And speaking of words...

[brewerpaul]

Thought people here might find this entertaining:

http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/ ... say&st=cse

There are a couple of my pet peeves on the list, and some that I don't see problems with. Interesting in any event.

[dwest]

I thought there were only seven words you don't say, this is a heck of a lot more than seven.

[chas]

I thought there were only seven words you don't say. . .

Thirteen if you've been at sea, according to Mr. Krabs.

[mutepointe]

A few of those words have value. For the rest of them, we should be able to play Slugbug with the users.

[Nanohedron]

"Words You Don't Say", my arse. I'll just tackle two:

"Input"? How peevish and blinkered. When was the contributor born? The article's author, at least, might have bothered to check (Merriam-Webster is reliable, dear) and find - and point out - that the first known published use of the word dates back to 1888, well before computers. I was certainly using it before the computer age. And using "sniffed" for "said" is a time-honored usage in English letters, an artistic compression that stands for "sniffed and said", or "said and sniffed", or "said with a sniff". Suggesting that it betrays the writer's bias rather than revealing the character's state of mind is nonsense, just the ill-considered chattering of a creatively impoverished and intellectually rigid scribbler. Much as it might seem she has decided to bemantle herself with imagined authority (not even stating her own mind so much as hiding behind the skirts of others' peeves, at times utterly uninformed ones at that), Ms. Nolan shall not be dictating discursive fashion in my world unless it be to gain my mockery for her trouble. She can take her Emperor's New Clothes, go, and p*ss off. She will find a better audience among her fellows, for whom language is for getting groceries.

So there.

[Denny]

"Input"? ~~~~ and p*ss off.

ah, What is Beer?

[Redwolf]

I didn't see two of my pet peeves:

Using "decimated" to mean "destroyed"

Using "nauseous" to mean "nauseated"

Redwolf

[dwest]

I ain't so good at English but I'm more concerned by those folks who run around saying "off ten." "Off ten" what? TV "journalists" seem to love that word, "Off ten we see this type of tornadic activity in this region." Is that state route 10 or Interstate 10?

[Redwolf]

I ain't so good at English but I'm more concerned by those folks who run around saying "off ten." "Off ten" what? TV "journalists" seem to love that word, "Off ten we see this type of tornadic activity in this region." Is that state route 10 or Interstate 10?

That's a regional thing. "Off ten" is how "often" is pronounced out west. I never heard it said any differently until I moved to North Carolina.

Redwolf

[Nanohedron]

I didn't see two of my pet peeves:

Using "decimated" to mean "destroyed"

Using "nauseous" to mean "nauseated"

Redwolf

I can't agree with you on nauseous/nauseated, Audrey. There's a good excuse to use the word "logomachy", eh?

[Redwolf]

I didn't see two of my pet peeves:

Using "decimated" to mean "destroyed"

Using "nauseous" to mean "nauseated"

Redwolf

I can't agree with you on nauseous/nauseated, Audrey. There's a good excuse to use the word "logomachy", eh?

Well, they mean different things. If you're "nauseated" you're sick to your stomach. If you're "nauseous," you make OTHER people "nauseated."

Redwolf

[Nanohedron]

I didn't see two of my pet peeves:

Using "decimated" to mean "destroyed"

Using "nauseous" to mean "nauseated"

Redwolf

I can't agree with you on nauseous/nauseated, Audrey. There's a good excuse to use the word "logomachy", eh?

Well, they mean different things. If you're "nauseated" you're sick to your stomach. If you're "nauseous," you make OTHER people "nauseated."

Redwolf

And so the logomachy begins!

For your use of "nauseous", I use "nauseating" (or even the clumsy "nausea-inducing", depending on need); for me "nauseous" and "nauseated" have always been interchangeable aside from the difference in nuance: the first is simply a feeling as a condition of being, and in this case the second of course implies being on the receiving end of a cause.

"Nauseated" serves as either participle adjective or transitive verb depending on how you use it, such as in the rather idiotic but nevertheless grammatically sound "I was feeling nauseated because it nauseated me." But if I heard instead "...it was nauseous," to me that means whatever "it" is, it was poised to do the upchucking, not be the cause of it.

[Innocent Bystander]

The quibble about "data" amused me. Many of us here are I.T. professionals. How many people use the word "datum" outside of a technical context? Yes, the word is borrowed, or stolen, from the Latin, but it is now an English word. You might as well insist on "hippopotami". That is acceptable whimsy.
Better to insist that "data" in common usage is both singular and plural, like sheep, fish, rice and thrips. (And, curse it, I always thought that it was thrip.)

[Anyanka]

What does logomachy mean?

I lost the will to read when I hit the 24/7 list. Anybody who dislikes so many words needs to go and live in a cave, preferably in close proximity to something nauseatingly nauseous.

I actually enjoy a certain amount of bad use of language. It can be very entertaining, and sometimes more expressive than correct English. I also aim to only maintain one or two linguistic peeves at any given time, so that I can fully concentrate on those. Currently, I focus all my disdain on 'hardwired', when used with reference to human behaviour & brain 'science'.

[Innocent Bystander]

What does logomachy mean?

Dictionary Definition.

Currently, I focus all my disdain on 'hardwired', when used with reference to human behaviour & brain 'science'.

As a High-Functioning Autistic, with a High-Functioning Autistic family, I am aware that many human behaviours relating to empathy are lacking in autistics (though they can be learned) but in neurotypicals are hard-wired.

...For want of a better term. Have you a better term?