Funny/annoying grammatical mistakes and odd neologisms

ladelfina said:
lazy, without stopping to think much about it, I'd say some "u" words.. eg., a useless thread, a utensil, a universe.. yet we'd say AN usurious lender, AN utter disaster, AN understanding.
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or a "use" as giving the answer within the question was the pun within the riddle. no fair ladel, too fast (& i wonder if not too accrediting but certainly a bit overstepping). i bet others would have twisted around with that for a while. (i'm assuming you didn't get the u from use?--benefit of the doubt.) as to the overstep, it would be a usurious, not an.
 
funny.. I would still pronounce it "an oo-surious", not "a you-surious". I thought 3 was just the right number of examples, each one with a different consonant. You were too clever for me; I didn't notice the "use" (unless it was sub-consciously)!

Sorry I was too fast; it's early in the am here now and usually the final posts are from last night rather than the wee hours.. Get some sleep! I'll try not to step on your next brain-teaser. :angel:
 
The dramatic and sudden oversue of conundrum

The constant misuse of implosion when the implied meaning is collapse

On financial boards, people asking for "advise"

"No problem" instead of "you're welcome"

Current expressions, such as "and she like" or "and she went" instead of "she said"
 
MichaelB said:
The dramatic and sudden oversue of conundrum

The constant misuse of implosion when the implied meaning is collapse

On financial boards, people asking for "advise"

"No problem" instead of "you're welcome"

Current expressions, such as "and she like" or "and she went" instead of "she said"
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Saying "she goes" instead of "she said".

Once I saw someone talking about the "pledge of legions".
 
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In my dh's hometown, they call the black road surface "payment". Makes me laugh every time.
 
One word that I've seen/heard in sports is "untracked". Somehow, it is good to get untracked.

Dictionary.com: Informal. achieving a superior level of performance after a slow start: The team suddenly got untracked and began to score.

Makes no sense to me. The thought is that it is an eggcorn for "on track". Substitute "on track" in the above example and suddenly it makes a lot more sense.

Language Log: Historically untracked
 
haha said:
.... She was a very nice person, but not quite ready for prime time.

Ha
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LOL! I gotta (is that OK?) add that to my list of descriptions for people who aren't quite up-to-speed.

My geeky one to use around people with some knowledge of statistics is " He's kinda out there a ways on the z-tail ". Which can actually be complimentary, depending on the context (and direction).

I think yours would connect with a larger audience.

-ERD50
 
MichaelB said:
The dramatic and sudden oversue of conundrum
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in usage since circa 1645, the conundrum should be somewhat dramatic, as to fit webster's primary definition the answer to the riddle requires involving a pun and so the conundrum need be properly constructed, not just spit off any ol' puzzling tongue.

example: "provide an example of the a/an rule whereby a instead of an is used before the vowel."

the pun is that the answer is right there in the question, so to solve what is presented as a puzzle is accomplished simply by looking at the puzzle as the answer. the pun, or the joke would be on the person who might have tried to look elsewhere to answer what was right there.

The constant misuse of implosion when the implied meaning is collapse
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again, per webster, i fail to see the difference between collapse and collapse. perhaps i have misunderstood your commentary?

Main Entry: im·plo·sion Pronunciation: \im-ˈplō-zhən\ Function: noun Etymology: 2in- + -plosion (as in explosion) Date: 1877 1: the inrush of air in forming a suction stop2: the action of imploding

Main Entry: im·plode Pronunciation: \im-ˈplōd\ Function: verb Inflected Form(s): im·plod·ed; im·plod·ing Etymology: 2in- + -plode (as in explode) Date: 1881 intransitive verb1 a: to burst inward <a blow causing a vacuum tube to implode> b: to undergo violent compression <massive stars which implode>2: to collapse inward as if from external pressure ; also : to become greatly reduced as if from collapsing
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as to

"No problem" instead of "you're welcome"
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i know what you mean; i prefer "no prob".

i say it but it never made sense to me to use "you're welcome" as the reciprocal courtesy of "thank you". i understand thank you. but welcome (will come) is a greeting of arrival. so why would anyone who has just been thanked say "you've arrived!"?

no prob, however, makes more sense. you've thanked me for whatever, my efforts, perhaps, and i've reciprocated by telling you it was no problem, nothing i wouldn't do for a friend. and so i find that to be perfectly polite.
 
lazygood4nothinbum said:
in usage since circa 1645, the conundrum should be somewhat dramatic, as to fit webster's primary definition the answer to the riddle requires involving a pun and so the conundrum need be properly constructed, not just spit off any ol' puzzling tongue.

again, per webster, i fail to see the difference between collapse and collapse. perhaps i have misunderstood your commentary?
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Conundrum - my point was the recent popularity and subsequent overuse, rising dramatically beginning 08/08/2005

Implosion - an atom implodes, as does a vacuum. A company, an economy or a government may collapse, as does a house of cards, or a sports team toward the end of the season.

One other irritant is the continued improper use of punctuation, especially capitalization, found at online forums.
 
There are some acronyms that I cannot stand, especially when used in ordinary conversation. SCOTUS and POTUS are two examples.
 
Martha said:
There are some acronyms that I cannot stand, especially when used in ordinary conversation. SCOTUS and POTUS are two examples.
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I think those came from the era of telegraph.
 
Martha said:
There are some acronyms that I cannot stand, especially when used in ordinary conversation. SCOTUS and POTUS are two examples.
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Y'all are just like a bunch of grumpy old men. My motto is embrace the universe- who knows but that some elements of it may embrace me in return. :)
 
flipstress said:
The word "gift" used as a verb also does not settle well with me, for example "We gifted her with a car". What's wrong with "We gave her a car" or "We gave her a car as a gift"? Too long, I suppose, but I have time to listen/read.
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I think one reason you see that (esp on a financial forum) is because of the wording of Estate Tax and Gift Tax regulations. I think they use those terms in the regs, and it does get wordy to always be saying, "the $10,000 that was given as a gift", rather than just " the gifted $10,000".

But I wouldn't use it in reference to a regular Birthday gift or anything like that.

-ERD50
 
It drives me crazy to hear someone say "also, too" in conversation. Isn't that like saying "and, and?"

Also, too, I once worked for a jerk who took great delight in correcting people's grammar in public. During an international teleconference call once, he called out a guy for saying "ash-fault". Everytime the guy needed to say that word afterward, he would very pointedly say "blacktop". Jerk never caught on.

And my favorite of all time was the big news release from a past employer...instead of a public announcement, however, the release spoke of the company's pubic announcement!
 
Whoops- I just figured out that you joked me. Slow-poke Ha. :)
 
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