Similarly, I hate when people say "The only criteria is that we all have to sing when celebrating a birthday."

Sometimes I intentionally tell stories in which I mention "the criterion", just to get a stir out of people.

Not really similar, but super annoying is the guy in the office next to me looooooves saying "the pentultimate" (note the extra "t", that's how he says it) when meaning "really ultimate". I probably hear him say this once a month and I don't know how to handle it. He's 60, so he's probably been a multiple-decade offender, which means it might be too late to fix him. Should I kill him?

No but seriously is there any good way I can tell him he's saying a word that doesn't exist, and on top of that, saying it to mean something that doesn't make sense? We're actually on a very friendly level but he prides himself on being intelligent (he grew up in Louisiana and East Texas, so he's got a bit of a complex). I mean, he is wont to ramble on about how dumb some of our clients are, especially in regards to their speech...

I love that!

I think I would tell him or perhaps anonymously leave a clip of the definition on his desk.

Another word I hear often misused is "epicenter". People say it when they just mean "center". Drives me nuts.

"dice" used as the singular is equally annoying to me.

lol. Somehow this seems more sinister than yelling "That word doesn't mean what you think it means!"

Maybe I'll do this and post a trip report. Problem is he'll almost undoubtedly know that it was I (or is it me?) who left the anonymous note. What makes it extra weird is that it's like the only word he consitently gets wrong. Otherwise, he's very well-spoken and capable of using large words correctly.

Invite him over to play some Penultimate Frisbee.

Evander Holyfield: The Penultimate Warrior.

There will be only 1 more!

Lol I love this thread

Main Entry: epi·cen·ter
Pronunciation: \ˈe-pi-ˌsen-tər\
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin epicentrum, from epi- + Latin centrum center
Date: 1887
1 : the part of the earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake — compare hypocenter 1
2 : center 2a, b, c <the epicenter of world finance>

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epicenter

Why wouldn't you just say "center" though? Saying "epicenter" when you mean "center" seems like you're trying too hard.

Maybe they want it to sound more epic

It depends on the context I think. Like saying "New York is the epicenter of world finance" as in the example is fine but saying "Aim at the epicenter of the target" would be dumb.

either i'm very high or this is very very very funny. or both i guess.

perfect, kid.

Very poor guess; it's also amusing that your evidence that I would make a particular error is that I do not make a different, related error. Impecable logic there.

actually it was the fact that you can't spell "impeccable" that tipped me off

I use data, criteria, and media as plurals only (usually substituting "press" where most people use "media"); people look at me funny, but I'm still right.


An example supporting my thesis that one can find a dictionary that will support every common-but-idiotic usage one can think of.

Hilarious.


Edit: I use capital letters and punctuation correctly, while you eschew the former completely and the latter most of the time; when I point out you unsupported logical leap regarding me, your response is to criticize my spelling?

Another decent one, and arguably more interesting because for singular usage, die and dice are about equally common, while the correct singulars mentioned above (criterion, datum, and medium [in the news sense]) are, I think, greatly outnumbered by incorrect usage of the corresponding plurals.

In other words: we may still win on die/dice... but probably not.

you really say one dice?

haha nevermind wow i am messed up right now

The dice thing reminds me of something that I've ranted about before. Since it's Veterans' Day tomorrow and it keeps coming up I'll do so again.

It annoys the **** out of me when people in the media use troop to describe a single member of the military. A troop is a group of people. This happens just about every time there is any discussion of the military or war on TV. I've gotten more used to it now but I remember early in the Iraq war being shocked to learn that 3 troops died in an ambush when it was really three soldiers. Would you ever say "it was crazy I was hiking and saw 3 packs of wolves!" when it was three wolves? Do they report that an airplane had problems after hitting several flocks of geese?

It's bad enough when they say "X troops have died" but it's even worse when it's just one person. I only get mildly annoyed with that but hearing "a troop died today" is extremely annoying.

Am I alone on this?

This doesn't actually bother me as it is pretty standard usage, but on a related note, it does bother me that the media often refers to all military personnel as "soldiers"--even if they are marines, sailors, or air men. Soldiers are specifically members of the army.

I gave up "being right" for avoiding funny looks a long time ago.
( I get enough funny looks in general... )

But here's a point, folks: the use of language is subordinate to its users.
That is, if the majority of folks say:

"This data is corrupt." -- then it's correct. They have effectively communicated. If you learn a foreign language, or remember when we all were first learning English, there's a ton of exceptions all over the place to standard rules. The goal of language is communication -- not necessarily saying everything super proper.

- - - -

Having said all that -- I do enjoy using the "-ii" for plural of "-us" words like: "octopii" and "cactii".

are you saying you double the "i" just to be a weirdo or do you actually think they're spelled that way?

prob. stems from ******s calling bonuses "bonii" in the internet forum, if that still even happens.