Pet Peeves

[Serenity]

The "Speeding" thread made me think of another pet peeve:...........

Did you mean the old Road Rage thread? Don't get me going on that topic; it doesn't belong in Pet Peeves. It should be on the Hyperventilation thread; drivers in the Boston metro area are just plain M*ssholes! The game is to keep the other driver guessing so that they hesitate long enough for you to get the upper hand.

Don't signal others what you intend to do or they will just cut you off.
Never leave more than one car length between you and the car in front of you.
Purposely drift to the adjacent lane to give yourself a little space and give others the impression that you are drunk or blabbing on the cell phone.

Instead of playing "merge or yield" on the ramps change the game to "chicken" and "floor it" onto the expressway; next time, that guy that was sure he was going to cut you off will switch to the middle lane before the exit ramps come up.

[Angie Parkes]

First thing I do when I get a new magazine is dump/tear out all those annoying cards and ads, and put them in the recycling bin.

Just as bad, if not worse, are stickers on fruit!

And I'm incensed about word use, too. Driving home today I heard a candidate for the premier's position discuss his platform, one plank of which is to provide incentives for people to improve their health. This person (a lawyer!) said that "incenting" the public this way would save money in the long run. He used this non-word twice!

Then just now I read on the CBC website a story about two people convicted of terrible crimes, the likes of which are astounding for their "depravity and perverseness". Given that these were sex crimes, I think the writer meant "perversion".

I probably wouldn't be so peeved if I hadn't heard "incenting" earlier.

[Serenity]

... Driving home today I heard a candidate for the premier's position discuss his platform, one plank of which is to provide incentives for people to improve their health. This person (a lawyer!) said that "incenting" the public this way would save money in the long run. He used this non-word twice!............

Is this lawyer's alma mater in Texas (or maybe Yale)?

[Shapley]

"incenting"

I would have been incensed.

[Shapley]

We have a tendency in the English Language to create new verbs from nouns. We don't 'look things up on Google', we Google them. We 'Xerox' something (which has drawn justified rebuke from the Xerox company) instead of 'copying it on the Xerox machine'. We 'telephone' people, rather than 'call them on the telephone'. We 'trash' items rather than throw them in the trash.

It's only logical that providing incentives would come to be called 'incenting'.

I'm bugged by the word 'blog'. What the heck is a 'blog' anyway, a computer swamp? Is it a verb or is it a noun, or do we care? I'll blog it on my blog.

It's Xtremely irritating. Just like the loss of the 'E' in extreme. Everywhere you look these days, it's 'Xtreme' this and 'Xtreme' that. I wonder how long before the Church tries to renew interest in the Annointing of the Sick by calling it 'Xtreme Unction'!

V/R
Shapley

[barfle]

Not 2 mention the use of numbers as a substitute 4 words.

[jamiebk]

"incenting"

I would have been incensed.

A popular variation on this around here (work) is "incentivising" Geezzzz

How about the common phrase "I could have cared less". Is it not supposed to be "I could NOT have cared less"? (I may have mentioned this one before)

[piqaboo]

jamie, ya beet me 2 it.
I'll vote for incenting over incentivizing any day.
But I'd prefer to inspire, motivate or encourage.

[Angie Parkes]

We have a tendency in the English Language to create new verbs from nouns....It's only logical that providing incentives would come to be called 'incenting'.

I know, Shap, and there are some words we're just going to have to accept. I think "prioritizing" -- no matter how much I hate it -- is here to stay because it fills a real gap. What busts my buttons is when a word is coined when perfectly good ones already exist. Piq pointed out encourage, inspire, and motivate.

A couple of other examples are back-formations: "gift" as a verb and -- I'm not making this up -- "coronate", as in "Queen Elizabeth was coronated in 1953." I know that this is a back-formation from "coronation" but the verb used to be "crown".

I wonder how long before the Church tries to renew interest in the Annointing of the Sick by calling it 'Xtreme Unction'!

We already have the Flying Fathers hockey team (my friend, the married priest, used to play left wing!). "Xtreme Unction" sounds like the name of a clerical BMX and skateboard team! A family friend in Malta, Father Tony, used to make his visits to the sick on his motorcycle, so maybe it's not so farfetched.

[Shapley]

(my friend, the married priest, used to play left wing!)

How appropriate! Was there a conservative one on the right wing?

[BigJon]

How about the common phrase "I could have cared less". Is it not supposed to be "I could NOT have cared less"? (I may have mentioned this one before)

My understanding is that it is supposed to be sarcastic.

[barfle]

We already have the Flying Fathers hockey team (my friend, the married priest, used to play left wing!). "Xtreme Unction" sounds like the name of a clerical BMX and skateboard team! A family friend in Malta, Father Tony, used to make his visits to the sick on his motorcycle, so maybe it's not so farfetched.

A bit off topic, but there's a rock band at the Patent Office called the Final Rejections.

[DavidS]

What busts my buttons is when a word is coined when perfectly good ones already exist. Piq pointed out encourage, inspire, and motivate.

A couple of other examples are back-formations: "gift" as a verb and -- I'm not making this up -- "coronate", as in "Queen Elizabeth was coronated in 1953." I know that this is a back-formation from "coronation" but the verb used to be "crown".

On a similar note - could someone from the western side of the Atlantic please tell me what "burglarize" is meant to convey that "burgle" doesn't?

[Shapley]

On a similar note - could someone from the western side of the Atlantic please tell me what "burglarize" is meant to convey that "burgle" doesn't?

I don't know if it's true or not, but a teacher once told me that 'burglarize' was created for a poem to make 'bugle' rhyme with another word, and it crept into general usage.

V/R
Shapley

[jamiebk]

How about the common phrase "I could have cared less". Is it not supposed to be "I could NOT have cared less"? (I may have mentioned this one before)

My understanding is that it is supposed to be sarcastic.

BJ...I see your point, but I don't think many people use it with intended sarcasm. I think for the most part "I could have cared less" is just a sloppy version of the actual phrase. I don't think most people realize that it is supposed to be "I couldn't have cared less".

[barfle]

"I couldn't have cared less".

He's center field.

[Schmeelkie]

I got peeved a couple of elections ago with politician's promises to 'grow the economy'.

And then there's the ads for receiving an 'extra added bonus' - just one of those words would suffice.

'course when I lived in Pennsylvania a western PA native roommate of mine would talk about how, 'the kitchen needs cleaned' or 'floor needs washed' - drove me up a wall!

Won't even begin with the joy of grading student papers....so glad I'm not doing that anymore! (OK - I'll relate my favorite from the obvious lack of editing file, "Alcohol can damage the brain, and more importantly, the liver". My response was - well, I can get a liver transplant, but not a brain transplant, so....)

[Shapley]

My response was - well, I can get a liver transplant, but not a brain transplant, so....)

Yeah, but there are lots of people living without using their brain...

[jamiebk]

If ignorance is bliss, why are there so many unhappy people in the world?

[Angie Parkes]

If ignorance is bliss, why are there so many unhappy people in the world?

They're too dumb to know any better?