Latest language perversions à la "could care less" or figurative-literal

[EmilyMiller]

Image doesn’t work for me, hun

 

[Bramblethorn]

I still get to make fun of it when it's happening in real time in front of me, perpetrated by people who are careless, lazy or ignorant.

Most of human progress is driven by laziness. It wasn't a marathon runner who invented the bicycle.

I can't say I like the "as much" usage you mention, but the meaning is clear, and the "why" should be obvious: it saves words.

 

[onehitwanda]

Image doesn’t work for me, hun

drat.



how about now?

 

[EmilyMiller]

drat.

View attachment 2281303

how about now?

That’s fine

 

[MrPixel]

...asymptotically...

Heh. That'll throw a few of 'em a curve.

Ba dump dump. Chshsss.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Heh. That'll throw a few of 'em a curve.

Ba dump dump. Chshsss.

Oh you !

Em

 

[SimonDoom]

Language is fluid, like a twisting meandering river, bifurcating and bifurcating again to form a wide delta. You can’t hold back the water with your hands and there are too many rivulets to dam them all.

Em

Language is the Blob, an aggressive mass of formless goo that fell from space and has a ravenous appetite for human flesh. The only way to deal with the Blob is to freeze it and drop it in the Arctic where it will stay permanently frozen and unchanged, provided global warming doesn't melt it and start the shitstorm all over again.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Yep, 'irregardless' has a special quality of dumb.

Regardless is already a negative, so irregardless would form a double negative - if it were an actual word, which it's not. So don't use it, except as dialogue for a grammatically ignorant character.

Here's my offering. The phrase 'what the fuck?' in cases of extra surprise has morphed into 'what the actual fuck?' and has now also become acceptable as just 'what the actual?"

I actually kinda like that one. We all know it says fuck even though it doesn't.

 

[ElectricBlue]

drat.


how about now?

Men really do miss out on this lesbian lust thing, but it's really quite fascinating, seeing how it works (I'm jealous).

I imagine a motel with very long corridors, with different gifs in each room. And Wanda, with the master key .

 

[EmilyMiller]

Language is the Blob, an aggressive mass of formless goo that fell from space and has a ravenous appetite for human flesh. The only way to deal with the Blob is to freeze it and drop it in the Arctic where it will stay permanently frozen and unchanged, provided global warming doesn't melt it and start the shitstorm all over again.

Mine was a bit more upbeat if I’m honest, hun.

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

Men really do miss out on this lesbian lust thing, but it's really quite fascinating, seeing how it works (I'm jealous).

You should be

I imagine a motel with very long corridors, with different gifs in each room. And Wanda, with the master key .

I’m just imagining @onehitwanda in each of the rooms .

Em

 

[ElectricBlue]

You should be

I’m just imagining @onehitwanda in each of the rooms .

Em

I wonder if her ears are burning?

I'll be happy if I'm allowed to watch (or is that too pervy?)

 

[EmilyMiller]

I wonder if her ears are burning?

I'll be happy if I'm allowed to watch (or is that too pervy?)

Given I’m writing exhibitionist stuff now - what the hell? .

Em

 

[MillieDynamite]

What an ass.

He'd have his pedantic answer to 'will' as well...

Person: Will you open the window?
My dad: Yes, I'm sure I will at some point...

He, of course, smugly interpreting 'will' as purely future intention.

 

[onehitwanda]

You should be

I’m just imagining @onehitwanda in each of the rooms .

Em

 

[alohadave]

Super green

 

[onehitwanda]

Super green

I love this movie so much. It is so stupid and so perfect.

 

[Britva415]

(*oldman fistshake*) Another one I don't like:

Saying "try and," when one means "try to."

I'm not going to go all the way and call it a perversion, because descriptivism vs. prescriptivism says this one's "not wrong," and it's hardly a neologism, but it hurts my ears and makes me want to ask, "Why are you even talking about trying at all, then, if you're so sure you're gonna do it?"

 

[Bamagan]

I'll just drop this Gandalf quote and be on my way.

I was talking aloud to myself. A habit of the old: they choose the wisest person present to speak to; the long explanations needed by the young are wearying.​

 

[MillieDynamite]

Now I'm sad. No more Bruce. Sigh, I feel so sad for his family and friends. He's slipping away, one memory at a time, and nothing can be done. At first, they thought it was short-term memory. But no, he has dementia. I should watch this movie tonight.

I love this movie so much. It is so stupid and so perfect.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Given I’m writing exhibitionist stuff now - what the hell? .

Em

Sounds just fine to me. It will go nicely with the hetero-lesbian stuff I've got running at the moment.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

"My head literally exploded." No it didn't but we see this everywhere now.

Fun fact: The "literal literal" is itself figurative, if you're talking about anything but a written letter (the orthographic kind, not the postal kind).

 

[mirafrida]

I spend way too much time polishing prose - but with this kind of thing, if the quick first-impression sounds right, and it reads easily, then it stays in

 

[AG31]

"I could care less." So... You do care some?

I've thought about this off and on for many years. As I was growing up EVERYONE said "I could care less." I pondered and pondered. Obviously it was inaccurate. When I grew up and moved to a different part of the country I heard people say "couldn't". But I think this particular phraseology needs to go in the category of regionalism.

 

[alohadave]

I've thought about this off and on for many years. As I was growing up EVERYONE said "I could care less." I pondered and pondered. Obviously it was inaccurate. When I grew up and moved to a different part of the country I heard people say "couldn't". But I think this particular phraseology needs to go in the category of regionalism.

And turns of phrase don't necessarily need to make sense in isolation if everyone understands what it means.

There are plenty of phrases that don't make sense if you try to apply them literally.