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Used and Abused: Words and Cliches
misuse of your in place of you're makes me cringe especially when it's in the lead line on an email from the boss's secretary inviting people to an event."Your invited"
or it's on the screen saver of the person responsible for checking for errors in files I need to load into different software programs
"Hope your having a nice day"
I like this thread idea. I tend not to remember all of my many pet peeves until I re-encounter them, but I can see myself being triggered to come back to this thread as I re-encounter them in my reading. :)There’s one thing I can think of off the top of my head that always annoys me though, that might fall under the category of cliché. I call it omniscient gut syndrome. This is when an author wants us to know something, but can’t muster the energy or creativity to reveal it to the reader in a natural way, so they tell us through their characters’ feelings. The characters discuss or speculate internally about something, and then they hit on an explanation that “feels right” or that they “know in their gut is true”, or something along those lines. The more I encounter it, the more it annoys me, and the more I notice it when I encounter it.
I just started reading The Last Policeman a few minutes ago, and I encountered something that really threw me off for a minute. I suppose it isn’t technically a misused word, but maybe a less-common way of using a word that could lead to misunderstandings. Am I the only person who thought the main character was a dog or some other sort of animal when he “shifts on his haunches” in the second paragraph of the book? (I assume he was squatting down, but we weren't told that beforehand or it would have made more sense.) A few paragraph later he’s worried about leaving fingerprints, and he becomes increasingly human-sounding from that point on, but you should have seen the wild speculations in my head for the first few paragraphs. I’ve still only read a few pages though, so who knows! Maybe he’s a centaur.
I always find myself yelling at the TV when the news or a current affairs show is on. The reporters always seem to get a saying mixed up and say the wrong thing. Really annoying. Also my husband is one of the “I seen it” people. You SAW it aarrrgghhhh My daughter does it too. Makes me (and my middle son for that matter) crazy. Problem is my hubby is interviewed for TV and radio and does public speaking and says it and I cringe every time. But he’s not alone. You hear it everywhere nowadays.
Mod
cool. How am I doing that? I don't prefer blunt trauma, so I think that leaves copious amounts of drugs, but I hear there are other side effects.
Jacqueline wrote: "Also my husband is one of the “I seen it” people. You SAW it aarrrgghhhh My daughter does it too.."That’s part of the general shift in America towards the Southern dialect. The people doing that are on the forefront of the change.
I don’t like it, either.
One of my cousins-in-law is from the holler in Kentucky, and she says that all the time. But no biggie, she’s just a teacher.
Allison wrote: ""forget everything you thought you knew. "cool. How am I doing that? I don't prefer blunt trauma, so I think that leaves copious amounts of drugs, but I hear there are other side effects."
One I see all the time is when a large person/creature/robot/whatever suddenly reacts to something and the author goes, “Hard to believe something that size could move so fast.” I should keep a list, it happens so often.
How about all the amazing things people do with their eyes! I always try and imagine how they do itHer eyes sparked in anger. His eyes lit up. Her eyes clouded.
There are millions of them all equally silly.
Tomas wrote: "*rolls my eyes*"My point exactly:)
When people mention grammar errors, I think we could make a separate thread for it, but long story short, I can understand them for someone not being native English speaker - because I am not one myself. But if it is repeated and obvious it was not one-time typo (it can happen) then it shows something.I believe I've read a review of something, where someone pointed out a character's appearance being described as "well formed", whatever such vague description could mean.
Phrynne wrote: "How about all the amazing things people do with their eyes!"That’s a good one. Along those lines, it has always seemed odd to me how many fully-fleshed-out feelings characters in books seem to be able to read in other people’s eyes.
Maybe I’m defective, but people’s eyes don’t usually say much to me. I get more from the set of their mouth or the tone of their voice. And, unlike people in books, it’s usually a pretty simple interpretation like, “They didn’t like something about what I said.”
In books, characters are more likely to pinpoint exactly what the other person didn’t like and, not only that, but they often manage to pinpoint why they didn’t like it. This annoys me for similar reasons as omniscient gut syndrome – I hate it when the author tries to tell the reader something in an unrealistic manner.
I hate the phrase "five minutes later". This is just a lazy, juvenile transition technique.
"Intensive purposes". That's one that really gets on my nerves.
Phrynne wrote: "How about all the amazing things people do with their eyes! I always try and imagine how they do itHer eyes sparked in anger. His eyes lit up. Her eyes clouded..."
Her smile didn’t reach her eyes.
Mod
“I got this!”"
"...What IS this that I got?!"
People using (overusing) the word 'Impact" as a verb because they do not know the proper use of "affect" and "effect". And my absolute favorite is when it is used as as an adjective such as "impactful weather". Aaargh! I notice this more in news/weather reports on television than in writing, but it's starting to creep into that too. I guess I'm old fashioned.
Down the gravity well we go...“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
https://youtu.be/ZGLHW1hY-CY
“Are you kidding me?”
https://youtu.be/tHtDpDuaiv4
“We’re not in Kansas any more.”
https://youtu.be/QE_OLPEN5vU
“I’m too old for this.”
https://youtu.be/MqBNSMbEzI0
My hatred has it's roots in Big Brother US but I absolutely cannot stand to hear/read anyone say, "No blood on my hands" or any variation of that when planning strategic moves. For the same reasons, I agree with "At the end of the day"
Trike wrote: "Down the gravity well we go...Now that was funny:)
HeyT wrote: "My hatred has it's roots in Big Brother US but I absolutely cannot stand to hear/read anyone say, "No blood on my hands" or any variation of that when planning strategic moves. ""Just following orders..."
I was just watching one of those stupid girls buying wedding dresses shows. The saleswoman said that the girl and her Mother were like "two bees in a pod". It's peas not bees. It's the second time I've heard that this week.
I've gotten soooo sick of the phrase "wake-up call." Mostly because, no matter the topic, it never really is. Or if it is, someone just hits the snooze button. Also "thoughts and prayers" (again, regardless of the topic). I mean really, if thoughts and prayers were remotely useful (impactful lol?!), don't you think we'd have noticed by now?
Donald wrote: ""Intensive purposes". That's one that really gets on my nerves."I'm guessing they mean "intents and purposes" right?
I just came across one in Shadow Man that I despise. I rolled my eyes and immediately came to post it"..released a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding."
If people did this in real life, as often as I have read about it in books, folks would be fainting all over the place from lack of oxygen.
I think such line was used elsewhere, too. No idea where.
Apparently Shadow Man is going to bring me back to this thread frequently. I'm only on page 49 and I've already found another."It's not a threat. It's a promise."
Oh, so intimidating. (I swear if my eyes roll any harder they're going to start to hurt.)
"With all due respect ...."seems like I was hearing this one all the time on TV shows for a while
In books, 2 jump immediately to mind, though they're sort of specific to the books.In the Nightside series, which I liked, the MC tended to lose his power and then once he got it back it was always "the easiest thing in the world" for him to reach in with his power and do whatever.
Dresden annoyed me because I got tired of the formulaicness of every battle/book revolving around the "Hulk Hogan effect"... where he gets beat to a pulp and is just about to lose and is at the "end of his reserves" but then he "digs deep inside himself" to find those last vestiges of power/strength and manages to come back up and defeat the bad guy.
I know a lot of action books/movies suffer from this, but it started the irritate the shit out of me with Dresden.
Michele wrote: "Donald wrote: ""Intensive purposes". That's one that really gets on my nerves."I'm guessing they mean "intents and purposes" right?"
I guess if they're going to mangle it to that degree it's an open question as to what they actually mean, but I do think that's the root of it, yes. :)
Intensive purposes is just someone say to all intents and purposes wrong and then others hearing it and they get it wrong too. If you haven’t seen it written down it’s probably an easy mistake to make but it does keep going. Another one is when someone says pacific thing instead of specific thing. I reckon a pacific thing would be something in the Pacific Ocean 🌊
Reminds me of an episode of Midsomer Murders where a woman kept saying “that’s the long and the tall of it” and another girl who supposedly didn’t know her said it too. Barnaby realised that they must actually be mother and daughter because the daughter would have picked the wrong saying up from her mother. Her children would have picked it up from her in turn along with other people who hadn’t heard the saying before. And so we get a heap of people who stuff it up. It’s “long and short of it” by the way.
I don't want to see the phrase "love and loss" in another book description.
Jacqueline wrote: "Intensive purposes is just someone say to all intents and purposes wrong and then others hearing it and they get it wrong too. If you haven’t seen it written down it’s probably an easy mistake to m..."It's like a mondegreen :)
Kristin B. wrote: "Apparently Shadow Man is going to bring me back to this thread frequently. I'm only on page 49 and I've already found another."It's not a threat. It's a promise."
Oh, so intimidati..."
Maybe that's a book to DNF...
Something that just happened on The Expanse season 3 premiere:Someone is grievously injured and the other person shouts at them, “Stay with me!”
Just once I’d like to see someone shout, “Go into the light!”
CBRetriever wrote: "With all due respect ...."With true meaning: "you don't want to hear it, but you are wrong"
Cheryl wrote: "Kristin B. wrote: "Apparently Shadow Man is going to bring me back to this thread frequently. I'm only on page 49 and I've already found another.Maybe that's a book to DNF... ."..."
Oddly, I'm actually enjoying it. Even though the cliche lines are driving me a bit batty.
Don wrote: ""it is what it is"..... no $h!+ !"My old boss used to say this a lot.
One time I said, "Well it's not what it isn't."
Apparently I'm a smart ass. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Mod
Not that these things aren't possible, I guess, but outside of a compelling, well thought out reason for them, they really sound like someone who's read a lot of tropey books and has incorporated them as truth that we then see repeated so often it becomes the norm.
BUT IT'S NOT THE NORM.
Mod
My old boss used to say this a lot.
One time I said, "Well it's not what it isn't."
Apparently I'm a smart ass. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"
lol!
colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "Don wrote: ""it is what it is"..... no $h!+ !"My old boss used to say this a lot.
One time I said, "Well it's not what it isn't."
Apparently I'm a smart ass. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"
We did that at dinner one night when someone said, “It is what it is.”
My friend piped up with a Popeye, “I yam what I yam!”
And I immediately did Walter Cronkite, “That’s the way it is!”
#OldPeopleJokes
Allison wrote: "Characters who study a martial art for eight hours and are now Bruce effing Lee. "It's gotta be a montage!
Trike wrote: "My friend piped up with a Popeye, “I yam what I yam!”"But could he be a sweet potato?
CBRetriever wrote: ""With all due respect ...."seems like I was hearing this one all the time on TV shows for a while"
"With all due respect..."
and
"No disrespect intended..."
both mean the same thing to me (and hubby): get ready for a LOT of disrespect.
MrsJoseph wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: ""With all due respect ...."seems like I was hearing this one all the time on TV shows for a while"
"With all due respect..."
and
"No disrespect intended..."
both mean the..."
Always reminds me of this line:
“I don't mean to be rude—" he began, in a tone that threatened rudeness in every syllable.
"Yet, sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often," Dumbledore finished the sentence gravely. "Best to say nothing at all, my dear man."
Though sometimes I think of "with all due respect" as also saying "which is zero, because you are due zero respect, you moron, but I have to pretend because you're my boss".
Mod
ETA: Colleen, I love that Dumbledore quote. I wish I could say it EVERY TIME someone says "no offense" or "all due respect" :D
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venttalk about all of those misused words and cliched phrases that we read out there.Have at it, peeps.