Watching the Open Championship golf the other week reminded me that I love it when golfers hit the ball into a gorse bush and I love hearing the announcers talking about it. I really like the word "gorse". I've never seen an actual gorse bush in person, however.
I suppose you meant "thanking" God rather than "thinking" God?
And do you mean you hate it when somebody says something like, "Have a blessed day," or is it more when somebody says, "Having our grandchildren visit for the holidays was such a blessing," or do you hate both equally?
I don't mind the latter, but the former I find vaguely irritating.
"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust
The etymology of my call name, CrazyNotCrazie, is derived from a pet peeve of mine (plus it is a good excuse to use the word etymology, which is a personal favorite). I have always been bothered by the clothing sold at Duke that says "Cameron Crazie." The singular of "Crazies" is "Crazy" - I am a Cameron Crazy, not a Cameron Crazie. I really wish they would get that right. This is not my biggest problem in life, but it does offend my sensibilities.
"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust
Congeal. Sounds like what it is.
Since proper form of a word has come up, one that ALWAYS makes me stop for an extra few seconds and think is affect vs. effect.
I dislike words that now is so often used in a way opposite of what they used to mean...spendthrift for example. When used in politics today, means a big government spender. It used to mean tightwad, or perhaps exceedingly prudent.
Then there is supposably, which in some circles is accepted as suitable for supposedly. People who use that first firm normally have no idea what ostensibly means.
Of course, there's this:
Jeff Foxworthy: MAYONNAISE
"...may-naise some big hooters on that waitress..."
Just thought of a few more I like: irascible, cantankerous, curmudgeon.
"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust
This reminded me that in the past week or so, I've seen waaaay too many people --including politicians and journalists-- say or write "3D guns"... you know, as if guns have been 2D up until now, haha. Whether one supports or doesn't support them (and this is obviously not an invitation to debate PPB), one should use the word "printed" in there when referring to these guns.
Yeah, this type of thing really irks me. Is it laziness? Ignorance? Do people think it has a better sound to it in some way?
Whenever I hear a truncated phrase like that, I also get the strong impression that the person isn't saying anything worthwhile. It's like a signal for "I have no idea what I'm talking about." You'd think that'd be something the speaker would want to avoid. It strikes me as similar to some of the odd marketing-isms/business-speak people use these days (unnecessary portmanteaus and that weird noun-to-verb analogue of nominalization).
I rarely look at Twitter but I was reading some posts late last night and had a disturbing thought. What if the character limit on tweets exerts a small, but widespread and long-standing bias toward truncating words and phrases such that we are exposed to this sort of thing more and more?