What misused terms bug you the most?

[Kevlar]

I think 'he all but' means 'he almost.' Of course, 'he almost threw up' is simpler than 'he all but threw up.'

Just thought of another one though:

People saying 'I could care less' when they mean 'I couldn't care less.'

 

[sashamerideth]

With me big on science fiction, using sentient when the right word is sapient. A dog is sentient but not sapient.

 

[grahamguitarman]

basically I hate all text/internet speech and refuse to use it - even when texting.

 

[grahamguitarman]

Oh and no offense to Americans, but I'm fed up with software constantly telling me I've spelt something wrong because I've used the English not the American spelling. I'm not American so I have no interest in using Americanisms, examples being (but not limited to):

its colour not color, humour not humor, sneaked not snuck, dragged not drug, normality not normalcy, centre not center, traveller not traveler, offence not offense, paralyse not paralyze ect.

this might not seem a big deal to Americans but as someone who was brought up with English as my first language, I find it very annoying to be told I should be using American spellings.

 

[Hëradïn]

if you are using MS office all you have to do is click the button at the bottom that says "English (United States)" and scroll down to the one that says "English (United Kingdom)" and set it to default that will fix your problem... As to other word processing programs, I'm sure you can change it, but I don't happen to use them.

 

[CicadaGrrl]

I'm a big fan of language changing all the time. Language is fluid. That's part of its fun.

In my high fantasy books (which, true, are set far from any time and space we know of) people say things like "okay." It is anachronistic. I'm aware of it. I'm not trying not to have it have anachronistic details. If I were to solely work with "proper," time and place specific language, we wouldn't understand a word, so why can't they have a version of "okay."

Yeah--if the class books I've seen, anyway, are representative, it would be kind to say even dramatic irony is being taught correctly right now. It's not just youngsters either. I've always found it the ironic generation doesn't appear to know what ironic means.

 

[Shadoe]

Oh look. I talked to my ex-husband and came up with some other things that annoy me:

"mute point" instead of "moot point"
"for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes"
"escape goat" instead of "scape goat"

The use of "anyways," "towards" and "irregardless"
(Though I'll admit that "irregardless" is still one of my favorite words.)

The word "literally" when used incorrectly. As in, "I literally died when she said that."

 

[Philip Overby]

I sort of like "escape goat." Sounds like when you're in trouble just call your escape goat to get you out of a pinch.

"Escape goat! To me!"

 

[Shadoe]

Yeah... Now I'm never going to be able to be annoyed by the phrase, "escape goat." I suspect when someone uses it, however, they will be mystified by my helpless laughter.

 

[myrddin173]

While it isn't usually used in fantasy literature, it drives me insane when people use the term osmosis for anything except water. They should be using diffusion! Osmosis is the diffusion of water, not anything else. I was just reading a textbook where this was used.