[Closed] Misuse of words - driving me crackers!

Quite/rather/very unique....no no no!!!

Guilty as charged too

🤦

*adds people saying that to the list*

under-estimate/over-estimate; under-state/over-state are the ones which irritate the life out of me.
Rarely used correctly.

Driving me crackers.

It really boils my piss.

Lots. But I try to not let it bother me - there are other, far more important issues to be concerned about than slack grammar.

theory when they mean hypothesis;

brought rather than bought;

weight isn't measured in kg;

Could you be more pacific?

Hypothetical Vs postulated...

October: the tenth month when it means the eighth
December: the twelfth month when it means the tenth
Octave: there are only seven distinct notes in an octave
FFS, makes me SO angry...

Decimate – it means to kill one in ten. It does not mean to run things down or to cut funding!

I’m pretty sure it can mean either.
Whilst I acknowledge my grammar is not perfect; I find it hard at times to not think less of the opinions of someone with poor grammar.

Ps I hate the use of regular to mean frequent, although it’s become so common as to have become possibly correct (grrr).

Black headed gulls have brown heads
Black backed gulls have black wings not backs
Herring gulls do not eat herring
Common gulls are actually quite rare
and there is no such bird as a seagull

*and breathe*

I’m pretty sure it can mean either.

NOpe. it may be wrongly used for either but it means kill one in ten. precise meaning.

Decimate – it means to kill one in ten. It does not mean to run things down or to cut funding!

It meant that half a millennium ago perhaps. Its modern usage has been in, uh, modern usage for a very long time now. Whilst I'm generally a card-carrying words pedant, language evolves and this isn't a battle I'd pick.

Literally.

What Cougar says, time to update your meaning on decimate

“My bad”

Your bad what....use of the word bad as a noun!?

Less/fewer

Envious/jealous

Both battles I feel I have lost, even the BBC do it.

If I see one more person say – the Tories are decimating the NHS / social care I will run amok with a copy of the OED

And kill one in ten of the people you meet. By throwing the book at them.

Use of myself and yourself instead of me and you. It's not even particularly wrong in the context of language evolution but yourself does it to seem more intelligent and it sends myself up the wall. Figuratively, of course.

And while we are at it bring back thee and thou. YOu being used for plural and singular causes huge confusion

Amen!!

'should of'

Grr.

Black headed gulls have brown heads

Well - the same as 'Black' and 'White' as used to describe skin colour really

Some of that is just the depths of time we've been using names for. Our naming of colour in language has shifted over time and the distinctions between colours has moved. Any of the things in nature we tend to call red - red deer, red squirrels, red hair, red sky at night and are all things we'd now call orange. But 'orange' is a relatively new name for colour and at one time everything we now call orange would have been part of what we would then think of as red. In other languages there no distinction between blue and green. Presumably dark brown has at a point in our history sat within our definition of 'black'.

I don't care - they should properly be called "brown headed for part of the year gulls" Lets get these important things right!

weight isn’t measured in kg;

Its not but weight is a function of mass and the effect of gravity which is a constant (ish) therefore theres no real need to get you knickers in a twist when the general population interchange the two.

TJ i think you need to let it go, you've probably used paraphanalia numerous times and you're unlikely to have used it correctly ever. Things change.

There's a certain irony to using a 'forum' for this complaint - a word, that much like decimate, had a singular meaning in Latin but has multiple uses in English.

I will run amok with a copy of the OED

Its useful to know what a dictionary is before making that kind of threat. In this context they proper use of a dictionary would require the use of a pencil so you can update your copy. Dictionaries record the use of language they don't dictate it.

‘Black’ and ‘White’ as used to describe skin colour really

they should properly be called “brown headed for part of the year gulls”

They all fall under 'Annoying squawky shit on my car bastards' whatever colour their heads/wings/backs are.

JoshVegas - every day is a school day. Thank you. Now I will use it correctly having checked in my big book of words

🙂

I know I’m going to regret this, but....

From my 1992 Pocket Oxford Dictionary:

Decimate:
1.destroy a large proportion of.
2. orig. Rom. Hist. kill or remove one in ten of.

I think that as Roman legions no longer roam the planet the word decimate has had to evolve into it's currently accepted meaning or go the same way as the Romans . Everyone knows what it means these days so it is an effective means of communication which is what it's all about . "Hence why" and the misuse of literally mildly irritate me . Everyone currently ending their conversation with stay safe is also starting to irritate me.i suppose a lot of us currently have too much time on our hands and are a little more irritable than usual .

And while we are at it bring back thee and thou.

Bringing back Yay and Nay would be helpful - there are some question you can't answer with Yes or No. One the OP has probably been asked frequently would be:

"You're not going out dressed like that are you?"

Herring gulls are called that because of their colour not diet.

One the OP has probably been asked frequently would be:

“You’re not going out dressed like that are you?”

To be fair, even the best among us make those sorts of mistakes after a few drinks.

brought rather than bought;

This really irritates me along with the following:

I could care less,
Should of,
Myself or yourself instead of me or you.

Seagulls is a great word and shorter than annoying, noisy feathery bastards. Yoda is correct in his seagull assumption.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xl0Qr0uXuY

See what happens when tj has too much time on his hands!

An amusing one from work yesterday, as we have moved 20,000 staff to home working, we have received a number of requests for " assertive technology" 😄

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/decimate

The OED is paywalled but the Google results from "Oxford":

decimate
/ˈdɛsɪmeɪt/
Learn to pronounce
verb
1.
kill, destroy, or remove a large proportion of.
"the inhabitants of the country had been decimated"
2.
HISTORICAL
kill one in every ten of (a group of people, originally a mutinous Roman legion) as a punishment for the whole group.
"the man who is to determine whether it be necessary to decimate a large body of mutineers"

Its seagul isn't it?

And they're not even sea birds are they?

TJ its a good one isn't it? Learnt that from a 1905ish dictionary wish i had got it ftom my Granddads house before it was cleared. The difference a century makes to word usage was quite pronounced.

QUICK REFERENCE
Kill one in every ten of (a group of people) as a punishment for the whole group; kill, destroy, or remove a large proportion of. In Middle English the term decimation denoted the levying of a tithe, and later the tax imposed by Cromwell on the Royalists (1655). The verb decimate originally alluded to the Roman punishment of executing one man in ten of a mutinous legion.

Historically, the meaning of the word decimate is ‘kill one in every ten of (a group of people)’. This sense has been more or less totally superseded by the later, more general sense ‘kill or destroy (a large proportion of)’, as in the virus has decimated the population. Some traditionalists argue that this and other later senses are incorrect, but it is clear that this is now part of standard English.

From the oxford dictionary.

I’m with Tj on this one but I agree with others it is probably a battle lost.

Pacifically - wtf?!

Seagulls is a great word and shorter than annoying, noisy feathery bastards.

Gull is the correct term! Its even shorter than seagull

*bangs head on wall*
*foams at mouth*

Passtime pasttime anyone?

Whatevs! Who would think that language could evolve.

Chillax TJ simples.

The difference a century makes to word usage was quite pronounced.

Theres a difference a century makes to the way words are pronounced.

A hundred years ago 'Duke' was pronounced as it looks - with a D. Now its typically pronounced as if it was spelled with a J.

Arrggghhhhhhhhhhhh
* runs around in circles screaming*

Lose/loose.

And it's "toe the line" FFS.

The difference a century makes to word usage was quite pronounced.

I expect 100 Roman soldiers were quite persuasive.

* runs around in circles screaming*

Posted 10 minutes ago

Is that you exercise for the day?

I'm with TJ on this. Language does evolve but when people incorrectly use a word it drives me mad. I work in a job where we use words to describe processes or methodologies for building computer models (natural catastrophes). When people start using their own vocabulary to describe these processes it leads to confusion and chaos.

Unique is a straight forward example.

Infinity is less clear as the maths is changing and there are now various different infinities. Eeeh when I were a lad there was just one.

The trouble with insisting that decimate is only to be used for a a particular punishment of Roman soldiers, is that largely that was a forgotten use of the word up until dusty old scholars revived it in the 19th C. The first written English use of the word refers to the tythe and was used for that for most of the following couple of hundred years. Thus neatly demonstrating that as has been pointed out; use changes over time.

The second problem, is Latin (a dead language, continues to evolve). I'll be on the look out for your incorrect use of the following words.

Century : a subdivision of the Roman Legion

Ovation: an over-wrought celebration of a General returning to Rome, who's getting applause his victory doesn't really deserve

Missile: Gifts thrown towards the Emperor by attendees at Games

Actor: In Roman law, one who brings forward a legal complaint.

And so on; endlessly (probably)

Electrocute does not simply mean to receive an electric shock, it means to die by electric shock.

The mixup between "that", "then" and "than".

I can see where "should of" comes from: "Should have" contracts to "should've" which sounds like "should of". Still wrong though.

Thee and thou - come down to Yorkshire tj 😉

People who talk about mute points should just STFU.

Buncha loosers...

People who talk about mute points should just STFU.

I bet most of them could care less.

Merriam Webster and Cambridge both have decimate to. mean reduce drastically.

@TJagain you used the word Amok in your OP. I didn't know you were Malaysian and prone to sudden murderous frenzies. That's what my 18th century dictionary says it means anyway.

“My bad”
Your bad what….use of the word bad as a noun!?

Soz, I won't say it again!

Chickenman- you can add September and November to your list.

Anyway according to my copy of UED "Every word has a meaning, but over the years those meanings change".

I expect 100 Roman soldiers were quite persuasive.

Shirley you mean 90? 😉

Well pacifically, there are lots of very unique combinations of words that I here. Some of them cause great constipation and affect my mood. Sometimes I completely loose the plot and want to brake things as a result.

I really wish people wood make less mistakes

Actor is also used in military intelligence.."bad actor" is someone planning to, or about to cause harm. This term has been hijacked by the cyber-security industry.

Words do evolve.

Another issue is the vernacular vocabulary in the various English speaking countries. The US just seems to make up new uses for existing words. I've worked for US companies for 20+years and it still frustrates me.

Dice and die (and to a lesser extent datum and data)

Imply and infer

What fascinates me about how language evolved is that it is generally the stupid people that actually change it.
I had assumed it wasn't, but when you look at what's evolving now you realise it is.

Sad but true.

Utilise.

It's doesn't mean the same as use. You use a spade to dig a hole, and utilise it to kill zombies.

Great tit.

It's not a....

Romanes eunt domus

Artisan.

affect/effect

I don't like the way iconic is now used to just mean well known/easily recognised. Seems like the waste of a good word.

There's nothing quite so amusing as a pedant being wrong. Hoist by your own petard tj!

I don’t care – they should properly be called “brown headed for part of the year gulls” Lets get these important things right!

Actually they have brown HOODS not heads. Just to be entirely pedantic. They should be called Brown Hooded Gulls.
The gul with a black HEAD in this country is the Mediterranean Gul.

Germs its not 1896 for ****s sake, use a real word.

Calling it the 24 hour clock when it only goes up to 11.

And I quite like it on an American airline when the announcement "we will be landing momentarily" is met by British passengers doing that mime with their hands of a plane landing and taking off again.

People who say they have two choices when they actually have one choice which is to choose between two options.

and there is no such bird as a seagull

Taxinomincally, there might not be, but every knows what you're referring to, so what's the problem? and gulls will often hybridise, so there's trouble with placing them in species anyway.

Plus, why have truck with the new-fangled words, why not refer to them as Mews?

They're all now doodle****s to me

American misuse; momentarily. "The plane will be landing momentarily"

Hang about

What misused words bug you?

Shouldn't that be which, not what?

Germs its not 1896 for **** sake,

I know - germs have long been superseded cooties.

They’re all now doodle****s to me

I had no idea my mum posted on here.

Hi Mum.

GuLL two ruddy "l"

I didn’t know you were Malaysian and prone to sudden murderous frenzies.

Ah well - thats exactly the sense I meant it in. I spent time in Malaya and learnt how to best have a sudden murderous frenzy whilst there. I even have a kris

Fulsome. It means the opposite of what it is usually used for.
A fulsome apology is an insincere overblown apology. Like Father Jack's "I'm SOOOOOOOOO sorry".

Ditto fulsome praise etc. etc.

maccruiskeen

You mentioned doodle*s on another thread once - its an utterly brilliant word.

Perhaps thats the best solution. No more gulls, no differentiation between types of gull. They are all doodle*s.

*breathes again*

I had a Halfords ad. appear in my Facebook feed. It said, “Looks like you might of missed a bargain”. I corrected it for them in the comments. Next time it appeared, it had been corrected.
I’m brilliant, me.