Island Life: Abusage
191 Responses
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Is "absolument!"
O.K? -
Bien sur.
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Is 'absolument' OK?
Absolutely not!
The one that riles me is the use of the word 'quantum' in place of 'quantity' or 'amount'. Here is the usually-admirable Jane Clifton in the latest Listener:
'The quantum of the new road use charge was an issue..'
Aaaagh!
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I suppose the upcoming Bond film gets right on your wick then Carol. :)
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Is 'absolument' OK?
Absolutely not!
Hmmmm. What if the speaker is cute and French?
Just trying to establish if there is any absolute limit here.
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Carol - given the way people use "quantum", there's a lovely irony in the fact that in its other context it means "things that are very very very small".
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Oh I agree with you ...umm... totally... on this one David.
Was this spurred by that woman on Morning report this morning from Budgetting Services? Absolutely was her answer to nearly every question put to her.
It is used everywhere, and so often, that has been devalued. Just the same way 'awesome' has been ruined.
Now , where are my slippers and why don't those kids turn that bloody racket down!
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There was a women on Nat. Radio this morning from Budget Advice or something like that
Her reply to all questions was ‘absolutely’
Drives me mad, drove me mad
I have noticed in certain bad teachers, it is just mental lazyness -
All us old bugges posting at the same time
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Was this spurred by that woman on Morning report this morning
Michael, yes it was. Absolutely.
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Danielle - there's something of a tradition of bad names for Bond films - Octopussy! Goldfinger! But this one is bad and illiterate, which is quite something.
Tom - it might depend on just how cute. -
Danielle - there's something of a tradition of bad names for Bond films - Octopussy! Goldfinger! But this one is bad and illiterate, which is quite something.
I love it. Let's get some big words, stick them together, and manage to convey absolutely nothing at all. It's practically existential.
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All us old bugges posting at the same time
Call it the PAS hivemind in action...
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I agree it does sound declasse, but the correct pronunciation of "heinous" does sound like "penis" (according to my Concise Oxford Dictionary).
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Is it OK if they spell it mischievious?
Be thankful you do not live in the USA where homes are burglarized and it's apparently necessary to point out that an arson is a fire.
cheers
Bart -
excuse my ignorance, but if heinous does not sound like penis... what does it sound like?
(I've always thought that I was quite good at this sort of stuff....)
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excuse my ignorance, but if heinous does not sound like penis... what does it sound like?
Anus
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while were at it can we do something about "quantum jump" - that would be the SMALLEST change ... the ex-physics student in me just cringes
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excuse my ignorance, but if heinous does not sound like penis... what does it sound like?
I would have said: "rhymes with Janus", but I have had this email:
The only alternative to heinous/penis is heinous/anus, which is worse at best, under the circumSTAHnces.
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And to back me up...phonetically: Heinous = hā′nəs and Anus = ā′nəs
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many thanks...
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I would have said: "rhymes with Janus"
Doh! My class is showing
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while were at it can we do something about "quantum jump" - that would be the SMALLEST change ... the ex-physics student in me just cringes
So you mean Dr Samuel Beckett wasn't travelling through time?
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Absolutely. Happy to.
'The quantum of the new road use charge was an issue..'
They are being a bit technically correct, if they are aware of it. Quantum refers (in this context) to a change in the amount. A very small change if one were to get heinously anal about it. Delta would be even worse...
My personal hates:
"off of"
"paradigm" instead of "model"
"agile"
and #1 on the list
"can I get" instead of "may I have" (I can even cope with "can I have" at a push...) -
Speaking of doing dumb things with language (so as not to sound like a total thread-jack)
Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office.
Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole."
It also contains the funniest sentence I've read this morning:
I'm afraid, though, that the search for collocational analogies for X hole, beyond X=black and X=white, is hampered by interference from unrelated patterns.
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