Are there any words in the English language that you hate?

@shadow: Phablet?

Did this thread stop existing for a bit? Or was it just me?

"actually"

I'm not a big fan of the word "utmost"
I just think it sounds stupid, and is too easily confused with "upmost"
Like... who came up with "utmost"?
It's such a dumb word...

leverage

I am not a big fan of racial slurs, though I think that counts as slang so they don't count based on the TC's rules. I don't think any single word bothers me. It's once two or more words get together and start causing trouble that I get pissed off. When someone says "true that" or the even more infuriating "true dat" I feel the need to re-evaluate my relationship with that particular person.

Edit: Just thought of one, Smegma ...eww.

Wicked, when used like "wicked awesome," makes me hate humanity.

I kind of like all words, but I'll admit there's no pleasant way to use the word "orifice"

@omega: Ahhh, smegma. Or as Stephen Fry likes to put it, "cock cheese".

Imagine having to eat a bowl of smegma. Just sickening. 'Chinkasu' is the Japanese for it, in case you were interested. I'm sure you were.

Is there a thread about words each member of the Bombcrew over-uses? I'd like to see what people are saying.

you're already looking at it, ostensibly.

Demonstrable. (de-MON-stra-ble) You know, something that can be demonstrated (de-mon-STRAY-ted). Not demonstratable, (de-mon-STRAY-ta-ble), because that isn't a word. No, demonstrable. I hate the world demonstrable.

Finite.

I've always known and loved the word 'infinite,' we had such fun together, and then the original word came into my world (I learned it later on) and it sounds fucking different without the prefix.

It should be 'finnit,' to match her sister 'infinnit,' but NOOOOOOOOO, it has to be fi-night. The nerve on this word.

@jackentrote said:

It's always interesting for me to see the things non-native English speakers have issues with when it comes to English. To me 'finnit' sounds utterly foreign, even if it does make more sense when contrasted with infinite. I'm sure there are loads of small things like this that only learners of English are even capable of picking up on. I kinda envy the ability to see the language from that perspective.

Even I sometimes notice strange things about English, but it's mostly about phrases rather than word pronunciation or grammar. Here's the weird thing I noticed recently:

I'm going to present a scenario where the natural response is "I guess not", just to show how strange it is.

The bulb in your room goes out, and it was the only light on in the house, so you don't know if the bulb blew or your electricity went out. You say to yourself, "I wonder if the electric went out", then you try to switch on a light in a different room, and the light comes on. Your natural response here to "I wonder if the electric went out" would be, "I guess not." But! Why use the word guess? You are absolutely sure the electricity did not go out because the light came on.

We say "I guess not" when we are absolutely sure, and not at all guessing about something. Strange!

I hate every word in every language. We should go back to grunts.

I hate what the internet has done to certain figures of speech if that counts. "Metaphor," "symbolism," "satire," etc etc. It's like 99% of people throw those randomly into sentences to try and sound smart, but just end up sounding like pretentious jackasses.

That word actually has a really interesting history. The earliest definition in the Oxford English Dictionary (marked as obsolete) is "divergence from a normal standard or type; abnormality, irregularity". An example of this usage from 1577 is "And yet we can not remedie this enormitie."

The usage you're talking about is the second definition: "Deviation from moral or legal rectitude...Extreme or monstrous wickedness." An example from 1563: "Our natural uncleanliness and the enormity of our sinful life."

But the third definition is the most interesting one. It's the one you're complaining about, "Excess in magnitude; hugeness, vastness", with the earliest example from 1792 ("A worm of proportionable enormity had bored a hole in the shell."). So the usage is by this point fairly old, so it should really be accepted by now. However, the last proper example is from 1846, and the definition is marked as archaic and has the note "recent examples might perhaps be found, but the use is now regarded as incorrect".

The etymology of the word is interesting, it derives from French énormité (roughly "hugeness")and ultimately Latin ex norma ("outside of the norm, irregular"). So the word basically means "not normal" in the original Latin, but if I'm reading the French dictionaries right (and I might not be, my French is trés rusty), in that language it basically has the meaning that is supposedly incorrect in English.

This just seems like one of those words that for hundreds of years people have wanted and used it to mean "vastness, hugeness", but every time someone does, another person comes in and says "no, goddammit, that words does not mean that, it means a deviation from morality, motherfucker!" I don't mind it being used that way though, the other words meaning the same thing (like hugeness and vastness) are so clumsy.

As for English words I hate: I fucking loathe the word blurb. I want to murder whoever came up with that word, but seeing as it dates back to at least 1914, I probably wont get the chance.

Not really, pretty great language I guess?

Plenty of overused words that are losing meaning though. Hate & Love are pretty high on that list I think.

@babychoochoo: Really? I don't know that I've seen mis-use of that very often.

Cookie. I'm a fan of cookies but I fucking loathe saying the word cookie. It's just so feminine.

@cale: English is my university major, and one of my native speaking professors is quite fond of my remarks, I like thinking about the language this way, it's pretty entertaining.

Good point on the strange expressions though. English slang really needs a better substitute for "evidently, ..." than "I guess"!

@gkhan: Thanks for the deeper dive! Language is fascinating, and I'm perfectly happy to admit I'm a hypocrite for not liking how the word's usage is evolving while ignoring my preferred definition is an evolution itself.

moist. fuck that word

Isn't that the point?

immeditately - makes my blood pressure go up when people use it when they use it in conversation or emails to proclaim "urgency".

gamer is second place

your used instead of you're (and vice versa) gets bronze

I've just started watching Helix and at a moment where a scientist is running tests on rats she says something akin to "batch A were decimated. Almost 100% fatality rate". While I think decimate itself is a wonderful word, it really irritates me when it's used incorrectly like this. If the batch was decimated it would be a 10% fatality rate.

Also "per se". But that's South Parks fault.

No. That's where you stick the point.

(This thread has had queef, smegma, a twerking video, and now this. Suddenly we're all twelve again. Except not because I didn't know what any of those things were when I was 12.)

Complains about grammar problems. Uses really bad grammar.

I have never heard anyone use "ask" like that and feel like I would punch them if they did.

I've come to hate the word, "progressive". When someone says "well, I'm very progressive" or "it's the progressive thing to do" I get visibly pissed off. No, you're doing the socialist or liberal thing, and I know you don't want to say that because both of those things have a negative connotation, but that's what it is! I've actually started using the term "progressive" when I discuss things like my pro-gun ideology and tax decreases, because you know what, that's the stuff that I think is progressive. People don't like that.

I guess it's more a gaming thing, but still..."Toon" as in referring to your character in an MMO or something. Except now I see people calling Dark Souls characters Toons and fuck that and fuck everything.