oe
qat
kex
syzygy
xi
queue
aerie
The term WebEx, when referring to online meetings and conferencing, is actually a proprietary trademark of Cisco. This is a term that people have begun to use generically to refer to any online meeting or web-based conferencing. If Cisco isn't careful, they could lose their goodwill and equity in the name if it is determined to be a generic term along the same lines as elevator and aspirin, once proprietary trademarks in the US (Aspirin remains a trademark in Canada and perhaps elsewhere, owned by Bayer). The owners of the marks Rollerblade, Xerox, and Kleenex have fought a similar battle over the years.
Rich
"Failure is Not a Destination"
Coach K on the Dan Patrick Show, December 22, 2016
oe
qat
kex
syzygy
xi
queue
aerie
I hate to nitpick your wife, but as much as it sucks, it definitely is a word, at least according to Merriam-Webster -- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irregardless
Is irregardless a word?
Irregardless was popularized in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its increasingly widespread spoken use called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that "there is no such word." There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.
Rich
"Failure is Not a Destination"
Coach K on the Dan Patrick Show, December 22, 2016
This example reminds me of my second least-liked class of words: business portmanteaus. The problem is not the practice of creating a portmanteau, which can be a useful new word and might even be especially likely to come from the business world due to innovations. The problem is that so many of them are forced and unnecessary, not related to innovations but rather marketing. I find them maddening. Example: advertainment.
Hate: "Disrespect" when used as a verb. "Myself" almost every time an athlete uses it.
Love: "segue," cool word taught to me by a special young lady back before the alphabet had reached 26 letters.
I like a lot of the silly Scrabble words, and they make it easy to win games against beginners. I'm cool with using letter names as words, i.e. "ar" for the letter R or, my favorite, "aitch" for the letter H. I'm OK with the Greek letters as words too, I think they're common enough in English to count.
But some of them are absurd. Za is the worst offender. Does anyone actually call pizza that?
One of my faves is 'superfluous'-it just rolls off the tongue nicely.
I read someone a dad taught his 5 year old to say "Behold!" instead of "Look!" Unfortunately I'm too late to do that with my kids, but I like it!
Word I like: RBIs.
That's the plural of RBI. RBI is not the plural of RBI.
And while I'm on baseball, if I ever use the expression "plated a run," you have my permission to take me out back and put me out of my misery.
This one might be slightly out of scope of the original question, but I'm posting it anyway.
I've always disliked the use of the phrase "how come" instead of "why." I think I've only ever found two other people bothered by it. I especially disliked it when I was younger, maybe because it's used often by children, but I'm not sure. These days I'm a much more forgiving fellow. I've probably even used it a few times myself, which I'm somewhat ashamed to admit.
I love the version used in the movie Idiocracy: "why come." The implication seems to be that people using "how come" are only a short step away from the people in the movie.
Well, if we're going down that path, I don't like how "No problem" has taken the place of "You're welcome" in the common vernacular. For example, I ask a waiter to please do something like fill my water glass, I thank them, and they respond with "No problem." Well, it shouldn't be a problem because that's your job. A simple "You're welcome" will suffice. I'd actually prefer that they say nothing at all instead of "No problem." It REALLY bugs me.
Now get off my lawn!
Rich
"Failure is Not a Destination"
Coach K on the Dan Patrick Show, December 22, 2016
Since the conversation has gone this direction, I cannot stand the rhetorical, “right?” at the end of a comment. It happens everywhere (even in the OP—sorry rsvman). Especially in the media. It’s unnecessary, passive aggressive, and condescending.
Ok sorry for the rant.
That's a wonderful word. Reminds me a bit of the Danish word "hyggeligt," which is similarly nuanced and virtually incapable of translation. It's a feeling of coziness and camaraderie with a touch of nostalgia. The best description I've heard for it is along the lines of: you've just been out sledding as a child and, as you walk in the front door at dusk to a welcoming, softly lit house, your mother hands you a nice cup of hot cocoa and invites you to sit by the fire where your father will read you your favorite book. It's that feeling.
...............
I cannot stand the use of the word "hashtag." We're Americans, twitter is an American invention, ergo it's referred to as a pound or number sign. It should not be a hashtag except for Brits. I have also become exhausted by the word "super." "Very" or "quite" are just fine. Oh, and "epic" can go away, please.
Others I don't like much (but might still use sometimes ):
- totally
- mouthfeel
- synergy
- literally
- basically
- arguably
- iterative
- predilection
Words I love (that I can think of right now):
- viscosity
- desultory
- mellifluous
- ephemeral
- discombobulate
- literate
- ubiquitous
Wanted to add a spot on here for my dad.
He realllllllyyyyy hates the word "just" and how often it is used. He lit-er-ally went on a 10 minute rant about it one day after he got back from his church.
"I just wanted to thank you"
"I was just wondering what you were doing"
"Let's just go do this"
He went on and on about how it was used in his pastors sermons and prayers.
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge" -Stephen Hawking