There are three general vocabulary mistakes that irk me:
- using words that don't exist;
- malapropisms; and
- 10 cent words.
Words that Don't Exist
This first category is my favourite (if you can have a favourite irk). I have more examples of this error than of the rest. It all started a few years ago when I was chatting with a colleague. Said colleague was partially responsible for reviewing documents prior to sending the documents out to the world. She said:
The quality of the writing here is marginable at best.I wanted to say to her that the quality would improve if we had people reviewing documents who had more than a marginal understanding of English. Since that day I've had numerous discussions with friends and the practice of using words that do not exist is more common than you think.
The following is a list of real world examples (I've left out George W. Bush, too easy):
- I want to politefully tell this person they are wrong.
- I ran out of money, subsequentially I could not buy the goods.
- Irregardless of the rules, I want to use that word (note, it does show up in dictionaries now, but by sheer force of its use rather than it being a word).
- I think Argentinia is going to win the game.
- He is supposably the best in the world.
These ones are fun and probably the most common. Somebody says something that is a word that generally sounds like what they are trying to say but isn't correct. The most common example being "for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes".
Again, here are some real world example:
- The pain is decapitating (this one makes me laugh every time I hear it).
- Take a moment to flush out your ideas (should be flesh).
- Revert back (to revert is to go back, the use of back is redundant).
10 Cent Words
10 cent words are words that do exist, but the reason for their existence appears solely to annoy me. For example, there is never a situation where you can't substitute the word use for utilize. Why would you ever use utilize? I don't come across these often, but there are two others that I hear almost daily: in respect of and with respect to. Can't we just say of, or about?
- Acclimatized (just use acclimated, you're driving AA crazy).
People who use words that don't exist, malapropisms and 10 cent words are probably trying to sound intelligent. Your vocabulary doesn't make you sound more intelligent, your ideas do. But your vocabulary can make you sound stupid.
6 comments:
Can I tell you which ones makes me grind my teeth?
Revert back.
Every time I hear that I feel like I've been hit in the gut. One manager I used to work with used it all the time. "If this doesn't work, we'll revert back to the old settings." I would sit and there just doodle furiously, until one time he asked my opinion on something.
I couldn't help it: "I don'know why you're doubling your workload. If it doesn't work, why are we going to revert back to the same system? As I understand it, by saying 'revert back' you plan to go to our original system, and them change it back to the new one."
It eventually required me and one other person to take 15 minutes of meeting time to draw a circle on the whiteboard and explain the progress of time.
Also: the way people misuse "beg the question" and "carrot and stick", but I have too much to do today.
Dude, isn't it People WHO uses works...?
Oops, WHO use words...
Love the blog Don,
Here's a video I thought you might enjoy after reading your last blog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OonDPGwAyfQ
Phil K
Yes, it should be people who use words. Good catch, though it's more of a grammatical error.
Phil K, I constantly proof read and still make errors, see who vs. that above. Great video though.
"Acclimatized" drives me crazy, even though it is a real word. Either use "acclimated" or "climatized".
It's like putting two similar words together to make a new word that means the same as the first two.
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