My latest few linguistic pet peeves
I admit that I'm prone to using the occasional malaprop as well. But there are a few pervasive linguistic mistakes that native English speakers make which irk me. Here's the latest list.
"For all intensive purposes"
It's for all intents and purposes.. C'mon, just think about it.
"The proof is in the pudding"
No. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. I know this for a fact, because I like me some pudding.
"That was hysterical"
No it wasn't. It might have been hilarious. It may even have induced in you hysterical laughter. But the event, itself, was not hysterical.
"He jerry-rigged together a working Mac out of those parts."
If he did a lousy job he may have jerry built it. If he concoted a clever solution using parts on hand he may have jury rigged it.
"You can't have your cake and eat it too."
The action is reversed. The correct expression is "You can't eat your cake and have it too."
"I feel nauseous."
No. Your constant misuse of language make me nauseous. You look nauseated.
"In all honesty" or "In my honest opinion"
That implies that without that qualifier, you're being dishonest.
And so on.
Comments
You're not going to like me any more for this, but here it goes: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/nauseous
I love it when people say they are aggravated instead of irritated or annoyed. ;)
Posted by: FC | June 13, 2006 01:06 AM
Nah, I'm with Peter on this one. Merriam-Webster can usage-note until it's blue in the cover. I'll stick with American Heritage. http://www.bartleby.com/61/32/N0033200.html
Another one that gets me, though, is when people use "quote" as a noun. No, "quote" is a verb, and "quotation" is a noun. I spent almost a decade as a newspaper and magazine editor, and if I had a buck for every time I had to fix that one, I'd not be working today. :-)
(Disclaimer: of course, contrary to what our English teachers taught us decades ago, apparently there are NO RULES in the English language anymore. It seems to be a popularity contest. "People are saying this to mean that, so it must be right!" Well, feh. I don't buy it. [pulls down her green eyeshade and slinks into the darkness])
Posted by: kerri | June 13, 2006 09:35 AM