Search found 3 matches

by jbarn
Mon Feb 24, 2014 11:58 am
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: Word use that drives you up the wall!
Replies: 822
Views: 106903

Re: Word use that drives you up the wall!

Drives me nuts when people say "supposably". And while I know it is acceptable to do so, it irks me when people pronounce the "t" in often. :grumble

This is not a word use, but there is a saying, "you can't eat you cake and have it too". It means you cannot eat the cake, but still have it for later. Saying "you cannot have your cake and eat it too" is not only the incorrect saying, it is wrong. I certainly can have it, and eat it. In fact, that's how it is done. :rules:

Improper tense of verbs also irritates me. The use of "I seen" as in "I seen a guy's gun blow up in his hand" just makes me want to blow up. :bigmouth

I have tons more. :fire
by jbarn
Mon Feb 24, 2014 11:46 am
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: Word use that drives you up the wall!
Replies: 822
Views: 106903

Re: Word use that drives you up the wall!

Abraham wrote:"Can I have"...asked in a restaurant to a wait staffer, rather than "I'll have...

Why, do quite a few people ask this in such a situation?

To me, it sounds infantile.

With such a question, the questioner puts him/her self in a subservient role, when in fact it's quite the other way around.

Many moons ago, I had a British girlfriend who who ask this when dining out and I requested she stop with the dopey question.

She informed me it was the polite thing to do.

I couldn't convince her it wasn't impolite when ordering in a restaurant to start out with: "I'll have the Chateaubriand or whatever...
I always add please when ordering. Nothing wrong with courtesy. I also like to phrase instructions as requests, even in the workplace.
by jbarn
Mon Feb 24, 2014 9:50 am
Forum: Off-Topic
Topic: Word use that drives you up the wall!
Replies: 822
Views: 106903

Re: Word use that drives you up the wall!

WildBill wrote:Single Mother [Flame Suit On]

IMO, the way this term is popularly used lumps women into a single group and views them like they are somehow inferior.

I don't think that being single or a mother is a protected class or need special treatment.

Some women are married and some are single. Does that make either group better than the other?

Some women are mothers and some are not. Some are good mothers, some are not.

Some "single mothers" are better off single than when they were married and should not be pitied.

The thing that bothers me most is that I have a feeling that it's a euphemism for something else. :headscratch
I don't like "single mother" either. It is often misleading. Some are single mothers, some are divorced, some are widowed. To me, single mother means never married.

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