It's Official - I'm a Curmudgeon

[actor61]

I turned 63 last March. I've always been a somewhat opinionated person but now that I'm a Senior Citizen and kind of don't care much anymore what people think of me, I've become very cranky about things and pleasantly vociferous about what drives me nuts. My main gripe is the misuse of the English language and it has crept into every level of society and education. Below is a list of the things that currently chafe my ass. You can agree or disagree with me, you can think me right or wrong, you can argue, yell, call me names - as I said, I'm 63 and don't care!

 

1. The word "like". "I'm like wow!" "I was like are you going to pick me up? Or do you want to like meet there?" "It's like raining."

 

2. The term "in terms of." I actually heard a coworker say, "I'm going to lunch in terms of 1 o'clock."

 

3. Impact is not a verb. Something can HAVE an impact but it can't impact anything. A tooth can be impacted but your world cannot be.

 

4. And although this doesn't really have anything to do with language, it still causes me diaper rash. Addiction to technology. Mutual friends suggested I meet another gay friend of theirs, which I did. In our initial phone conversation, he suggested that we meet at a restaurant close to our homes. I arrived at the agreed upon time, introduced myself, sat down, ordered a drink and was looking forward to getting to know him. His phone was in his hand the entire evening. He texted, answered emails, answered calls, tweeted and investigated his Facebook page all through the evening. When it was over, and I stood to leave, I told him I didn't want to see him again, and he looked at me in astonishment and said, "Are you like mad?"

 

In terms of annoyance, I was like really pissed and it definitely impacted my evening.

[+ honcho]

Well, I'm like, 63 as of a week or so ago, and, in terms of this post, if you really didn't care, why bother to vent?

 

/s/

 

Another curmudgeon

 

(hopefully not too antagonistically )

[rvwnsd]

...3. Impact is not a verb. Something can HAVE an impact but it can't impact anything. A tooth can be impacted but your world cannot be....

 

"Impact" is, indeed, a verb, both transitive and intransitive. In fact, its origin is the Latin word impactus, which according to Webster's is the past participle of impingere to push against. The first known use as a verb was in 1601. The first known use of impact as a noun was in 1781. As you can see, impact has been used as a verb for 180 years more than it has been used as a noun.

 

For the complete definition and list of synonyms, here's a link

 

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impact

[gallahadesquire]

Where is the online OED when we need it?

[rvwnsd]

Where is the online OED when we need it?

Right here, for $295 annually or $29.95 monthly.

 

http://public.oed.com/how-to-subscribe/#us

 

Of course, one has to use it in order for it to be effective.

[actor61]

Right here, for $295 annually or $29.95 monthly.

 

http://public.oed.com/how-to-subscribe/#us

 

Of course, one has to use it in order for it to be effective.

I guess I stand corrected. Thank you.

[tyro]

I also hate when people use "impact" as a verb. All I can think of is constipation gone bad. Well, worse.

T

[+ dutchmuch]

The one I hear that gets my goad, "Where you at?"

[bigvalboy]

The one I hear that gets my goad, "Where you at?"

Hahahahahaha...

[instudiocity]

Wow, what like an impactful impact this thread has.

 

While we are being curmudgeonly,

 

I hate:

1. cloth or cloths for clothes
   
   
2. pant for pants (shortened from the original
   pantaloons
   ) I may pant when I see him in his pant
   s
   , but he ain't hanging a pant on my bedpost
   
   
3. as
   gay, I know
   as
   can be used correctly in this phrase, but I'm not
   as
   gay, I'm GAY! There's no simile in my sexual preference, "Instudiocity came out GAY!" Not
   as
   gay -
   GAY!
   and there ain't no one else
   like or as
   me.
   
   

[instudiocity]

The one I hear that gets my goad, "Where you at?"

My mother the English teacher always responded with, "Right behind the at!"

[instudiocity]

I also hate when people use "impact" as a verb. All I can think of is constipation gone bad. Well, worse.

T

Wouldn't that be impacted?

[+ deej]

The one I hear that gets my goad, "Where you at?"

 

That's at least colloquial.

 

"Where are you at?" is the one that gets me.

 

If you know enough to use "Where are" , umm..., really?

[gallahadesquire]

Wow, what like an impactful impact this thread has.

 

While we are being curmudgeonly,

...

1. as
   gay, I know
   as
   can be used correctly in this phrase, but I'm not
   as
   gay, I'm GAY! There's no simile in my sexual preference, "Instudiocity came out GAY!" Not
   as
   gay -
   GAY!
   and there ain't no one else
   like or as
   me.
   
   

 

My understanding is that the affirmative comparison is "I am as gay as Truman Capote", but the use of so with not for the negative: I am not so hot as he; not the colloquial "I am not as hot as he."

 

I'd love further edification thereupon.

[gallahadesquire]

"Never use a preposition to end a sentence ... with."

"That is something up with which I shall not put."

[+ WilliamM]

The word "like". "I'm like wow!" "I was like are you going to pick me up? Or do you want to like meet there?" "It's like raining."

 

I agree totally. But, the word "like" has been used this way for the last decade.

[+ azdr0710]

I agree totally. But, the word "like" has been used this way for the last decade.

 

you're right....actually, it's been in use for more than thirty years.....

 

[mike carey]

if you really didn't like care

I hate it when Australians use math. I get it that math is US usage, but in Australia it's maths!

[rvwnsd]

I guess I stand corrected. Thank you.

 

You are most welcome.

 

By the way, I agree that people use "impact" as a verb way too often. IMO, it is because they do not know the difference between "effect" and "affect," so they use "impact."

 

Wow, what like an impactful impact this thread has....

 

Wouldn't that be "Wow, like, what an impactful impact..."?

[instudiocity]

Wouldn't that be "Wow, like, what an impactful impact..."?

You must be older than me....

[Samfoslom]

I hate the bastardization "me and my friends," as in "Me and my friends hung out at this great new spot last week." I have even heard it from a "television journalist" on a TV news broadcast. ME is NEVER a subject in a sentence!

When it comes down to it, proper use of pronouns, and understanding of how they fit into parts of speech, is one of the few things what separates us from the animals. LOL!

[+ WilliamM]

you're right....actually, it's been in use for more than thirty years.....

 

I said ten years ago because I took a German lit in English translation course with a very strict professor back then. Most of the smartest students used the work "like" often in their sentences when responding in class. I kept waiting for the professor to correct them.

 

I finally asked him about it. His response, " believe me I have tried, but I have given up."

[doya66]

In Downstate Illinois where I'm from, we use "Where are you at?" all the time, although we usually say, "Where're y'at?" It can be an inquiry as to one's location in space, or more particularly used to ask the stage of one's task at which one has arrived, like, "Where're y'at on yr math homework?" Our English teachers long ago abandoned hope.

[+ sync]

I'm bothered by the "train wrecks" that result when the use of spell-checking is presumed to be proofreading.

[AdamSmith]

Hmmm., Am I mistaken in thinking that to be considered a senior citizen one had to be 65 years old?

 

I just got a senior-days discount at a clothing store for being 55. And AARP starts dunning you at 50.