Word Choices That Irk Me

[jpmcwjr]

Hey, it's "disirregardless"!!



Even if you learned to speak English perfectly, to whom would you speak it?

 

[jpmcwjr]

It's something that irks me, that's all. I'm not going to stiff her on the tip or correct her. What really bugs me is when a cashier or waitress calls me "dear" or "honey". I'll usually respond by calling her "sweetheart".

That bothers me not at all. More irksome is when on the phone with a clerk, who asks for full name, immediately followed, by "Hi, John"....

 

[Country Bladesmith]

What really bugs me is when a cashier or waitress calls me "dear" or "honey". I'll usually respond by calling her "sweetheart".

I don’t know where you’re from, but it’s so common here in the South, that I don’t even notice it most of the time. It drives a buddy of mine (who is a Yankee transplant) nuts though. He says it’s unprofessional. I guess it never bothered me because I grew up hearing it all the time.

 

[pitchfork]

Just a general point, but languages don't always work the way grammarians think they ought to work. In fact, many of the "rules" we learn in school were drawn up in the 19th and 20th centuries, even though the language had been breaking the rules for several hundred years prior.

OK, getting off my soapbox... I'll see myself out. ?

 

[stokesdale]

I don’t know where you’re from, but it’s so common here in the South, that I don’t even notice it most of the time. It drives a buddy of mine (who is a Yankee transplant) nuts though. He says it’s unprofessional. I guess it never bothered me because I grew up hearing it all the time.

I love the south and southern attitudes being a southern boy myself. Southern people are just plain, good people..not that northerners can't be, it's just not as noticeable. My wife and I watch the Antiques Roadshow a lot and you can certainly tell when they are in a southern town versus a northern one...all smiles and "thank you"s in the former and nothing but frowns and rigid personalities in the latter. Again, no offense to our northern brethren, just different upbringings I guess.

 

[olkofri]

My given name instead of my surname, when addressed by strangers (clerks, service reps, &c.).

 

[mso489]

Weird things happen in advertising. Bayer has an add that proclaims, after bragging about their research:

"This is why we science."

That seems like license (or worse corruption of language) to me, but scholars have made a case why Shakespeare's greatness in language related to English being in a transitional and formative time when he wrote, opening all kinds of creative adaptations to him. Then of course, he was a raging genius, which helped.

 

[pitchfork]

Weird things happen in advertising. Bayer has an add that proclaims, after bragging about their research:

"This is why we science."

That seems like license (or worse corruption of language) to me, but scholars have made a case why Shakespeare's greatness in language related to English being in a transitional and formative time when he wrote, opening all kinds of creative adaptations to him. Then of course, he was a raging genius, which helped.

Ugh that's terrible!

"This is why we have verbs."

 

[olkofri]

Weird things happen in advertising. Bayer has an add that proclaims, after bragging about their research:

"This is why we science."

That seems like license (or worse corruption of language) to me, but scholars have made a case why Shakespeare's greatness in language related to English being in a transitional and formative time when he wrote, opening all kinds of creative adaptations to him. Then of course, he was a raging genius, which helped.

My Welsh friend once decried how Americans continuously turn every noun into a verb.

 

[brian64]

My Welsh friend once decried how Americans continuously turn every noun into a verb.

I don't believe that's true. Someone should Google it (I would, but I don't Google).

 

[rushx9]

I don’t have a problem with this. The implication is that there was no problem encountered and that it created no difficulty or obstacle to help me in a way that warranted my thanks.

I think it’s just a different way of acknowledging someone’s display of thanks and articulating the fact that whatever I did to warrant that gratitude created no imposition for me.

But analyze “you’re welcome.” You’re welcome to what? What does it even mean? You’re welcome to have some of my Cinnamon Toast Crunch? You’re welcome to drive my truck? You’re welcome to continue existing?

It’s effectively this interchange:

“Thank you...”
“Oh shit! Ummm, I’d have you as a guest in my home.”

I feel like the phrase, “no problem” is actually a more accurate retort. Spanish uses “de nada.” It means, “it’s nothing.” Same concept.

Thanking someone is my way of showing that I acknowledge and appreciate that he or she has performed an act on my behalf. As such, having someone tell me that it created no problem or imposition, by saying “no problem,” in my opinion, is a more desirable, appropriate, and relevant response than having someone arbitrarily demonstrate his or her willingness to have me in their presence.

The same perspective could be used regarding your suggestion to use “pleased to do it” or “glad to be here.” At no point was my level of pleasure in committing the act called into question, nor was my level of satisfaction with being there, so why should I reference either in my response?

Sound reasoning. I rarely say "you're welcome" unless I truly mean you are literally welcome to take whatever you thanked me for as much as you please. Sometimes folks will ask me why I didn't say you're welcome to them (I say, "no problem" "all good" "you got it" "I got you" or my favorite, "sure thing"). My usual response is "I never say you're welcome to white people, they might take it literally." This gets some interesting reactions.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Where I'm from, if you knock on someone's door you'll hear a "come on" which means come on in, or you'll hear "hold on" which means don't come on in. They're so close that I've always hated going to doors like this. I've spent my time as a maintenance man or a debit insurance salesman, for the most of my life. I encounter this almost daily.

 

[scloyd]

I don’t know where you’re from, but it’s so common here in the South, that I don’t even notice it most of the time. It drives a buddy of mine (who is a Yankee transplant) nuts though. He says it’s unprofessional. I guess it never bothered me because I grew up hearing it all the time.

Yankee here. You're probably right...a Southern thing.

 

[mso489]

My wife recited a glossary for ordering coffee the way you want it in New York City. They have their own vocabulary about it, and brook no contradictions. In North Carolina, the word hey is a greeting not a warning. And, getting into linguistics, the cadence of speech can almost obliterate understanding. My wife on school trip to NYC from rural Missouri couldn't understand anything said because the people talked too fast. In Missouri, the pause before the answer to a question can take minutes, and it is rude to talk before the person "has time" to answer.

 

[timelord]

It's something that irks me, that's all. I'm not going to stiff her on the tip or correct her. What really bugs me is when a cashier or waitress calls me "dear" or "honey". I'll usually respond by calling her "sweetheart".

If you ever visit Yorkshire in England do not be surprised when the cashier/bus driver or whoever calls you 'flower' or 'petal' or something similar (exact word will depend on the sub-region you're in; not your or the speaker's gender).

 

[smokiespipesmoker123]

What you might could do, go get you a thesaurus. And always remember, we ‘preciate ya. Y’all be good.

Personally I also cannot stand the misuse of decimate and literally. Regional dialect variances on the other hand are okeedoke by me.

 

[jpmcwjr]

My wife recited a glossary for ordering coffee the way you want it in New York City. They have their own vocabulary about it, and brook no contradictions.

IIRC, "regulah" means with cream and sugar, at least at the to-go shop on Wall Street I used to frequent. You had to specify "black" if you wanted it unadulterated.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I love the south and southern attitudes being a southern boy myself. Southern people are just plain, good people..not that northerners can't be, it's just not as noticeable. My wife and I watch the Antiques Roadshow a lot and you can certainly tell when they are in a southern town versus a northern one...all smiles and "thank you"s in the former and nothing but frowns and rigid personalities in the latter. Again, no offense to our northern brethren, just different upbringings I guess.

No offense taken, but the above is a parochial view, and misguided at that.

~ A Northern lad with great fondness for my Southern brethren.

 

[dino]

Baccy

 

[trubka2]

The only grammatical error in English that really irks me is the prim hypercorrection of "aren't I" (e.g. "I'm a prim shit, aren't I?"). I are pretty sure people who uses that form does not know how to conjugate a verb. The correct contraction for "am I not" is, of course, "ain't I".