What words do you hate to hear/see misused?

I can't believe this one was missed.

To/too

I'm guilty of adverb abuse myself. One of my edits tends to be reading it over and taking out most of the words that end with "ly".
 
Loose for lose. Also, quitted for quit--that's more for online gaming, but I see it in stories and posts forums too.
 
One thing I've seen a terrible lot of recently:

"He should of said so earlier" or the like, where it's clearly meant to be "He should HAVE said so earlier". Even when it's abbreviated as "should've", its obvious that there is no "of" involved at all.

I see that in the forums or blogs I frequent far too often. Even for me as a non-native speaker it's an eyesore.
 
One thing I've seen a terrible lot of recently:

"He should of said so earlier" or the like, where it's clearly meant to be "He should HAVE said so earlier". Even when it's abbreviated as "should've", its obvious that there is no "of" involved at all.

I see that in the forums or blogs I frequent far too often. Even for me as a non-native speaker it's an eyesore.

Shows the stupidity of programmers. . . . :)
 
I'll get arcane here for a moment, mostly because it came up today: "liver spots" instead of livor spots." That misusage has left people believing that the brownish/purplish spots that appear with age are caused somehow by the liver. They are livor spots; "livor" is from the Latin for that brownish/purplish colour.

There. I've said it. No get on with the more serious stuff.
 
I'll get arcane here for a moment, mostly because it came up today: "liver spots" instead of livor spots." That misusage has left people believing that the brownish/purplish spots that appear with age are caused somehow by the liver. They are livor spots; "livor" is from the Latin for that brownish/purplish colour.

There. I've said it. No get on with the more serious stuff.

I never knew that, thanks--but if it comes up in an erotica story, I think I'll give it a pass. (But come to think of it, I think I'll try to put it in the next story I write.)
 
I'll get arcane here for a moment, mostly because it came up today: "liver spots" instead of livor spots." That misusage has left people believing that the brownish/purplish spots that appear with age are caused somehow by the liver. They are livor spots; "livor" is from the Latin for that brownish/purplish colour.

There. I've said it. No get on with the more serious stuff.

I've never seen that in a story before.

I suppose if it was to pop up here in an erotic story it would be in the mature(very mature) category.:D
 
I'll get arcane here for a moment, mostly because it came up today: "liver spots" instead of livor spots." That misusage has left people believing that the brownish/purplish spots that appear with age are caused somehow by the liver. They are livor spots; "livor" is from the Latin for that brownish/purplish colour.

There. I've said it. No get on with the more serious stuff.
I did not know that!

Thanks, Tio:rose:

Reminds me; a local street guy, one of the happy drunk types, waltzed up to me once and said "hey baby, how about a fling?"

I said; "My partner would be livid!" and without missing a beat he said; "That's a shade of purple."
....

I looked him in the eye and asked "What is your I.Q, anyway?"

"They never got it measured," he told me. "That's why I stay drunk."
His brother corroborated the fact later. Poor guy!
 
I guess it would be being a party pooper to note that "liver spots" is in Webster's and "livor spots" isn't? And if you Google "livor spots," you come up blank (well, not blank. You're asked if you mean "liver spots.") :eek:
 
I guess it would be being a party pooper to note that "liver spots" is in Webster's and "livor spots" isn't? And if you Google "livor spots," you come up blank (well, not blank. You're asked if you mean "liver spots.") :eek:

Hmmm...

I got the same search results but what I searched for "livor spots anyway" the first result what "livor mortis". Not what I was looking for but given the subject, seems not entirely unrelated :)



Here's another one that drives me up the wall:

No problemo

Yes. I live in Texas. I'm accustomed to hearing people butcher Spanish ALL the time but this one annoys me to no end.

The word is problema goddamit!
 
Probably a case of conventional use swamping the original and only the purists holding out.
 
Here's one encountered just a minute ago in an editorial review.

You "rack" your brain; you don't "wrack" it.
 
Hmmm...

I got the same search results but what I searched for "livor spots anyway" the first result what "livor mortis". Not what I was looking for but given the subject, seems not entirely unrelated :)



Here's another one that drives me up the wall:

No problemo

Yes. I live in Texas. I'm accustomed to hearing people butcher Spanish ALL the time but this one annoys me to no end.

The word is problema goddamit!


But when people say it, it usually is "problemo" so I guess the incorrect version became the popular one.
 
But when people say it, it usually is "problemo" so I guess the incorrect version became the popular one.

Alas...

Though I do live in a state famous for its utter lack of concern for mispronunciation. Maybe I should be proud?
 
I guess it would be being a party pooper to note that "liver spots" is in Webster's and "livor spots" isn't? And if you Google "livor spots," you come up blank (well, not blank. You're asked if you mean "liver spots.") :eek:

Yes, "liver" has become the accepted term, though it begins in Medieval Medicine as "livor" and still exists, albeit mostly archaic, in English and Spanish as a term for bruises or skin discolorations (livors, pl.).

Google mostly misses it, but there is an incomplete article in Wiki here:

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/livor

So the party's still on; neither Webster nor (heavens forbid!) Google is the final arbiter of truth.
 
I guess it would be being a party pooper to note that "liver spots" is in Webster's and "livor spots" isn't? And if you Google "livor spots," you come up blank (well, not blank. You're asked if you mean "liver spots.") :eek:

My fall-back in cases like this tends to be from the eastern side of the pond: The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. It gives livor as 1 Discolouration of the skin, as from bruising or in a corpse. 2 Ill will, malignity, spite. That fits pretty well with Tio's tale. :)
 
So the party's still on; neither Webster nor (heavens forbid!) Google is the final arbiter of truth.

I know there are those here (who think it's all about them) who can't accept that Webster's is, indeed, a final arbitrator in U.S. publishing style spelling.

But it is.
 
I know there are those here (who think it's all about them) who can't accept that Webster's is, indeed, a final arbitrator in U.S. publishing style spelling.

But it is.

Sorry, but Webster's, as its founder intended and declared, was never to be an arbiter, but only a reflection of actual usage. I can't deny that common usuage makes it "liver spots," but I reserve the right as an academic and an author to be as arcane as I wish. "Liver" derives from the Old Germanic "lifer" and has nothing to do with bruise-like spots. Bruises, and any other similar discolorations of the skin were termed "livors," after the Latin usage, as with other medical terminology. We still use it for "livor mortis," the discoloration of the skin that comes with the settling and deoxygenation of the blood after death.

So, "liver spots" it is by consensus of the people, but they still have nothing to do with livers, and I get livid when anyone claims they do.
 
One thing I never get over on this forum is the arrogance of amateur writers of dirty stories.

The standard authority of U.S. publishing style in the humanities (which includes fiction) is the Chicago Manual of Style as agreed to by U.S. publishers. The Chicago Manual of Style specifies Merriam-Webster's Third International or Merriam-Webster's Collegiate dictionaries as the arbiters of spelling in U.S. publishing style.

Folks on this forum (including me) don't have a vote on that. And those who deny the authorities are just being "it's all about me" arrogant--or are, legitimately publishing in some other publishing venue than the U.S. market.

"liver spots" is in Webster's Collegiate. "Livor spots" isn't. So, in U.S. style, at least, "liver spots" exists and "livor spots" doesn't. Again no one posting to this forum has a vote on that--and should probably just get over themselves if that bothers them (taking us back to your original "lividness" over someone actually following U.S. style on a U.S.-hosted Web site).
 
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Sorry, but Webster's, as its founder intended and declared, was never to be an arbiter, but only a reflection of actual usage. I can't deny that common usuage makes it "liver spots," but I reserve the right as an academic and an author to be as arcane as I wish. "Liver" derives from the Old Germanic "lifer" and has nothing to do with bruise-like spots. Bruises, and any other similar discolorations of the skin were termed "livors," after the Latin usage, as with other medical terminology. We still use it for "livor mortis," the discoloration of the skin that comes with the settling and deoxygenation of the blood after death.

So, "liver spots" it is by consensus of the people, but they still have nothing to do with livers, and I get livid when anyone claims they do.

There's a species of spaniel dog with what are called 'Liver' spots. Now I know why.
 
Pilot, everything that you say is true. But the internet is a global thing and yet local usage - and history - remains. Dictionaries record usage. And, in this capacity, they define usage for the moment. If US writers start using left as the word that we currently use to define right, Webster's will follow. Not trying to start an argument; just saying.
 
And I'm just saying--in response to those who say there are no authorities--that there jolly well are and if those who insist that there aren't want to screw themselves up if they hoped their writing would go beyond free-read amateur sites want to be pigheaded about being "it's all about me" that's one thing, but if they assert their pigheaded arrogance on forums where others who want their writing to go beyond free-read amateur sites come for guidance that's quite another, destructive thing.
 
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