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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by TootSweet@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

It bugs me when people say "the thing is is that" (if you listen for it, you'll start hearing it... or maybe that's something that people only do in my area.) ("What the thing is is that..." is fine. But "the thing is is that..." bugs me.)

Also, "just because doesn't mean ." That sentence structure invites one to take "just because " as a noun phrase which my brain really doesn't want to do. Just doesn't seem right. But that sentence structure is very common.

And I'm not saying there's anything objectively wrong with either of these. Language is weird and complex and beautiful. It's just fascinating that some commonly-used linguistic constructions just hit some people wrong sometimes.

Edit: I thought of another one. "As best as I can." "The best I can" is fine, "as well as I can" is good, and "as best I can" is even fine. But "as best as" hurts.

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[-] sleepyTonia@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago

"Didn't used to".

[-] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Commonwealth vocabulary versus non-Commonwealth vocabulary. Despite being commonwealth in terms of my native culture, some of it sounds like we're trying too hard to be contrarian. Take chips and fries for example. The British call potato chips "crisps" and french fries "chips" and they'll have that discussion with you all night long, but they were patented as chips and fries respectively. Or how about "mom" versus "mum"? Despite interchanging them, I prefer "mom", especially in a world where "ma" and "mama" are common, which makes "mum" just sound like you're auditioning as Wednesday Addams. If you look in historical documents from the past, it's certainly never "mum". It all doesn't bother me so much as what bothers me is when those people (you know, the ones who call it the telly instead of a TV) say other people are the derivatives or must bend to them. If I visit London, I'm ordering french fries from McDonald's, not McChips.

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[-] guyrocket@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

I loathe: "With that said...".

This is almost always meaningless words thrown in to make the listener(s) think you're more intelligent. I always think the opposite.

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[-] monk@lemmy.unboiled.info 1 points 2 weeks ago

I have zero gripes with my mother tongue borrowing English words for new concepts. It might be the best thing it can do, second only to dying.

But every one in ten words it borrows the wrong form. "*What's that board? That's a surfing. How do I call the one riding it? Why, a surfinger, of course. *" "My sister sent me another reels-- pluralize what, reelss? Of course it's reelss, you weirdo." Makes me wanna scrape my eyes and ears out.

[-] KestrelAlex@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

One that bugs me a lot that I noticed just in the last 5 years or so is over pronouncing the T in words like celebrity and community - yes it's spelled with a T but it's not fully voiced like you're saying the word Tea. I noticed it first on YouTube and now in some audiobooks and even the occasional coworker.

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[-] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

A before u

"A university" sounds fucking weird to me. It melds into a single syllable. University doesn't start with a consonant unless you have a strong accent.

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this post was submitted on 05 May 2024
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