Misuse of words – driving me crackers!

infer/imply – what kind of dunce gets those the wrong way around?

And outwith obvs – it’s not even a real word.

If I see one more person say

Can you see what I just said about that phrase?

run amok

Didn’t know you were Malaysian. EDIT: Ah, this has been addressed already. 🙂

I spent time in Malaya

Before 1963 we presume?

Outwith is actually in reasonably common usage in Scotland and is a real word. Its just you Normans down south don’t know it.

You mentioned doodle****s on another thread once – its an utterly brilliant word.

It must be in that particular blood line. In her current stage of dementia the Doodle****s are the pieces of one of her jigsaws that have seagulls on. ‘Doodle****’ seems to be a googlewack so it seems to be her own invention

Her mother referred to loo in our static caravan as “the Chemi Khazi”

Outwith is actually in reasonably common usage in Scotland and is a real word.

But its outwith your OED 🙂

I once made a set of bookmarks with “Without Outwith Within” printed on them and used to slip them into dictionaries In bookshops and libraries

PP – 62 – 66 IIRC ( Actually I don’t remember it at all) but I was using “amok” in the correct sense. I don’t think only Malaysians can run amok. Anyone can so long as they do it properly in a Malaysian style ( Is Malaysian not the products of the country and Malays the people – like Scots and Scotch?)

Oh – and considering I have apparently been “hoist by my own petard” I really should let you know I do not actually own a 17th century mortar

Oh – and considering I have apparently been “hoist by my own petard” I really should let you know I do not actually own a 17th century mortar

But if you’ve been hoisted by it you are technically the Registered Keeper

( Is Malaysian not the products of the country and Malays the people – like Scots and Scotch?)

yes, but the country stopped being called Malaya in 1963. It’s Malaysia now.

For a good couple of hours this Beeb article

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/52036792

…talked about ‘unchartered territory’ in it’s headline and copy.

If you have been “hoist by your own petard” You have been strapped across a wide mouthed short barreled cannon and blown to bits

I once made a set of bookmarks with “Without Outwith Within” printed on them and used to slip them into dictionaries In bookshops and libraries

🙂

talked about ‘unchartered territory’ in it’s headline and copy.

Oh, the ironing 😉

The use of personally when expressing an opinion, as in “well personally I think that all Guls have brown heads”. No neeeeeeeed!

If you have been “hoist by your own petard” You have been strapped across a wide mouthed short barreled cannon and blown to bits

Naaa. A petard was a small bomb or hand grenade. it means the thing has gone off in your face.

You’re confusing it with being blown from a cannon which (I think) was a punishment originating in the Sikh army and adopted by the East India company as it was suitable gruesome.

If you have been “hoist by your own petard” You have been strapped across a wide mouthed short barreled cannon and blown to bits

No, you have not, it was an illusionary device written originally by Shakespeare (Hamlet, I think). It has no meaning other than the one given to it. it’s never had any other use

Christ almighty, you’re a crap pedant.

And while we are at it bring back thee and thou. YOu being used for plural and singular causes huge confusion

not in Glasgow. You is singular. Yous is plural!

Infinity is less clear as the maths is changing and there are now various different infinities. Eeeh when I were a lad there was just one.

Yes, but all infinities are infinite. They are not just a fairly big number. Cantor died in 1918.

talked about ‘unchartered territory’ in it’s headline and copy.

Oh, the ironing 😉

Arsebaubles.

Christ almighty, you’re a crap pedant.

But good at getting a 3 page stupid useless debate with lots of folk in it going.

🙂

But good at getting a 3 page stupid useless debate with lots of folk in it going.

Yes, I believe it’s called “The Edinburgh defence” An original phrase meaning to hurriedly backpedal when you realise that you’ve been found out.

Oh, (as the kids say) teh ironing…

I find the use of genius irritating. Newton was a genius, someone kicking a football into a net from 10m not so much.

Christ almighty, you’re a crap pedant.

It all depends on how you define “pedant”

It all depends on how you define “pedant”

In this case, it’s some-one who’s been hoist by their own petard.

He was like, I’ve got your back, take an uninterested look at, can I get, don’t get me wrong, if that makes sense, could of.

I’m sure Petard never meant a wide mouthed canon. I’ve always understood it as any disposable explosive device used in siege warfare. The internet now says it was a small conical or bell-shaped device, which I think is illustrative of how material is copied between websites. Derived from the French ‘pet’ (the English word for domestic companion animal must cause just as much amusement in French schools as the German for ‘journey’ does in English schools).

I think Shakespeare must have been referring to a real device as the audience wouldn’t have understood the point if he’d just invented it; the next line of the play is about going one yard below their mines and blowing them to the moon – that’s a reference to the original military use of ‘mine’, which meant digging a tunnel under the fortifications and exploding a bomb beneath them.

Cantor died in 1918.

Eddie Cantor is dead!? 😳

No, you have not, it was an illusionary device written originally by Shakespeare (Hamlet, I think). It has no meaning other than the one given to it. it’s never had any other use

Christ almighty, you’re a crap pedant.

Correct, it is indeed from Hamlet.

Fun fact, the etymology for ‘petard’ comes from a Latin word meaning fart. So you could argue that it means that one has farted so hard that it’s knocked them off their feet.

I find the use of genius irritating. Newton was a genius, someone kicking a football into a net from 10m not so much.

In much the same way as “legend” has changed from the person who attacks a machine gun nest single-handedly to save the entire platoon, to coming back from the bar with bags of scratchings.

I find the use of genius irritating. Newton was a genius, someone kicking a football into a net from 10m not so much.

I like Schopenhauer’s definition of genius- talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.

affect/effect

I’ve never in my life conflated / confused these two words until recently, where I’ve seen them used incorrectly so often that I now have to pause and think about which one if should be.

it is generally the stupid people that actually change it.

My biggest personal bugbear is the word “prevaricate”. People use it in place of the word “procrastinate”. There’s a world of difference in their separate meanings.

I also like Robertson Davies on genius-

He was a genius – that is to say, a man who does superlatively and without obvious effort something that most people cannot do by the uttermost exertion of their abilities.

@joshvegas

weight is a force and measured in newtons. W = mg therefore isn’t a constant unlike mass. It is basic 1st year science.

also this is a misuse of words thread so STFU 😛

.

The only gul with a full black head is the Mediterranean Gul.

Or an Exxon one

“we will be landing momentarily”

Having looked this up, I learn “momentarily” can mean

“for a very short time.”
or
“at any moment; very soon.”

Though one appreciates this uniquely North American meaning is a recent perversion.

Happy – as in ‘Find your happy’

Rich – as in ‘Find your rich’

FFS

W = mg

W is watts, i.e. power.

🙂