What's a word that you hate?

[NightWatcher]

"Basically".
I hate the word because it is not needed. "so basically, I'm hungry" is the same as "I'm hungry". Stop wasting time and letters.

[Maraya1969]

1. Heinous. Every crime now is heinous. Can't they think of a synonym?

Like barbaric, horrific or unbelievable

[datasuspect]

2. chilling

insidious
heartless
infamous

[JVS]

84. Heinous rules!

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Froward69]

4. Bush

[trueblue2007]

48. i hate the word BUSH also

[Danger Mouse]

5. Limbaugh.

[lips]

6. fit

[Danger Mouse]

12. greasy lardass

[Lethe]

7. foment

bleh!

[City of Mills]

8. "Literally"

I could literally throw up the next time I hear someone utter that.

[Lex]

14. I'll 2nd that

nt

[racaulk]

76. That was literally my first thought too!

Totally agree.

[The Inquisitive]

77. hehe

very clever.

[petronius]

9. Actually, those aren't the same thing at all

When you append the "basically" you're saying "look, I know you're a bit slow, so I'm going to dumb this down for you."

You can still hate it, but it's not about wasting letters (IMO)...

[rakeeb]

62. It's use is annoying when the speaker

is not trying to "dumb it down" but rather sound smarter than they are...I've lost count of how many times I've heard "basically" used more than once per sentence when a local reporter is holding a mic in front of an eye witness or some other "man on the street" interview. It is especially grating when that "basically" is followed up with a grammatical error or a malapropism.

[petronius]

107. That's an excellent point - I have seen that usage...

Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[lost-in-nj]

10. two words

hate
and love


lost

[Haole Girl]

11. Dubbya

It dives me over the edge... so do the "W" stickers.

:mad:

[Orrex]

13. Embolden

I don't care if it's a perfectly cromulent word or not.

[TheBaldyMan]

108. is embolden a real word?

I thought Chimpy McTongue-tied coined it when he was talking without a safety net.

[fudge stripe cookays]

15. THANK YOU!!

Ii had an engineer at my old job who threw that in every five words or so. Drove me FREAKING CRAZY.

[fudge stripe cookays]

16. moist

it just SOUNDS ikky!

[Connonym]

17. theatre

but only when I see it spelled that way. I don't know why that bugs me but it really, really bugs me.

[JTG of the PRB]

27. I'm kind of the opposite. "Theatre" looks right to me now.

Technically, a "theater" is a place, while "theatre" is the art. I was in theatre in high school, so i only spell it "-re" now, even though I know it's wrong. I just can't help myself!

[u4ic]

38. Here in Canada

it's theatre across the board. :hi:

[Richard Steele]

18. "Pleaded", as in "the suspect pleaded guilty".

Didn't that used to be PLEAD (pronounced "pled") guilty?

[Glorfindel]

29. I agree, but it's actually spelled "pled"

I cringe every time I hear someone say "pleaded." If you cut someone, do you say that he "bleeded?"

[Richard Steele]

40. Thank you for the spellcheck! And the moral support.

The TV talking heads say "pleaded" so often, I was
starting to think I had IMAGINED the word "pled".

[hisownpetard]

92. No, but you do say that someone "heeded" a warning, or "needed" something, or

weeded their garden, etc.

Then there's dough to be "kneaded," instead of "kned."

English is a crazy language, ya know?

[SteppingRazor]

58. Actually, pled is wrong, pleaded is correct.

Grammatically, the correct terms are plead, pleading, and pleaded. Pled is a colloquial past tense term and should be avoided in written reports. (At least, according to the Associated Press Style Book and Libel Manual)

[Richard Steele]

78. "Pled" was good enough for CRONKITE; the modern AP isn't worthy to kiss MY hairy ass, let alone HIS.

Languages are LIVING THINGS; "colloquial" isn't a detractive adjective,
it's a recognition of common use. And languages are defined by COMMON USE.

I'm not flaming you; I appreciate you taking the time to reply.
I'm just saying I disagree STRONGLY with the PERSPECTIVE of the point
you are mentioning.

And from what I've seen of the modern AP, I have no reason to be taking
any lessons from them, let alone GRAMMER lessons . They can go cluster-screw
their grammer SIDEWAYS with rusty shovels until the handles break off, knowhutImean?

[SteppingRazor]

81. Cronkite didn't do written reports.

He spoke on air, so his misuse of the word can be allowed for. I'd also forgive him for saying "ain't," but just barely.

If you won't buy what the AP has to say (though, why, I don't know -- for wire reports, they're actually surprisingly grammatically correct. I'd certainly expect them to be much worse than they are), then how about this: Pleaded is also cited as the proper term by both the New York Times style book and, even more definitively, by Blackstone's Law, the Bible of common law for the Western world.

[Richard Steele]

87. You'll "forgive him"? I'll not even COMMENT on that. Please eMail him about your "forgiveness"...

...and post any response here for our enlightenment.

LANGUAGE is a living, evolving thing.
"Common use" is not "misuse", it's USE.
And "USE" is the very definition of "LANGUAGE".

"USE" without adjective modifiers.
"Common use" DEFINES what any given language IS.

"Formal use" can never do better than define what
a particular language WAS, at a fixed point in the past,
among a small SUBGROUP of people.

[SteppingRazor]

Yes, I'll forgive him.

The guy obviously doesn't mean quite as much to me as you -- though I do enjoy his recent work (his occasional columns are printed in the Denver Post among other places, and he's usually spot-on), I'm way too young to have actually seen him regularly on TV.

And I certainly agree that spoken language is defined by its use, and that it's foolish to heap the rules of usage and grammar on the spoken word.

The written word is an entirely different matter, though. There are rules that should be followed, otherwise, you're just not writing in proper English, and whatever you turn in to your teacher/editor/blog reader/what have you will simply be incorrect and, in the case of the teacher and editor will be corrected. In the case of readers, improper usage damages credibility, which is why it's changed by editors.

As an addendum to this, though, I should certainly point out that rules are made to be broken, and some of the best works of literature are ones that break the rules in new and interesting ways.

But none of that changes the fact that "pled" is still an incorrect usage, as much a word as "ain't" or "irregardless." The fact that one sees it less and less in journalistic usage is, I think, more an indicator of the standardization of the occupation than anything else. As journalism has moved from a blue-collar trade to a white-collar profession, it has become more homogeneous as rules and standards are agreed upon between entities (compare today's papers, or even those of 50 years ago, with those of 100 years ago, in which language varied wildly from region to region).

[Richard Steele]

102. Pled is the word, and the word is PLED. PLED PLED PLED PLED PLED. Deal with it. nm

[TheBaldyMan]

109. it's pronounced 'pled' but spelled 'plead'

[WinkyDink]

110. Nope. And "led" isn't spelled "lead", either!

[TheBaldyMan]

113. Which tense of 'to lead' are you confused by exactly?

It is plain and easily explained, the verb 'to lead' is different from the verb 'to plead'.

present tense - "I lead my dog down to the park" and "the lawyer pleads his case in court"

past tense - "the winner led the race from the start" and "the lawyer already plead his case last week"

[SteppingRazor]

116. .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3608462

[IntravenousDemilo]

118. Language may be a living, evolving thing, but grammar is still spelled "grammar". n/m

[hisownpetard]

93. It's g-r-a-m-m-a-r. You need to check your speeling. (sic) n/t

[Richard Steele]

99. Mai Speeling waives it's pryvate partts att yer antyies! nm

[IntravenousDemilo]

119. I just checked my Oxford, and both are acceptable.

"Pleaded" is listed first, and "pled" has the notation "(esp. U.S., Sc., dial.)".

Where the OED speaks, I speak. Where the OED is silent, I remain silent.

[trof]

101. 'went' for 'said'

"So he went 'Blah blah blah', and I went 'Well blah BLAH!' And then he went 'Blah blah blahba blah'."

I HATE THAT!!!!

[Richard Steele]

106. AAARGH!!!!!!!!!!

That "went" thing pisses me off too!
I didn't realize how annoyed I really was until this thread came along!

[IntravenousDemilo]

120. I agree!

Even worse, though, is "was like", as in "So she was like, 'Omigod!' and I was like, 'Totally!'"

[KamaAina]

19. Liaise

Bureaucratic gobbledygook at its worst.

[IDemo]

20. "issues"

A perfectly good word that got kidnapped to replace "problems".

"Their quarterback is having some passing issues." :wtf:

[Tuesday Afternoon]

21. assume --- as in assume the position

Nasty bit of business, that one.

[likesmountains 52]

22. emboldened..

[txwhitedove]

23. "Like" used every other word. "I was like...." and "he was like...."

Aaarrrgghhh x(

[johnnie]

24. The "F" word

Fart

For some reason that word bugs the shit out of me. <--I guess there is a joke in there somewhere.

[IDemo]

25. I was thinking "Fox"

[Inchworm]

26. hate

[Wapsie B]

28. Someday............

Don't ever tell me someday.


:nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

[Glorfindel]

30. "Humungous" - it's a totally worthless word

As is "ginormous." Why not just say huge, gigantic, or enormous? Also, "hopefully" when misused, at it usually is.

[WinkyDink]

31. "Folks."

[skinnyjeans]

32. belligerant

[begin_within]

33. Divulge

such a vulgar-sounding word

[QueenOfCalifornia]

34. Mellow

unless it is used to describe a deep, yummy Cabernet --

Do not tell me to "mellow out" or tell me "This is a real mellow song." It's just fingernails on the blackboard.

[CreekDog]

35. Irregardless

It's redundantpetitive

[SacredCow]

44. Gak!!!!

My boss uses that one all the time, and it drives me nuts!

[Lasher]

45. Irregardless is not even a word.

For those who must use it, it's 'regardless'.

[Rambis]

47. Like fingernails on a chalk board

ARGGGGGH!

[Oeditpus Rex]

36. Hate... words...??

That's like hating guns. :shrug:









Oh, wait...

[SPKrazy]

37. reasonable

[BlueIris]

39. Troubador. It just sounds ugly.

[JVS]

85. Hey, ugly or not, some of us need that word.

[IntravenousDemilo]

121. It's much prettier with an -our at the end.

It even gives a clue to the correct pronunciation of the last syllable, which does not rhyme with "score", but with "poor".

[DarkTirade]

41. Word.

[lightningandsnow]

42. I don't hate words, but I hate quite a few phrases...

"Not that there's anything wrong with that." - Almost always implies that there IS something wrong with it.

"I don't believe in homosexuality." To quote the great Lea Delaria, it's not the tooth fairy or the easter bunny! Your belief isn't necessary!

"Family values." Rarely has anything to do with either.

[begin_within]

56. Also "speaks to," as in "Her tragic story speaks to the issues of race and class in America."

I am so sick of "speaks to."

[sniffa]

43. did someone say hiLLary yet?

i see a deLeted message. :rofl:

[HERVEPA]

46. "Grow" as used in "Grow a business"

[hisownpetard]

95. YEEEAAAAHH. First person I ever heard use it that way was Bush, and I thought -

What a moron! And that was before the whole world knew that to be the case.

[marzipanni]

112. "Putting food on your family"

Would the food be placed, dropped, spread, or affixed to the family?

[malta blue]

49. only one....

moist

I hate that word.

[Tyler Durden]

They use that word on "Dead Like Me"

George's mother detests that word: she thinks it's dirty.

[malta blue]

57. I don't necessarily equate it with being "dirty"

just the sound of it gives me the heebees....

-plus it can be dirty too - :evilgrin:

[Tyler Durden]

63. Well, the only thing I can say about that is....

MOIST.

[malta blue]

66. LOL

:spray:

How could I not see that one coming....

[Tyler Durden]

68. Maybe you just slipped up...

...because the floor was MOIST!!!

[malta blue]

70. aaaaaaahhhhh

C'mon man - eatin' lunch here...


Thanks for making me laugh today....it has been a ROUGH week.

:pals:

[Tyler Durden]

74. Rough here too. My sinus are shot.

The weather has been so

MOIST.

[bigwillq]

50. Bless you

Or God Bless you after someone sneezes. Just don't get why you have to say that.

I usually say Salud, which means the same thing but since it's in a different language it doesn't really have the religious connotation.

[malta blue]

51. I say "salud" too.

:hi:

[bigwillq]

52. Well aren't we cool!?

:P :) :hi:

[malta blue]

54. Why, yes as a matter of fact we are....

:rofl:

[IntravenousDemilo]

122. "Gesundheit" is nice.

But my favourite is "You are so good-looking!"

[ThatsMyBarack]

53. YUMMY!!!!!

Heard in every other commercial these days. :puke:

[ceile]

55. "fixin' to"

Drives me nuts.

[Sweet Freedom]

117. As soon as I read this I knew

you were in Texas! :hi: I too, cannot stand fixin'.

[Richard Steele]

59. Also, any of the idiotic "trendy" words made by adding "age" to a noun. Particularly "Signage".

Your business can have a SIGN, or several SIGNS, but there
is no such thing as "signage". That's just a made-up word
that I have most often encountered being used by stupid
people who enjoy buzzwords and B*sh-voting. :banghead:

[SteppingRazor]

82. In addition to the "-age" thing, I'd also like to ban changing nouns to verbs by adding "-ize"

Why "utilize" something when you can "use" it?

[Richard Steele]

89. Yup! That's the same people as the ones saying "signage"!

Dumb people making up new words because they think
"hip and trendy" is an acceptable substitute for "intelligent".

[IntravenousDemilo]

123. "Doobage" is nice, though, at least in theory. I could use some doobage right now. n/m

[hisownpetard]

60. "Pundit," mispronounced by 99% of talking heads as "punDINT."

[Pierre.Suave]

61. I hate the word

"hate"

Hate is such an evil word.

[MnFats]

64. "administrate" which is not even a word.

you hear bureaucrats and stupid public servants use it.
it means administer, I think.

[qnr]

65. "Disgruntled." It is an affront to my sense of symmetry that there is no "gruntled." n/t

[Name removed]

67. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Jokerman]

69. "Hate"

I make a conscious effort to avoid that word at least when I'm talking about people.

I may hate walnuts, or lime sherbet but I if I catch myself thinking "I hate that guy" I'll try to find a different way to express that feeling.

[LSdemocrat]

71. "Meme" and nearly every other slangish word that "journalists" use to make themselves sound hip

[SteppingRazor]

83. Such as?

:shrug:

What words do journalists use to make themselves sound hip?

[LSdemocrat]

94. I notice Newsweek doing stuff like this most often

I can't really think of any specific examples, but these are often the result of modifying actual words by adding unusual prefixes (like uber-) or suffixes (like -chic).

[SteppingRazor]

98. Ah! Yeah, that is annoying.

Especially in a mag like Newsweek. You're a news magazine, for God's sake, not US Weekly.


You know what, given what you just said, could be the most annoying word in the English language?

Uberchic.

[Sequoia]

72. Poignant

[Javaman]

73. Pro-active. nt

[WinkyDink]

111. Yes! This is the one! Had to hear it constantly in school!

[MilesColtrane]

75. Awesome.

It has it's place, but it's overused these days to describe everything from God to southwest chicken wraps.

[Greyskye]

79. Nuke-you-ler

:eyes: :nuke: :eyes:

[IndianaJones]

80. Clooney. nt.

[Perry Logan]

86. Death. Just not an "up" word.

[Mad_Dem_X]

88. I don't even want to print it

A very, very nasty name for a woman's private parts, often used to describe a woman's personality. Begins with a "c." If anyone (especially a man) uses that word in my presence, I freak the fuck out.

[IntravenousDemilo]

124. "Especially a man"...?

:eyes:

[redqueen]

90. irregardless

:nuke:

[Name removed]

91. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bucky]

96. boots

[Manifestor_of_Light]

97. nouns turned into verbs.

"Tasked". They could not say "given a task".

"Parenting". It used to be called "being a parent".

"Impacting". Grrr.
"Impactful". Grrr.

The local weather guys say "ponding". They can't say "accummulated water" or "high water" or "puddles". They also don't know about past perfect verbs. They put -ed on the end of verbs and don't know the past perfect form.

Also, words commonly misspelled because they are mistaken for a similar one.

"Grizzly" crime. Wrong. "Grizzly" applies to bears.

The word for a bloody crime is "grisly".

"Poured over a document". Wrong. The word is "pore". Correct: "Pored over a document".

[Joey Liberal]

100. Evangelical

Sounds evil to me.

[FloridaJudy]

103. "Impact"

When used as a verb. I hate it when people verb nouns. There's an office supply company that advertises "A new way to office". Talk about crimes against the English language.

Oh, and "wellness". I once got a memo about "Promoting High Level Wellness" from my boss. I returned it with "You have a problem with encouraging good health?" scrawled across it in red magic marker.

[Va Lefty]

104. twat

Jennifer Aniston could ask me if I wanted her "twat" and I'd say "No, not if your going to call it that!"
Alright, I wouldn't go that far, but you get the idea.

[mentalsolstice]

105. Pussy n/t

[EFerrari]

114. My hates are more related to idiom and so, are fascist at bottom.

If I read "We the people" one more time in a GD predicate or "True, that" my head will explode.

(That makes me a language Nazi.)

Your OP reminds me of a game we used to play when writing LTTE: What word can you toss? The player that wrote the letter in the fewest words won. :)

[I Have A Dream]

115. Zit. n/t

[Sweet Freedom]

125. A few

Extreeeeeme!
Dude
Awesome
Got