Language Annoyances

[Julia]

my pet hate is that, almost without exception, they pronounce "tion" in the final syllable of a word as "shern", e.g. they pronounce "election" as "elecshern". This practice is almost universal now.

Just as bad is "amacha" for "amateur".

 

[wayneL]

Racism pronounced as 'rashism'.

Never heard it outside NZ, but common here.

 

[Izabarack]

"in terms of". What does that mean? I have never heard a conversation where the phrase could be left out.

Iza

 

[Doris]

I noticed on Homeland last night when the daughter said to the boy: "The hell are you doing?"
We say 'What the hell are you doing'? I wonder if the US version will take on.

Lee Child uses this in all his novels. I wonder if Tom Cruise will change it when the movie Jack Reacher comes out in December. I'm still smarting over his buying out the book and putting himself out there as 6ft 5ins and 250 lbs!

A phone caller today made "If I were" prick my ears.
-- if the context is not definite then it should be the plural yet most Aussies say 'If I was'. Grrr.
Petty eh. But as an ex English teacher I can't help being an old fire horse. err.. middle aged fire horse.

 

[Izabarack]

"Actually" - as in "the actual family" or "the fire fighter was actually injured". Just listened to a news story and the reported used actual or actually, 18 times in a very short report. Completely useless verbage that annoys the heck out of me.

Iza

 

[Calliope]

Craig Thomson said this morning after his house was raided by the police.

"I've done nuthink wrong."

I would put him behind bars for this alone.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-24/police-raid-thomsons-home/4330796

 

[Doris]

One of my biggest gripes: (I always reword it as I listen)

I'm forever reminding my 9 & 11 year old grandchildren to 'put the other person first'.

e.g. not 'Me and him' but 'He and I' (are going ...
-- not 'Me and my teacher' but 'My teacher and I' (met today ...

And of course 'me' and 'him' are objective case.
'I' is subjective case -- so those words shouldn't be there anyway.
i.e. you wouldn't say 'I and him are going out'...

 

[Julia]

An ABC newsreader this morning informed us that bush fire conditions were expected to "deteriate".

 

[sails]

Instructions came home from prep class about "site words"...

 

[albaby]

Prefacing a sentence with So....First noticed this on US tv,but Linda Mottrell on 702ABC seems to have picked it up.Al

 

[Julia]

Prefacing a sentence with So....First noticed this on US tv,but Linda Mottrell on 702ABC seems to have picked it up.Al

Similar is beginning every reply to a question with "Look!......"

 

[waimate01]

"Try and....". Nope, you might "try to..." however.

 

[Country Lad]

One of mine is incorrectly using the word “only”. Increasingly, it is plonked into entirely the wrong place in a sentence.

Forgive me using a couple of examples from this thread, but I thought it was appropriate.

As the word was only used here when drinking :alcohol: ………...

I am sure it was used a lot more places than here. Probably, it was used here only when drinking alcohol.

Yes it went out now it's back, I only think it's acceptable in the film Cool Hand .

Go on, you must do more than only think – eat, sleep, breathe….. Maybe you think it’s acceptable only in the film Cool Hand.

It has become a bit of a competition in our household when listening to the radio or watching TV to see who spots the “only” in the wrong place. Very rarely is it used correctly these days.

Cheers
Country Lad

 

[wayneL]

One of mine is incorrectly using the word “only”. Increasingly, it is plonked into entirely the wrong place in a sentence.

Forgive me using a couple of examples from this thread, but I thought it was appropriate.



I am sure it was used a lot more places than here. Probably, it was used here only when drinking alcohol.



Go on, you must do more than only think – eat, sleep, breathe….. Maybe you think it’s acceptable only in the film Cool Hand.

It has become a bit of a competition in our household when listening to the radio or watching TV to see who spots the “only” in the wrong place. Very rarely is it used correctly these days.

Cheers
Country Lad

True.

I think I'm guilty of that... one to watch.

 

[Julia]

One of mine is incorrectly using the word “only”. Increasingly, it is plonked into entirely the wrong place in a sentence.

Forgive me using a couple of examples from this thread, but I thought it was appropriate.

As the word was only used here when drinking

I am sure it was used a lot more places than here. Probably, it was used here only when drinking alcohol.

Great point, and one I'd probably not have picked up.

 

[bellenuit]

This is not an annoyance, but a usage that I find strange. It is use of the word "already". I have always used it in the context of something that has ("already") taken place. For example: "Ask John for the book"; reply "he has already given it to me". But Americans also use it in a different context that always seems strange to me when I hear it (often on Seinfeld). "Give it to me already". It seems to imply "right now" or "immediately", a future event though just marginally in the future, whereas I only use it in the context of a past event.

Am I alone in this, or do others feel the American usage strange.

 

[bellenuit]

This is not an annoyance, but a usage that I find strange. It is use of the word "already". I have always used it in the context of something that has ("already") taken place. For example: "Ask John for the book"; reply "he has already given it to me". But Americans also use it in a different context that always seems strange to me when I hear it (often on Seinfeld). "Give it to me already". It seems to imply "right now" or "immediately", a future event though just marginally in the future, whereas I only use it in the context of a past event.

Am I alone in this, or do others feel the American usage strange.

The joys of OSX. After making the above post, I used the OSX facility to right click on a word to look up its meaning. This is what it gave me for "already" (my bolds).

1. before or by now or the time in question.
2. N. Amer. used after a word or phrase to express impatience.

 

[burglar]

This is not an annoyance, but a usage that I find strange. It is use of the word "already". I have always used it in the context of something that has ("already") taken place. For example: "Ask John for the book"; reply "he has already given it to me". But Americans also use it in a different context that always seems strange to me when I hear it (often on Seinfeld). "Give it to me already". It seems to imply "right now" or "immediately", a future event though just marginally in the future, whereas I only use it in the context of a past event.

Am I alone in this, or do others feel the American usage strange.

Reminds me of my childhood
snagglepuss quotes "alright, already"!

 

[pixel]

The joys of OSX. After making the above post, I used the OSX facility to right click on a word to look up its meaning. This is what it gave me for "already" (my bolds).

1. before or by now or the time in question.
2. N. Amer. used after a word or phrase to express impatience.

... and if you ever come to South Australia and get a chance to talk with descendants of German pioneers, you may hear "already" as reinforcement of "yet".
As in "Are we there already yet?"

 

[DocK]

This is not an annoyance, but a usage that I find strange. It is use of the word "already". I have always used it in the context of something that has ("already") taken place. For example: "Ask John for the book"; reply "he has already given it to me". But Americans also use it in a different context that always seems strange to me when I hear it (often on Seinfeld). "Give it to me already". It seems to imply "right now" or "immediately", a future event though just marginally in the future, whereas I only use it in the context of a past event.

Am I alone in this, or do others feel the American usage strange.

Hell to the no! I had to hear this one a couple of times on American tv to realise that it was being used intentionally to apparently emphasise a negative response. I also find the way they tell the time - as in "it's a quarter of seven, instead of "it's a quarter to seven odd. Similarly, they way they'll say "it's three hundred thirty miles to xxx" whereas I would say "it's three hundred and thirty miles to xxx".