What are your pet peeves re English usage?

@ailsagirl,

Corporate Speak!

Some is genuinely created from new ideas and creativity. However, 90% is then used for self promotion of people trying to sound like they know more than they do, or other people desperately trying to keep up with them. My heart sinks when I hear foreign speakers use it in casual conversation because their only exposure to English is in the corporate world. I really want to tell them that half their vocabulary was cooked up by a business consultant trying to sound clever ;-(

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@kency123,

I agree with this.

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I have always founf the phrasae "in and of itself" redundant, pretentious and irksome.

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@McTag,

Hi, McTag and welcome to a2k, Kency123.

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@georgeob1,

In and of itself that is a pretty pretentious and irksome comment.

Kidding aside, how is it redundant?

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Let me count the ways....

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@georgeob1,

I just want to know the first

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@Finn dAbuzz,

In itself; of itself. Does that help?

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@glitterbag,

No (and that was deemed too short by the hamster)

I really don't expect you to get the subtlety of language.

In is not a synonym of of.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

A bit pedantic, don't you think? The meaning depends on the object to which the phrase refers - whether it has both intrinsic content and consequences. In most cases in which this rote phrase is used it is indeed redundant.

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@georgeob1,

georgeob1 wrote:

A bit pedantic, don't you think?

No, I don't. I don't appreciate seeing perfectly acceptable words and phrases criticized as errant because of the usage of the imprecise.

Quote:

The meaning depends on the object to which the phrase refers - whether it has both intrinsic content and consequences. In most cases in which this rote phrase is used it is indeed redundant.

That may be but the usage not the phrase should be criticized.

If you had specified that current usage was your beef, I would not have had a problem.

The phrase is clearly not redundant despite it's usage by nitwits who might also say "My head literally exploded when I heard so and so supports Trump"

It's academic and perhaps only meaningful to a few, but there is nothing wrong with the phrase.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

No (and that was deemed too short by the hamster)

I really don't expect you to get the subtlety of language.

In is not a synonym of of.

Thanks, lumpkins. It didn't occur to me that someone might think either 'in' or 'of' were synonyms., not even you. If I remember the Sisters of Notre dame de Namur correctly, 'of' and 'in' have always been prepositions. But then again, I don't grasp the subtlety of languages. If I did, I would suggest you try diagraming the sentence.
Finn, I think you just gave me a great idea for a new signature line. Can't help yourself can you?

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@glitterbag,

Quote:

Finn, I think you just gave me a great idea for a new signature line.

If it brings a smile to your face every time you read it, it's worth it! LOL

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The Olympic Games (as reported in the meeja) have given us a horrible (imho) new verb, to medal.
If you do really well in your event, with a 1/2/3 finish, you are now said to have "medalled".
What is there to like about that?

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The significance of "in and of itself" (phony baloney grammatical objections ignored) is that it is classic Anglo-Saxon. The earliest English speakers were very fond of such repetition, or redundancy, if you prefer. "It is fitting and proper" is a classic example of this. More than fifteen hundred years aster the language stumbled to its feet, that trait remains.

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@Setanta,

That chimes.

Bag and baggage. House and home. Kith and kin. Health and wellbeing.

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@nacredambition,

I think the problem is confusing dissect with bisect.

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@McTag,

Also cannot stand them - when one takes a noun and makes it a verb. Yeck.

I like to be efficient so I detest when one uses extra words or phases that are not necessary. One I really dislike is "by the way" - useless phrase.

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@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

Also cannot stand them - when one takes a noun and makes it a verb.

But verbing really is quite common, and I'm sure, even you use it quite often ... mail, e-mail, talk, salt, sugar, ship, sleep, drink .... Wink

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@Walter Hinteler,

Walter Hinteler wrote:

Linkat wrote:
Also cannot stand them - when one takes a noun and makes it a verb.
But verbing really is quite common, and I'm sure, even you use it quite often ... mail, e-mail, talk, salt, sugar, ship, sleep, drink ....

These are words that have been in existence as verbs since I was a baby (except email but simply because I wasn't born after email) - you know what the heck I mean - when you purposely change a noun so make it a verb.

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What are your pet peeves re English usage?

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