And yet we tend not to see them used in press but still understand the context.
Weird huh?
I wouldn't know about that. I don't read the press, I read books.
I'd wager it's pretty common in editorial content rather than in "news" reports. Perhaps that's the difference, there's less call for emphasis when you're simply stating facts (or "facts") rather than say telling a story or communicating an anecdote.
I’d wager it’s pretty common in editorial content rather than in “news” reports.
🤨
No, the phrase is sarcasm, it should read, “I could care less, but I’d struggle to” (or words to that effect) so it’s correct, and as Americans understand the etymology, everyone understands the shortcut.
I could type a full response but I’m just going with, no, that’s not the original phrase and you’re wrong. Took all of five second on Google to show your longer version doesn’t exist.
your longer version doesn’t exist.
which is why...
(or words to that effect)
It's been a minute.
Yeah, No.
Why did people start saying that and what does it mean?
Took all of five second on Google to show your longer version doesn’t exist.
It does in a few instances (like "I know not and could care less"), but it's always half of a quote and it is something of a leap to suggest that this is a well-known etymology. It isn't, it is at best a misquote and really just wrong.
CountZeroFull Member
Using “yourself” instead of “you”, eg “I rang reception to sell you something and they said I should contact yourself.”Or “When would be good time to set up a meeting with yourself.”
I couldn’t help but read that in my head with an Irish accent. To the poster, yerself wouldn’t be across the water now, would you?
No, although I did work in Belfast for a while about 15 years ago. 🙂
Referring to 17th of March as ‘St Patty’s day’
Finding out that ‘refute’ is now a synonym of ‘rebut’ in the dictionary
(taking a deep breath). I've always considered those two to be synonyms but that refute also has become a synonym for deny/reject.
🤔
Rule one.
(Who decides what constitutes "being a dick"?)
it is something of a leap to suggest that this is a well-known etymology.
It's a North Americanism, to my wife (a Canadian) the phrase is "I could care less", she understands it's origin and meaning just fine. That it winds up folks on this side of the Atlantic becasue they don't, is just life's rich tapestry I guess. It's not the worst thing that they do to English IMO.
Good piece of kit?
Nice piece of kit?
Toy – when referring to a very expensive car/bike/bicycle/boat/van?
when we got our Mac book I was on here moaning that you didn’t get all your website icons on the front page like a normal laptop.
An apple fan on here took me to task and explained that it was a “serious bit of kit”
It’s been known as the “SBK” ever since.
I’ve always considered those two to be synonyms
So have I, They are at least 'close' in meaning although not identical. Refute, rebuke, rebut; all words used to oppose an argument, didn't realise that it was at all controversial.
People who ask, ‘can I ask.’ Just ask the **** question you want to ask, don’t ask for permission to ask. Morons
‘Turn key solution’ boils my urine also.
It’s a North Americanism, to my wife (a Canadian) the phrase is “I could care less”, she understands it’s origin and meaning just fine.
The Miriam-Webster article on the phrase is interesting. It notes that the 'could' formulation is obviously incorrect, and is likely to be a corruption of the 'couldn't' construction, but then it says:
We understand why could care less sticks in your craw: it appears to mean something rather opposed to what it purports to mean. The person who says “I could care less” is, on the face of it, stating “Yes, it would be possible for me to care less deeply about this matter than I do, and therefore I am betraying some unspecified degree of care.” But if you are the kind of person who cries out against this abomination we must warn you that people who go through life expecting informal variant idioms in English to behave logically are setting themselves up for a lifetime of hurt.
Both could and couldn’t care less are informal, and so you are unlikely to use either one in formal writing. If you have need of using it in some other context, and would like to avoid alienating some portion of your audience you should stick with couldn’t care less. And if you can’t get past some people continuing to use could care less, and the fact that there’s nothing you can do about it, you may console yourself with the notion that at least they are not saying “I could care fewer.
So I suppose we'll have to live with it, but it certainly deserves a place in the other thread as its sheer idiocy does make me disproportionately cross.
"Rebuke" doesn't mean anything like to contradict an argument.
Anyway, can anyone refute my case against Rule 1? If not, then it stands. (I was expecting to be rebuked, though not for it to be rebutted.)
“Rebuke” doesn’t mean anything like to contradict an argument.
Rebuke means (amongst other things) to criticize. You can clearly oppose an argument by criticizing it.
Although, that's the beauty of Synonyms, they're alike, close, similar, they don't have to be identical, like happy and content, close and shut. It should be celebrated that we have access to language like this.
It's not a synonym. You don't rebuke an argument. You rebuke a person.
Rebuke means (amongst other things) to criticize
Well yes, but not to criticise an argument. I'll accept that refute and rebut are close enough to be almost always interchangeable, but not rebuke.
Rule one.
(Who decides what constitutes “being a dick”?)
Ones self. Or oneself, I'm not really sure of the difference between the two...
You rebuke a person.
You know that it can be a verb and a noun, right?
"The judge publicly rebuked the jury"
also
"He hadn't meant it as a rebuke, but to Neil it sounded just like one"
People make arguments, you can issue a "stinging rebuke" to them about what they've said...In other words, to oppose their argument.
Not a lifetime ban - but very annoying: "Please fill out the form" or "Please fill out the box".
No, one fills IN the box, form or other.
I'm thinking of setting up my business as a 'bespoke', 'artisan' curtain/soft furnishing maker :o)
Nope, to rebuke is to express 'sharp disapproval or criticism of (someone) because of their behaviour or actions' not their thoughts. You wouldn't start an essay with 'Milton Friedman is a right ****' even if it's true.
Can I help you
“stinging rebuke” to them about what they’ve said…In other words, to oppose their argument.
other words which are not rebuke. If you don't believe everyone here on usage check a dictionary.
And I still haven't had that argument about rule 1...
Wholesome - yuk. Seems to be associated with a rise in Youtube/Facebook "shorts" of something nice happening.
Also anyone suggesting they were "today years old" when they learnt something new. Die.
Also anyone suggesting they were “today years old” when they learnt something new. Die.
🙂 🙂 🙂
I'd never actually heard that one, so thanks. Seems a moderate response...
People who ask, ‘can I ask.’ Just ask the **** question you want to ask, don’t ask for permission to ask.
Back when I worked in an office, I jokingly trained this out of the engineers. "Can I ask a question?" You just did. Do you want to ask another?
One took to asking me, "can I ask two questions?" 😁 Sure, what's your second?
The Miriam-Webster article on the phrase is interesting.
I do not recognise M-W as an authority on the English language.
I do not recognise M-W as an authority on the English language.
Which is an entirely reasonable position to take. However, the phrase in question is not an English language phrase, it's American, and M-W are an authority on the American language - and even they say it's wrong.
Traffic "chaos" when pictures of the chaos show lines of neatly queueing drivers. That's not chaos.
"...made from cheese" unless they are talking about cheese.
INRÂTS, obvs, but I hope USE CASE is in here somewhere.
Agile - see post below this and ban them now!
“Suella Braverman”. Just ignore it, and hopefully it’ll go away.
“Picked up” - as in “I picked up a [insert very expensive item]” as though it was just a potato or a bag of crisps.
I hope USE CASE is in here somewhere.
Nothing wrong with Use Case in the proper context. It is a defined technique for modelling system behaviour.
Living their best life.
From the get go.
Makeover.
anything with -101 on the end.
Hollybobs
Tellybox
I cba to read back through this thread so if these have been done before, I offer no apologies. ✌
"I've not read the rest of the thread, but..." 😁
Oh, that reminds me of one that actually does chafe my sphincter: "Mods/Admin, please delete if not allowed."
Firstly, if they think it might not be allowed, surely the polite thing is to ask first?
Secondly, do they suppose that Admin need permission in order to delete posts which break the forum/group rules? "Well, we should delete this, but the poster hasn't said we can so whatever will we do?"
It's a brickbat away from "I know I shouldn't be posting this but I don't give a **** so I'm going to do it anyway."
The threads that first post is just a link.
[url= https://i.ibb.co/7Y1Q83j/CXd1-K2-W8-AEwx-RK.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.ibb.co/7Y1Q83j/CXd1-K2-W8-AEwx-RK.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
Thread titles that don't identify the subject of the thread e.g. "quick question", "I'm beginning to think...", "advice pls".
Honestly, there’s so much shit going on in the world, stuff that genuinely impacts people’s lives for the worst, that getting bent out of shape just because of some words some people use in a way you might not personally agree with or approve of seems like an extraordinary waste of time. Time I’m sure that could be put towards something more interesting or productive.
Just a thought.
Give Drac his sponge back.
I know it's been said said many, many times over the years...but xxxxxtrackworld. Like pushchairtrackworld or blancmangetrackworld.
It makes no ****ing sense.
Pushchairworld or blancmangeworld make more sense.
There seems to be a thread every day with this kind of in(s)ane title.
You mean like watergategate?
Breakfast.
I haven't been fasting. I've been asleep.
I call it horizon fall
The horizon is exactly where it was before so not falling. Honestly these I'll thought out ideas will be the death of me. 😃
It's in relation to the view of the, um, viewer, innit? Rather than what's actually happening.
When I look to the east in the morning, the horizon looks in exactly the same place all the time, while the sun is rising.
Hmm. Does that mean that someone on the other side of the planet, talking about my morning, should call it sunfall? This needs (less) thought.
Honestly, there’s so much shit going on in the world... getting bent out of shape just because of some words...Just a thought.
You okay hun? X
Oh that reminds me.
Men who put an X at the end of their message. No! There is NO love between us drop the pretence!!!! Rarrr! Burn in hell!
Sat opposite my bosses boss today, who has just answered a call by saying "This had better not suck the jam out my doughnut..." and I immediately thought of this thread....
Did he just find out what you spend your work hours doing? 😳
"Just a thought".
getting bent out of shape just because of some words some people use in a way you might not personally agree with or approve of seems like an extraordinary waste of time.
You might be overestimating how upset I am and how much time I wasted making that comment. And this one. I'm waiting for a bus...
Two things I rarely get accused of. 😁
Anything written in a sponsored social media influencer's video review titles.
Anyone that uses the plural form of a singular person/thing. Mainly in the football world, but heard it in mtb commentary too.
“…..when they come up against the Kyle Walkers and the Van Dykes….”
Men who call everything "X"
Company names with made up words ending in "a"
"split out"
"part out"
"swap out"
"change up"
****ing Yanks!
"what must be true in order to" when you explain why something can't be done
Customer Service Speak. Adding more words (pleonasm) to make it sound like you're saying more than you are, like
-today?
-at all?
-for you?
or even combinations of them all
"Would you like some breakfast for yourself today, at all, Sir, this morning, at all?" When I'm stood in the queue to be seated for breakfast. No, I want you to service my hovercraft.
St Austell Hotels, I'm looking at you.
If you spend any time on Not Always Right, you'll start to think "do people actually talk like this?"
Customer Service Speak...
When buying one item at a till and the person says 'that will be £XXX all together'
"Just this, thanks."
"Sure. Would you like anything else?"
On being served in a café...
- black Americano please.
- would you like milk with that?
Why don't you listen, you cloth eared halfwit and concentrate on delivering the 'customer delight' which, I'm sure, features somewhere in your employer's corporate bullshit.
“Sure. Would you like anything else?
'any petrol?'
Scripted dialogue at shops - like the Today Shop in Earlston (Co-op) where every question or sentence ends in "today". This used to be more common around the Co-ops but the humans have been overriding their programming.
This thread has become a bit of Pedants revolt
Very well played though @scotroutes for highlighting the unmentionably good people north of Cromarty!
I would ban for life anything with a contraction of 'and' or 'are' etc in single quotes:
Salt 'n' vinegar
Chicken 'n' chips
Toys 'r' us
Come the revolution, that and Ronhill tracksters
Brickbat
Why? Like so much in this thread it doesn’t count because it’s not irrational.
uhm black americano is already tautologous as an americano is black. The other option is a latte (yeah come at me coffee snobs you’re wrong and anyway an americano is Pooh)
Come the revolution, that and Ronhill tracksters
You were doing alright up to that point. How very dare you!
"Lest we forget"
americano is black.
Uhm, sorry...but I have it on very good authority that Americano is blue jeans and chino.
‘any petrol?’
Only what I brought with me.
The other option is a latte
Well, that's clearly nonsense.
Americano is blue jeans and chino.
Coke, Pepsi and Oeros also.
