Books I Loathed discussion
Words I Loathed
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kt
(last edited Aug 25, 2016 12:01PM)
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Aug 16, 2007 10:09PM
In Tom Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons, his repeated use of "loamy loins" almost turned me off of the book entirely.
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Smeagol gave me fits when I was reading Lord of the Rings. Thank God the movies came out and I could stop wondering if I was pronouncing it right (I wasn't - I think I was mentally saying it smee-a-gul). As a matter of fact, many words in Lord of the Rings gave me fits. But I still love it.
I don't know if anyone has mentioned the class of odious backformations which gives rise to "words" such as "obligate", "orientate" and "commentate". I have even seen "pronunciate" in print. On more than one occasion, I very much regret to say.Edited to add that one can only hope that Seth's statement that smegma was on the tip of his tongue was meant figuratively. Else I may have to reach for the brain bleach.
Over the summer I read two fairly good novels - Everyman by Philip Roth and Widow for One Year by John Irving - and found their use (or mis-use) of the word 'fuck' to be annoying. I am not being prudish -- the word just didn't fit into the narrative voice they had created.
OMG. David, you've run your nails over the chalkboard. I despise (is that stronger than "loathe"?) backformed words. One sees them often in corporate-speak - the vilest form of language butchering, imho. I attribute those words to idiots trying to sound smart.Oh...here's one: "versed" as the past-tense of the the word "versus" used as a verb. So many things wrong with this, I don't even know where to start.
Ironically, Versed (pronounced ver-sed) is a strong sedative that renders patients unconscious when given in large intravenous doses. Unfortunately,I have to correct the pronunciation in my head when I see the word versed. Duh...that's what happens to people in a medical profession.Since many of the disgusting words found in crime novels are words I frequently use on a daily basis, I am entertained by euphemistic (not to be confused with euthanistic)words for anatomical parts such as proboscis.
Tonight on my way home from work, I was assaulted by a radio "news guy" doing horrible things with perfectly innocent words. He spent far too much time figuring out football metaphors to say that Michael Vick is looking at a plea bargain. One example: "It's fourth and never--is Vick gonna punt or run for it?"
*gag*
I read a phrase just last night that turned my stomach: "the cockles of her heart." I could not help picturing a human heart encrusted with small bivalves.David: YES YES YES!!! The backformations are forever making me cringe!
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I would like to point out with childish glee how Seth said "Smegma was on the tip of my tongue." Hee hee hee ha ho ho ho.
Oh. David beat me to it. Still. Ha ha hee hee ha ha.
Found this similar thread on a random blog:
http://alleyesonjenny.com/index.php/2...
This reminded me of the scene in the series premiere of "Dead Like Me" when the dead protagonist spells the word "MOIST" with her mother's fridge magnets. Oh, and that reminds me of "swab" offending Angela Chase so profoundly in an episode of My So-Called Life.
I realize, though, that I've embraced all the words that sounded gross to me. I think it helped to read the phrase "flappy little titties like pasties" in Brock Cole's excellent y/a novel "Celine" because it contains two words that creep me out, yet are so perfectly used. It's kind of awesome that just the sound of a word can be so affecting. And sometimes they are so perfectly suited to their meanings, like "clot" and "chunk" (ew, chunky clots!).
Aside confession: I only learned when I started my new job 3 months ago how to correctly pronounce "angina".
I once read a scene in which the man described the vagina as "two strips of bacon with a baked bean on top"...No joke...
I call 100th post to this thread. :DKate and Sarah - Dead Like Me and My So Called Life? You're my favorite people ever. And with your hair like that...it hurts to look at you.
I have many many loathed words have I have I. But the worst to me is the word issues, as in I have issues with the use of that word to mean I am internally conflicted about something. Also, the use of concerned concerns me, especially when it is used to indicate dislike of somebody, as in I am concerned about you. Thank you. I feel much better now.
> Aside confession: I only learned when I started my new job 3 months ago how to correctly pronounce "angina". Then there is the cringe-worthy coinage, "mangina", a favorite of some gay porn writers.
(I'm not making this up, alas)
I hate to show my ignorance, but is the "mangina" something already occuring within the realm of born-with body parts of most males, something you you have to undergo surgery to obtain, or something you have to buy from a specialty shop (like Blowfish.com)?
Ignorance is bliss. Knowledge is like a lightening bolt in the mangina.
I'll try to remember to assume the "plough" position (http://www.indianmirror.com/games/gam...) next time I get caught in a thunderstorm.
Maybe we could discuss potential soliloquies should Eve Ensler decide to take on The Mangina Monologues as her next opus.
Or Harvey Fierstein. Mangina -- I'm spewing my lunch. HA! Much too close to Mangia!
What is it about this thread? I KNOW I shouldn't touch it, because all kinds of hideous atrocities lurk within. And yet, I find myself irresistibly drawn to it nonetheless.
It's like a traffic accident death - you know you're going to have nightmares but you're compelled to look.
Another phrase that I'm not particularly fond of is "meat curtain" (alternative euphemism "girly parts").Though I do have a picture, which - remarkably enough - is safe to view in the workplace. Though it may cause unpleasant associations in your mind:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaelstat...
I once heard the euphemism 'fish taco' for girly parts.It was probably made up by a bunch of men who never actually experienced any girly parts up close and therefore had no idea how saying that would keep them from getting laid. Forever.
What are cooties? Enlighten the English pedant, you guys.One of the things I do for a living is fiction editing and my current pet hate is 'proceeded to', as in 'she proceeded to leave' or 'he proceeded to explain' but yesterday I got a story to edit that actually contained 'preceded to' no fewer than three times - 'he preceded to dance' was a phrase that was almost lovely in its philosophical peculiarity ...
And while we're on the subject, why do men emit cum when they come? Is it really necessary to misspell a perfectly good word, just because it's seckshewall?
lol Kay,That reminds me of the time in French class when we had to congjugate the verb 'venir' in class.
Oh, the sniggering that ensued!
Cooties are like germs, except not real. They're a childish way of expressing you don't like someone...'She has cooties.' I think, IIRC, it had to do with a colloquialism for lice at one point, but I could be wrong about that.
XY - you're right. Cooties is slang for lice. I think it may actually be a Southern US colloquialism.
Wasn't there a TV character called Cooter, or am I imagining things ...? Words I loathe - wiki (aaargh!)
Yes, Kay, I believe there was. Wasn't it on Dukes of Hazzard (or some show set in the South).
Where I come from, cooter is turtle. And people eat it...too? lolI don't know why it offends me more when women refer to their own parts that way - maybe it seems like complicity in, or condoning of, negative language & self-loathing.
I mean, I hate it when men do it...but I knew a woman who referred to her own crotch as a 'cooter' and I found that really repulsive.
Oh yes, and please add any form of 'cooch' or 'coochie' to that. Just because.
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Loves it! We should write a spoof of the VMs with that title.
In re: beaver, clam, fish taco, beef curtain, I would also like to say, ahem: "whisker biscuit"
I'll never forget English 101. I wrote a descriptive essay about my front yard and called the shrubs "pompous" grass. It does look quite haughty (HAFF-tee)...
Kate - I accept the challenge. I will get ahold of a copy of VM and see what I can come up with. Anyone else?
"Whisker biscuit" makes me giggle uncontrollably.
bean bag that one always makes me laugh.
Worst word ever: strode.
Mod
Ah, but people never just stride/strode. They always do/did it "purposefully".
I have to agree with some that have been already mentioned on this thread:Monies - please people, funds I can buy, but when did money need a plural form?
Many of the sexual and erotic slang - If you are going to write about sexual acts you can write with metaphor, but just give your readers a bit of respect.
Politically-correct speak - Any language that becomes so "sensitive" that it ceases to be descriptive or to have any sort of power at all. Example: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder instead of Shell-shock.
Let me introduce myself to my fellow pedants in this thread by saying that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder wasn't named that out of political correctness or trying to make shell-shock sound better. Doctors used to think that it was primarily the result of war veteran's brains or ears receiving a physical shock from the loud blasts of shells/bombs. The syndrome was renamed when it was discovered that the psychological and physical symptoms that war veterans experienced were also seen in other people who had not been in a war, but had experienced a trauma such as rape, witnessing violence, or physical abuse as children. Once they had a better understanding that the class of symptoms could be caused by any kind of severe trauma, they renamed the disorder to reflect that.
I have a friend who hates the word "fondle" so much that she can't finish eating if someone uses it during a meal. Our group of friends couldn't resist dropping the word into conversation occasionally just to see her reaction.
Massive hips.
This one cracks me up because when I read the word "massive" I imagine mountain ranges.
This one cracks me up because when I read the word "massive" I imagine mountain ranges.
I loathe the phrase: I could care less.It means the opposite of what the speaker intended. The more accurate phrase is:
I COULDN'T care less.
Oh Jackie - talk to me about "Irregardless". I always try to keep a straight face, but whenever someone says it I get the feeling that I'm looking at them as if they're the most stupid person on the planet. I can't help myself. Irregardless....bah.
Maybe I should start a new thread "Punctuation I loathed".I'm gathering books for a project I have to do, and I swear to God one of the book has an exclamation point in the title!! WHAT?!? "Masterful Coaching!" does not deserve any added excitement. I hate when they try to make business books exciting by putting lots of lame analogies that they call "models" and strong punctuation in them.
Also, another annoying habit these authors have is the super sized subtitle. What is with that? Masterful Coaching: The Art of Building Relationships and Creating Strong Processes to Grow Your Business and Retain Your Employees. There is no need for that.
Line up, authors, I'm going to slap each one of your hands. Bad author! Bad!
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Hurrah for Jackie!I edit for a living, and I come across this in SO MANY stories - and the author will always argue that because it's said colloquially, it's okay to use it in print. No it's not.
It is never okay to confuse the reader. One can care less or one cannot. 'I could care less' means this issue is one about which I care a resaonable amount. 'I couldn't care less' means this is the issue that matters least in all the world to me. There's a world of difference between those two meanings and it should never be the reader's job to work out which is the intended one.
Thank you, Kay. That particular phrase (I could care less) is one of my top ten pet peeves!!
Well, the term "I could care less" is grammatically wrong anyway. That's what drives me nuts. If you said, "I couldn't care less" it actually makes sense.
¡¡¡ IRREGARDLESS !!! Alex. ¡¡¡ Making your way to the top by random deployment of "punctuation" "marks" - one reader's journey????¿¿¿¿¿¡¡¡¡!!
Books I Loathed
Books mentioned in this topic
The Blonde Identity (other topics)Medusa's Sisters (other topics)
Who We Are Now (other topics)
Under the Influence (other topics)
North of Nowhere (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Stacey Ballis (other topics)Emily Giffin (other topics)
