OT: Words that should be banished

[Derf]

I was going to stay away from this topic, but what the heck; it got chilly down here, so I can take some flaming.

One of my hated words right now is "homophobic." If you are a qualified psychologist (if there truly is such a thing), you can diagnose someone as a homophobe. Violence or hatred toward homosexuals qualifies for "stupid," or "moronic" or "morally reprehensible," but it doesn't automatically mean the person is a homophobe. When I teach research projects in my English classes, students think that if they throw this word into their essay that it is an unassailable point. It's not; it is a weak crutch for a non-thinking mind. I know this isn't the only word like this; it's just one that is used so often with an attitude of "surely you couldn't be stupid enough to disagree with this" that I have grown to loathe the word and the attitudes behind it.

"Liberal" and "conservative" don't mean what they used to, and they are way overused with the wrong meanings/connotations. Ditch the words; examine the ideas held by the person with the viewpoint being expressed. If you disagree with that viewpoint, fine; argue your point of view. Don't simply throw out names and let that serve as your "argument."  Six-year-olds can get into a name-calling fight. Adults should be able to do better.

[ThadC]

Derf Wrote:
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> If you disagree with that
> viewpoint, fine; argue your point of view. Don't
> simply throw out names and let that serve as your
> "argument."  Six-year-olds can get into a
> name-calling fight. Adults should be able to do
> better.


That’s all well and good, but it is easier to behave like that on a chat board, or IM, or any other detached form of communication. In person I think it is harder to behave like that. I personally have a hard time with that on a face to face situation. People in general p**s me off to begin with, and 9 out of 10 people I might meet, I wouldn't p**s on there guts if they were on fire, so avoiding a fight is hard when you go into a black out, and mash a brick into some jerks face. In theory what you say is great, but in reality not very likely. Maybe in a few more generations of the Prozac fueled sewer the world is becoming, the baser human/animal urge to lash out will be more likely. This is just my opinion.

[Ash]

Thad need a hug.
Someone give him a hug.

[ThadC]

LOL.. yeah, I guess I kind of am in a bad mood. Guess I am " antisocial."
Sorry, I will be nice. :)

[Zapranoth]

He really doesn't like snow, does he, Ash?

[trekgeezer]

I have always hated the word empowered, empowerment. What the hell is supposed to mean? You got off your ass and did something?

I also hate the word Homeland as in Homeland Security. What idiot came up with that? When I first heard it it reminded me of South Africa. Homelands were what they called the s**thole villages they made the blacks live in. For me the phrase has a sort of Nazi sound to it.

[Just Plain Horse]

trek_geezer Wrote:
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> I have always hated the word empowered,
> empowerment. What the hell is supposed to mean?
> You got off your ass and did something?
>
> I also hate the word Homeland as in Homeland
> Security. What idiot came up with that? When I
> first heard it it reminded me of South Africa.
> Homelands were what they called the s**thole
> villages they made the blacks live in. For me the
> phrase has a sort of Nazi sound to it.
>

I'm inclined to believe it was one of the idiots that currently uses paranoia and military/ defense contractors to make the bulk of their money now that the oil is being drained out of the Iraqi fields... Do any names come to mind? R...R...Rums....Rumsfeld? No? Maybe it started with a C...

[Mofo Rising]

You guys are selling this whole idea short.  The English language features far too many redundancies and vaguaries.  Take for instance the whole idea of indicating approval.  This can be said in many ways, for instance "I liked it", "Fantastic!" or "It was transcendent."  All of these statements try and say the same thing.  It's too complicated and it confuses people.

Here, for clarity's sake, we can sum up all these statements as "good".  See?  Nice and simple.

Now, let's say we want to say that something is the opposite of "good".  We can just add an "un", which reverses the meaning.  All things can be said to be either "good" or "ungood".

Now, I know what you are thinking.  "What if I want to say that something is really good?"  Well, then we can use modifiers to indicate this.  But we don't need all of these verbose adverbs.  "Really, really good" or "amazingly good" fall under the aegis of being too complicated.  If we want to say something is more than just "good" we can indicate this by adding a "plus".  Or if we want to say that it is even more than that, we can say it is "double plus".  Hence, we can have statements such as "it is double plus ungood" to say that something is really bad.

English language plus good.  Remove ungood language, English double plus good.

[dean]

Mofo Rising Wrote:
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> English language plus good.  Remove ungood
> language, English double plus good.


Hhahaha...

Wow, this really takes me back to my Year 12 English Language class, in which we would examine certain phrases which kind of don't make sense when you think about them, like when you ask someone a question and they answer: 'yeah, no.'  

Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but talking about pointless language makes me think of this comic strip:

[trekgeezer]

Okay, Mofo that made my head hurt.

[Derf]

Mofo Rising Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You guys are selling this whole idea short.  The
> English language features far too many
> redundancies and vaguaries.  Take for instance the
> whole idea of indicating approval.  This can be
> said in many ways, for instance "I liked it",
> "Fantastic!" or "It was transcendent."  All of
> these statements try and say the same thing.  It's
> too complicated and it confuses people.
>
> Here, for clarity's sake, we can sum up all these
> statements as "good".  See?  Nice and simple.
>
> Now, let's say we want to say that something is
> the opposite of "good".  We can just add an "un",
> which reverses the meaning.  All things can be
> said to be either "good" or "ungood".
>
> Now, I know what you are thinking.  "What if I
> want to say that something is really good?"  Well,
> then we can use modifiers to indicate this.  But
> we don't need all of these verbose adverbs.
> "Really, really good" or "amazingly good" fall
> under the aegis of being too complicated.  If we
> want to say something is more than just "good" we
> can indicate this by adding a "plus".  Or if we
> want to say that it is even more than that, we can
> say it is "double plus".  Hence, we can have
> statements such as "it is double plus ungood" to
> say that something is really bad.
>
> English language plus good.  Remove ungood
> language, English double plus good.

Very Orwellian, Big Brother.

[Susan]

can we just ban white people from saying "bling bling"?

There's nothing worse then when i'm flipping through channels and the home shopping channel has some martha stewart wannabe desperate housewife marvelling over the sapphire ring and how "all you ladies need to buy this little bit of bling"

[dean]

Susan Wrote:
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> can we just ban white people from saying "bling
> bling"?
>
> There's nothing worse then when i'm flipping
> through channels and the home shopping channel has
> some martha stewart wannabe desperate housewife
> marvelling over the sapphire ring and how "all you
> ladies need to buy this little bit of bling"


Now that is funny, how could you get sick of that?

It's so much fun to mock and ridicule how silly people are!  Sure it's annoying, but when some 45 year old mother of three outlining on TV how you must buy this 'gorgeous piece of bling' or making some other lame joke, I'm sorry, but I find it absolutely fantastic.  Sure I don't give a rats about their product, but if someone can keep a straight face whilst saying that phrase is either a mindless puppet or has the mental strength of the lovechild of Einstien and Hercules.

[Ozzymandias]

Here are words from my line of work I hate: "Value added" = an excuse to get you to buy advertising at a higher price.
"Non-traditional revenue" = Stuff we used to give away but now charge people for.
"Family friendly" = music that some overprotective mother likes: Josh Groban and that "Butterfly Kisses" song.

"Too Gheto" = this is a lame excuse as to why station in this area won't play rap or hip hop. You never hear them say "We can't play Toby Keith - he's too barnyard."

"Dungeons and Dragons crowd" or "Black T-Shirt crowd" = At first I thought the black t-shirt crowd were the waitresses at Chilli's, but I found out I belong to both groups. You see the Dungeons and Dragons crowd is a "nerdy guy who collects comics, plays role playing games and like sci-fi." Too keep these people from listening to a station you are supposed to abstain from playing Yes, Kansas, Rush, ELP, ELO, and Pink Floyd. The Black T-shirt crowd favors Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Bauhaus, Nine Inch Nails, Marlyn Manson. Also there has been an effort among some to (pardon the pun) weed out the "tie-dye crowd," who listens to Bob Dylan, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead. Supposedly we want the...

"Beer Drinking-Pickup Crowd" = This is why many classic rock stations in my area suck. If you play for these people Lynard Skynard, Allman Brothers, Eagles, Stevie Ray Vaughn and throw in some Nascar updates, you'll get these people. Basically the same audience as country music only younger. They request a song and then threaten to "kick your ass" if you don't play it.

"Live the life" = It means dedication to the music or format but I think it is used by a lot of people as an excuse not to hire someone with experience or talent.

"Conversational tone" = No more Gary Owens, Don Steele or even Casy Kasem. They want announcers who sound like Pee Wee Herman now.

   

[Genetic_Mishap]

Ozzymandias Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> "Dungeons and Dragons crowd" or "Black T-Shirt
> crowd" = At first I thought the black t-shirt
> crowd were the waitresses at Chilli's, but I found
> out I belong to both groups. You see the Dungeons
> and Dragons crowd is a "nerdy guy who collects
> comics, plays role playing games and like sci-fi."
> Too keep these people from listening to a station
> you are supposed to abstain from playing Yes,
> Kansas, Rush, ELP, ELO, and Pink Floyd. The Black
> T-shirt crowd favors Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster
> Cult, Bauhaus, Nine Inch Nails, Marlyn Manson.
> Also there has been an effort among some to
> (pardon the pun) weed out the "tie-dye crowd," who
> listens to Bob Dylan, Jefferson Airplane, the
> Grateful Dead. Supposedly we want the...
>
> "Beer Drinking-Pickup Crowd" = This is why many
> classic rock stations in my area suck. If you play
> for these people Lynard Skynard, Allman Brothers,
> Eagles, Stevie Ray Vaughn and throw in some Nascar
> updates, you'll get these people. Basically the
> same audience as country music only younger. They
> request a song and then threaten to "kick your
> ass" if you don't play it.


Reading that really burns me, for some reason.

Another word I forgot: "tween". I used it today, and had to kick myself.