Bad English 101: Hackneyed Phrases (1 Viewer)

[teapot2001]

i think you forgot another word from the early 90's, and it works exactly like 'not'. i'll use it in context...

person 1 - "hey are you coming to my party this weekend?"

person 2 - "yeah i'll be there.....psych!"

I remember "pysch" was used in the 80's.

~T

 

[Thik Nongyow]

You know there's something wrong with After Hours when the HTF runs out of things to complain about. Hackneyed Phrases? C'mon!!! You all can come up with something better than that. Complain about the weather, taxes, or tow trucks.

If political and religious topics are permitted on the forum, the After Hours forum would be more exciting. Unfortunately, regardless of how intelligent or mature the denizens posting here, such discussions will degrade into flamewars.

 

[Jefferson]

This reminds me of an I Love Lucy exchange....this is from the episode where Lucy hires an English tutor played by Hans Conreid....he has already warned
them not to use "OK".....

TUTOR: There are two otherwords I want you to avoid. One of them is "swell" and the other one is "lousy".
LUCY: OK, what are they?
FRED: Yeah, give us the lousy one first!
LUCY: OK! Oh, i *would* say ok, that's a swell way to get off to a lousy start.

 

[BrianW]

since you said you had no idea how the subjunctive worked, I erroneously concluded that your non-use was actually a coincidence.

Oh, I see. I had to read my original post again just to see what I unintentionally screwed up. What I originally tried to convey was that journalists don’t have a clue about the subjunctive mood, but my sentence was too awkwardly constructed to make that very clear.
In any case, I understand where you were coming from, and I thank you very kindly for so logically and graciously correcting my error.
Like I said, that’s what I get. Besides, threads like this would be no fun at all without contributions like yours.

 

[Brian Perry]

BW,

Okay, I re-re-read your first post, and now I wonder what in the heck I was thinking. :b

 

[Carl Miller]

The true and fantastic origin of the term "sea change". (And yes, "sea change" is correct.)It's from Shakespeare. The Tempest, Act I, Scene II. Ariel sings to Prince Ferdinand about his father, who is believed to have drowned:

I don't remember this being in the Cliffs Notes.

 

[BrianW]

Hey, no problem. If I could of, I would of been more clearer then that.
(Made you wince. )

 

[Rob Landolfi]

Phrase that rubs me wrong, and I hear it all the time: "I could care less." To me, it seems that the person is actually saying that they DO care somewhat about it even if they're trying to minimize its importance. If something really doesn't bother someone, shouldn't it be "I couldn't care less"?

 

[Steeve Bergeron]

"My two cents"

I never understood this one. What's the meaning of this expression?

 

[Michael Reuben]

If something really doesn't bother someone, shouldn't it be "I couldn't care less"?

You're correct, and that's how the phrase used to be said. Another example of usage superseding the literal meaning of a phrase.

M.

 

[SteveA]

I believe that most of the hackneyed expressions mentioned in this thread are what my English teachers called "idiomatic expressions". They make our language more colorful and vibrant. I use them quite frequently in conversation and in writing - and make no apologies.

I do agree that over-used business jargon, such as "thinking outside of the box" and "being proactive" are very annoying. My boss uses at least one such piece of jargon in every sentence that leaves his mouth!

 

[Yee-Ming]

what Adam said! LOL
I have NO idea what the subjunctive is. and I have the same job as Michael Reuben...
which leads me to a "favoured" phrase by judicial-types, "...at the end of the day..."

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Rob Landolfi wrote:

The "Could care less"-thread.

 

[MatthewA]

I can't stand "dude."

I loathe the overuse of the term "like" as in:

"So I was, like..."

 

[Tomoko Noguchi]

And she goes and he goes. Where are people going? Oh, yeah. They are saying....(and she said

 

[Rob Landolfi]

Rex,
Thanks for the link to the old thread. Glad I'm not the only one.

 

[andrew markworthy]

According to Chamber's Dictionary, the first recorded use of 'sea change' was by Shakespeare (though it is quite possible he simply used a contemporaneous phrase). The Arden Shakespeare edition, which in the UK at least is taken as a standard text, makes no comment on the phrase.

 

[KyleK]

As it were
If you will
So to speak
Unfortunately these are mostly used by otherwise intelligent people.
Something that really annoys me is when teenagers constantly say "'n stuff" after every sentence. I am shamefully guilty of this transgression as well.
Other offenders:
Calling something "tight yo"
"Shout-out" As in "I'm going to send a 'shout-out' to so-and-so on IM"
And for all you southerners out there: SEE Y'ALL LATER!

 

[Ralph Summa]

When I moved to Boston, I first heard the phrase "Not for nothing but,...

An example: "Not for nothing but, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

What is the purpose of this inane lead in?

 

[Brian Perry]

which leads me to a "favoured" phrase by judicial-types, "...at the end of the day..."

Yee,
I never heard of the judicial-types angle with respect to that phrase; I always thought it was commonly used by people in England. But as your spelling of "favor" indicates, it could apply to both!