Phrases and terminology that needs to STOP! (1 Viewer)

[Henry Gale]

Joseph,
The more I think about you fantasizing about me in panties, the more excited I get. The fact that you could take this time away from your Babylon 5 obsession for little old me makes it even more special.

 

[Brett_B]

That is why it is one of my biggest pet peeves in this forum. It just kills me reading a topic completely unrelated to Star Wars, and people are still "talking" like that.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Ah, reminds me of an email circulating some time ago about "buzzword bingo", i.e. a list of all these nasty business-lingo terms, and you could play bingo with them at your next meeting. "Value-add". "Bring to the table". "Synergies". Ugh.

I never did, but I remember my wife telling me shortly after the email was circulated that she got stuck in a meeting where she probably should have brought the list and played

 

[Brian Perry]

"Let's cut to the chase"

"Sea change"

 

[Jerry Almeida]

Then I hope I've done my job and saved another person from a potentially embarrassing situation.

 

[Rudi]

ok crackerby

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Depends on the context. Both can be correct, and the difference in their usage is often subtle.

Henry:

I guess my work here is done.

Regards,

Joe

 

[GeorgePaul]

Not real life, I can guarantee you that. I would not listen to anyone who used that expression at all.

Besides, I live right next to Mesa, and I can guarantee you nobody in that city thinks.

 

[Kevin M]

"Sea change"......

 

[Parker Clack]

Weasle words....

New and improved. (Over what? Air?)
50% Off. (Off what? A 200% markup?)
Now with 20% more xxxx power. (20% more? Why did you stop at 20%? Why not 200%? You mean to tell me you sold me an inferior product the last time? I want 20% of what I paid you before back.)
Low fat. Low cholesterol. No salt. No sugar.(In other words...cardboard or water.)

Garage Sale (No one ever sells you their garage) or
Yard Sale (They don't sell you their yard either)
I call them what they are. Garbage sales. Some one is selling you something that they would normally just throw out but decided to recoup some of their loses.

This offer will not be repeated! (Unless you count the next 45,000 times it is repeated over the next 24 hours).

Going out of business sale. (Until we open our new store and we are back in business again.)

This offer will only be available through this special TV/Radio offer and not available in stores. (Except all Target, Wal Mart, K Mart, Sears, Walgreens, SavOn and all your local department stores by next Friday.)

Q: What can I do to make your stay here more enjoyable?
A: Make sure that I don't get a bill and provide for me everything I want here for free.

SPAM Mail.
Why don't they just call it what it is. Crap mail.
I mean when someone says that they get SPAM all the time I think they must have told someone they were really hungry.

Personally I like to use ROTFLMFAO instead of typing out...Rolling on the floor laughing my ***king ass off.

Now that is a little bit of sumpin sumpin.

 

[Carl Miller]

Example: The increase in gas prices are going to cause a sea change in the way people use their cars for recreation, as more people will stay home or find recreation closer to home in the future.

It's phrase used mostly by talking heads on TV to describe a great impact, significant change, a broad sweeping change etc...All of which would be better than using sea change.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

The thing that really gripes me about the way people employ the phrase "sea change" is that they use it to mean a rapid, sweeping change. The best source for the phrase itself which I have found is in Shakespeare, and it is not used in that manner at all.

"Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that does fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change"
[from THE TEMPEST]

As you can see, the "change" in this case is slower, and more subtle, than the revolutions the television talking heads are used to denoting by the phrase.

 

[Drew Bethel]

Did you find everything ok?

Bugs me everytime I go to Target...

 

[Kevin M]

Google:

I have to be honest, I've never heard this phrase before (at least it never registered), not in conversation, book, film or on TV.
It's a new one on me.

 

[Lynda-Marie]

The use of "The Three Rs" to describe the three basic subjects in education. What is especially sad is the critical one, reading, is the only one of the "Rs" that actually starts with R! Mispronouncing the subjects as "Reading, riting, 'rithmatics" should give intelligent parents pause. "Do I really want my children taught by an ignoramus?"

More on my anti-sales pitches tirade, this one aimed at auto sales:

"Zero down, zero interest, and zero payments for up to [insert absurd number] months!"

I could not stop myself from retorting, "And zero brains if you believe this!"

 

[Kevin M]

If your kids aren't smart enough to realize that "The Three Rs" is a play on words then they have bigger problems than a teacher with a sense of humor.

 

[BrianW]

If this is degenerating into a grammar complaint department, then I'm in!


I see a lot of people use the word "then" when they mean "than".
It's almost enough to make me scream.

Okay, I'm done. Thanks for discussionizing with me.

 

[Henry Gale]

Maybe these two are restricted to my area. I work with several people who can carry their end of the conversation with 2 simple phrases:

"I heard that."
"You got that right."

 

[Yee-Ming]

Slight OT comment: I've noticed that HTF actually has a very high standard of English. I was on another (to remain unnamed) board recently, since the HTF discussions on a particular TV show were limited, and I found that misspellings and incorrect grammar were far more prevalent on that board than appear here.

 

[Ricardo C]

"You can say THAT again"