Words you hate

[LadyC]

Re: RE: Words you hate

... I hate when people mix up "despite" and "in spite of". If you're doing something to spite someone, use the latter. If you're doing something irregardless of what someone said, then use the former.

Um... they're not mixing anything up. "In spite of" means without being prevented by, or nothwithstanding, which is exactly what "despite" means. Such as: "George kissed his secretary despite his wife's presence," and "George kissed his secretary in spite of his wife's presence" mean exactly the same thing: the presence of his wife didn't prevent him from doing it. Spite by itself, on the other hand, means ill will or malice: "George kissed his secretary to spite his wife" means he did it to be mean to her.

And one that really bugs me: irregardless. No such word. The word is regardless.

I was taught differently. You could be right, but it's still going to bug me. :wink:

I used irregardless on purpose - I was going to post it, but the Rev beat me to it.
(that's why I put it in italics.)

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Re: RE: Words you hate

I used irregardless on purpose - I was going to post it, but the Rev beat me to it.
(that's why I put it in italics.)

I suspected as much, but it's not always easy to be sure without the nuances of body language and tone of voice. Gotta be so careful when all you have is the words and a few emoticons to convey your meaning.

As for the meanings of "despite" and "in spite of," I checked three dictionaries before posting my remarks about them, and they all agreed with me. I'm no language Nazi though, meanings evolve, words and idioms don't generally have fixed and immutably precise meanings, and dictionaries aren't always current on usage in the real world. Words and phrases mean whatever people agree they mean. Gay used to be more or less synonymous with happy, for instance, and that's a major shift of a word's meaning within my lifetime. Similarly, "hopefully" seems to have shifted from meaning "with hope" to "I/we hope."

I think real language is defined by how people speak it and understand it on the street, not by what some dictionary says. Dictionaries just freeze it at a particular moment. Maybe we're seeing another shift in meaning with despite and in spite of, so I can't say you were taught wrongly, you were just taught something different from what I was taught and from what my dictionaries say. But I'm probably older than you, frozen in a different moment...

Language is so fluid it's a wonder we can have meaningful exchanges at all sometimes.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Re: RE: Words you hate

I used irregardless on purpose - I was going to post it, but the Rev beat me to it.
(that's why I put it in italics.)

I suspected as much, but it's not always easy to be sure without the nuances of body language and tone of voice. Gotta be so careful when all you have is the words and a few emoticons to convey your meaning.

As for the meanings of "despite" and "in spite of," I checked three dictionaries before posting my remarks about them, and they all agreed with me. I'm no language Nazi though, meanings evolve, words and idioms don't generally have fixed and immutably precise meanings, and dictionaries aren't always current on usage in the real world. Words and phrases mean whatever people agree they mean. Gay used to be more or less synonymous with happy, for instance, and that's a major shift of a word's meaning within my lifetime. Similarly, "hopefully" seems to have shifted from meaning "with hope" to "I/we hope."

I think real language is defined by how people speak it and understand it on the street, not by what some dictionary says. Dictionaries just freeze it at a particular moment. Maybe we're seeing another shift in meaning with despite and in spite of, so I can't say you were taught wrongly, you were just taught something different from what I was taught and from what my dictionaries say. But I'm probably older than you, frozen in a different moment...

Language is so fluid it's a wonder we can have meaningful exchanges at all sometimes.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Re: RE: Words you hate

I used irregardless on purpose - I was going to post it, but the Rev beat me to it.
(that's why I put it in italics.)

I suspected as much, but it's not always easy to be sure without the nuances of body language and tone of voice. Gotta be so careful when all you have is the words and a few emoticons to convey your meaning.

As for the meanings of "despite" and "in spite of," I checked three dictionaries before posting my remarks about them, and they all agreed with me. I'm no language Nazi though, meanings evolve, words and idioms don't generally have fixed and immutably precise meanings, and dictionaries aren't always current on usage in the real world. Words and phrases mean whatever people agree they mean. Gay used to be more or less synonymous with happy, for instance, and that's a major shift of a word's meaning within my lifetime. Similarly, "hopefully" seems to have shifted from meaning "with hope" to "I/we hope."

I think real language is defined by how people speak it and understand it on the street, not by what some dictionary says. Dictionaries just freeze it at a particular moment. Maybe we're seeing another shift in meaning with despite and in spite of, so I can't say you were taught wrongly, you were just taught something different from what I was taught and from what my dictionaries say. But I'm probably older than you, frozen in a different moment...

Language is so fluid it's a wonder we can have meaningful exchanges at all sometimes.

 

[LadyC]

If you remember a time when gay was synonymous with happy, then you're probably older than I am.... but not by much. (41 next month - shop early buy lots)

I agree with you 100% on the rest... that's what I love most about language. Reminds me of the story of the prof who went on at length about double negatives, and how they could technically be seen as a positive. He then said that there was no case of a double positive meaning a negative, whereupon a student in the back said, "Yeah, yeah."

 

[LadyC]

If you remember a time when gay was synonymous with happy, then you're probably older than I am.... but not by much. (41 next month - shop early buy lots)

I agree with you 100% on the rest... that's what I love most about language. Reminds me of the story of the prof who went on at length about double negatives, and how they could technically be seen as a positive. He then said that there was no case of a double positive meaning a negative, whereupon a student in the back said, "Yeah, yeah."

 

[LadyC]

If you remember a time when gay was synonymous with happy, then you're probably older than I am.... but not by much. (41 next month - shop early buy lots)

I agree with you 100% on the rest... that's what I love most about language. Reminds me of the story of the prof who went on at length about double negatives, and how they could technically be seen as a positive. He then said that there was no case of a double positive meaning a negative, whereupon a student in the back said, "Yeah, yeah."

 

[Ten Packs]

Re: RE: Words you hate

This one is petty, but I hate when people mix up "despite" and "in spite of". If you're doing something to spite someone, use the latter. If you're doing something irregardless of what someone said, then use the former.

Actually, another one that bugs my is "irregardless" - There is no such word; it's "regardless".


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Ten Packs]

Re: RE: Words you hate

This one is petty, but I hate when people mix up "despite" and "in spite of". If you're doing something to spite someone, use the latter. If you're doing something irregardless of what someone said, then use the former.

Actually, another one that bugs my is "irregardless" - There is no such word; it's "regardless".


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Ten Packs]

Re: RE: Words you hate

This one is petty, but I hate when people mix up "despite" and "in spite of". If you're doing something to spite someone, use the latter. If you're doing something irregardless of what someone said, then use the former.

Actually, another one that bugs my is "irregardless" - There is no such word; it's "regardless".


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Twila]

how about when news people say "on the ground" . As in something has arrived or landed. It's on the ground. I find that one mildly annoying. Only because the alternative/opposite is "it's in the air" when sometimes it was never in the air and isn't really on the ground.

I hate "close enough" cause if it really was close enough it would be IT.

I really really hate when people don't choose words correctly. And it leaves me questioning what it is they're trying to say. Cause then they get frustrated at having to explain to me what they meant, when if they'd simply choosen the correct word at the beginning we could have all moved on and been done with it! If you mean blue don't say torquise.

 

[Twila]

how about when news people say "on the ground" . As in something has arrived or landed. It's on the ground. I find that one mildly annoying. Only because the alternative/opposite is "it's in the air" when sometimes it was never in the air and isn't really on the ground.

I hate "close enough" cause if it really was close enough it would be IT.

I really really hate when people don't choose words correctly. And it leaves me questioning what it is they're trying to say. Cause then they get frustrated at having to explain to me what they meant, when if they'd simply choosen the correct word at the beginning we could have all moved on and been done with it! If you mean blue don't say torquise.

 

[Twila]

how about when news people say "on the ground" . As in something has arrived or landed. It's on the ground. I find that one mildly annoying. Only because the alternative/opposite is "it's in the air" when sometimes it was never in the air and isn't really on the ground.

I hate "close enough" cause if it really was close enough it would be IT.

I really really hate when people don't choose words correctly. And it leaves me questioning what it is they're trying to say. Cause then they get frustrated at having to explain to me what they meant, when if they'd simply choosen the correct word at the beginning we could have all moved on and been done with it! If you mean blue don't say torquise.