The most misused words in the English language

[modest]

affect and effect

When you affect something you have an effect on it.

~modest

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by modest

affect and effect

When you affect something you have an effect on it.

~modest

That one often gets me, so I use both.


"Decimate" annoys me intensely when it is used for" completely destroyed" "obliterated" or "annihilated".
Yes I know, that is an accepted meaning of the word now; but really, what about the Latin root 'deci' =ten What the Romans did when the Legions stuffed up-- to reduce by one tenth? What annoys me even more is I didn't study Latin and it still grates!
Decimate (yearly/monthly?) is what new Company CEOs do totheir company staff levels increase their stock worth before they jump with their golden parachute. The next CEO has to hire everyone again and retrain them as the company no longer works- or has been eaten by a bigger company.

(Wouldn't that mean a gold parachute would be heavy and they would fall, spat, and die?? Even jumping ship with a 'golden-life-jacket' doesn't work either. ).

Wiki can't decide if it is Greek or Latin

deci- tenth part Latin decimus, tenth; from decem, ten English, e.g.= decibel, decimate
deca-, dec-, deka-, dek- "ten" Greek deka, ten e.g. English=decagram, decahedron

&

Decimation (Latin: decimatio; decem = "ten") was a form of military discipline used by officers in the Roman Army to punish mutinous or cowardly soldiers. The word decimation is derived from Latin meaning "removal of a tenth."[1]

So if we use 'decagon, decagram, decimal, decimal system, decimal point, decimus, Decine, decinormal, decahedral, decinormal, decimetre, decahedron, dodecahedron( 10+2), Decimosexto (10+6), & decibel' correctly why can't we use 'decimate' correctly?
AND!
It is about time we put December back in October's spot and October goes into August's spot and. . . O forget it. I know I have lost the fight. But I will continue to winge.

De*cem"ber\, n. [F. d['e]cembre, from L. December, fr. decem ten; this being the tenth month among the early Romans, who began the year in March. See Ten.]

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

More a combination of words, but just as annoying to those of us with common sense

Example fastest toughest most powerful etc. etc. [whatever] line of, available, etc. etc.

How is it that every single manufacturer is better in every way than their competitors while at the same time they're competitors are better than them for exactly the same reasons?

And what the F### is juice anyway?

And what really is 100% pure?
Ex. 100% pure orange juice...look at the ingredients an waddayano ist got OJ corn syrup and BHT (added as a preservative)....wouldn't pure OJ be just the squeezins of an orange...you know... the "JUICE"?

And what Freezy said NATURAL.

Truth in advertising? Is there such a thing?

[lemit]

As an old journalist, I can tell you that "walked away" is a combination of color and shorthand. It's easier than thinking, and there are a lot of reporters (especially hard news reporters and even more especially sports reporters) to whom linguistic thinking doesn't come that easy anyway. At a newspaper I worked for the editors agreed they all deserved a piece of a national award won by one of the reporters, since this particular reporter had never learned the niceties of spelling, semantics, or punctiuation. His stories were passed from editor to exhausted editor until they were finally readable. "Walked away" is, I think, much more acceptable than the stuff those poor editors had to clean up.

Thank you for this thread. I'll try to dig up my own list of egregious misuses.

Later.

--lemit

[modest]

Care of Family Guy:

Anyone using the phrase “irregardless”, “a whole 'nother” or “all of the sudden” will be sent to forced labor camps

~modest

[Buffy]

nonplussed: I usually hear it used to mean the opposite of what it actually means....

There are three cures for ennui: sleep, drink and travel,
Buffy

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Originally Posted by modest

Care of Family Guy:

Anyone using the phrase “irregardless”, “a whole 'nother” or “all of the sudden” will be sent to forced labor camps

~modest

Too late most of us are pretty much in the whole forced labor dealie already as we's not smart nuff to get white collar job

[pamela]

posted by Modest
Anyone using the phrase “irregardless”, “a whole 'nother” or “all of the sudden” will be sent to forced labor camps

My oldest was reprimanded by his teacher last week after correcting her that "irregardless" wasn't a word
here is another that drives me nuts- using a preposition the end of a question. " where is it, at?" ugh.... My youngest in writing his sentences yesterday did this and when questioned, was told that this was correct by his teacher.
Needless to say, the school system is beginning to frighten me

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Needless to say, the school system is beginning to frighten me

Better late then never
................(than, why do people think them interchangeable there)
I used to worry (whilst attending) but now I just shake me head and laugh....just think these idiots are going to be running things eventually We're doomed Soylent green anyone

[pamela]

posted by dd
Better late then never
................(than, why do people think them interchangeable there)
I used to worry (whilst attending) but now I just shake me head and laugh....just think these idiots are going to be running things eventually We're doomed Soylent green anyone

well, at least mine won't be idiots
it's actually worse here than I previously thought...
Vocabulary words are taught by rote and not phonetically and calculators have become the standard for mathematical applications
The problem is, I think the parents were taught in the same way and do not realize what their children are lacking.