Not that you'd want to, dear readers (annoy me in a conversation)...so don't look at this as a to-do list. Rather a set of rules, a guideline if you will...for how NOT to get me to choke you in conversation.
I enjoyed Eats, Shoots & Leaves a little too much and certainly have fought the urge to fix misspelled signs with either black or white paint (depending on if there was an absence or a presence of a letter or punctuation) but I will admit that I make mistakes like everyone else.
Is it yours or your's, hers or her's? It gets me from time to time. It's also a common mistake to put a wayward apostrophe in its, and all sorts of other places where it doesn't belong. This I understand.
I can forgive some sins...but not the following:
TOP FIVE WAYS TO ANNOY ME IN A CONVERSATION
1. Say "yeah yeah yeah" at the same time as I am talking, or in response to something I have said. To me this is not an adequate response and is annoying and lazy, and rude. I would rather a silent nod or an "uh-huh" or even "mmm" in response.
"Yeah yeah yeah" as a response in between sentences makes me feel you are rushing me.
"Yeah yeah yeah" while I am talking is even worse, for it says that you are not listening.
Sometimes a combination ("Yeah yeah yeah" while I am finishing what I was saying), is just a rude interruption.
"Yeah yeah yeah" is something that people everywhere are picking up as one of those awful verbal crutches, it's going to be the scourge of the English language and I can't describe the depth of my hate for this one.
Lastly, do you think French people are saying, "Oui oui oui?"
2. Say, "It's all good." Nuff said.
3. Say "cheers" instead of "thank you" or "you're welcome".
I have discussed this with Tim over at Mother Tongue Annoyances, and he did come up with an explanation for why it was ever picked up in the first place (feel free to post the link to that in the comments section, Tim!).
Cheers is best used, to me, as a toast when having a drink with buds. Chums, even. Pals, sure.
But as a response to me saying thank you? "Cheers!" is cheerful enough, but it just leaves me feeling like there's something absent from my hand. Namely, a drink. To either clink with the person, or throw in their face for using "cheers".
4. Say "anyways". It's "anyway".
5. Well damn, I can't think of number five. But please feel free to contribute your own, to round out my list...
PS Holy GOD I can't believe I forgot the one that gets me the most. I just heard it used here in the shared office I am in and had to log back in and amend my posting.
Yes Virginia, there is a number five.
Drum roll please...
"ya-know-whad-imean?"
This particular verbal crutch one is spreading like the avian flu. It's like the SARS epidemic all over again.
I first heard it from a friend who spends a lot of time in Toronto and LA. It was in every second sentence.
"So my stuff is going really well but I'm still not sure I want to go this way, ya-know-whad-imean?"
Then "I'd go do the big sale in Vegas but I'm not sure it would be worth my time, ya-know-whad-imean?"
My response is a clenched-teeth nod. My imagined response is to yell, "OF COURSE I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!!! I AM A SMART WOMAN. EVEN A DUMB WOMAN WOULD KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN. YOU MEAN WHAT YOU SAY. YOU DON'T HAVE TO KEEP CHECKING WITH ME."
Now not only is she using it oh about fifty times in a ten minute conversation but I am hearing it all over the place - girl from New York, friend in California, girl here at the office, clients of mine. Enough!!!!!! No no no more yeah yeah yeah.
Sigh.
Anyways, these are the things that (yeah yeah yeah) drive me crazy but all in all, it's all good. It could be worse, ya-know-what-imean? Cheers!
Yiiie. I think I am going to faint.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
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14 comments:
Liked your blog :)
irregardless, 'nuff said =)
yanowhaimeen??
Oooh irregardless...nice one. My Mom has a set of words and sayings that drive her up the wall like "last but not least" and "gave it 110%" and the sort. I once wrote an entire story using them all. She loved, and hated it.
Xiu, welcome! Thanks!
life'd be so much fun if u'd just lay back and relax. anyway u take the "miss politically correct" award. grats for the picture too, it's so original and all ;)
With the demise of language comes the downfall of society. "U" can quote me on that.
One of the guys I work with says "You know what I mean?" too often. However, he pronounces it "gnome mean." Viz:
"So I really think we might want to consider this new approach...gnome mean?"
I'm tempted to purchase one of those garden gnomes for this guy. The catch is, though, I would pick out a gnome with a grumpy face. That way I could gift my associate with this statue and say, "Here is a present: gnome mean!" -Tim
ha.
i still say... valley girl.
and feeling all guilt here, because you know what i mean.
but at least i say it with etiquette, right?
ahem.
hehe, yes bad grammar can definitely be a big peeve, especially among bloggers. one of the mistakes that I hear more often than I really should, is people saying - or worse, writing -- "would of" instead of "would have" or "would've".. I've seen it in formal college papers, for god's sake! I don't know how it happens..
irregardless is a big one too :-)
Can I nominate #6 since you completed #5? Word pronunciation: expecially, remitnance, I says. Hearing those makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
I will admit to uttering the offensive "anyways". Please forgive me.
Guy I worked with years ago used to say cheers all the damn time. It drove me ape-shit. He got fired. I said "cheerio" :-)
I must say, there is no demise of language, just evolution. Then again, I'm not a very traditional lad and I pretty much welcome every new way of using a word or a phrase.
Well, saying "yeah yeah yeah" just seems sarcastic and derogatory, so I'm with you on this one. 'Cheers' and 'It's all good', I am all for the usage of these. 'Anyways', I am indifferent about.
As for "ya-know-whad-imean?", I dislike this when it's used as a rhetorical question placed on the end of a sentence, but if it's a proper question in which they want an answer for then it's all good.
And, 'irregardless' is just another word with an unnecessary affix, such as 'unravel' and 'debone'.
This being said, I can understand why you don't like some of these thing; each to his/her own.
...without further adieu (or is it adieux or some other entirely different spelling?-whatever!), at this point in time, whatever,unthaw(when they mean thaw or unfreeze).
Guess that covers it for now.
How about people that say "Same difference?
If it's different, how is it the same?
And I'm guilty of saying YEAH....but I'm allowed, I'm your older sister that played post office with you! Wish I would have saved some of those letters.
There's always the overuse of the word "literally"... typically found in lieu of "actually"...
and then there's, like, the persistent use of the word "like" as some sort of filler in conversations great and small.
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