The Associated Press publishes a Stylebook that is considered by many in the industry — from daily newspapers to monthly magazines to Web sites to major book publishers — to be the definitive guide to how to properly and consistently use the English language in written form. And this week, the AP declared that it
no longer sanctions the term “illegal immigrant” or the use of “illegal” to describe a person. Instead, it tells users that “illegal” should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally.
Whether you agree with this particular directive is a debate for another day. What I want to know is, à la the AP Stylebook:
What word or phrase would you eliminate from the English language, and why?
I don’t mean in a Newspeak sort of way, of course: no language truly benefits from eliminating words. But perhaps there’s a word or phrase that no longer serves the purpose it once did. Or perhaps some otherwise innocuous words have been twisted in shapes they shouldn’t have been.
Go!
(If you have a suggestion for a Question, feel free to email me. Responses to this QOTW sent by email will be ignored; please post your responses here.)
I hate the phrase “I could care less” simply because it actually means the exact opposite of what its users intend.
Maybe it’s a meta thing: “I am so disinterested in this that even though I COULD be MORE disinterested, I am NOT.” :-P
(Seriously, that annoys me as well)
Uninterested! Disinterested means unbiased.
Interesting, I didn’t know that. (English isn’t my native language). Thanks for the info.
That phrase brings out my violent side. Really, the word “couldn’t” was too long for you? You had to shorten it? Really?!?
Frankly, being British, I couldn’t care less.
The only word that should be eliminated is “blasphemy” – wrap your brain around that. I’m not advocating censorship, just the gradual extinction of the concept.
I’d like to ban the entirety of Atlas Shrugged if it’s possible.
Who is John Galt?! Moffat, you magnificent bastard! I read your book! ;)
I’m nominating “moot”. My Oxford Paperback Dictionary, from 1990, has it defined as “debatable, undecided”, which is how I’ve always used it. However it seems to have developed an additional meaning over the last few years, namely “of academic interest only”. For this reason, the phrase “a moot point” could mean either “up for debate” or “not worth discussing”, i.e. two completely opposite things. So because its usage has become so confusing I think the best thing to do is to drop it altogether.
As far as phrases are concerned, “my bad” can just fuck right off. It’s the sort of thing that might sound adorable coming from a three year old with learning difficulties, but that’s about it.
This is in the same line as one of my pet peeves, the use of “problematic” to mean an actual problem instead of “doubtful”.
I see the word ‘problematic,’ and I think of River playing with her food in the Firefly episode ‘The Message.’ “My food is problematic.” Was she using it correctly? I’m not sure I understand what you mean. The online dictionary defines it as something that constitutes a problem, an one of its synonyms is ‘doubtful.’ Maybe I’ve never heard it used incorrectly.
“Problematic”?
Oh, thank you, thank you for putting this. The number of times it crops up in the papers I have to read. And all it means is that something isn’t perfect which, lets face it, describes most things.
YES, to “my bad”! Man, I hate that!
i wouldn’t eliminate any. To quote Henry Drummond in “Inherit the Wind”: Language is a poor enough means of communication. I think we should use all the words we’ve got.
This is going to sound crazy but the word “pic”, short for picture, should be banned. It’s like finger nails on a chalkboard every time I hear it. I want to scream “The word is picture!” when someone uses it. Thanks for letting me get that out…very therapeutic.
I have to admit to using it in emails (I’m in a job that involves combining images with words, so it comes up often), but I’d never actually *say* it out loud. I promise.
“reverse racism (or sexism, or discrimination, etc.)”
Swag and YOLO. And the shortening of words, like ‘cray’ and ‘probs’ and ‘adorbs’ And white people saying ‘oh, snap.’ (Probably white people saying most slang words/phrases.)
I also say “-ly” (lee) under my breath when it’s needed but people don’t use it. “Serious?” (“-ly”) “Don’t take it personal” (‘personalLY) “Go more slow” “SlowLY!”
I mourn the death of the adverb.
i think the adverb is on its way out. your examples above are perfect — adding “ly” adds nothing; the meaning was crystal clear without it.
So, speaking correct(ly) is on its way out? Just because the meaning is crystal clear doesn’t mean you don’t sound stupid. Everyone knows what is meant when others use the wrong ‘your,’ but that doesn’t stop people from wanting them to use it correct(ly).
eh, i just think what it means to speak correctly will continue to change, and that adverbs such as these might might fade away, like ‘whom’.
Language does (and needs to) change over time, but I resist anything that reduces clarity and specificity. Personal and personally mean slightly different things. Merging them into one reduces options for infusing writing or speaking with nuance.
They’re called flat adverbs, and they don’t bug me. Here’s a nice defense by someone from Merriam-Webster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7epnfcHy5SA
If I had to pick one since I could rant about this for hours, I have to go with ‘exact same’. Seriously, the phrase is ‘exactly the same’! If you can’t handle that, say identical!
Of course, both phrases are redundant.
Literally.
I absolutely despise the word “frenemies”. I don’t even understand the concept of this idiotic word. How the hell can somebody be your friend and your enemy at the same time? You either like someone or you don’t, I think. Also “man cave” needs to get lost as well. Just call it a “rec room” like everybody else does. A “man cave” sounds like a place where Fred Flintstone would hang out.
“How the hell can somebody be your friend and your enemy at the same time?”
Really? You’ve *never* had one of those relationships? Not even when you were a kid?
Well, trust me, they do happen. It can take a lot of forms (the person in your social circle whom you don’t like, an on-again-off-again friend, a friendly rival, etc.).
‘Islamophobia’ : a word created by fascists to manipulate cowards.
“Very unique.”
THIS. THANK YOU.
A thousand time this! I try not to take it personally when I hear it, as I know it’s a personal problem of the person saying it. (See what I did there?)
Monetize and monetization, as applied to anything but investments or business. Or rather, the concept that any and all things/ideas/people/places/things must be monetized. Meh.
“Disinterested.” The idea that there are things on which you can legitimately not hold an opinion is already dead; let’s bury the word that most people only use to mean “uninterested” anyway.
I hate the phrase ” # channels and nothing on” or ” Same old shit” .. its like okay, what can I do for you? why say that? Find something else to do for fucks sake
Since almost no one uses it correctly, I nominate the phrase “begs the question”. It does NOT MEAN “raises the question”, although it is routinely used that way.
If you have any confusion on this subject, here are a pair of dinosaurs to explain it: http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=693
Really, JUST TODAY i heard someone on the news using this phrase incorrectly AGAIN.
i think that it has been used incorrectly so frequently for so long that now it means both things.
Well yes, there’s certainly an argument to be made for that, but I’m with the T-Rex :)
“Just sayin(g)”
Anyone who says this needs to be punched in the throat.
Man cave, manscaping, man____.
What the hell is this crap? Just call it what it is! Why do you have to force gender into it?. So stupid.
I don’t believe in getting rid of words. I believe in making people smarter so they use the words correctly. If anything, we should make up more words, just to keep our language interesting and unpredictable.
“Snog.” All the possible synonyms for the word “kiss” that the Brits could have come up with and this is the one word you all settle on? You’re not exactly making a good case for modern English here.
Equally, all the possible mutilations of the English language that emanate from the British Isles, and you had to settle on this one?
Over “chav”, for example?
Well, I could have mentioned the word “wog” but it didn’t seem right to mention a word that few modern Britons use nowadays. Especially one that is already dying out–and rightfully so.
Ugh, I had that one dropped on me in an MMO a couple years back. As in “There aren’t any wogs here, are there?”
Frankly the entire library of racial and gender-based slurs can die in a fire.
“Bonk” as a euphemism for “have sex with” was invented by Neil Gaiman.
Really? That’s interesting. I hadn’t heard that. Can I have a citation, please?
Well the OED credits it as Late 20th C so it’s feasible.
It was in the Bristol Arts magazine, equivalent of Time Out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venue_(magazine) was the one I was thinking of, and the term was invented by Gaiman and Eugene Byrne. I don’t have a citation for the invention…
As interesting as that is, what does that have to do with the word “snog”?
Nothing whatsoever, though I find it similarly unaesthetic.
True. You have a point there.
Huh, I always thought “bonk” meant “to bump into,” as in “he bonked his head on the low-hanging branch,” and that “boink” was the sex word. I’m pretty sure there was an entire scene about it in a short-lived NBC sitcom about 10 years ago. Maybe its a British/U.S. difference?
Probably – “boink” sounds American to me, and I think only really came in around 2000 – quite possibly as a variation of “bonk”.
On the internet, the phrase “Wow. Just wow.” grates on my like nobody’s business. I’d also like to do away with the phrase “go ahead and” when used as a verbal tic.
‘Pacific’ when people actually mean ‘specific’ makes me furious, every time.
The phrase “why should” – it’s used to frame questions that are simply there to confirm the authors bigoted opinion. Such as “Why should my taxes go to pay for all those poor people on benefits?
Frankly anyone who use this particular device deserves that special level of hell (the level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theatre).
“Orientate.” What’s wrong with “orient”?
The redundant double “is” in spoken phrases like “The fact is, is that…” (President Obama does this a lot.) Come to think of it, I’m not a fan of the phrase “the fact is” either. Just state the fact directly.
“Deceptively.” I can never figure out if the adjective that follows is the truth or the deception. If something is “deceptively simple,” is it more complex than it seems, or less complex than it seems? Why not just say so?
Aluminium vs. Aluminum
Catsup vs. Ketchup.
Gray vs. Grey.
Read the Wikipedia page – it comes down to someone wanting a distinctive name under which he could sell the stuff…
In my opinion, it’s not really some big enormous deal when people are a little tiny bit redundant now and then sometimes. In fact to tell you the truth, I honestly don’t mind it all that much for the most part. I suppose it must be a southern thing – we’ve perfected the art of wasting time through the mutual exchange of deceptively simple, rambling platitudes. Why my grandpa could talk for two hours straight with great conviction and somehow manage not to say a single damn thing worth repeating or even remembering. Actually, that’s probably the main reason people in town always loved to hear him talk – they never had to worry that they might have to listen to something.
“Deceptively simple” is an example of nuance that I really appreciate. It’s “something that seems simple on the surface, but upon examination is more complex than it appears.” I love that two words can be used to convey a concept that takes many more to describe.
Huh. Okay. So “deceptively” modifies the deception, not the reality. Is that always the case, though? My iMac dictionary says it can mean “to a lesser extent than seems the case (the idea was deceptively simple),” OR “to a greater extent than seems the case (the airy and deceptively spacious lounge)”. That’s where I get confused.
If a pool is “deceptively shallow,” is it shallower than it seems, or deeper than it seems? Is a “deceptively brave” person someone whose bravado masks cowardice, or someone whose apparent cowardice masks courage? “Deceptively” by itself seems ambiguous. If it needs further context to determine its meaning, then it seems to be a hindrance rather than a help to clear communication.
Why not just say “simpler/harder than it looks,” or “shallower/deeper than it seems,” or “braver/more cowardly than she appears”? That’s not TOO many more words, and you gain in clarity.
Grammarphobia’s take:
http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/08/a-deceptively-tricky-word.html
Huh, I don’t recall seeing “deceptively” used to modify any other adjective than “simple.” Having thought it through, I’d formulate the rule as: when deceptively modifies and adjective, the adjective is being called into question. So “X appears deceptively Y” means that X is actually less Y than it appears. But since people do interpret it in opposite ways, and because clarity is a primary goal of good writing, I’ll have to reverse my opinion – it should probably go.I don’t want to accidentally write deceptively!
Yay, I changed someone’s mind on the Internet! This calls for a ginger ale. ;-)
It’s one of those things where ‘disinterested’ has been so misused that its beginning to be interchangeable. Properly, though, it means without a personal interest in something. So, a disinterested observer/adviser is a good thing – acting without an agenda for personal gain – and not a bad thing, like an uninterested adviser would be.
Thank you for saving me the trouble of typing this out. “Disinterested” was my immediate thought when I read the question.
Not one I’d like to remove, but I’d like to see the insult “Berk” restored to it’s true place. It’s often encountered on pre-watershed TV – however it is rhyming slang, and is the shortened version of “Berkeley Hunt”: guess what swearword rhymes with Hunt?
For those of you with a long memory of Childrens TV in the UK will remember the series “Trapdoor”: Amusingly the main characters name was “Berk” and knowing how erudite the authors were this was no mistake. Beats the hell out of the old “Seaman Staines” myth on Captain Pugwash.
British actors, sneaking foul epithets onto your screens since the 1970’s
Berkshire. There is no Berkeley Hunt.
The “Seaman Staines” thing was invented by a “comedian” in the mid 1990s. It offended John Ryan very greatly; he was very much not the sort of person who would have done such a thing.
There may well not be a Berkeley Hunt, but that doesn’t preclude its use as rhyming slang. Certainly Berkeley Hunt was the etymology I always heard, and the one that is reported all over. As, indeed, is the existence of a Berkeley Hunt based in Gloucester.
All of this may be wrong, of course…
Fair enough.
But, regardless of whether Berkeley or Berkshire is correct, if berk is descended from B… Hunt, surely we’d be pronouncing it ‘bark’ and not ‘berk’?
Berkeley is pronounced ‘berk’ not ‘bark.
In the USA, not in the UK.
Obviously I knew that Berkeley Square was, but I’d always heard that the Hunt was different. Strange. You live and learn. Makes the generally accepted etymology of the rhyming slang even more curious.
You are correct – although both may be in use. However notice I used the word “myth” when referring to Seaman Staines. (I actually know someone with that name who was going to join the navy – changed his mind at the last moment, I just realised why)
“Friendzone.” It’s not so much the word itself as its connotations (“nice guy” BS, etc.).
“Just between you and I …”
I don’t mind slangy, informal language. I don’t mind technically nonsensical idioms like “I could care less.” But “between you and I” drives me up a freaking wall because the people who say it are making an effort to be correct. In fact, this type of error is called hypercorrection.
Public service announcement: “Between” is a preposition, which means it takes an object. It’s “between you and ME.”
Thank you. I feel better now.
Deep-seeded, when people mean deep-seated. I’ve seen this one in publications, and it just makes me sad.