Friday, June 10, 2011
ALOTT5MA FRIDAY GRAMMAR RODEO: I know you've been bemused by this regular feature, but this chart of 10 Commonly Misunderstood Words may literally be the last Friday Grammar Rodeo for a bit. (I have a feeling you can expand the list further to include other words whose usage you find continuously problematic.)
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But Friday Grammar Rodeo is the penultimate in entertainment!
ReplyDeleteThat begs the question, what will replace it?
ReplyDeleteThe enormity of this topic is literally ironic.
ReplyDeleteContinuously problematic word usage? Irregardless.
ReplyDeleteYep, my #1. I'm usually very easy going about evolving meaning in everyday speech, but for some reason I'm really worried about the integrity of penultimate. I think because I saw a spate of really perplexing and surprising misuses of it within a short amount of time a few years ago and it got stuck in my head. Also I studied Spanish growing up.
ReplyDeleteThe thought of no more Friday Grammar Rodeos literally makes me nauseous.
ReplyDelete(That's actually for my wife, who refused to accept the second definition of nauseous.)
And I guess any future editions will just be the exception that proves the rule.
ReplyDeleteI just think I need to let this feature lay down for a bit.
ReplyDeleteSpacewoman rolls her eyes whenever someone uses "nauseous" to mean "nauseated," because she knows the correction is coming.
ReplyDeleteAlso, "transpire": "to become known by degrees." Not "happened." That's right, I'm objecting to the two-century-old usage in favor of the five-century-old usage.
ReplyDeleteAnd in another bastardization, I saw this sentence in a document at work: "Transpiration will be provided to and from the site."
ReplyDeleteI get the problem with the misuse of "literally" but I hereby declare the use of "litrally" from Rob Lowe on Parks and Rec an entirely different word that can be used in a more liberal fashion. Because it's Park and Rec. And that show rules.
ReplyDeleteMomentarily/presently. You will not be somewhere momentarily, although you may be there presently after pausing momentarily.
ReplyDeleteDana Whitaker has something to say about that.
ReplyDeleteThen there's the word "hacker":
ReplyDeletehttp://www.paulgraham.com/gba.html
I like the spelling "lit'rally" I've seen elsewhere - and I think it passes because Rob Lowe does, in fact, mean "literally" whenever he says it.
ReplyDelete<span>Seriously? Who's using redundant wrong?
ReplyDeleteI think a more common problem is using "hopefully" to mean "it is hoped" rather than "with hope."
I am concerned about preserving the meanings of less/fewer and that/which, and constantly fight my own tendency to say "out loud" instead of "aloud." </span>
It figuratively makes me crazy when people misuse "literally."
ReplyDeleteI battle with people about over/more than, farther/further, and less/fewer. I did cheer (inwardly) when I saw a "10 Items or Fewer" sign at a store.
ReplyDeleteFrazz had several strips on penultimate this week.
ReplyDeletehttp://wpcomics.washingtonpost.com/client/wpc/fz/2011/06/06/
http://wpcomics.washingtonpost.com/client/wpc/fz/2011/06/07/
http://wpcomics.washingtonpost.com/client/wpc/fz/2011/06/08/
http://wpcomics.washingtonpost.com/client/wpc/fz/2011/06/09/
That was me.
ReplyDeleteHow can a word be commonly misunderstood? Isn't the common usage the one that matters?
ReplyDeleteThis late in the thread, and no one has suggested "inconceivable?" That's inconceivable!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D58LpHBnvsI
I could care less about this topic!
ReplyDeleteOh no, am I using penultimate incorrectly? I litrally just taught the spacies that it means next to last, and it's their new favorite word. Is that not right??
ReplyDeleteI think the Brits are to blame- "made redundant" = "laid off" in employment-speak; that carries the surplus-to-requirements connotation.
ReplyDeleteMy BIGGEST peeve was touched on- the way everyone says "SO unique" (looking at all the SYCTD judges for this one). There are NO. DEGREES. OF. UNIQUENESS. Something is either unique to the fullest extent, or not. No one person or thing can be more unique than another. Unique can only happen once. That's what makes it UNIQUE!!
ReplyDeleteI also wage the less/fewer battle all the time. Fewer goes with a quantifiable group of things; Less goes with a concept or a singular entity ("I should smoke fewer cigarettes so there is less smoke in here.")
Grr. Nothing gets me more in get-off-my-lawn grump mode than these things, much to my family's chagrin. But someone has to carry the standard!!
My shock that people are apparently misusing "noisome" really made me feel like a lawyer.
ReplyDelete