Words......

Pet peeve: the use of 'and' instead of 'to' eg: 'I'll go and get a cup of coffee' or 'I'll call and speak with you about it'.

Also, at Uni, the Prof supervising my Master's thesis went through my first draft and circled all the split infinitives in red pen. She wouldn't even comment on the science until I'd made sure all the SIs were corrected. Meanwhile I was thinking that what was good enough for Gene Roddenberry ('To boldly go') should be good enough for Queen's University!
 
A phrase that has been popping up like a virus is "does that make sense?" This seem like another way of getting approval or validation from another person.
 
eonstg said:
A phrase that has been popping up like a virus is "does that make sense?" This seem like another way of getting approval or validation from another person.
Click to expand...


I do that all the time… :halo:

Also, another one I catch myself saying and try to correct it is the term “anyways…” instead of “anyway..”

And of course who could forget during school, asking permission to go to the washroom- you’d say: “can I go the washroom.” And the teacher would say, “sure you can, but may you?” ;D

I also have to say- as much as I try to have correct grammar- having English as a second language doesn’t make it easy. So I do get things wrong from time to time, like “than and then” :P

Also, the term "whatever" ( I say that a lot too)

And the term "like" ....

"Like you know... whatever..." :lol:
 
So, it looks like the problems with the misuse of words is due to the underlying assumptions that a particular word means something that it doesn't?

That doesn't bother me so much today, I guess. Yesteryear, what did bother me were certain reactions from the 'wrong' to those who were the 'correct' - at least from a logically useful point of view.

Examples:

Waiter asks you: "Would you like coffee, tea or juice?"
Correct answer: "Yes."
Waiter says: "Hey, buddy, you trying to be funny?"
Correct answer in that case becomes: "uh...coffee is fine, thanks". :D


Some of us may hang around computers a bit too often for that very reason.


Or, how about...

You are 12 years old. Parent says: "This is the way it is: blah, blah, blah"

You know better, because you understand the words involved, so you say you don't understand what they mean by their statement.

Parent says: "You don't know what [insert word here] means? Go look it up in the dictionary."

So, you go look it up. Mr. Dictionary confirms your knowledge, so you say "...the dictionary doesn't say what you just said."

Parent says "let me see that...I'll show you."

Parent can't find it either, so you are told: "go put the book up...you'll understand when you grow up a little." :rolleyes:


Sheesh...growing pains. Some seem so silly. :)
 
There is information and the interpretation thereof.

The use/misuse of one word can make the devil (detail) of a difference.

Psychopaths know this.
 
Jerry said:
There is information and the interpretation thereof.

The use/misuse of one word can make the devil (detail) of a difference.

Psychopaths know this.
Click to expand...

Indeed. And aside from other aspects of body language, 'interpretation' can be further considered as:
1) shades of meanings relative to various contexts
2) ponerized connotations that bear little or no objective connection to the words/phrases used (war on terror anyone?)

It was the latter that I had the most trouble with as a young boy. It almost drove me into an autistic-type withdrawal. In fact, there would be several days when I refused to communicate at all.

I knew someone was lying, I just couldn't determine who. And, of course, I had a vested interest in avoiding physical discipline and idealizing a parent, so you can probably guess the rest of the story. :)
 
The use of "it's" in any context other than as a contraction of "it is".

Hot water heater - If the water's hot, why heat it?
 
eonstg said:
A phrase that has been popping up like a virus is "does that make sense?" This seem like another way of getting approval or validation from another person.
Click to expand...

:D Fwiw, when this ends one of my posts, I really do need to know if what I'm posting makes any sense. The other one is this: "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
 
Other than the correct use and spelling of words I'd like to point
to a different quality of words, namely they tend to limit our thinking.
There are many reasons and I only list a few that I can think of and
encourage others to complete the list.
Conditioning (language is the main instrument for programming).
Emotional ballast (some words act as triggers for emotions)
Concept limiting (this happens most frequently to people who had
(to suffer academic training)
These are the main ones. The following example may clarify my thinking:
Let's consider the word "gravity" as used in physics instruction.
This word is definitely "concept limiting". Everybody invariably thinks of
attraction, i.e.being held to the earth so we don't fly off.
Now consider the word as it is used by the C's.
In their explanation it is not a force but more of substrate that is essentially
neutral and "binds everything in existence".
Using this idea and Gurdjeff's three forces we see
Electricity = active
Magnetism = negative
Gravity = neutral
This is a subjective interpretation that needs to be explored.
One thing is becoming clear in the recent study of cosmology:
the universe is largely constructed by electrical/magnetic forces and
gravity is the substrate in which this occurs.
(Scott, D., The Electric Sky: A Challenge to the Myth of Modern Astronomy)
 
Lots of good info here. A lot of times I'll want to write something a certain way and I can't quite figure out the proper wording so I wind up doing it totally different.

No matter how hard I try I usually wind up with what I write just not reading the way I thought it. Thoughts are so much easier than words.
 
tom32071 said:
Lots of good info here. A lot of times I'll want to write something a certain way and I can't quite figure out the proper wording so I wind up doing it totally different.

No matter how hard I try I usually wind up with what I write just not reading the way I thought it. Thoughts are so much easier than words.
Click to expand...

But until you share it, you are alone with it... and never sharing your thoughts is sad.
 
Pet Peeves:

The use of irregardless instead of regardless. I suppose that placing the prefix "ir" in front of regardless adds emphasis to the statement? As if!

Insure instead of ensure (or ensure instead of insure) - Neither of these words bother me when spoken but please, please, don't use either incorrectly in a written communication.
 
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