It depends on whether you're talking about the verbs or the nouns. The English language being as consistent and logical as it is, if you affect something you have an effect on it. But if you effect something then that something is the effect.
Affects (n) meanwhile are something else entirely although they can be the effects of an emotional situation.
Can we discuss ‘lay’ - as in ‘I’m going for a lay down’? It is suddenly absolutely everywhere, like the word ‘lie’ has been deleted from people’s memories.
Can we discuss ‘lay’ - as in ‘I’m going for a lay down’? It is suddenly absolutely everywhere, like the word ‘lie’ has been deleted from people’s memories.
One mistake I often hear is the wrong use of "understate" - as in "it's impossible to understate the effect this new policy will have". They of course mean "overstate".
Also the difference between "tortuous" and "torturous" as in "We took a torturous path to the summit". That may well have been true, but it probably wasn't what you meant!
A regular annoyance - and I even wrote a grumpy old man email to the BBC about it the other day - is the use of 'invite' as a noun.
It’s a usage attested to in the mid-17th Century: “Bishop Cranmer . . . gives him an earnest invite to England.” The Alliance of Divine Offices, Hamon L'Estrange (1659). There’s also this from Frances (Fanny) Burney (1778): “Every body bowed, & accepted the invite but me . . . for I have no notion of snapping at invites from the Great.”
Not that I can say anything; I cringe at impact and gift as verbs. As Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes, not John) said, “versing weirds language.”
One particular gripe of mine is the use of 'enormity' when the meaning is 'big' .... like really big.
Tangent: Mrs RR always has 'forty blinks'. And hurrah for 'Calvin and Hobbes' of fond memory.
The fact that English is so good at verbing nouns is one of its creative strengths.
I personally am trying to introduce some words from Meaning of Liff - Peoria (fear of preparing too few potatoes), Worples (white blobs in tea when the milk isn't quite fresh) and its adjective Worply are all in regular use chez nous.
I leave you with the observation that "niche" is how Sean Connery refers to his sister's daughter, and that a "crêche" is a collision between two motor vehicles in Sithe Kensington. And that in Newcastle upon Tyne you can get a £100 fine for smirking on a bus.
The use of unique. - surely it means the one and only, not just the type, but on a number of tv programmes it’s used in the wrong way.
According to dictionaries I’ve consulted, “one and only” is only one meaning of unique. It can also mean being without a like or equal; distinctively characteristic; able to be distinguished from all others of its class or type; or unusual. Those other usages date back at least to the 19th C.
Now... “one and only” leads my easily irritated mind straight into "each and every"; a phrase used by a good minister friend at least once in every service in his welcome and his prayers. It seems to me that "each one of us/you" or just "everyone" would serve the purpose.
I am constantly annoyed by small things that don't really matter and may not even be wrong - another symptom of aging ungracefully.
My bugbear is "intentional" what's wrong with "deliberate "?
I’d say they have slightly different meanings, “intentional” having more to do with why you do something (an action is done with purpose), and “deliberate” having to do with how you do something (an action carried out in a planned and considered way).
Can we discuss ‘lay’ - as in ‘I’m going for a lay down’? It is suddenly absolutely everywhere, like the word ‘lie’ has been deleted from people’s memories.
Mrs The_Riv has this as a personal crusade (she's wild that way ). "Lay is to put or place -- lie is to rest or recline." One can lay one's self down, however.
I especially dislike the use of "more unique", as unique is an absolute. I can tolerate "unique in this fashion".
I use unique with intensifiers and comparators all the time. It just works. Some things have more profound - more significant, if you will, uniqueness than others.
Comments
Affect: Fuck around
Effect: Find out
But you can also effect the fucking around.
Affects (n) meanwhile are something else entirely although they can be the effects of an emotional situation.
No lie?
Also the difference between "tortuous" and "torturous" as in "We took a torturous path to the summit". That may well have been true, but it probably wasn't what you meant!
Not that I can say anything; I cringe at impact and gift as verbs. As Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes, not John) said, “versing weirds language.”
Tangent: Mrs RR always has 'forty blinks'. And hurrah for 'Calvin and Hobbes' of fond memory.
I personally am trying to introduce some words from Meaning of Liff - Peoria (fear of preparing too few potatoes), Worples (white blobs in tea when the milk isn't quite fresh) and its adjective Worply are all in regular use chez nous.
I leave you with the observation that "niche" is how Sean Connery refers to his sister's daughter, and that a "crêche" is a collision between two motor vehicles in Sithe Kensington. And that in Newcastle upon Tyne you can get a £100 fine for smirking on a bus.
Miner: 'One of the lads has had a terrible accident!'
Manager: 'Can he walk?'
Miner: 'Walk? He cannae even wack!'
Best chant in British sport, used in rugby league against supporters of Hull FC and Hull Kingston Rovers:
‘Wern verl, yer’ve ernly gert wern verl’
I am constantly annoyed by small things that don't really matter and may not even be wrong - another symptom of aging ungracefully.
But that aside, what’s wrong with “intentional”?
Mrs The_Riv has this as a personal crusade (she's wild that way
There's a West Wing episode that opens along these lines -- let me see if I can find it within the edit window, and I will LAY it in here.
Found it. From the episode "Galileo V" which includes the phrase "very unique." Enjoy!
Is that the "one take Bartlet" episode?
I use unique with intensifiers and comparators all the time. It just works. Some things have more profound - more significant, if you will, uniqueness than others.