I know what you mean - even the BBC are guilty of it these days. It's all about sensationalism on the news. Maybe they think it's the way to get more viewers. The only thing we've got left over here that doesn't do this is something called Radio 4.
I don't know, maybe it's an age thing.

I suspect that the first error comes from the fact that "bass," from the subwoofer, is pronounced the same as "base." Adding to the confusion is that "bass," the fish is pronounced like "a$$" with a "b" on the front. Perhaps a teaching philosophy called "whole language" is to blame. It was in vogue in the US about 18 years ago. My daughter had to suffer through it. The emphasis was on complete understanding of language, and analysis. Taught at the elementary school level. It did work well, but part of the philosophy was that the strict and rigorous emphasis that is traditionally placed on spelling rules and rote memorization of spelling was avoided, and a complete contextual understanding of language was, instead, emphasized. Consequently, many of my daughter's friends are very bright, but can not, to this day (she is 24) spell many common words.

The second error, "quite," I just write off to failure to catch a typing error.

Now, one that REALLY makes me grit my teeth in anger: "AXE", when they mean "ask," as in "Let me AXE you a question." Or, "I axe her where she went." UGH. Axe is right, as in I would like to take one to everyone who says that.

y'know, "I axe her" can mean *very* different things

At least from my experience, axe instead of ask is almost strictly a spoken misuse. I don't think I've ever seen someone seriously write axe instead of ask.

Most WoW gamers will have a totally different definition for this, and to me it sounds just as annoying as your definition.







Mine: little brat. The use of these words went up considerably the past 24 hours. Argh.

Oh, and sentences like these: In you're opinion, these speakers are quite, but to me their to loud.

With regard to "could care less": You'd either have to say "as if I could care less" or at the very least say "I could care less!" with the same overemphasised sarcastic tone as "I should be so lucky!" for it to make sense. Sadly, every time I've heard anyone say it they've done so with the same phrasing and tone as if they had actually said "I couldn't care less". This is an easy mistake to make if you care less about getting your mesage across than you do about being ironic and offhand. In fact, if you think about it for long enough your brain will go into an endless irony loop. Within a matter of seconds a quantum singularity will form between your ears and your head will implode. LOL EPIC FAILZ!1!!!11

"Proactive": thank you N7SC. It makes me want to punch things. There is no situation where that abomination is preferable to "active". It is redundant BS. It used to be that everyone except insecure middle management types thought this, but here we are years later and everyone's using it. STOP IT RIGHT NOW!

"Cheap at half the price" (instead of "cheap at twice the price") is silly to anyone with a basic grasp of maths, but people say it all the time.

"Center around" (instead of "center on") is wrong but probably considered too pedantic to mention.

"Invalid", when used instead of "incorrect"... It won't annoy most people, but anyone who programs even semi-regularly should despise it as much as I do, because it's a mistake generally made by those who should know better. e.g. "invalid password" instead of "incorrect password".

I actually quite like "fail" and "win". Massive overuse has created a backlash, but fashion will move on.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot... Like, people who, like, say "like", like every second word? Listening to them, like, talk and stuff, like, totally makes me dream of, like, gouging my eyes out with a broken light bulb.

Then there is: ". . . in my mind . . ." Usage example: Politician being interviewed says "There is [I have, etc.] no doubt in my mind that . . ." Where else would he have doubt, in his toenail? Knee cap? Why not just say "I doubt that . . ." to express doubt?

I always took the implication to be "as opposed to the minds of others" but it is clearly a meaningless platitude. A simple "I have no doubt that..." would be clearer and require less BS repellent spray.

I think American English is just a really big fan of adjectives and adverbs, even if we usually don't use them properly. I'm guessing some of the verbosity comes from assignments in school where you have to write a 1200 word paper and after you have said everything you want to say, you are only at 1100 words. So you just add another hundred descriptors and call it even.

Not with the English professors that I had. They wouldn't let you get away with it.

Most of the verbosity and use of extra adjectives shows up in the speech and writings of Very Important People. Examples include politicians, newscasters, and reporters. Many of the annoying and excess verbosity comes from these peoples' desire to sound Important! rather than from habits learned in English classes, which they probably did poorly in.

Note: In my frequent castigation of reporters, I specifically exclue the wonderful political reporting crew at the Miami Herald: Beth Reinhard, Mary Ellen Klas, Lesley Clark, Mark Caputo, and Amy Sherman. Their blog, Naked Politics, at the Herald's web site (www.herald.com) is a model of clear, if at times wisecracking, and factual reporting.

Actually it's on the other end. I recently evaluated a college class. I remarked that we had this wonderful 350 page book. The only problem with it was it also had 450 pages of filler to justify its outrageous price. Now the price alone would not have upset me so much as the time wasted gathering valuable info that was mixed into the fluff.

Many times at work the boss annouces we are doing this assignment in-house (ie with employees and not consultants.) This leaves me wide open to respond "As opposed to out-house?" (Also a commentary on the quality of work from people who are paid to program and are long gone before program goes into production and has a massive logic fart.)

I guess now I could address brain fart, but it speaks for itself.

I can't say for outside the US, but if there's even a remote possibility we can turn a word into a verb, we do. I watch House MD, and I find myself using "House" as a verb, and also in place of "arse opening."

In Sweden we simply write down the length and fluffyness of American textbooks on any subject to the rule "American writers are payed per page..."

In Belgium we have opinions on Swedish non-fiction, too, especially that which comes with Ikea products.
There's a fine line between 'terse' and 'incommunicado'...

Are you sure? Have you seen any AFLAC commercials?

The one that gets to me is when someone want their computer to "be more silent."
There are no degrees of silent, it's an absolute, either your computer is silent (and I highly doubt anyone's is) or it isn't silent, like the pregnancy example earlier. (A pregnant computer really would be something!)
What people want is not a silent computer but an inaudible one. (Easily accomplished by turning up the volume and base of your L33t, kick-ass speakers to epic proportions - until they fail!)

Unique is the same, you can't have "more unique," either something is unique or it isn't.

Another good one from the marketing departments is "free gift." I thought a gift was by definition free, or are people in the habit of paying for their "gifts?"
Regards, Seb

Agreed, the same with the "what is the most silent [component type]?" questions.

Quiet isn't a verb either. You don't quiet your computer, you quieten it. You certainly don't "quite" your computer

I have never even heard of quieten. A quick check on google tells me that mostly a british word.

While quiet is most commonly an adjective, it is also a verb...

dictionary.com

There is a Swedish commercial these days which is bugging me... "Kills buggs dead". As opposed to "Kills buggs only half-dead"?

It must kill them to death then. Disinfectants generally do come with slogans like that accompanied by overly dramatic depictions of their deployment.

Perhaps "Kills Bugs Dead" is "more complete?"

My favourite annoyance that has'nt already been covered.

"fall pregnant".

Simply put, no one ever "fall's pregnant", you get $#?!@ed and become pregnant via a process that has existed for millions of years. You fall when you trip on something - falling is a sudden process, and if someone "fall's pregnant" the male party just is'nt doing her justice by making the process end so quickly after it started.


Andy

What are your thoughts about the phrase "knocked up?"

Where did that one come from?

I assume that its another synonym that is designed to be "polite" so it does not offend, although "knocked up" is rather more offensive than "a bun in the oven".

I personally like to call the small things that grow inside of "knocked up" ladies as "parasites" - thank "Hugh Laurie" for that one.


Andy

Or should that be... Agent Smith?

Not quite. A fetus will stop feeding off it's host at some point. A parasite could easily reproduce inside a host and exhaust all resources, to the host's death and it's own. Also a fetus also didn't wonder around looking for a host, the host had something to do with it's appearance.

Smith saw humans as a virus, but honestly when he described human behavior I really don't think rats reach equilibrium either, I think they just keep going and going, like the Everyready rabbit.

Buns smell good when exiting the oven, can't say for the other.

What? Not a big fan of sniffing newborns?

the internet gets me. For some time i was certain to be witnessing an anti'd existence...like someone beating an 80s subari to death, and spending 35k for a WRX.

the word "the" has been swiched around.. I see it "teh" or whatever else on purpose, and the word "pwned", that came from gaming. I am a gaming old timer. I never liked that word. It means "owned".
"epic fail" and "fail" have found there way into the real world...
I hear not many annoying phrases, I don't talk much anyway. The net really gets me sometimes. The news sites and bloggers, there is no money in it, the spellings and phrases and sentences slapped together creating double meanings leave me reading things twice alot. It is everywhere...

colm teh epic fail

pwned