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Trendy Words I Do Not Like

Started by Cheerful, September 09, 2020, 02:57:02 PM

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RatGuy


Langue_doc

I can't stand bestie either. Are you supposed to have just one "best" friend?

Here's a word that I do like--hellmouth to describe a gaping sinkhole.

https://gothamist.com/news/early-addition-another-hellmouth-sinkhole-has-emerged

dismalist

to double down

Are there that many Blackjack players?
That's not even wrong!
--Wolfgang Pauli

the_geneticist


Hegemony

Quote from: Langue_doc on July 18, 2021, 08:02:09 AM
I can't stand bestie either. Are you supposed to have just one "best" friend?

I think that is indeed the meaning of "best." Better than all the others.  If you don't have one, that's fine, but if you do have one, "best" is the word for it. It's like "unique" — it means there's only one in that category.

Parasaurolophus

While I do think that 'best' carries a conversational implicature of uniqueness, I think it's a little weaker. It seems to me that it can be equalled--perhaps because 'the best' typically denotes a class of objects rather than a particular individual (e.g. "the best knife is...").
I know it's a genus.

dismalist

Quote from: Hegemony on August 23, 2021, 05:17:10 PM
Quote from: Langue_doc on July 18, 2021, 08:02:09 AM
I can't stand bestie either. Are you supposed to have just one "best" friend?

I think that is indeed the meaning of "best." Better than all the others.  If you don't have one, that's fine, but if you do have one, "best" is the word for it. It's like "unique" — it means there's only one in that category.

Ah, unique! No, most unique.

That's not even wrong!
--Wolfgang Pauli

fast_and_bulbous

I used the word 'peformant' (exhibiting good performance) in a paper and got away with it.
It just fit in that sentence, what can I say. I'm not sure it's a real word. Then again, all words started out not real words.
I wake up every morning with a healthy dose of analog delay

dismalist

Quote from: fast_and_bulbous on August 25, 2021, 01:52:49 PM
I used the word 'peformant' (exhibiting good performance) in a paper and got away with it.
It just fit in that sentence, what can I say. I'm not sure it's a real word. Then again, all words started out not real words.

It is a word!

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/performant

Apparently, it wasn't 10 years ago.

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/38945/what-is-wrong-with-the-word-performant

Perhaps jargon now. Still, what's not to like?
That's not even wrong!
--Wolfgang Pauli

fast_and_bulbous

Quote from: dismalist on August 25, 2021, 02:00:50 PM
Quote from: fast_and_bulbous on August 25, 2021, 01:52:49 PM
I used the word 'peformant' (exhibiting good performance) in a paper and got away with it.
It just fit in that sentence, what can I say. I'm not sure it's a real word. Then again, all words started out not real words.

It is a word!

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/performant

Apparently, it wasn't 10 years ago.

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/38945/what-is-wrong-with-the-word-performant

Perhaps jargon now. Still, what's not to like?

Well now I feel vindicated. One of the reviewers wanted it gone but I persisted. Let's hear it for words!
I wake up every morning with a healthy dose of analog delay

sinenomine

Verticals. Iterative. Both are go-to terms for administration at my place of work.
"How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks...."

fishbrains

"Excused" as a magic word that makes coursework somehow disappear.

As in "since a COVID quarantine absence is 'excused,' I've done nothing in the class for 10 days, including taking 30 seconds to send an email. What should I do now?" or "Since these are 'excused' absences, be sure to work with students."

It's hard to work with students who ain't there in any capacity. Grrrrrrr . . .
I wish I could find a way to show people how much I love them, despite all my words and actions. ~ Maria Bamford

dismalist

A post on the "favorite student emails" thread reminded me of  "I'm confused".

"I'm confused" used to be a confession that one was, well, confused. Nowadays, it is used as an accusation, in the sense of "you have caused me to be confused". How did that happen and why?
That's not even wrong!
--Wolfgang Pauli

downer

Quote from: dismalist on August 31, 2021, 05:14:46 PM
A post on the "favorite student emails" thread reminded me of  "I'm confused".

"I'm confused" used to be a confession that one was, well, confused. Nowadays, it is used as an accusation, in the sense of "you have caused me to be confused". How did that happen and why?

Sorry, that was me. I phrased my comments to visiting speakers as "I'm confused. You said X but then you said Y, but X implies not-Y." It seemed politer than "You are taking nonsense."
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."—Sinclair Lewis

marshwiggle

Quote from: sinenomine on August 26, 2021, 12:40:07 PM
Verticals. Iterative. Both are go-to terms for administration at my place of work.

I've been thinking about this for a while. What other word(s) would you use to describe a process that goes through many cycles to improve and/or get closer to the final solution? So far I haven't thought of any. (Having done lots of programming, it's a really familiar word in that context.)

It takes so little to be above average.