Overused and abused words

Teetonetal

HAL9000 said:

’ Myself’ - almost always superfluous.

This is something that really sticks out when I talk to British people. 

I really struggle with talking to english speakers living in Britain. Living abroad and hearing near perfect use of english by 2nd language speaker, on an almost daily basis, highlights all the little quirks that native speakers develop. Year on year they sound more ridiculous. 

rlw

Passionate

Reaching out

tone1

Diddling.....as in ‘how ya didling?’ Perhaps I need new friends....

chillidoggy

“Can I get”.

No, you can’t “get” anything, you brain-dead moron, the person with whom you’re attempting to communicate will do that for you. Really grinds my gears.

Haych

Oh, one word that I have unfortunately been introduced to, and hear far too often, since entering the world of motorcycling; farkle(s)/farkling!

Honestly, what the actual fudge?

The first time I heard the word I had to look it up - whether it's a real word is debatable but its use seems exclusive to the motorcycle fraternity.  Also, the first time I heard it I swore that if I ever used it in conversation I would ride my motorcycle to Marsh Farm, leave the keys in the ignition and volunteer for a mugging.

HAL9000

chillidoggy said:

“Can I get”.

No, you can’t “get” anything, you brain-dead moron, the person with whom you’re attempting to communicate will do that for you. Really grinds my gears.

I tend to agree. However, it depends if you’re using get to mean fetch or to mean acquire. 

p90fool

Haych said:

Oh, one word that I have unfortunately been introduced to, and hear far too often, since entering the world of motorcycling; farkle(s)/farkling!

Honestly, what the actual fudge?

The first time I heard the word I had to look it up - whether it's a real word is debatable but its use seems exclusive to the motorcycle fraternity.  Also, the first time I heard it I swore that if I ever used it in conversation I would ride my motorcycle to Marsh Farm, leave the keys in the ignition and volunteer for a mugging.

I've never heard that in four decades of biking, what does it mean? 

relic245

Coaches who can help you to find 'your authentic self'

Haych

chillidoggy said:

“Can I get”.

No, you can’t “get” anything, you brain-dead moron, the person with whom you’re attempting to communicate will do that for you. Really grinds my gears.

I used to know a man who would write to well established writers and publishers about the use of get/got in their works and publications.  He, rightly so, claimed it was poor use of the language and just plain lazy.

While I agree with him I wouldn't be such a pedant as to inflict my opinion on people the way he did.  I'm happy to have an opinion, and maybe express it as we are here, but pulling somebody up mid conversation for using the word get/got is straddling bigotry.

Oddly enough, he was mostly American (he was born in England but raised and lived in Florida).  I've often thought that Americans actually have a better grasp of the English language then we do.

We bastardise the language, misuse words which we understand in context but which are mostly misapplied.  For example; a British person might say, "fish and chips are brilliant", the hearer of those words knows the meaning expressed but in the true sense of the word nobody can really accurately describe fish and chips as brilliant. 

Whereas an American is more likely to use the word brilliant correctly (not to say that the British exclusively use it incorrectly, of course); there's a brilliant shine on that silverware, or, he has a brilliant mind.

That said, they have their own bastardisations of language, like usetacould, a case in point I find fascinating - it's a completely made up word, and a colloquialism at that, which perfectly describes what the speaker means and which the hearer understands without needing interpretation.

Haych

p90fool said:

Haych said:

Oh, one word that I have unfortunately been introduced to, and hear far too often, since entering the world of motorcycling; farkle(s)/farkling!

Honestly, what the actual fudge?

The first time I heard the word I had to look it up - whether it's a real word is debatable but its use seems exclusive to the motorcycle fraternity.  Also, the first time I heard it I swore that if I ever used it in conversation I would ride my motorcycle to Marsh Farm, leave the keys in the ignition and volunteer for a mugging.

I've never heard that in four decades of biking, what does it mean? 

The meaning as taken from a motorcycling publication:

Farkle (n): A modification to a motorcycle that satisfies the following criteria: creates “bling,” serves a purpose (the usefulness of which is in the eyes of the farkler) and is most likely expensive. Often used among touring riders to denote or convey status amongst their peers. Ex: “I picked up a new farkle for my ST today: a GPS-based burger joint locator!” (v): To farkle; to accessorize one’s motorcycle with farkles. Ex: “Boy, John really farkled out his K1300GT; it’s even got a cup holder!”

HAL9000

Keith Richards’ overuse of the ‘cats’, and putting ‘man’ at the end of every other sentence.

chillidoggy

"Insane" when applied to YouTube videos.

boogieman

Haych said:

chillidoggy said:

“Can I get”.

No, you can’t “get” anything, you brain-dead moron, the person with whom you’re attempting to communicate will do that for you. Really grinds my gears.

I used to know a man who would write to well established writers and publishers about the use of get/got in their works and publications.  He, rightly so, claimed it was poor use of the language and just plain lazy.

While I agree with him I wouldn't be such a pedant as to inflict my opinion on people the way he did.  I'm happy to have an opinion, and maybe express it as we are here, but pulling somebody up mid conversation for using the word get/got is straddling bigotry.

Oddly enough, he was mostly American (he was born in England but raised and lived in Florida).  I've often thought that Americans actually have a better grasp of the English language then we do.

We bastardise the language, misuse words which we understand in context but which are mostly misapplied.  For example; a British person might say, "fish and chips are brilliant", the hearer of those words knows the meaning expressed but in the true sense of the word nobody can really accurately describe fish and chips as brilliant. 

Whereas an American is more likely to use the word brilliant correctly (not to say that the British exclusively use it incorrectly, of course); there's a brilliant shine on that silverware, or, he has a brilliant mind.

That said, they have their own bastardisations of language, like usetacould, a case in point I find fascinating - it's a completely made up word, and a colloquialism at that, which perfectly describes what the speaker means and which the hearer understands without needing interpretation.

You obviously know a very different bunch of Americans to me. Most of the ones in my family (well, my wife’s to be accurate) have no idea of how the English language should work, let alone use it correctly. My pet hate is the younger ones using “super” in front of everything. It was a super exciting day.  I’m super stoked about the new car dad got. It was super tasty. The Americans as a nation also have no idea how to make tea, bloody treasonous peasants!! 

  

scrumhalf

chillidoggy said:

"Insane" when applied to YouTube videos.

Similarly, the use if "destroy" when the uploader actually means "disagree with".

SPECTRUM001

And of course question mark intonation.

Has been infiltrating over the last 30 years, but particularly bad now.

RaymondLin

MrTee said:

Literally is literally overused

Had a Facetime with my sister and she asked her 6 year old "What's your favourite word?'

"Literally"

Although she pronounced is perfectly in a cute way but inside I put my palm to my head.

chillidoggy

And while we're on the subject, the use of multiple exclamation or question marks!!!!!!!

Why??????

the_jaffa

SPECTRUM001 said:

And of course question mark intonation.

Has been infiltrating over the last 30 years, but particularly bad now.

AID - Australian Intonation Disorder

jellyroll

Let's face it, writing's not that easy....but grammarly can help*


*This sentence is grammatically correct (I fink).

zepp76

Haych said:

p90fool said:

Haych said:

Oh, one word that I have unfortunately been introduced to, and hear far too often, since entering the world of motorcycling; farkle(s)/farkling!

Honestly, what the actual fudge?

The first time I heard the word I had to look it up - whether it's a real word is debatable but its use seems exclusive to the motorcycle fraternity.  Also, the first time I heard it I swore that if I ever used it in conversation I would ride my motorcycle to Marsh Farm, leave the keys in the ignition and volunteer for a mugging.

I've never heard that in four decades of biking, what does it mean? 

The meaning as taken from a motorcycling publication:

Farkle (n): A modification to a motorcycle that satisfies the following criteria: creates “bling,” serves a purpose (the usefulness of which is in the eyes of the farkler) and is most likely expensive. Often used among touring riders to denote or convey status amongst their peers. Ex: “I picked up a new farkle for my ST today: a GPS-based burger joint locator!” (v): To farkle; to accessorize one’s motorcycle with farkles. Ex: “Boy, John really farkled out his K1300GT; it’s even got a cup holder!”

I’m the same as @p90fool I’ve never heard of the term! I had to look it up because I thought you were pulling our leg!

https://ridermagazine.com/2017/02/01/what-the-heck-is-a-farkle/

apparently started with a Honda riding group, “you meet the nicest people on a Honda”.

I suppose it’s no different to me bunging a doohickey on the bike?