What perfectly good word misrepresentations piss you off?

[alwynsw]

My personal two favorites are niggardly and confederate.

I can understand the confederate issue to a point because of the CSA.

Niggardly, I still don't get. It's a partial homonym, but that's where it ends.

I have a niggardly confederate. I could be described as a niggardly confederate.

I admit it , I'm a sometimes tightwad that has friends and associates and some of those friends are tightwads.

I'm not opening my OED to reprint definitions and origins.

IMO "sounds bad" isn't good enough to raise a stink.

What's your opinion?

[Scott Lee]

1. "irregardless"

That one has always pissed me off. Double negative of sorts.

Just please say REGARDLESS, for god's sake.

[Speck Tater]

4. ALOT

There is NO SUCH WORD AS "ALOT", yet I see otherwise intelligent people under 35 or 40 using it all the time.

correct:

"a few", "a lot", "a bunch", "a dozen", etc.

incorrect:

"afew", "alot", "abunch", "adozen", etc.

[Bunny]

7. Actually, I was taught that "alot" was perfectly correct,

in fact, even preferrable to "a lot". Guess it all depends

[Speck Tater]

9. Taught by whom?

It's not in any dictionary, so I suspect you were taught it by someone who was just plain mistaken.

[Bunny]

11. Okay.

Whatever.

[Speck Tater]

12. Washington State University list of common errors... ALOT

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/errors/alot.html

--quote--
Perhaps this common spelling error began because there does exist in English a word spelled "allot" which is a verb meaning to apportion or grant. The correct form, with "a" and "lot" separated by a space is perhaps not often encountered in print because formal writers usually use other expressions such as "a great deal," "often," etc. If you can't remember the rule, just remind yourself that just as you wouldn't write "alittle" you shouldn't write "alot."
--/quote--

[Speck Tater]

19. Citation overkill

http://blather.newdream.net/a/alot.html
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http://maddog.weblogs.com/stories/storyReader$6

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From dictionary of slang: http://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/anonymous@4411113428+0/-/p/dict/slang-a.html
alot
(a common spelling error, but also used deliberately as a `cool' spelling) adverb 1. a great deal: The traffic has eased up and we're cruising alot faster now. --adjective 2. many; a great number or amount of: It was alot of fun.

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From Business English dictionary: http://www.business-words.com/dictionary/A_2.html#alot
alot
Wait a minute, there is no such word as alot! It should be two words: a lot, if you mean many or much, or allot, if you mean distribute.

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University of Victoria: http://web.uvic.ca/wguide/Pages/UsAlot.html

A lot / Alot / Allot

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A lot means "a lot": "A lot of pancakes." Note that this is an informal expression.

Allot means "to divide" or "to give out": "They allotted six square feet per family."

Alot means nothing, and therefore is not to be used under any circumstances.

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From English-Usage.org http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxalotxx.html

"alot"
by Mark Israel

This misspelling of "a lot" is frequently mentioned as a pet
peeve. It rarely appears in print, but is often found in the U.S.
in informal writing and on Usenet. There does not seem to be a
corresponding "alittle".

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From the Columbia Guide to Standard English: http://www.bartleby.com/68/4/304.html

alot

is a Substandard spelling of a lot, as in She sees a lot of him these days. Alot is increasingly found in Informal correspondence and student writing, but it has as yet received no sanction in print except on the op-ed and sports pages.

[alwynsw]

14. Try an ancient college English teacher of mine

A lot is a piece of real estate or a manufacturing run.

You do not have a lot of tomatos, you have a great many tomatos.

You do not have a lot of tomato juice, you have a great deal of tomato juice.

If it can be counted individually, it's a great many somethings. If it's a grouping, it's a great deal of something.

[mitchum]

2. "ironical"

"ironic" will do just fine

[Maddy McCall]

3. hoar--as in frost

Actually it doesn't piss me off; I just felt like contributing :-)

[AquariDem]

10. An old hare hoar...

And an old hare hoar,
Is very good meat in Lent,
But a hare that is hoar
Is too much for a score
When it hoars ere it be spent.
--Shakespeare

:evilgrin:

[rucky]

5. masticate

I used to do it all the time until I had my uvula taken out.

[Bunny]

8. Ouch.

My condolences. ;-)

[caledesi]

21. All those w/ hairy uvulas please step forward. n/t

[WindRavenX]

6. "Partial birth" abortion

Greatest misrepresentation of a procedure I've ever seen...and most people don't know the difference. Newspapers don't either.
It's a very clever campaign by the pro-lifers...
on edit: NOT saying that this procedure is "good"; it just pisses the hell outta me to hear people misuse this term..

[Elidor]

13. Orientated

I don't know if it's correct or not, I just hate the word. Oriented is what people mean when they say it. And why do we have commentators instead of commenters? Save the "tate" for the dick-taters.

[Blue-Jay]

15. LIBERAL!

Due to the efforts of RW talking heads, the word "liberal" has been given a negative connotation. I fucking HATE that! I'm a liberal, I'm proud to be a liberal, and I'm serving notice to the RWers of the world:

I officially reclaim the word.

No longer will you be able to use it as a swear-word, you rotten shitheads! Hannity, et al be damned to hell! I'm a liberal. I'm a patriot. I'm a veteran. Most of all, I love my country. You fucking pukes don't own OUR flag. I'm taking THAT back too, assholes. Your notice has been served. Deal with it.

(sorry for over-reacting, DUers. I just hate it that my political affiliation has has been co-opted. Those liars can kiss my flag-waving ass)


Edit: typo

[Political_Junkie]

25. Applause

Didn't think you were over-reacting at all.

[vptpt]

16. "Same difference"

Does that count? Because it sure does piss me off when I hear it.

[HEyHEY]

17. I HATE HATE HATE people who think ignorant means rude

pisses me off to no end

And as an ignorant person it offends me ;-)

[kodi]

18. lacksadaisical for lackadaisical in speech

dont know if its a regional thing or not

[roughsatori]

20. Smell or Smells for stink

As the Englishman replied to the Lady who told him "you smell":
"Madame, I stink, you smell."

[caledesi]

22. Women doctors....Is that the same as in Men doctors?

When I hear someone saw this, I always retort this way. <slap me>


I hate this one and hear in the media ALL the time. Female doctors, female lawyers,ARGH!!

[displacedtexan]

23. fair

it doesn't mean equal shares of something.

it means 'to each according to his/her need.'

[Jackpine Radical]

24. Fulsome, used as a synonym for plentiful

Predominately in place of predominantly

"Hone in on" instead of "home in on."

it's instead of its, as a possessive pronoun. It's apparent that the apostrophe doesn't always find its proper place.



"Steep learning curve." A steep learning curve actually only occurs if the learning is easy. A more gradual curve means that the learning is being acquired more slowly, and is presumably more difficult.

Lots of others but I can't think of them right now.

[Stone Cold]

26. the word...

....Republican pisses me off.

[Xithras]

27. Fagot

FYI, my dad is an amateur blacksmith (he built his own forge on his property complete with manual bellows) who takes great joy in making swords and weapons the "old fashioned way", and then sells them at Ren faires to collectors (if anyone here has ever seen a Hilforge sword, it was made by him). I was with him two years ago when he was giving an impromptu lesson on smithing basics at a faire and bound several iron strips into a fagot and put it into the forge to heat it up. He was immediately verbally assaulted by about 1/3'rd of the people in the tent for calling it a 'fagot' and several went to the faire authorities requesting that they revoke his booth rights and toss him out. Luckily, the faire organizers were a little more historically literate and knew what a fagot really was.

People just hear the word and assume that you mean something bad by it :thumbsdown: