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overused Phrases and words that have lost their meaning


Don Coatney

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The TV was tuned to a cartoon channel and I heard a cartoon character say "the engine must be flooded" when the cartoon car would not start. Hence every kid of an impressionable age watching that show will now say the engine must be flooded when any car will not start.

 

My terrific wife is a great cook and can make a meal to die for. But if she turns on the electric stove and it does not heat up she tells me "there must be a short". So at some point in her life she was programmed to say any electrical problem must be a short.

 

The other day I was having a conversation and the guy said "to tell you the truth" blah-blah-blah. Does this indicate that up until now he had not been telling me the truth?

 

"Like", "you know", and my favorite "um".

 

These are just a few examples of words and phrases that should be banned forever. I am sure there are more so use this  thread to list them.

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Sometimes people think they need to buy a new "hot water heater" when what they need is a "water heater". Even see some store ads with "hot" water heater. I don't need to heat my hot water.

 

Crescent wrench for an adjustable wrench.

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Flatty instead of Flathead and Dizzy instead of Distributor are right on the top of my list.

How about using "L-head" rather than flathead? :)

 

"old skool" really bothers me. In the old days, if "old school" had been a phrase, and I don't recall ever hearing it way back when, then is certainly would not be spelled "skool".

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Learned terminology and learned gestures is interesting. My 5 year old granddaughter commented she "hated" green beans. I thought to myself she is too young to have developed a hate for anything. A short time after I heard her mother say "I hate green beans". 

 

Last summer I attended a baseball game to watch a grandson play. When it was his time at bat he (and several others) stood at home plate and extended there arm and bat as if pointing to some place in the outfield. Looked like some form of intimidation as if  that was where they were going to hit the ball. I wondered where he learned to do that. Then just this week I was reading a bit on the history of Babe Ruth. Seems he invented that bit of intimidation that it is practiced by many to this day. But the Babe did indeed hit the ball where he pointed to. My grandson struck out :(

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Last summer I attended a baseball game to watch a grandson play. When it was his time at bat he (and several others) stood at home plate and extended there arm and bat as if pointing to some place in the outfield. Looked like some form of intimidation as if  that was where they were going to hit the ball. I wondered where he learned to do that. Then just this week I was reading a bit on the history of Babe Ruth. Seems he invented that bit of intimidation that it is practiced by many to this day. But the Babe did indeed hit the ball where he pointed to. My grandson struck out :(

'The Babe' was something else. Great movie starring John Goodman and Kelly McGillis about the life of Babe Ruth.

Edited by BigDaddyO
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I think Old Skool, Hot Rodz, Kustom Carz,    and all that sort of spelling was invented by the hip hoppers and rappers.     

 

Back in the 1950s when I was growing up, old school was that old building that had been around many years and had been

replaced by the "new school".  

 

 Acronyms are a real pain - since the people who use them know what it means....  but a stranger has no clue.   Kind of like putting

pictures on Facebook.............you as the poster know who the people are, but viewers have no idea if they are family or friends or what. 

 

And......many others..........

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I relish fresh and frozen green beans, I detest canned green beans, and abhor French cut green beans.  I seem to have no emotional response to Wax beans though.  

 

 

I relish fresh and frozen green beans, I detest canned green beans, and abhor French cut green beans.  I seem to have no emotional response to Wax beans though.  

so basically depending on the bean  variety..you are either waxing or waning..

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A list of items are  is...  Ten-year  Tenth  anniversary ... 

 

Then there are the erosions of grammar that are so common that no one seems to notice:  

 

Who  Whom  are you going to ask?  Who is it?  Me!   I!    He gave it to he and I.   him and me

 

Her  She  and John left. 

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If you you get in front something, how come you then say you stand by it?  Our friends at Ford suggest that owning a vehicle of their's will let you go further.  I would actually rather go farther as that is a descriptor for distance, while further describes additional quantity, as in the concept needs further study.  They contract for hiring that AD Agency deserved further consideration.

Edited by greg g
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A list of items are  is...  Ten-year  Tenth  anniversary ... 

 

Then there are the erosions of grammar that are so common that no one seems to notice:  

 

Who  Whom  are you going to ask?  Who is it?  Me!   I!    He gave it to he and I.   him and me

 

Her  She  and John left. 

 

Glad to see another grammarian on the forum. Alot A lot of other things bother me, too. Who's Whose car do you like the most? I like that one but it's its colour could be nicer. Unlike nouns, pronouns never take an apostrophe to show possession.

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