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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Your least favourite English word
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mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by cornflower:
In fact, perhaps it would be simpler to rely on sundials..I don't suppose they run at all!?
But in Seattle in the winter they're never online.
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This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
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OddJob
Shipmate
# 17591
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Posted
In general English, 'showcase' used as a verb.
In a Christian context, 'quiet time'. If one intends to study the Bible and/or pray alone, say so. In my first couple of years as a practising Christian, I genuinely thought fellow believers were advocating a regular daytime snooze.
Posts: 97 | From: West Midlands | Registered: Mar 2013
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cornflower
Shipmate
# 13349
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by mousethief:
quote:
Originally posted by cornflower:
In fact, perhaps it would be simpler to rely on sundials..I don't suppose they run at all!?
But in Seattle in the winter they're never online.
Haha! They're probably not that much in summer either, in Britain...in fact they often come to a full stop!
Posts: 111 | From: uk | Registered: Jan 2008
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cornflower
Shipmate
# 13349
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by OddJob:
In general English, 'showcase' used as a verb.
In a Christian context, 'quiet time'. If one intends to study the Bible and/or pray alone, say so. In my first couple of years as a practising Christian, I genuinely thought fellow believers were advocating a regular daytime snooze.
Yes, a lot of 'Christianese' can be annoying. It's a bit like listening to Dutch, which if you know some German, you think you can almost understand, but not quite. And after a while, you end up using the same phrases or words yourself!
Posts: 111 | From: uk | Registered: Jan 2008
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Teekeey Misha
Shipmate
# 18604
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
Speaking of which, when did we stop pressuring people to do stuff and start pressurizing them?
1938, according to an etymological dictionary. "Pressuring" (in this sense) only dates from 1922, so there's not much in it.
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Misha
Don't assume I don't care; sometimes I just can't be bothered to put you right.
Posts: 296 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2016
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ricardus:
Go-to. As in 'I'll reach out to Mike, he's our go-to guy for best-in-class feasibility analysis.'
That whole sentence is a study in barf.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Lyda*Rose
Ship's broken porthole
# 4544
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
quote:
Originally posted by Lyda*Rose:
I believe I read about things going "online" before the internet. According to dictionary.com the term originated in the early forties. I remember hearing the term used about systems in the space programs in the sixties.
I think it was used (and is still used, AFAIK) in relation to factory machinery starting up for production, too. As in the machines might have been functional for a long time before they actually went "on line" for production.
Since factory production often involves "lines" where one part of assembly leads to the next, that is a logical source for the term "online".
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"Dear God, whose name I do not know - thank you for my life. I forgot how BIG... thank you. Thank you for my life." ~from Joe Vs the Volcano
Posts: 21377 | From: CA | Registered: May 2003
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by mousethief:
If Stetson won't, I will. Those all have the same vowel sound in these parts.
Yes, I think we both come from green dots.
(Code fix)
[ 30. August 2016, 07:11: Message edited by: Firenze ]
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by cornflower:
Don't you think that marshmallow sounds like what it is, all soft and mushy? It wouldn't be the same at all if it were called a klink-klonk..you would expect that to be a word for nuts or bolts, or spanners or something.
And yet, it derives its squidgysoundingness from words not intended for that purpose. Admittedly, there is something squidgy about a marsh, the location where the variety of the mallow plant which produced the original squelchy gunge used to make the confection was found. (I heard somewhere that the method for extracting it had been lost to human knowledge, which is good, as early purple orchids were nearly wiped out by having gloop extracted from its bulbs to make an early soft drink.)
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Honest Ron Bacardi
Shipmate
# 38
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Posted
Penny S wrote: quote:
(I heard somewhere that the method for extracting it had been lost to human knowledge, which is good, as early purple orchids were nearly wiped out by having gloop extracted from its bulbs to make an early soft drink.)
The method is still around - I've seen it done IRL! There are various recipes around with the details in (it involves boiling the roots for about 30 mins. I seem to recall), though many seem to add gelatine as well, which shouldn't be necessary if done correctly. The addition of whipped egg whites is a later invention - the original marshmallow was a solid sweet.
You can buy powdered orchid root at Turkish grocers (probably under-the-counter as I'm sure the product must be illegal by now) - it's called salep - and you can get ice-creams made from it. Best avoided on conservation grounds I think.
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Anglo-Cthulhic
Posts: 4857 | From: the corridors of Pah! | Registered: May 2001
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Eirenist
Shipmate
# 13343
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Posted
'Buccaneer' or 'buccaneering' used to praise a businessman. The word actually means 'a disreputable adventurer'. I am a buccaneer, you sail a bit close to the wind, he's a crook.
Also 'Award-winning', of a TV series - what is the award, and who gave it? we are never told.
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'I think I think, therefore I think I am'
Posts: 486 | From: Darkest Metroland | Registered: Jan 2008
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mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stetson:
quote:
Originally posted by mousethief:
If Stetson won't, I will. Those all have the same vowel sound in these parts.
Yes, I think we both come from green dots.
(Code fix)
Good call.
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This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
Baby-talk words like lippy and leccy.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
Baby-talk words like lippy and leccy.
To which I'll add the aforementioned "yummy", and follow it up with "tummy".
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Teekeey Misha
Shipmate
# 18604
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Posted
Laters (or is it "laterz"?) as in "'K, laters people."
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Misha
Don't assume I don't care; sometimes I just can't be bothered to put you right.
Posts: 296 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2016
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mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
Baby-talk words like lippy and leccy.
To which I'll add the aforementioned "yummy", and follow it up with "tummy".
nom nom nom
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This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Thank you, Honest Ron - but I think I will give salep a miss. (The name was lurking about in my mind but had confused itself with Shropshire.) Interesting that it is the same name here in the past and Turkey in the present.
Does the marshmallow have to be a particular species?
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by OddJob:
In a Christian context, 'quiet time'. If one intends to study the Bible and/or pray alone, say so. In my first couple of years as a practising Christian, I genuinely thought fellow believers were advocating a regular daytime snooze.
John Ortberg says "sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap." I agree. So I say here, here! Let's all go for a bit of "quiet time". (Although now that I say that, with the air quotes it's starting to sound more like a similar euphemism hubby and I use when arranging a marital liaison... but hey, that's good too...)
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
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Posted
"closure". Ugh! Overused by non-clinicians and sounds vapid.
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God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by mousethief:
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
Baby-talk words like lippy and leccy.
To which I'll add the aforementioned "yummy", and follow it up with "tummy".
nom nom nom
I absolutely abhor nom nom nom! It's so childish. There's a food writer in Atlanta who kept saying that a certain food was "so yummy in my tummy". I sent a flippant email to her and asked her how old she was and that I was surprised a grown woman would resort to such baby talk. Others also wrote scathing emails to her. I don't think she used those words again.
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God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
'Function' - and the Room they are held in. I mean, is there any word more quelling of any suggestion of sociability or merriment?
Also 'flunkey'.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
Thank you, Honest Ron - but I think I will give salep a miss. (The name was lurking about in my mind but had confused itself with Shropshire.) Interesting that it is the same name here in the past and Turkey in the present.
Does the marshmallow have to be a particular species?
Ahem. The Recipe thread is thataway -->
Firenze
Heaven Host
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
'Function' - and the Room they are held in. I mean, is there any word more quelling of any suggestion of sociability or merriment?
Also 'flunkey'.
A "function room" is bad enough, but what are the other rooms?
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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SusanDoris
Incurable Optimist
# 12618
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
I was surprised by 'moist' since the GBBO had been enthusing about the dampness of drizzle cakes using the very word.
And I know that there's one which makes me cringe, but I can't remember what it is! Except that it's used in management speak.
But moist's designation as a hated word must have been around for quite a time, since Terry Pratchett used it for for Von Lipwig's name and I think he, Moist, pronounced it Mo - ist when he first was mentioned.
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I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
Posts: 3083 | From: UK | Registered: May 2007
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by SusanDoris:
But moist's designation as a hated word must have been around for quite a time, since Terry Pratchett used it for for Von Lipwig's name and I think he, Moist, pronounced it Mo - ist when he first was mentioned.
Not sure that follows. Having someone introduce himself as "I'm Moist" is comical whether or not Moist is a hated word. Of the Twilight the Darkness riffs on this by calling him "Mister Slightly Damp".
ETA: Anecdotally I find much more moist-hatred amongst Americans than Brits.
[ 31. August 2016, 14:22: Message edited by: Leorning Cniht ]
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Eirenist
Shipmate
# 13343
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Posted
L.C., it's due to our climate.
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'I think I think, therefore I think I am'
Posts: 486 | From: Darkest Metroland | Registered: Jan 2008
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
I'm one of those people who get sick just saying the word vomit.
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Leaf
Shipmate
# 14169
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Posted
"Preggers." Oh God do I hate "preggers." Why would you take a word for a normal biological process and split it in half, such that the front half is correct and the back half is cutesy? We don't do this for other biological events:
"Look! He has an erectie!"
"Aww, poor kid, she has a nosebloopie!"
It's just so weird and inappropriate. If you mean "pregnant" say "pregnant." If you must find a cutesy euphemism - well, first of all, give your head a shake, but failing that - go all out and depart from the word with "knocked up" or "up the duff" or whatever your culture recognizes.
Posts: 2786 | From: the electrical field | Registered: Oct 2008
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
"Eachandevery." And yes, it is a single word, judging by the speech of the two people who drive me crazy using it in place of "each." (One sprinkles it through his sermons!)
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
A "function room" is bad enough, but what are the other rooms?
Relation Room, Inverse Function Room, and Surjection Room
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This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
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cornflower
Shipmate
# 13349
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by jedijudy:
I'm one of those people who get sick just saying the word vomit.
Hm, I think 'puke' is worse.
Posts: 111 | From: uk | Registered: Jan 2008
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cornflower
Shipmate
# 13349
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leaf:
"Preggers." Oh God do I hate "preggers." Why would you take a word for a normal biological process and split it in half, such that the front half is correct and the back half is cutesy? We don't do this for other biological events:
"Look! He has an erectie!"
"Aww, poor kid, she has a nosebloopie!"
It's just so weird and inappropriate. If you mean "pregnant" say "pregnant." If you must find a cutesy euphemism - well, first of all, give your head a shake, but failing that - go all out and depart from the word with "knocked up" or "up the duff" or whatever your culture recognizes.
Also the product of 'being preggers' - 'sprog'
Posts: 111 | From: uk | Registered: Jan 2008
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Teekeey Misha
Shipmate
# 18604
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by cornflower:
Also the product of 'being preggers' - 'sprog'
When I were a lad... "Sprog" was the schoolboy slang of choice at my school for "new boys" coming into the Senior School (in the Upper Fourth).
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Misha
Don't assume I don't care; sometimes I just can't be bothered to put you right.
Posts: 296 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2016
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
A "function room" is bad enough, but what are the other rooms?
Mostly not in use. They're non-functioning. ![[Snigger]](graemlins/snigger.gif)
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Eirenist
Shipmate
# 13343
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Posted
Presumably a lavatorry, toilet, bathroom, W.C.,, or whatever euphemism is customary in your culture would be a bodily function room?
Other unfavourite words; 'Kid', or 'Kids' for child or children.
'Student' used of any school-attender under 18; they are pupils or schoolchildren.
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'I think I think, therefore I think I am'
Posts: 486 | From: Darkest Metroland | Registered: Jan 2008
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
A "function room" is bad enough, but what are the other rooms?
Well, when I had "the runs" last week (yes, I know that's a euphemism in itself), I could have done with a Malfunction Room. Or several, closely spaced.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Eirenist:
Presumably a lavatorry, toilet, bathroom, W.C., or whatever euphemism is customary in your culture would be a bodily function room?
No, a function room is used for social/business functions.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Amorya
Ship's tame galoot
# 2652
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Teekeey Misha:
quote:
Originally posted by cornflower:
Also the product of 'being preggers' - 'sprog'
When I were a lad... "Sprog" was the schoolboy slang of choice at my school for "new boys" coming into the Senior School (in the Upper Fourth).
… leading to "Sprog-Bashing Day" every Friday 13th.
Posts: 2383 | From: Coventry | Registered: Apr 2002
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by Eirenist:
Presumably a lavatorry, toilet, bathroom, W.C., or whatever euphemism is customary in your culture would be a bodily function room?
No, a function room is used for social/business functions.
Especially upstairs in pubs.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Teekeey Misha
Shipmate
# 18604
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Amorya:
… leading to "Sprog-Bashing Day" every Friday 13th.
![[Ultra confused]](graemlins/confused2.gif) I dread even to think...
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Misha
Don't assume I don't care; sometimes I just can't be bothered to put you right.
Posts: 296 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2016
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stetson:
Yes, I think we both come from green dots.
That's totes adorbs!
Except that when I listen to the "merged" vowels of "cot" and "caught" on that wikipedia page, I hear different vowels. They are similar (much more similar than they would be in my accent) but they're not the same - the vowel in "caught" is rounder than the one in "cot". They're close enough that they're probably the same IPA letter, but one of them must have a diacritic, surely?
When you and mousethief say that these words sound the same to you, is the wiki page a fair representation of how they sound, or are they even closer than that in your accents>
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
When you and mousethief say that these words sound the same to you, is the wiki page a fair representation of how they sound, or are they even closer than that in your accents
The sound in the wiki page that they say goes with cot, nod, and stalk, is also what caught, gnawed, and stalk sounds like. The second little speaker sound doesn't sound like any vowel I use. I can tell they're different, but the second sound sounds like the first sound with a floofy accent. I don't differentiate in my speech between the two, using the first exclusively, and I have never noticed (until I entered into this cot/caught discussion, some years ago) that other people used the one sound for some words and the other for others. I figured it was just the way they sounded because of where they were from, and didn't cotton on to the fact that they were using 2 sounds where I just had 1. I hope that makes some sense.
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This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
We seem to have migrated some way from "your least favourite word" to discussion of accents and beyond. Perhaps we could migrate back again.
Fank yew
Ariel
Heaven Host
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
That's totes adorbs!
Oh, sweet Jesus.
The first time I ever heard these two words, I knew that I would be squelching the urge to murder whenever I heard them, seperate or jointly.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
I'm baffled by the use of floor to mean something other than the floor of a building. "He fell to the floor" now seems to include pavements, roads, lawns etc.
Is this a new usage? Or an import?
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
My wife talks about her "pelvic floor". Now that's a phrase I hadn't heard until about 5 years ago. But I'm a mere male.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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