[font style="font-weight: bold;" size="5"]Lol!![/font]
(//vny!://discoverseattle.net/image/stop-saying-like.jpg)
(//vny!://discoverseattle.net/image/like-2.jpg)
I think I like like you. (//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Teasing/12.gif)
That should be posted in every school and college.
Definitely, I find this one of the most over-used and irritating words in current use.
It's great that I'm not surrounded by people who use the word "like" and "so" in every sentence. Thank god for that! I would go absolutely mental.
Another word that 'gets' me is awesome. I paid with the correct change a while ago, and the coment came back that it was awesome of me to do so. Minute things seem inspire awer so often nowadays that, in fact, it's hard to think of anything that's not awe-inspiring.
Perhaps that person was in a happy-go-lucky state of mind?
Cleaning cat litter boxes is definitely NOT awe-inspiring. Makes me glad my cat goes outdoors.
Now compared to the habits of the two cats where I stayed recently, that really IS awe-inspiring!
Not really. I just happen to have a very sensible cat.
Like, OMG, never!!
yeah...baby i like it like that...i like it like that....(//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/11.gif)
I forgot who sings this song...
purelife wrote:
yeah...baby i like it like that...i like it like that....(//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/11.gif)
I forgot who sings this song...[/DIV]
Isn't that the song you sang to me one night after a few tequilas??!!(//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Teasing/23.gif)
Shame on you, CK. You're not supposed to kiss and tell. *did you get pictures?*
rofl, Kitten.
I'm annoyed be the misuse of any word.....(not that I have the best command of the English language) but there a few that get under my skin. One of them being the constant misuse of the word 'HERO' by the media. People are often touted as heros when in fact what they have displayed is bravery, courage, their ability to survive extreme circumstances....etc. It annoys me, only because it creates a watering down affect of things that are truly heroic.
(Yipes....I think this is my third rant today, and it's not even noon) [img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); src="vny!://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/more/bigs/c028.gif" border=0]
P.C. wrote: I'm annoyed be the misuse of any word.....(not that I have the best command of the English language) but there a few that get under my skin. One of them being the constant misuse of the word 'HERO' by the media.
As a tech writer (in a previous life) I couldn't agree more. Language is important- words have defined meanings and by misusing them it destroys the content and the purpose of communication. I hate that. Rrrrrrrrr.
A hero is someone that does something most people wouldn't normally do. Astronauts aren't heros. Neither are firemen or cops or race car drivers. And there is no f*cking way that ANY sports personality is a "hero". The victims of 911 were not heros.
A hero is someone who rises to the occasion in a particular set of circumstances. If they're paid to do it, they aren't a hero, I don't give a crap what anyone says.
(Yipes....I think this is my third rant today, and it's not even noon)
I'm in line right behind ya. I'm cranky today, no friggen doubt.
I regularly run into people who defend their misuse of words (and language in general) with the excuse that "English is a living language that evolves".
I say that the people who claim that are "living language" morons, who try and use the evolution of language as an excuse for illiteracy and general laziness.
Just because a handful of idiots don't know how to use a phrase or word properly doesn't mean it has "evolved" into a new meaning. It just means there are lots of pretentious idiots.
True heroes are rare and underappreciated. *so are hero members!* [img onmouseover="this.style.backgroundColor='#C6D3EF';this.style.border='1px solid #3169C6'; " style="BORDER-RIGHT: #3169c6 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #3169c6 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #3169c6 1px solid; CURSOR: pointer; BORDER-BOTTOM: #3169c6 1px solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #c6d3ef" onclick="InsertImage('/forums/richedit/smileys/Teasing/5.gif');" onmouseout="this.style.backgroundColor=''; this.style.border=''" src="vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Teasing/5.gif" align=absMiddle]
TehBorken wrote: A hero is someone that does something most people wouldn't normally do. Astronauts aren't heros. Neither are firemen or cops or race car drivers. And there is no f*cking way that ANY sports personality is a "hero". The victims of 911 were not heros.
A hero is someone who rises to the occasion in a particular set of circumstances. If they're paid to do it, they aren't a hero, I don't give a crap what anyone says.
I couldn't agree more TehBorken. There are a multitude of adjectives to define each one for their extaordinary circumstances, but 'hero' isn't one of them. Dubbing atheltes 'hero' IS particularly offensive. There is no act of heroism involved in PLAYING any sport (especially when they take home pay cheques greater than surgeons, fire-fighters, police and the like).
My definition of a hero, is someone, KNOWING the risk to his own life, takes the risk regardless, to save another. It's that simple to me. It isn't all emcompassing of every act that involves merely surviving. There are words that inspire the proper respect and admiration for each of those occurances.....and plenty left over for each and every circumstance.
TehBorken wrote:
I regularly run into people who defend their misuse of words (and language in general) with the excuse that "English is a living language that evolves".
I say that the people who claim that are "living language" morons, who try and use the evolution of language as an excuse for illiteracy and general laziness.
Just because a handful of idiots don't know how to use a phrase or word properly doesn't mean it has "evolved" into a new meaning. It just means there are lots of pretentious idiots.
Thank you TB. I couldn't have said it any better.
I've got a friend here in Vancouver who is a high school English teacher, and if his emails are any indication of his command of written English, I sincerely feel for his students.
It also explains why so much of the written communication I get from work colleagues is so miserable too.
What's really scary is that you're seeing some of these sophomoric English errors showing up in mainstream newspapers—even the NY Times.
My real pet peeve is people who have totally corrupted phrases by using what they think is the proper wording, but who are actually making a homonymal (is that a word? yikes) error. Case in point: people talk about giving someone "free reign". Look, I'm sure I'm not the only one still alive who has ever been around horses and who knows that the real phrase is "free rein". Not only the spelling but the connotation is corrupted in this case. If I weren't so out of it from lack of sleep I could come up with a few more.
I suppose that sounds cranky and schoolmarmish, but it's one thing to come up with a new idea, and another to just get things wrong.
My final peevish mini-rant is about kids who ask me how to have better English. I'm talking native English speakers of high school and college age who realise that their language abilities could stand some improvement and want to help their chances in the job market. I tell them that I learned a lot about how the language worked by reading—especially classics, though I've seen some truly creative punctuation and word use even there (editor's mistakes, I hope)—and that they ought to pick up a Victorian novel or two: or anything written in English from the beginning of the 19-century to WWI (if they don't even know when that is I give up).
Then these kids tell me they don't have time to read. I tell them to get a "pocket book" (I believe they still actually make them) of one of these books, carry it around with them (that's what inside pockets are for, right?) and to just pull them out when they're on transit, waiting for an appointment somewhere, or whenever they have some "non-productive" alone time. I used to get my best reading done on the Stairmaster or waiting for movies to start. If they offer me some line of crap about how they're too busy to do even this (yeah, right), then I just shrug and forget it (though I'd like to tell them to enjoy working at Wal-Mart for the rest of their lives).
Man, I must be cranky. I can't believe how I've gone on about this.
Nothing wrong with that rant, Dissident.
Dissident wrote:
I suppose that sounds cranky and schoolmarmish, but it's one thing to come up with a new idea, and another to just get things wrong.
Not at all, in fact I agree 100%. It's like using a hammer to drive in a screw.
Then these kids tell me they don't have time to read.
I'd tell them to "like, enjoy their, like, awesome career at McDonalds". (//forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/14.gif)
It bugs the hell out of me when I see something like "yo, ppl" put in the intro text on a (supposedly) professional web page. I want to grab whoever did it by the throat and tell them to "stop pretending to be an illiterate rapper".
Man, I must be cranky. I can't believe how I've gone on about this.
We're all cranky this morning. Must be something in the air, lol.
"We're all cranky this morning. Must be something in the air, lol."
I prefer to think of it as having a rare moment of clarity. [img alt="Wink & Grin" src="vny!://forum.digital-digest.com/images/smilies/winknudge.gif" border=0]
I personally am having problems with the english language. For the past 2 years I've basically learned Queen's english and am having problems with Queen's and American english and I am now seeing why its so hard to learn. (Blame the BBC, listen and watch it constantly).
For example I keep having problems with the word through. I know don't know whether to use through or thru. I know threw is singular.
Another words I've adopted are colour, nieghbourhood and other Queen words that have been Americanized over here. Oh and that another thing, I don't use -ize anymore. Organisation, realise are examples of what I use now.
Don't worry too much about that, SD. I learned to read and write in a parochial school, so Queen's English was the norm for me. I've got a hybrid of it now (just like in Canada (//forums/richedit/smileys/Teasing/11.gif) ).
But, please don't get American "commercial" language get into your speech. "Thru", "lite", "nite", even "donut" are all "advertising-speak". Some of these words (like "lite" and "donut") have entered the vernacular, but most of the rest aren't. Stick to what you see in pre-WWI literature. You can't screw up too badly with that.
It's soooo nice to see a college-aged person actually concerning themselves with their English usage. No worries on your end on that score—you're already light-years ahead of most of your contemporaries.
Well its all where you grow up in. When I ever come up to Vancouver and we all meet somewhere at a coffee shop I'll say look for the super tall white guy who goes in and out of accents. I live at the mason dixon line. To the south of me everyone has a southern accent so I can speak 'southern' really easily and to the north of me its more of the common midwest accent that is nasal based. For example when I say NO, I use the top of my mouth to say it. (So when I took french classes 2 years ago I could get the accents down easily because I had the same voice structure).
I didn't grow up on the west coast so I don't know how to speak valley (if it wasn't for MTV I doubt anybody would know what valley talk is).
I've been able to rid myself of my midwestern roots except when it comes to language. So I guess I'm like Jim Green who tried to run for mayor of Vancouver who still talks with a southern accent except I don't really have an accent. Which means I can blend in any society pretty easily. My counselor is scottish and I've said things in perfect cockney, scottish and irish before without even noticing because I listen to BBC and usually mimick what they say.
Sportsdude wrote:
I know don't know whether to use through or thru. I know threw is singular.
"Thru": There is no such word. It's "adspeak", a made-up word. Personally I've always felt that if someone can't take the time to type the extra 4 letters needed to make a real word, they shouldn't bother at all. (//forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/14.gif)
"Threw": Has nothing at all to do with quantity or amount, so it can't be 'singular' in any form. It refers to the past act of "throwing", i.e. "to propel through the air".
-tb, the grammar Nazi.
So, grammar Nazi, what are the confusions that get you?
Dunno 'bout you, but when I was in school we would get whole quizzes sorting out the proper uses of:
there/their/they're
to/too/two
your/you're
whose/who's
its/it's (really frosts me how many people get this one wrong)
then/than
which/witch
and so forth . . .
I think they don't bother teaching context in the schools any longer. Or is it the phonics business that's screwed everyone?
Dissident wrote:
So, grammar Nazi, what are the confusions that get you?
Eye never no witch word too ewe's when aye right something!
Well said . . . uh, written, TB.
Dissident wrote:
Well said . . . uh, written, TB.
Lol. When I was doing tech writing for Boeing I used this tagline:
Teh Borken
Boeing Tech Writing Services - IPMDS
"Wee Right Goode Sew Ewe Don't Half Two"
TehBorken wrote:
Dissident wrote:
[SPAN style="FONT-STYLE: italic"]So, grammar Nazi, what are the confusions that get you?[/SPAN]
Eye never no witch word too ewe's when aye right something!
...
You'll be even more confused when the Queen dies and we all have to use the King's English instead..
[p class="MsoNormal"][span style="" lang="EN-US"]Ozmg, like, you guys are so lame! When I finished reading this post I was like, wtf? Like, don't you guys have anything better to do? Geez... what I'm supposed to say when I like something, like shopping? Hellooo! These people from Academy of Linguistic Awareness will never get what they want, like, what a losers! Bleh![o:p][/o:p][/span][/p]
Just think of "like" as a verbal comma and "know what I mean?" as a verbal period.
Pronounced "Gnomesayin'?"
...And here's my beef with misusing of language while we're at it, using quotation marks as emphasis. As in signs at coffee shops that say:
Try our "delicious" mochas.
Foolish mortals.