If you could ban anything in the English language...

[TheEarl]

What would you ban?

I personally hate the word said. I try to avoid using it unless I absolutely have to. It sounds so childish: he said this, she said that. I prefer unattributed dialogue, or where the dialogue is linked with an action, eg.

Jenny flicked her hair over her shoulder. "Well that isn't going to change anything."

Curious to see what other people's pet peeves are.

The Earl

 

[BigTexan]

I think I would ban "floccinaucinihilipilification" because in my estimation it is a worthless word.

On the other hand I have a habit of estimating long words as worthless

BigTexan

P.S. A link to the words definition

http://www.quinion.com/words/weirdwords/ww-flo2.htm

 

[poohlive]

I don't know, personally I like the word said. IT's short, simple and to the point. Nothing wrong with using the right word, people do say things.
You could use all of the synonims for said, but those make it look like your trying to put emphasis on every single thing someone says.
"Johnny," she called.
"Yeah?" he replied.
"Where is the dog?" she asked.
"I don't know," he retorted.
"You took him for a walk," she accused.
"Yeah, well you left the gate open," he argued.
"Oh, there he is, in the den," she sighed.
"Let's go make love," he cooed.

Nothing particularly wrong with it, but the word said has always worked for me.

If I were going to get rid of a word, it would probably be nigger. I never did like that one, and I think things would be altogether a bit better of white-ass aryan leader jerkwads wouldn't have such a powerful word. Maybe something else like kike or motherfucker.
I would want to get rid of a hate word, of some kind.

Hee hee, or perhaps the word "it." Make people actually say what they are talkin about in every single sentence. I would be crazy enough to get rid of a popular pronoun and watch as it infects the entire world.
That would be interesting.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I have three words I'd like to erase from the English language.

George w. Bush.

 

[Quasimodem]

Not so much erased, as bikini waxed.

 

[M.A.Thompson]

Maybe something else like.........motherfucker.

Not Motherfucker!!!!

The movie Pulp Fiction will never be the same!!!!!

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Okay scholars, who was it said, "If I left out the H in Ghent, somebody would ask where it went."

RF

 

[Route66Girl]

Words, words, words

Rumple, I have noooooo idea.

I wouldn't ban nuthin'!

Okay, I have a particular disdain for the word "turd." It crawls through my ears and down my spine like fingernails on a chalk board. I hate it.

But I still wouldn't ban it. After all, a character I really dislike can use it in one of my stories sometime, eh?

Personally, I think we need MORE words in the English language! Or, at least, bring back into use the ones that have been left behind.

 

[kristydoll]

Actually, I would love to see the word "whatever" banned - maybe not for language and a word in general - but in my home where that single word said by my daughter gets under my skin every time.

kristy

 

[Guest]

I'm not aloud to use cunt or fuck or wank in the house so I have to use cunt and wank on this forum and fuck when i go out. Also shit and piss are looked down upon by a lot of people, but I personally like shit and piss.

Which leaves my REAL pet hate, which is not a word, but a usage of a word: It's when people (usually copywriters for Readers Digest) start sentences with "Too".
e.g "She was about five feet nine inches tall. Too, she weighed about one hundred and thirty pounds." This practice is thankfully all but extinct.

I go now.

 

[Quasimodem]

I'm not aloud to use cunt or fuck or wank in the house so I have to use cunt and wank on this forum ... I go now.

Wanks for the info.
Too, you should register.

 

[KillerMuffin]

"member"

I loathe that word and will virulently one anyone with it in their story. Of course I never press that critical vote button so my antipathy never registers, but I do feel better when finished.

*smiles brightly*

 

[wildsweetone]

methinks words is my mainstay.

BigTexan, i love 'floccinaucinihilipilification' and am putting it on my fridge door

All words have their place, otherwise surely they wouldn't have evolved?

 

[Quasimodem]

I have never actually used "floccinaucinihilipilification" in my life, but it is an old friend from Trivia daze. Supposedly it is the longest word.

Only in passing, it means "the estimation of something as worthless."

The Oxford English Dictionary labels it "humorous" and gives the following citations for it:

I loved him for nothing so much as his floccinaucinihilipilification of money. --William Shenstone, Letters.

They must be taken with an air of contempt, a floccinaucinihilipilification of all that can gratify the outward man. --Sir Walter Scott, Journal.

This is not the language of communication. This is the language of obfuscation.

 

[Guest]

see me go nutso

I know this is picky... but aren't we supposed to be picky about words and their usage here?

I absolutely go ballistic when someone says, "I could care less". What the really mean is "I couldn't care less".

Another pet peeve I have only shows up in spoken english: A whole nother. What is the world in a "nother"?

And finally, I would ban the phrase "Pisses me off". It makes no sense to me. "Urinates me off"? I understand "pissing contests" and "pissing on someone's parade". I like the Minakin Pis in Brussells (sp Svenska?). I just hate any variation of the phrase "Pissed off".

I feel better now.

KM- I'm with you on the "member" ban. It ranks up there with "manhood" and "flower of femininity".

 

[deliciously_naughty]

manhood makes me cringe...I hope I've never stooped to using it

I really don't like the word vagina...its such a cold term...you never talk about how wet her vagina is getting...the word doesn't work. I want something softer, more approachable. Until then there's the ever popular pussyh

 

[NorthwestRain]

I love the work 'vagina'. Yes, it's clinical, certainly wriggly, but full of delicious secret wishes. Fantastic word. Penis however...
Just kidding ladies.

 

[Weird Harold]

"There are no bad words; just bad thoughts" --George Carlin

 

[Ulyssa]

Sexing. Used as a verb.

What braindead, emotionally disturbed ex-humanist came up with that cold-blooded term.
Probably some turd with a member.

 

[Pookie]

Re: see me go nutso

And finally, I would ban the phrase "Pisses me off". It makes no sense to me. "Urinates me off"? I understand "pissing contests" and "pissing on someone's parade". I like the Minakin Pis in Brussells (sp Svenska?). I just hate any variation of the phrase "Pissed off".

I'm not sure exactly where this phrase came from (pisses me off), but it could have begun with the saying "take the piss" which means to "deflate somebody, to disabuse them of their mistaken belief that they are special." This saying is believed to come from "Piss-proud" which refers to "having an erection when waking up in the morning, which is usually attributed to a full bladder (proud here being an obvious pun on its senses of something raised or projecting and of something in which one may take satisfaction). " So to "take the piss" would involve taking something from a person, to deflate them or disabuse them.

So maybe instead of saying "Pisses me off", it should be "you took my piss"?

An old saying (I guess it is old), "it is better to be pissed off then pissed on"

WH: "Have you noticed that their stuff is shit and your shit is stuff?" - George Carlin

Excuse me now ... I have to take a piss.

 

[BigTexan]

Re: Re: see me go nutso

So maybe instead of saying "Pisses me off", it should be "you took my piss"?

I absolutely love the feeling of pissing after I've been forced to hold it through a six hour meeting. It is almost sexual. So I'd be real pissed off if someone "took my piss".

An old saying (I guess it is old), "it is better to be pissed off then pissed on"

My Daddy always used to say "It's better to be pissed off than shit on." maybe it's the same saying.

BigTexan

 

[its Leslie]

I would ban the word "Fuck", but I would only be doing it to be a pain in the ass hehe

After all, it would sure mess up a lot of things eh.

Oh the chaos would be incredible.

 

[ronde]

It bothers me to see the evolution of speech patterns that use:

go instead of said, as in "I go, 'why'd you do that.'" "Go" implies motion, not speech.

any form of the word? "yaknowwha'i'msayin' when used at the end of every sentence phrase.

like, as in "he was, like, going off on me.'

Both the above are filler, just as "Uh", "Um", and all the other non-words your second grade teacher told you not to use.

 

[TheEarl]

Ah, the psychoses we're unveiling. Ronde are you from South East England? Just wondering from the hate of the v.cockney "YaknawwhatImean?"

On poohlive's point, I'm going to withdraw my complaint. Now I hate dialogue tags in general and those which use said in particular.

I have to say you couldn't get rid of the word turd, cause then you couldn't have the wonderful phrase that is "turd polishing." For those confused by that bit of English slang, that mean talking up a cock-up as a success by emphasising the good points.

The Earl

 

[its Leslie]

I love typing out speech patterns myself

Occasionally I even get them right hehe.

I have had plenty of chats where the recipient was even able to hear the accent in the comment.