsunami is close, but I'm glad that term seems to have dropped out of favor.

 

[haha]

You must be annoyed a lot because, from what I've seen, the errors you describe are more subtle than the ones I'm seeing all the time:

"The reason I do that is because it's a good idea."

I am struggling to understand what is wrong with this one, but I think I may be just too tolerant. American English is made up on the fly.
Is it OK to say: "I do that because it is the correct thing to do?"

Is the problem with your original example that one cannot exactly "do" an idea, so the sentence is nonsensical- even though almost anyone would know what is meant?

Ha

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

I forgot one simple word: LIKE

 

[Aruba50]

In the category "No, it does not make you sound more intelligent just because there are more syllables" I nominate "Utilize".

 

[TromboneAl]

"The reason I do that is because it's a good idea."

I am struggling to understand what is wrong with this one, but I think I may be just too tolerant.

Right, it's subtle and difficult to explain, yet it's a clearcut logical error. Most people don't get it, and I agree it's not worth thinking about, but it just as much an error as "I didn't eat nothing all day."

When you say "The reason I go to school is because I want to learn" you are not answering the question "why do you go to school?" but "Why is the reason you go to school?" which doesn't make sense. You want to say

"I go to school because I want to learn."

or

"The reason I go to school is that I want to learn."

or

...because means “for the reason that” and therefore one would be saying, “The reason he failed is for the reason that . . . .” which is as redundant as saying “The because is because.”

 

[haha]

Right, it's subtle and difficult to explain, yet it's a clearcut logical error. Most people don't get it, and I agree it's not worth thinking about, but it just as much an error as "I didn't eat nothing all day."

When you say "The reason I go to school is because I want to learn" you are not answering the question "why do you go to school?" but "Why is the reason you go to school?" which doesn't make sense. You want to say

"I go to school because I want to learn."

or

"The reason I go to school is that I want to learn."

or

...because means “for the reason that” and therefore one would be saying, “The reason he failed is for the reason that . . . .” which is as redundant as saying “The because is because.”

Thank you. I appreciate this sort of grammar schooling.

Ha

 

[ls99]

Eh, most kids go to school 'cause they hafta. Adults sometimes go 'cause they wanna.

 

[GregLee]

The use of "grow" as a transitive verb, as in "grow the economy".

"Grow" is a transitive verb; cf. "grow corn", "grow a beard".

 

[GregLee]

When you say "The reason I go to school is because I want to learn" you are not answering the question "why do you go to school?" but "Why is the reason you go to school?" which doesn't make sense.

No you're not. You're answering the question "What is the reason you go to school?", which makes sense and is grammatical, though prolix (since "Why do you go to school?" would have done). I don't think there is any failure of logic in the example you complained about.

 

[mountaintosea]

What irritates me is when politicians claim to be for the "American people" or the "American people" want this, that or whatever. I think you don't speak for me! I know they claim they do and it is a representative government, but I find a lot of their comments insulting.

 

[FIREngineer]

My pet peeve is the use of "impact", as a noun or a verb, for anything other than a case where an object literally hits another object. Worse yet, "impactful" just makes me shudder.

 

[John Galt III]

Images of baseball bat to the speaker's head whenever I hear (usually on NPR) :

"Speaks to", "Informs", "Is informed by", and "goes to" horribly misused by the interviewer and the pseudointellectual being interviewed.

 

[John Galt III]

Starting the answer to a question with the word "So".

Q. Why are interest rates rising?

A. So, blah, blah, blah.

This happens on NPR a lot.

 

[homestead]

This video is like good. you know what I am saying?
Typography on Vimeo

 

[unallowable]

Hope I didn't miss that someone already posted this one:

You Know?

 

[TromboneAl]

Last night we watched

Kissing Jessica Stein

which I recommend -- great movie.

Much of the movie is how Jessica Stein rejects many of her suitors because of their lack of language skills (for example, one of her dates says "Well, I'm a self-defecating individual.").

But, can you catch the grammatical error that Jessica Stein makes in this trailer?

YouTube - Besando a Jessica Stein (2001) trailer

 

[Tadpole]

"And coming up after the break...."
"WEATHER next, after the break...."
"Your five day for cast in the next segment...."

At the end of the day you might just move to WA where the for cast is almost a given. Oh, I just did.