Overused/misused words M-Z(reposted for Sunlion)

~Sorry but I had to make two threads. I didn't realize there was now a restriction on the length of a post.~

Microcosm

Millenium (would you spell it �anual�? No, it's "Millennium.")

Most. Not to be used for almost.

Motivate (certainly not intransitive; doesn�t mean to explain the motivation behind something, either)

Multi-tasking - over-used.

Multitudinous

Myriad

Myself (not an all-purpose first person singular pronoun)

My bad. Damn straight it is.

Nature. Often redundant.

Near by.

NEGATIVE GROWTH - As opposed to positive shrinking. Corporate-speak at its worst.

NO-BRAINER -- "Who doesn't have the brain in this transaction, you or me?"

No problem. Often used in a case where there had BETTER be no problem.

Nuance

Of Horrendously annoying when the intended word was "have." Such as "could of" instead of "could have" or "could've."

Oftentimes, ofttimes. Archaic forms

One hundred and one. Retain the and in this and similar expressions.

One of the most. Avoid beginning essays or paragraphs with it.

Orwellian Usually used by pacifists who are clueless about the fact that Orwell regarded pacifists as Nazis.

Panacea This word isn't one for everything.

Passive voice: Passive voice: passive may be used when the actor is not important, and only the action and the object matter.

the People versus the Public

Peruse (never use this word to describe a cursory look)

Phase. Not to be used for aspect or topic.

Phone Tag - �It may have been a cool, trendy phrase in the 80s, but it is really annoying now.�

Plethora Overused and beaten to death.

Poignant

Possess. Not to be used as a mere substitute for have or own. Usually better to say that someone had something, has something, etc., or owned it or whatever.

POSSIBLE CHOICES - "No need to include the impossible choices, I'm sure."

Preposition at end of sentence: There is no grammatical rule against ending a sentence with a preposition. However, it should be avoided if it leads to awkwardness.

Proactive Corporatespeak for "we've totally ignored this problem and we must consider the possibility of maybe talking about doing something about it someday."

Problematic

Proof, proven In science, there are hypotheses that are tested via experiments involving observation, and these may lead to theories that work. Not many things are truly "proven" to be true, though the explanation may pass the test of normal observation.

Proverbial Refers to the book of Proverbs in the Bible, not just an old repeated story.

Quality Of Life � �This is a quality of life issue!� hype.

Quotations. Never open or close an article with a quotation or definition, as this is lazy and poor style. Some publishers will flatly reject your work for this.

RAMP UP - Often used to suggest an increase in productivity or your product's effectiveness. "Whatever happened to the word 'increase'?

Random Almost nothing meets the actual definition of "random." In fact, even "random" numbers generated by computers are not random. No human can select anything randomly. "Random violence" is especially non-random, and is in fact usually directed at someone.

REALITY TV and REALITY-BASED TV -- "Banish the words, banish the shows, banish the people who came up with the idea for the shows, because there is nothing real about this form of television."

Realtor not realator even if people say it that way.

Regime Has been beaten to death recently, and needs to be Taken Out.

Reticent -- (means quiet, reserved; it does not mean "reluctant").

Segue � (pronounced �Segway,� originally a musical term, as in �The Grateful Dead were the masters of the segue, and could gradually turn a trippy Victim Or The Crime into a groovin� Iko Iko.� Often misused, applied to non-music transitions, and over-used in that sense.

Since Do not use as a synonym for "because."

Sketchy When someone says that details are "sketchy" it screams "I don't know what I'm talking about yet."

SMALL IN SIZE, RECTANGULAR IN SHAPE, GREEN IN COLOR, etc. Redundant in repetition.

So. Avoid, in writing, the use of so as an intensifier: "so good;" Also over-used by many in conversation, especially teenagers. �I am SO not into that.' It's used too much and not in the right context.

Sort of Just use the word �rather� instead.

State Restrict it to the sense of express fully or clearly

Student body Just use �students�

Stun Douglas Pearson of Lansing, Mich. is stunned by the frequency at which �stun' or �stunned' shows up in headlines on sports stories these days

SURGICAL STRIKE -- Over-used in the news media to describe bombing campaigns.

SWIPE - "This word means 'to strike with a long or wide sweeping blow,' or 'to steal or pilfer.' It does NOT mean �slide your card across the card reader.�

SWORN AFFIDAVIT - It's not an affidavit unless it's sworn.


SYNERGY - as in, 'There might be some synergy between our companies,' instead of 'We want to make some money off of you.

System. Often used needlessly.

T-1 Not T1 when writing about this type of line.


Thanks in advance. Rude, implies you can't be bothered to thank them in response to whatever they so kindly do for you.

They do not use unless referring to plurality. Do not use to avoid an awkward �he� or �she� or to avoid committing oneself to either. A good example in the movie "Chasing Amy."

Thinking Outside The Box - Used by people who can't, and thus steal this overused phrase.

Titillate

To be sure Often misused for no good reason, to be sure.

Tortuous means winding, twisting- like a tortuous road. Sometimes misused when the intended term is "torturous."

TOTALLY UNIQUE - Can you say �redundant?�

Tri-State and similar terms. Often used to discuss an area where multiple states meet, but often misused, for instance, in a situation where one of the states isn't under discussion and isn't affected by the topic.

U Those who use this in place of "you" should be sentenced to a lifetime AOL account. While we're at it... Burmese people have their own system of titles. A man is "U", a married woman "Daw", an unmarried woman "Mah" and a young man or boy may be "Maung" or "Ko". These should be replaced by their English equivalents. The trick, of course, is to recognise them. U Nu is not "Mr U" he is "Mr Nu". International publications running stories about Burma usually keep the Burmese titles.

UNPRECEDENTED NEW - "Not to be confused with the unprecedented old one."

Unsupported Assertions: Your unsupported opinion is usually not welcome in an article.

Utilize I feel so non-utilized when I see this word.

Valid/Invalid This is used in Logic, and in many situations it's better to avoid using this word in cases where you're not speaking specifically about the relationship between premises and conclusions. A valid conclusion can be incorrect; an invalid conclusion can still be a correct conclusion. Validity has nothing to do with whether or not a conclusion is true.

Veritable

Very. Use sparingly, especially avoid usage when redundant, such as �very unique.�

Viewpoint. Do not misuse this, as many do, for view or opinion.

Wake-Up Call - Not limited to late-sleepers in hotels, anymore, �wake-up call� is OVERmisused to mean �a warning.�

Webmaster is preferred over webmistress regardless of the sex of the person in question.

What's up? Translates roughly to "I'm a teenager. You're a teenager. Hi there." We old people should know better.

Whatever. Usually translates roughly to "I'm not smart enough to debate the matter."

While. Use while only with strict literalness, in the sense of during the time that.

Whom. Read up on this one.

Wonderful When this is over-used, it really shows. It also fails to provide any detailed information. SHOW that it's wonderful, don't just say it's wonderful. Other offenders in this category can include good, bad, nice, big, small, ugly, beautiful, many, interesting, etc.

Worth while. Overworked as a term of vague approval/disapproval.

Would. A conditional statement in the first person requires should, not would.

X Window System Use this term, or simply X. Don't use the term X-Windows

Ya know Usually means nothing more than "an inane sentence follows."

Y2K - "I feel like I'm drowning in acronym soup these days.�

Your Call Is Very Important To Us � � If my call was really important, there would be a real live person to answer the phone, and enough people on duty��


More stuff:

http://www.princeton.edu/~spectatr/general/styleguide.htm
http://www.lssu.edu/banished/
http://web.mit.edu/jrickert/www/writedoc.html
http://web.mit.edu/jrickert/www/writedoc.html
http://www.online-library.org/help/glossary.shtml

 

So over-used I've never heard of it.

 

Maybe you never have because it was a trendy phrase in the 80's. I know many people that still use the hell out of it.~giggles~

 

was not used in the 80's ......

 

I don't remember as it all blends together over time. This is a list Sunlion has compiled. When did that stupid phrase come about then? Anyone?

 

It's great to know that there are people who try to control even the words we can and cannot use. I'm looking forward to seeing the list of what thoughts we're allowed to have.

 

White Scorpion - that was what political correctness was about.

 

I had the impression that political correctness had something to do with limiting the unacceptable level of racism and sexual discrimination in society, not regulating the common day-to-day words that people use to describe basic things.

 

Bollocks.

Words are viruses.

There's a reason why grimoire (book of magic) and grammar have simliar roots.

You cannot conceive of that for which you have no words. There's a reason why the number zero represented a quantum leap in our thinking as a race.

If you change words, you change thought which changes behaviour.

Read 1984 - one of the weapons of Big Brother was controlling the vocabulary.

 

By the 1990s sexual and racial discrimination was illegal and taboo.

There were no real further battles to fight for on this front.


It was mere ridiculousness. As if calling someone "differently abled" was any different than "handicapped". Would it help the person to walk? Would it shite.

 

I happen to agree with you, Iron Goth. In many ways political correctness has been counter productive, but that's only because it has been taken to extremities. Perhaps in my short message, I didn't state my viewpoint, rather merely my perception of what political correctness is cracked up to be. Along with millions of other people, I have also read 1984, and though we haven't yet become a 'Big Brother' state quite on the same level as in the book, I believe that if we continue to set boundaries on what we can and cannot say, then it's only a matter of time before the 'word police' becomes a 'thought police'. I hope I've made my viewpoint clear this time around

 

Well yeah. In my experience the really bigoted people are those who kid themselves that by changing their vocabulary slightly they can excuse themselves from actually having to change their attitudes.

 

Wow!! I never would have thought this would have been so misconstrued and taken so seriously. I reposted this for someone because I thought it was a light-hearted look at some words that are overused or in many cases misused. A word means what it means and I am not referring to things people have decided to relabel in the name of being politically correct. Does that mean I'm trying to control words anyone chooses to use? Hell no ffs!

If I am all right it does not mean I am alright. I also can't tell the gem weight with a carrot (carat) or fix a paragraph with one ( caret) and I certain won't get clothing a different color if I die (dye) it!

I see, on a fairly regular basis, many kids (young adults) that are barely literate when they have to write or type. Luckily most have better reading skills.
To leave this on a lighter note and the one I had felt while reading and picking out some faux pas that I know I'm guilty of doing myself....an old jk

"I know some of you have seen the following absolutely ridiculous thing.
Write this out on a sheet of paper and just tell someone to read it. Then tell them what it really says:

MR DUCKS
MR NOT DUCKS
MR DUCKS
MR NOT DUCKS
OSAR
CM WANGS
CDEDBD FEET
LIB MR DUCKS

TRANSLATION:
Now, this is two Southern Louisiana duck hunters talking to one another, AND what they are really saying is this:

em are ducks
em are not ducks
em are ducks!
em are not ducks!
o yes a (they) are
c em wangs (wings)
see de iddy biddy feet
L (well) i be em ARE ducks!

 

Maybe we've made this more of this than it was meant to be, but it was exciting

gdhmomchild, I honestly don't think that you are the word police. I actually found your article very interesting (though I'm not a stickler to all its rules).

It makes a thoughtful debate, however, on how rules and regulations can get out of hand and it is helpful to see what other people's opinion is on this matter, particularly when they differ from our own.

Rather than see a long list of people agreeing with each other, it is far more useful to see something from a perspective other than one's own.

Once again, gdhmomchild, this is one of the most interesting threads I have seen in the Writer's Forum for quite some time and I hope our reaction hasn't put you off in any way. A person can have great respect for another person, even though they disagree with them, i.e. Plato and Aristotle.

Keep writing.

 

TY but this post really isn't mine as I put in the header, its Sunlion's post that he asked for from the archives. I love it as well. Sunlion has an amazing wit, as do you.

I really agree with all of y'alls point on the "politically correct" crap. I can't keep up with it and neither do I bother. I keep up with it about as well as I keep up with fashion and Salvation Army is my favorite store if that tells you anything, lol~

 

Pretentious...as in your list of over used word struck me as very pretentious and further more places limits and rules on how someone is allowed to articulate their thoughts.

 

So does any form of standardised language. I know grammar and usage might seem evil and restrictive, but believe me, the alternative is very much worse.

 

Heck, as long as I'm being irritating, I might as well add a little MORE irritation...


http://www.lssu.edu/banished/complete_list.php

 

"FucK", "Fucking", "Fucker".

 

While I am passionate about the English language, I must take issue with those here who see these kinds of lists as edicts about usage. Particular tastes regarding the use of what any of us may see as overused/misused phrases are as different as the number of people who speak English. Each of us has personal tastes when it comes to speaking and listening to others. Even if some people do come off as pretentious about language--and I did not get that feeling in this post--the collection of opinions presented here is simply one of a myriad of responses when it comes to using the English language. It is no more or less important than the opinions of those of you who disagree with these kinds of pronouncements. Understanding time and place and audience as they relate to communication is of utmost importance in more ways than I can list here. We should celebrate that so many of us care to comment and discuss the ways we communicate with each other.