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Rod Speed Rod Speed is offline
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Default OT: What words or phrases annoy you?



"micky" wrote in message
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In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 10 Jun 2021 22:01:57 +0100, "NY"
wrote:

"micky" wrote in message
. ..

I also don't like "different than". It should be "different from".



People who use clichés or standard phrases, but get them the wrong way
round
so they make no logical sense: "cheap at half the price" (it should be
"cheap at twice the price" if you mean "very cheap")


I don't know the origin of that one.

and that Americanism "I
could care less": no, you *don't* mean that, it makes no sense; you mean
"[I
care so little that] I could *not* care less".


But this one started with a sarcastic line from a Catskill commedian***,
saying "I could care less?" where the intonation** showed that he meant,
Could I care less?, and his implied answer was, "No, I couldn't care
less."

So it wasn't backwards when it started but at some point, the intonation
and the question mark at the end got ignored and dropped and what was
left was "I could care less."


***It might have been one specific commedian, but I was little and I
don't remember, and if there was one in particular, I don't remember
who.

**I'm not good at recognizing pitch, but I think you can make most
affirmative statements into questions by raising the pitch of the last
word, "You're done already?" when the spearker doesnt' think he's spent
enough time to actually be done..

If your name is NY, you should know that before airplanes and
air-conditioning, the Catskills was the most popular resort area for New
York City and the entertainment every night included a commedian.
Because of higher elevation, it's cooler there than in the city.

Then there's the ultimate "should of" ("I should of noticed that you were
wearing a new dress"). Grrrr. "Should have"... And that makes its way
into
written English, so it's not just sloppy/hurried speech.


I've only seen that a couple times, but both of them in the last month
or so.


The thing that really makes my strangling-fingers start fidgeting (!) is
American-style business-meeting bull****: "leverage" (always pronounced
the
US way - levveridge, even by Brits),


What's the other pronunciation?


Leeever-idge.

"blue-sky thinking", "thinking out of
the box", "OpEx and RatEx", "run that up the flagpole and see who
salutes",
"Reaching out [to someone]" etc. I suppose it's an offshoot of business
letter clichés from earlier times, such as "I beg to inform you that...",
"Assuring you of our best intentions at all times, I remain your loyal
servant" (*), and "Please find enclosed/attached..." (what's wrong with
"Here is..."?).


I don't know but I've used one or two such phrase on a few occasions, in
letters usually to businesses.

(*) Someone overdosed on the Uriah Heep obsequiousness tablets! So
cringing
that it's prostrate. FFS, just say "Yours sincerely/faithfully" depending
whether you started with "Dear [name]" or "Dear Sir/Madam". Except that
addressing "Dear Sir/Madam" is not sufficiently gender-inclusive for the
Wokesters of today.