Monday, September 15, 2008

Grammar War IV: Stupid Words

Have you ever heard or read a word that you wondered why it existed? Or heard or read words that you wonder why are still around? Or hear or read words that don't exist, yet people use them anyway?

I fucking hate those words. Hate 'em.

And here's a list:

1. amidst - a real word meaning "in or into the middle of." Which is also what "amid" means.

2. amongst - a real word that basically means what "amidst" means. Which means it's a synonym for "amid." And let's not forget "among."

3. decimate - I hate this one. As English apparently doesn't have enough words pertaining to destruction, stupid people have usurped this word to simple mean "to cause great destruction or harm to." Only, it actually has a specific meaning: "to select by lot and kill every tenth man of." "Deci," right? Meaning tenth. Hello!

4. dosage - look up "dose" and you'll get the idea.

5. incinerary - a completely made up word that signifies its user is a complete and utter moron, and can't properly pronounce "incendiary."

6. normalacy - only in dictionaries thanks to American President Warren G. Harding, who felt the need to add an unnecessary syllable to "normalcy."

7. orientate - a word existing to alleviate confusion for people who wanted to convey that, instead of turning Asian, they were getting the bearings. See "orient."

8. preventative - seemingly another President Harding word (but isn't), some jackass again decided to add another syllable. See "preventive."

9. usage - guess what? Yeah, you've figured it out.

Words You Probably Didn't Know:

cacography -
bad spelling; bad handwriting

munificent -
very liberal in giving or bestowing

saltire -
a heraldic charge consisting of a cross formed by a bend and a bend sinister crossing in the center

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Me fail english?? that's unpossible!!! I couldn't agree with you more! God, did I just say that?? Twilight Zone for sure.

Posted by LISA on September 17, 2008 - Wednesday - 8:00 AM

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...