terminology pet-peeves in your everyday life

BlueMac said:

Haven't a clue about what they are saying.
Like: "heyy imma newb here and i have problem with my MACBOOK. whenever i try to open ichat and talk it wont let me. what is the matter with it. thx "

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Here's one I've just read...
"Had same issues ....
Solution was the VLC proggie.
D/L that & u should be golden."

I would agree with Nuclear. I hate when people from certain regions of the country say Im going to take a "pitcher" of all you guys together.

This one goofball at my work refers to a monthly QBR. Ugh.

technologist said:

Technically, we speak a very, very corrupted, slang-filled version of ancient German.

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No, that's simply one component of what we currently speak, it's not the only source. English itself is a Frankenstein of a language, there's really no one source of origin.

Kash said:

No, that's simply one component of what we currently speak, it's not the only source. English itself is a Frankenstein of a language, there's really no one source of origin.

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Yea Spanish, Latin, Italian

Letter10 said:

i work with a couple of pretty country ladies and their vernacular kills me everyday! things like "ain't never gonna work" and "warsh my truck" are used repeatedly as well as other grammatical nightmares that would force you to flunk middles school english!

it really forces me to laugh out loud at them and then go shut to door to my office.

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looking at where you are located, i think that is something you are going to have to accept. i do not believe that there is a place nearby your location that has a majority of proper english speaking persons.

dabears34 said:

Yea Spanish, Latin, Italian

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And Greek. When I tutored ESL (now EFL - whatever), the most difficult part was explaining why words were as they are (hows that for a mix of tense?). In the end I told the students "stop asking 'why', just imitate"

dabears34 said:

Yea Spanish, Latin, Italian

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Well, Romantic languages... those are a few of them.

The ones that annoy me are when people are trying to be clever, and get it wrong.
Like when people say "you and I" when they mean "me and you", because someone once corrected them when they used "me and you" incorrectly:
"It was given to Fred and I" - WRONG; "It was given to me and Fred" - RIGHT
"Me and Fred went to the shops" - WRONG; "Fred and I went to the shops" - RIGHT

Or when people say "whom" when they mean "who".

here's one of mine... am i the only one who thinks "instructions" and "directions" are two completely distinct, non-interchangable, things?

you don't ask for instructions to get downtown, and you don't use directions to assemble IKEA furniture.

fearlessfreap24 said:

looking at where you are located, i think that is something you are going to have to accept. i do not believe that there is a place nearby your location that has a majority of proper english speaking persons.

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you are mostly correct, however, for the most part Tulsa is a fairly educated city in a rarely educated state. it just kills me that these people have degrees and are "professionals" yet they can't carry on a conversation without sounding like they need to go feed the cattle!

I hate when people are talking about transaction (normally in shops) and you get the instruction "place your card in the reader and then enter your PIN number"

For that matter then...

Managing and leading

I also cannot at all stand when people say LOL all the time. It is so annoying!

ATM Machine.

Automated Teller Machine Machine?

PIN Number.

Personal Identification Number Number?

ARGGGGGGH!

Mark W said:

Like when people say "you and I" when they mean "me and you":
"It was given to Fred and I" - WRONG; "It was given to me and Fred" - RIGHT
"Me and Fred went to the shops" - WRONG; "Fred and I went to the shops" - RIGHT
Or when people say "whom" when they mean "who".

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Some good points Mark, but you've added a further element to this discussion, something called etiquette.

In fact "you and I" is more correct (if there is such a thing) than "me and you", because etiquette says you should leave yourself till last. 'Old fashioned', or 'antiquated' some people call it, but I think it's right, and I tutor students that way.

"It was given to Fred & me" is better grammar and etiquette than what you've suggested.

Whom vs who, and their misuse, makes my ears itch!

Man, you guys are picky! (No offense). However, grammar is very important, and slang is quite annoying. However, in today's society, everyone uses slang. Everywhere! What annoys me, is when people misuse a term on purpose. People who are trying to act like an idiot. However, you can't get angry about someone making a mistake.

It is especially irritating on official correspondence.

Letter10 said:

i work with a couple of pretty country ladies and their vernacular kills me everyday! things like "ain't never gonna work" and "warsh my truck"

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Apparently some scientists who study the way peoples of the world speak reckoned we NZ'ers sound most like the Neanderthals would have done. Far from being offended, I think they're spot on. Goodness knows then who spoke like Australians!

But regional dialect and idiomatic expressions are part and parcel of living anywhere in the world, and no matter how hard teachers and tutors might try to promote the correct use of language, there's always going to be regional expressions that do things like use double-negatives.

Some of you will know the wonderfully pointed joke about the graduate from an Alabama University who went off to Princeton Uni to do post-graduate study. He asked a terribly well-dressed young man (you'll have to imagine the accent/dialect):
"Excuse me sir, could you please tell me where the library's at?"
"You ignorant fellow, do you not know that we at Princeton never finish a sentence with a preposition! Now ask me your question properly."
"Oh I do beg your pardon sir, allow me to rephrase my question. Could you please tell me where the library's at .... a***ole!? [oops, will that get blanked out?]

People who use IMAC (Immobilized Metal-ion Affinity Chromatography) when they are talking about an iMac.