What I hate is the term "bad actor" for what we used to call an "evildoer." Every time I hear "bad actors," I think they're referring to something in the movie industry.
The term “actor” is used widely in business analysis to refer to an active entity of any kind: human, an organisation or even a virtual or intellectual one.
It does sound odd, but it’s the only way to get a handle on it.
Yes, I regularly heard “actor,” “bad actor” and “good faith actor” in legal contexts.
“Permanent home” would also mean “as long as I,” or more likely “as long as the pet,” lives. The only difference, as @KarlLB notes, is that “permanent” lacks any emotional weight, while “forever” carries emotional weight.
I don't think "permanent home" carries the same implication of foreverness.
One's permanent home is the place one normally resides, as opposed to a temporary abode because one is away at college / living away from home for work / whatever. It does not imply that one might not at some point move home to a different permanent home.
I suspect I would irritate @Alan29 by pointing out that I have seen the word rendered as a "furever home" in the context of cat/dog adoptions.
“Permanent home” would also mean “as long as I,” or more likely “as long as the pet,” lives. The only difference, as @KarlLB notes, is that “permanent” lacks any emotional weight, while “forever” carries emotional weight.
I don't think "permanent home" carries the same implication of foreverness.
One's permanent home is the place one normally resides, as opposed to a temporary abode because one is away at college / living away from home for work / whatever. It does not imply that one might not at some point move home to a different permanent home.
Again, that’s assuming “home” is being used in the sense of “house.” I don’t think “home”=“house” when people adopting pets speak of a “forever home.” Rather I think in that context “home”=“where you’ll always belong”/“the people with whom you’ll always belong.” It’s “home” in the sense of Robert Frost’s “The Death of the Hired Man”:
“Home is the place where, when you have to go there,
They have to take you in.”
I suspect I would irritate @Alan29 by pointing out that I have seen the word rendered as a "furever home" in the context of cat/dog adoptions.
In school home was defined as a place where you were loved and belonged. It has more of an emotional character rather than a physical place to live. A place with no love or where you feel you didn’t belong was just that, a place to live. It is of course often used for both.
I suspect the first meaning is the one the animal shelters use. In that case, yes the physical building one lives in is only part of home
My gentle and affectionate cat was 8 years old when we got her and it was her second time of being ‘rescued’, through no fault of her own. She had been in the shelter 3 months and the experience had clearly left her both depressed and scared. Giving her a forever home means that will never happen to her again, even if we move from the house where we have lived for 25 years.
In school home was defined as a place where you were loved and belonged. It has more of an emotional character rather than a physical place to live.
Which is why I dislike developers who say that they will be "building 100 homes on this site". No, they're building houses or flats - or, in other words, "dwellings".
See the (rather sentimental) hymn "O happy home, where Thou art loved the dearest".
My gentle and affectionate cat was 8 years old when we got her and it was her second time of being ‘rescued’, through no fault of her own. She had been in the shelter 3 months and the experience had clearly left her both depressed and scared. Giving her a forever home means that will never happen to her again, even if we move from the house where we have lived for 25 years.
Been there done that with current & passed rescue cats. Sarah came as a walk-in in 1982 ( probably 6 months old & pregnant) & survived 2 moves before her death at approx 15); Albert ( 1997-2014) came from the local vet where he was dumped as a stray & the 2 current cats ( dumped at same vet 10 plus years ago) are going strong. For all it has been or will be a “forever home” till death us do part.
We were Lizzie's fourth owners, and I did use the phrase "forever home." She spent the rest of her life with us, and is still here, buried in our back garden.
"Forever home" wasn't a phrase when we had our previous cats, but I wouldn't have used it if it had been. We got them all from the Cats Protection League as kittens, or very young cats, and our home was just their home.
What gets my goat is when people start a text or WhatsApp message with “Hey”, or even worse “Hey!”
My mother used to say "hay is for horses"! Always considered pretty rude here in the UK when I was a child.
Whereas in my part of the Anglosphere, “Hey” is and has long been generally considered the friendliest and warmest way to great someone in everyday usage, at least out of the options “Hello,” “Hi” or “Hey.”
I also heard “hay is for horses” when I was growing up, but in the context of using “Hey!” to get someone’s attention, not in the context of using “Hey” as a greeting.
And yes, I often start text conversations, and sometimes even emails, with “Hey” and the name of the person to whom I’m writing. Of course, if I’m writing to more than one person, I typically open with “Hey, y’all.”
What gets my goat is when people start a text or WhatsApp message with “Hey”, or even worse “Hey!”
My mother used to say "hay is for horses"! Always considered pretty rude here in the UK when I was a child.
Even worse in YouTube posts that start with "What's up? "
Or in my neck of the woods going into a shop and being asked "Are you OK?" rather than "Can I help you?" The temptation to start describing hemorrhoids is almost overwhelming.
going into a shop and being asked "Are you OK?" rather than "Can I help you?"
What? Not MAY I help you? Pardon Miss Amanda while she fetches her smelling salts.
Wouldn’t either be correct, depending on intended meaning? “May I help you?” would mean “Will you allow me to help you?” “Can I help you?” would mean “Is there something with which I can help you?”
That’s assuming strict, prescriptive usage of can and may.
Either is preferable to the current enquirirs as to my well-being or health. Of its a youngish male assistant they often end the questoon by addressing me as "mate." That doesnt exactly make my day either.
Being addressed as 'you guys', or often around here, 'yous guys' is becoming very common and teeth-clenching annoying. 'Mate' doesn't bother me, having grown up with it at school. I've found that being addressed as 'friend' by a stranger can be positive.
Either is preferable to the current enquirirs as to my well-being or health.
"Can I help you?" = "Am I able to help you?" -- to which the answer might be, "I don't know. Do you have the ability?"
"May I help you?" = "Would you like me to help you?" -- to which the answer is, "Yes, please" or "No, thank you."
On a different note . . .
The custom of using nouns as verbs irks me. It all started with "text" for "send a text message".
But now we have the fast food chain called Sonic saying "This is how you Sonic" when they mean "This is how you buy hamburgers and fries." And disposable diapers advertised as "a new way to underwear" and a bank saying that their home loans are "an easier way to mortgage." Or Pizza Hut saying that "No one out-pizzas the Hut" when they mean "No one sells better pizza than we do."
I know that denominalization is a widely accepted grammatical convention and has been going on since the dawn of time. But it still irks me.
And this is, after all, a thread about what irks us, not about what is generally regarded as acceptable or unacceptable. Or do I misunderstand?
It's a regionalism. Parts of California use "guys" for both men and women. Time to get over being horrified by other people's regional dialect, I think.
And a bank saying that their home loans are "an easier way to mortgage."
While I accept that you don't like the noun used as a verb, "mortgage" does have a legitimate verbal use: "I've mortgaged my house so I can start a new business" (more fool them, but that's by-the-by).
And a bank saying that their home loans are "an easier way to mortgage."
While I accept that you don't like the noun used as a verb, "mortgage" does have a legitimate verbal use: "I've mortgaged my house so I can start a new business" (more fool them, but that's by-the-by).
And a bank saying that their home loans are "an easier way to mortgage."
While I accept that you don't like the noun used as a verb, "mortgage" does have a legitimate verbal use: "I've mortgaged my house so I can start a new business" (more fool them, but that's by-the-by).
Either is preferable to the current enquirirs as to my well-being or health.
"Can I help you?" = "Am I able to help you?" -- to which the answer might be, "I don't know. Do you have the ability?"
"May I help you?" = "Would you like me to help you?" -- to which the answer is, "Yes, please" or "No, thank you."
On a different note . . .
The custom of using nouns as verbs irks me. It all started with "text" for "send a text message".
But now we have the fast food chain called Sonic saying "This is how you Sonic" when they mean "This is how you buy hamburgers and fries." And disposable diapers advertised as "a new way to underwear" and a bank saying that their home loans are "an easier way to mortgage." Or Pizza Hut saying that "No one out-pizzas the Hut" when they mean "No one sells better pizza than we do."
I know that denominalization is a widely accepted grammatical convention and has been going on since the dawn of time. But it still irks me.
And this is, after all, a thread about what irks us, not about what is generally regarded as acceptable or unacceptable. Or do I misunderstand?
Around here "may I help you" would in most settings be perceived as over-formal or even passive-aggressive. "Can" is pretty much absolutely universal for both permission and ability.
The ability to verb nouns is one of the English language's great strengths. It's much harder to do in languages where verbs have specific endings and conjugations.
Regardless of how "can" and "may" are construed in various parts of the English speaking world, equating the two is something I "love to hate" -- which is the theme of this thread, isn't it?
Likewise for nouns used as verbs. Regardless of whether denominalization illustrates the beauty and strength of English, I still love to hate it.
I know that denominalization is a widely accepted grammatical convention and has been going on since the dawn of time.
It’s been going on since the dawn of time, but it started with “text” for “send a text message”?
Shakespeare is credited with introducing many words to the English language. Most of them are verbing nouns or nouning verbs. "The hearts that spanielled me at heels... do discandy, melt their sweets on blossoming Caesar," says Antony in Antony and Cleopatra.
That said, T S Eliot once said that if you try to write like Dante and fail you will at worst be boring whereas if you try to write like Shakespeare and fail you'll make a fool of yourself.
The one that makes my skin crawl is impact as a verb.
In particular, impact to mean affect. (Or as a noun to mean effect for that matter.) I think it so obviously started as a way of spinning what was actually being said.
T S Eliot once said that . . . if you try to write like Shakespeare and fail you'll make a fool of yourself.
I once played Polonius in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. There is a moment where Polonius is baffled by a strange remark made by Hamlet. The stage directions call for Polonius to "mutter something aside" before replying to Hamlet. I looked directly at the audience while whispering in a stage whisper, "Methinks the lord meshugeneh forsooth" while making the "curl my hair and brush my teeth" movement we used to do as kids.
Other than Shakespeare probably not knowing yiddish, I thought I did pretty well.
You can all hate verbing nouns, but what I'm downright tired of is nouning everything. At my job people "produce a change" instead of just changing something. We "deliver an on-time implementation" instead of just implementing something on time, let alone just doing it on time! etcetera and so forth
Good thing I'm the editor and can "create a fix for the problem!"
You can all hate verbing nouns, but what I'm downright tired of is nouning everything. At my job people "produce a change" instead of just changing something. We "deliver an on-time implementation" instead of just implementing something on time, let alone just doing it on time! etcetera and so forth
Good thing I'm the editor and can "create a fix for the problem!"
“Grow your business” really riles me. I know what is meant, but expanding a business is more accurate.
The Royal Bank of Scotland has a slogan "Tomorrow starts today!" which irritates me no end if I'm in a queue and have to keep looking at it writ large on the bank wall.
If tomorrow starts today, does that mean today started yesterday? If you are told it will take three days for money to transfer into your account, does that mean it will take 48 hours, because the today that started yesterday is already tomorrow?
One of my high school English teachers had a "thing" about "blame". "Put the blame on" or "blame it on" drove her to absolute distraction. Her point was that "blame" all alone is sufficient.
We've had terrible weather this year. Blame it on El Niño. WRONG
We've had terrible weather this year. Put the blame on El Niño. WRONG
We've had terrible weather this year. Blame El Niño. CORRECT
One of my high school English teachers had a "thing" about "blame". "Put the blame on" or "blame it on" drove her to absolute distraction. Her point was that "blame" all alone is sufficient.
We've had terrible weather this year. Blame it on El Niño. WRONG
We've had terrible weather this year. Put the blame on El Niño. WRONG
We've had terrible weather this year. Blame El Niño. CORRECT
Your teacher’s point is well-taken. But I do have to say, “Blame the Bossa Nova” does lack a certain something. Perhaps occasional allowances can be made for poetic license?
You can all hate verbing nouns, but what I'm downright tired of is nouning everything. At my job people "produce a change" instead of just changing something. We "deliver an on-time implementation" instead of just implementing something on time, let alone just doing it on time! etcetera and so forth
Good thing I'm the editor and can "create a fix for the problem!"
“Grow your business” really riles me. I know what is meant, but expanding a business is more accurate.
You grow pumpkins to make them bigger so why not businesses?
Businesses are not organic, strictly. My pet hate is "signed off on" - what the fuck? In meaningful human language, we say "signed off", or "approved".
One of my high school English teachers had a "thing" about "blame". "Put the blame on" or "blame it on" drove her to absolute distraction. Her point was that "blame" all alone is sufficient.
We've had terrible weather this year. Blame it on El Niño. WRONG
We've had terrible weather this year. Put the blame on El Niño. WRONG
We've had terrible weather this year. Blame El Niño. CORRECT
Your teacher’s point is well-taken. But I do have to say, “Blame the Bossa Nova” does lack a certain something. Perhaps occasional allowances can be made for poetic license?
Blame the Boogie also doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
Comments
I don't think "permanent home" carries the same implication of foreverness.
One's permanent home is the place one normally resides, as opposed to a temporary abode because one is away at college / living away from home for work / whatever. It does not imply that one might not at some point move home to a different permanent home.
I suspect I would irritate @Alan29 by pointing out that I have seen the word rendered as a "furever home" in the context of cat/dog adoptions.
“Home is the place where, when you have to go there,
They have to take you in.”
I really want to unknow that!
Thats it!
I need to lie down with a bag of frozen peas on my head.
Furever home!!!!
I suspect the first meaning is the one the animal shelters use. In that case, yes the physical building one lives in is only part of home
I may have to lie down beside you. BTW other vegetables are available.
See the (rather sentimental) hymn "O happy home, where Thou art loved the dearest".
Been there done that with current & passed rescue cats. Sarah came as a walk-in in 1982 ( probably 6 months old & pregnant) & survived 2 moves before her death at approx 15); Albert ( 1997-2014) came from the local vet where he was dumped as a stray & the 2 current cats ( dumped at same vet 10 plus years ago) are going strong. For all it has been or will be a “forever home” till death us do part.
"Forever home" wasn't a phrase when we had our previous cats, but I wouldn't have used it if it had been. We got them all from the Cats Protection League as kittens, or very young cats, and our home was just their home.
My middle son uses this, in all places and at all times, and I feel as you do. Still love him to bits.
Nothing like as much as “super” for “very”, eg, “super intelligent” though. I must be turning into one of my old English teachers.
My mother used to say "hay is for horses"! Always considered pretty rude here in the UK when I was a child.
I also heard “hay is for horses” when I was growing up, but in the context of using “Hey!” to get someone’s attention, not in the context of using “Hey” as a greeting.
And yes, I often start text conversations, and sometimes even emails, with “Hey” and the name of the person to whom I’m writing. Of course, if I’m writing to more than one person, I typically open with “Hey, y’all.”
Even worse in YouTube posts that start with "What's up? "
Or in my neck of the woods going into a shop and being asked "Are you OK?" rather than "Can I help you?" The temptation to start describing hemorrhoids is almost overwhelming.
Hay is for horses and donkeys like you!
And I agree wholeheartedly about super in place of very. It is extremely annoying.
That’s assuming strict, prescriptive usage of can and may.
"Can I help you?" = "Am I able to help you?" -- to which the answer might be, "I don't know. Do you have the ability?"
"May I help you?" = "Would you like me to help you?" -- to which the answer is, "Yes, please" or "No, thank you."
On a different note . . .
The custom of using nouns as verbs irks me. It all started with "text" for "send a text message".
But now we have the fast food chain called Sonic saying "This is how you Sonic" when they mean "This is how you buy hamburgers and fries." And disposable diapers advertised as "a new way to underwear" and a bank saying that their home loans are "an easier way to mortgage." Or Pizza Hut saying that "No one out-pizzas the Hut" when they mean "No one sells better pizza than we do."
I know that denominalization is a widely accepted grammatical convention and has been going on since the dawn of time. But it still irks me.
And this is, after all, a thread about what irks us, not about what is generally regarded as acceptable or unacceptable. Or do I misunderstand?
Or even worse, "guys" applied to women. Whatever happened to "gals"?
Verbing weirds.
It’s been going on since the dawn of time, but it started with “text” for “send a text message”?
It is indeed. The one that makes my skin crawl is impact as a verb.
Around here "may I help you" would in most settings be perceived as over-formal or even passive-aggressive. "Can" is pretty much absolutely universal for both permission and ability.
The ability to verb nouns is one of the English language's great strengths. It's much harder to do in languages where verbs have specific endings and conjugations.
Likewise for nouns used as verbs. Regardless of whether denominalization illustrates the beauty and strength of English, I still love to hate it.
That said, T S Eliot once said that if you try to write like Dante and fail you will at worst be boring whereas if you try to write like Shakespeare and fail you'll make a fool of yourself.
In particular, impact to mean affect. (Or as a noun to mean effect for that matter.) I think it so obviously started as a way of spinning what was actually being said.
Other than Shakespeare probably not knowing yiddish, I thought I did pretty well.
Good thing I'm the editor and can "create a fix for the problem!"
It makes me spit feathers. It has actually stopped me from becoming a customer.
“Grow your business” really riles me. I know what is meant, but expanding a business is more accurate.
If tomorrow starts today, does that mean today started yesterday? If you are told it will take three days for money to transfer into your account, does that mean it will take 48 hours, because the today that started yesterday is already tomorrow?
We've had terrible weather this year. Blame it on El Niño. WRONG
We've had terrible weather this year. Put the blame on El Niño. WRONG
We've had terrible weather this year. Blame El Niño. CORRECT
You grow pumpkins to make them bigger so why not businesses?
Blame the Boogie also doesn't have quite the same ring to it.