buffto

I work at a gas station. I get my fair share of idiots there (i.e. can't figure out the pump, can't find bathroom, can't find the CANDY RACK), but this one girl just floored me. I may have heard dumber, but this stuck out because she tried to use sophisticated words without knowing how.

"That egg roll I ate did not suffice me to any avail."

Okay, let's take a look at a couple of those words, shall we?

suf-fice: v. to meet present needs or requirements.

This word has been used completely incorrectly. She was not the special need or requirement, her hunger was, so why did she leave out the integral part about hunger?

a-vail: v. to succeed.

She already made it clear that she wasn't filled up by the egg roll, why did she feel the need to put the last 3 words in? That's being redundant and just plain stupid.

That concludes my rant. I'm sure people will call me a dick because i should worry about such things. But i'm sorry, things like that just irk me. If you are in any doubt whatsoever in how to use a given word, don't use it.

[/rant]

suviko

It is annoying to hear people abuse difficult words to seem smarter or posher, but I almost banged my head at the wall when a high school graduate applying for a really difficult to get in college/university program asks what's "empirical". Ok, it's a loan word in Finnish, but c'mon...

What I get annoyed with is naming old foods with the latest cuisine trend term to make it sell better. In here, what use to be called a milkshake is usually uncorrectly called a smoothie or better yet, a lassi.

madsenj37

Lewis Black, the comedian, said trying to figure out why people say stupid stuff is the reason we have brain aneurisms. His example was taken from a conversation he overheard the ending to. Try and figure this out, "If it wasn't for my horse, I would have never spent that year in college."

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"Only two things are certain: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not certain about the universe."
-- Albert Einstein

seretogis

Wow, that consequently does disconcert my self!

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seretogis - sieg heil
perfect little dream the kind that hurts the most, forgot how it feels well almost
no one to blame always the same, open my eyes wake up in flames

Magpie0001

I often see this on Cops. Why do the witnesses always say
"...and I proceeded to..." (I went)
or "..to his current location." (over there)
C'mon, who are you kidding? You dont really speak like that.

Do you think the average person in South Central L.A. uses this language like this:

locate (find)
survey (search)
commenced (started)
originated (came from)
outset (begining)
persue (chase)
failed to (didn't)
apprehend (arrest)
take unawares (surprise)
determine (find out)
ascertain (be sure)

& military people do it
"the ordinance vehicle in front of which I am currently standing" (this car)
They dont locate thier posteriors a sofa & proceed to partake in a cold alcaholic carbonated beverage" They sit at home & have a beer.
Give me a break.

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Music is my first love & It will be my last.

Ratman

Some people definately need to extract their craniums from rectal defilade.

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The difference between theory and reality is that in theory there is no difference.

"God made man, but he used the monkey to do it." DEVO

ratbastid

Oooh, now you're getting me started. "COPS"isms just piss me off.

The phrase "rate of speed" is one of my favorites. Rate of speed!? "He was proceeding down the thoroughfare at a high rate of speed." == "He was driving fast down the street."

Oh, and "At this time". What's wrong with "now"? Speeches that start with "At this time I would like to..." can be at least seven words shorter.

CSflim

"rate of speed" hahahaha! thats a good one! (I don't get Cops) Thats very funny! Try and figure out what exactly "rate of speed" means....it makes no sense at all!

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Opiate

This thread reminds me of one of my lecturers who would stand up in front of the class and explain over an hours worth of material in the most complex language possible. I usually walk out of the theatre thinking wtf i didnt understand a word of that.

When i actually go home and look over the material, i find that i could explain the concepts in a quarter of the time using simple language.

oh i laughed out loud at the rate of speed too!

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when i am king, you will be first against the wall...

rogue49

all I've got to say is
know your audience.

krwlz

I would say I have a decent vocabulary, but as Rogue said, you have to now your audience. When you are writing a paper use the "sophisticated" language, (just make sure you spell it right, and use it right).

Anywhere else, blow it out your ass and talk like the rest of us. People who don't make me embarassed for them.

sadistikdreams

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"Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone.
The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials."
-Lin Yutang

hearts, by d.a.

lafemmefatale

"Every so often, I try to masturbate a large word into conversation, even if I'm not really sure what it means."

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-poor is the man whose pleasure depends on the permission of another-

BoCo

A very fat woman at work was giving me a bunch of crap because I spent $4,000 on a mountain bike. She told me it was stupid of me to waste the much money on a bike. I responded that it wasn't a waste of money, but an investment in my health.

...she then responded with the absolute stupidest thing I've ever heard:

"Well, what's yer health gonna getcha???"

Actually, lack of it got her fat husband sent to an early grave.

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Activism is a way for useless people to feel important.

World's King

I understand.


Some people were just born to fail.

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heavy is the head that wears the crown

Jesus Pimp

I was at a vegetarian Chinese resturaunt a few weeks ago. This old white lady asked one of the waitresses where they were from. She said Taiwan. Then the old lady then asked her "Oh yeah? Do your relatives have SARS?" The waitress said no. I rolled my eyes and was like WTF?

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Never date anyone who doesn't make your dick hard.

BentNotTwisted

It's not the worst thing I've heard, but it embarrasses me to no end to hear the bone headed President of the USA using the word Nucular instead of Nuclear. 'Hi, I'm in charge of the most powerful country in the world and I can't even use the english language rightly.'

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IS THAT IT ???!!!
Do you even know what 'it' is?

When the last man dies for just words that he said... We Shall Be Free

Jolt

I take far more offense at poorly written English than poorly spoken English. Unfortunately this takes away from my enjoyment when reading e-mail and BBS posts.

l33tsp34k is at times easier to read. *shudder*

gibber71

To excrusiatingly pontificate purposely by some enamorate linguistically challenged persons dictates extraordinary ineptitude and is a predicated by indifference within itself.

Where is ARTelevision when you need him.

CSflim

Why call a spade a spade when you can call it a manual earth manipulation implement?

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G0dd3ss

CRI (Cranial-rectal inversion) is a major problem amongst todays population. Very sad, really.

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It's best not to be too moral...you cheat yourself out of too much life. - Maude, Harold and Maude.

madsenj37

Do you mind if I use that in real life? That is comic gold.

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"Only two things are certain: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not certain about the universe."
-- Albert Einstein

MacGnG

we are forced to learn these words; well i was anyway, so we must use them.

i dont use big words most of the time simply beacuse i dont remember what most of them mean

Dingo-Man

the rate (of change) of speed is acceleration. (haha)

madsenj37

Amen to that.

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"Only two things are certain: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not certain about the universe."
-- Albert Einstein

DarkerFire

It's not so much as using words they don't know, it's the improper typing of words they have used all their lives. Anyone who uses "u" and "r" makes me sadface, because you know it takes extra effort to find that one letter instead of just typing out the real word.

The Darker Fire Within

XenuHubbard

My friend's girlfriend won't let him go out without her. He always have to call her to tell her where he is, and if he's off somewhere, but not at work, she calls him at least once a hour telling him to go home. And they don't even live together. But the real problem:

When she disappears for a whole day, and he asks where she's been, she says he isn't allowed to ask that.
Because it's part of her INTEGRITY.

I hate her.

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The above was written by a true prophet. Trust me.

"What doesn't kill you, makes you bitter and paranoid". - SB2000

buffto

madsenj37: actually, lewis black is who inspired me to start this thread. "Don't think about that sentence for more than 2 minutes or blood will shoot our your nose."

YourNeverThere

bad grammer and misuseage of words vocally is something that i can deal with, but the stupid useless computer slang that mashes the laguage into gibberish pisses me off. I just went to the winamp website the other day because i got a new computer and wanted the 3 version, even the staff cannot spell there, the staff reviews of the skins are all spelled wrong and filled with stupid slang and nonsensical crap. i was very weirded out

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The Above post is a direct quote from Shakespeare

MrFlux

How is computer slang any different to all the mistakes you just made YourNeverThere?

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flux (n.)
Medicine. The discharge of large quantities of fluid material from the body, especially the discharge of watery feces from the intestines.

seretogis

lol ys i agr w/ u, it r so stoopid ^^

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seretogis - sieg heil
perfect little dream the kind that hurts the most, forgot how it feels well almost
no one to blame always the same, open my eyes wake up in flames

Daval

You made me spit coffee through my nose!

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"It is impossible to obtain a conviction for sodomy from an English jury. Half of them don't believe that it can physically be done, and the other half are doing it."
Winston Churchill

Derwood

"Me fail English? That's unpossible!" - Ralphie, The Simpsons

I have too many examples of poor language usage to list. I teach at the university level, and it is astonishing that many of these kids get into college at all.

I also can't stand seeing words spelled incorrectly. Typos are one thing, but when people type "loose" when they mean "lose", for example, I want to hit myself in the head with a hammer.

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"You can't shoot a country until it becomes a democracy." - Willravel

DelayedReaction

Reading a lot as a child has given me a pretty extensive vocabulary. I have a tendency to use words like "flummox" and "disseminate" in a normal conversation.

Suffice to say this does a wonderful job of messing with people who aren't used to SAT words.

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If ignorance is bliss, you must be having an orgasm.

vermin

I'm nonplussed.

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If puns were sausages, this would be the wurst.

Derwood

"Embiggen is a completely cromulent word"

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"You can't shoot a country until it becomes a democracy." - Willravel

butthead

Quite a bit of snap-judgmentalism.

BBtB

Okay, this thread started out simply enough. Dumb people who use big words incorrectly to sound smart. Then it went off on a tangent against anyone who ever uses big words. I am sorry but I consider myself a smart person. I mean I am not big headed or conceited or anything. I know the meanings (albeit not always the spelling or pronunciation) of many big words. Dictionary.com is my best friend. My point is I never intentionally talk down to people but I also am not going to dumb down my words just because YOU don't understand. Its times like this I like to point out the highest grade of english I ever passed was 8th grade.

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Meridae'n once played "death" at a game of chess that lasted for over two years. He finally beat death in a best 34 out of 67 match. At that time he could ask for any one thing and he could wish for the hope of all mankind... he looked death right in the eye and said ...

"I would like about three fiddy"

spanky spangler

Sorry, Derwood, but that's muddy thinking. A brief examination of the problem will suggest a more appropriate target for your hammer.

YourNeverThere

i know i cant type, the apostrophe butten on my keyboard does this:è for some reason, other than that, making up totally new words like nonsenseical and misuseage isnt as bad, thats just the way i talk i guess, and sorry i didnt spell the number three or capitalize the letter i. I was complaining more about the shortening like lol or rofl and all of that, i am sure that anyone on the internet has seen it so i didnt think that i had to define it further, anyway, thats just my opinion.

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The Above post is a direct quote from Shakespeare