Word lessons or what misuse of a word drives you crazy?

[Ace Boobtoucher]

So list the word, how it is used improperly and what it actually means and why it bothers you, if you're so inclined.

I was just screwing around on tumblr earlier and the word "decimate" gets tossed around nilly-willy all the fracking time .

Decimation (Latin: decimatio; decem = "ten") was a form of military discipline used by officers in the Roman Army to punish mutinous or cowardly soldiers.

Despite the fact that most dictionaries have caved in, some of us still remember that when the Romans killed one out of every ten (decem) soldiers in a rebellious group as an example to the others, they decimated them.

Please stop using it to mean “completely destroyed”; it hurts me a little every time its done. It hurts kittens every time its done. It makes baby koalas cry every time its done. It makes Chuck Norris slightly irritable.

Please use annihilate or obliterate instead.

Now, what words and their improper use make you want to punch your monitor?

 

[L3ggy]

The misuse of Their, there, your and you're urks me.

 

[squallumz]

frack.

 

[bobjustbob]

Literally. Too many time I hear people use the word as an expression when the complete opposite is true. "I was so scared I literally shit my pants." In reality their pants were not soiled.

 

[Ace Boobtoucher]

frack.

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[Harley Spencer]

Oh there's a bunch.

First, etc. is etc., not ect. It's properly spelled etcetera, not ectetera.

Second, the word ignorant is very commonly mistaken to hold the definition of the word arrogant. To be ignorant is to be uneducated on a topic, to not be aware of a particular subject, to not understand or know the facts behind a matter. I hear people in arguments often calling each other ignorant, when in fact they mean to call them arrogant, which means to be self-entitled, conceited, egotistical, narcissistic, or another adjective to describe behaving in a "I'm better than you, sexier than you, more popular than you, know more than you" manner.

And I hate it when people use the words "and" "also" and "too" in the same sentence, such as, "And I also ate a hamburger with my fries, too." Seriously! You only need to use one of those words!

 

[Sam Fisher]

Using the word THEN instead of THAN.

Oh, and when people say lack of inneficiency

 

[Justanothergirl]

I agree with L3ggy - can't stand that either! Also the use of an apostrophe in a non possessive state:

http://grammar.about.com/od/punctuationandmechanics/tp/GuideApostrophe.htm

i.e. The Bronco's won today...that irks me

 

[vodkazvictim]

People using "cute" when they mean "sexy".
I remember one girl using the two in a sentence that substituted funny for sexy as she had used cute first dumb shit. Shit in the sack too.

 

[mikexmoran]

Irregardless

Doesn't really bother me. Amuses me.

 

[eponymous]

...etc. is etc., not ect. It's properly spelled etcetera, not ectetera...

It can also be written as two words: et cetera, meaning "and the others" or "and the rest." Since it's untranslated Latin (like German Angst, or French déjà vu), writing it as two words might be better, but in any case, the 't' comes before the 'c'. How in the world did people start reversing them?

 

[eponymous]

When I was a TA, I had a student who wrote in her final paper that something was "a whole nother thing in tirely."

That one's stayed with me, I'm afraid.

 

[xfire]

Alot is not a word.

 

[L3ggy]

When people use woman when they mean plural, and women when they mean singular. That is very irksome.

 

[Mr_Stiffy]

When people type "could of" or "should of" when they mean "could have" and "should have."

Oh, and an entire nation seems to think "I could care less" means something doesn't matter. Well, if you could care less, that implies you do care. The phrase you are looking for is "I couldn't care less."

 

[eponymous]

For pretty obvious reasons, Fox News' use of the phrase "Fair & Balanced."

 

[eponymous]

Attempting to qualify words but actually perverting their meaning, e.g., "he's a very unique person" or "this is a highly unique situation." The word 'unique' is actually stronger than 'very' and 'highly' because it means "one of a kind." In attempting to qualify it this way (which isn't necessary), the meaning of 'unique' is actually diminished.

Qualifying weaker or more ambiguous terms like 'unusual' (e.g., "this is highly unusual") is even more pointless because 'highly' neither adds to nor detracts from the meaning of 'unusual'. 'Highly unusual' and 'unusual' have virtually identical meanings. Instead, something that is "highly unusual" is known as "rare."

Or redundant phrases like "this is the best meal I've ever had"...to which some hasten to add..."in my life."

Also, gerund phrases that don't include a possessive, e.g., "I appreciate you taking the time" instead of "I appreciate your taking the time" or "your having taken the time..."

Writing 'cannot' as 'can not'.

Come to think of it, it pretty much annoys me when other people speak or write at all.

 

[brodkill]

there once was the ignorant man who was so narcissistic and arrogant that he saw a mural with graffiti on it and than he said it was in tirely decimated and then a alot of woman walked up and they said it could of been their enemys or friends or the body guard or the dog trainer ect... ect... ect...

 

[Ace Boobtoucher]

^Ass hole.

 

[eponymous]

Here's something from another thread that's just packed full of goodies:

"We cant change what comes into this country or what happens to people but have the right to defend it with are right to bear arms, you take these guns away from the people that abide by the law and use them to protect their family and friends and yet the crimanals will still have access to these sort of weapons."

1. missing apostrophe in 'cant'
2. no comma between 'people' and 'but', and no 'we' before 'have'
3. no clear referent for pronoun 'it'
4. 'are' instead of 'our'
5. comma splice between 'arms' and 'you'
6. I honestly don't know the actual name of the error in the transition from 'and' to 'use', but the way I see it, the subject of this phrase is still 'you', i.e., the people taking "guns away," which isn't what's intended.
7. no clear referent for pronoun 'them'
8. A run on sentence at "friends and at"
9. 'criminals' is misspelled
10. noun-pronoun agreement: these 'sorts' of weapons, not 'these sort'
11. the end is called a dangling modifier, isn't it? "you do this" and "you do that" ... and ... ? And what? You do all these things, and what? The thought isn't completed.

Plus, "what comes into this country or what happens to people" is incredibly vague.

Sorry, I'm kind of getting carried away with this.