People who use words they don't understand

y0ssar1an22

Love2love wrote: »

Or when you hear someone say the child is bold for badly behaved.

Awful = terrible, awful means full of awe, no?

Massive = beautiful

Maybe..awesome means some awe, so awful must mean awe-full

Míshásta

Vomit wrote: »

I've actually come across more than one person who thought 'chronic' meant that something was really bad- e.g. "How did Liverpool play last night?" - "Aw, they were chronic!"

That's just slang usage. The word has been used in that sense for a very long time.

Míshásta

y0ssar1an22 wrote: »

I was leaning again the wall :mad:

Probably 'agin' the wall. Dialect form of 'against'. Non-standard use of a language is not necessarily incorrect.

nomdeboardie

'incredulous' in place of 'incredible'

Míshásta

Love2love wrote: »

Or when you hear someone say the child is bold for badly behaved.

'Bold' in the sense of badly behaved is Hiberno-English. It's been used in that sense all over the country for ages. It is not incorrect. Language is alive and is not controlled by dictionaries.

Wacker The Attacker

Love2love wrote: »

Or when you hear someone say the child is bold for badly behaved.

Awful = terrible, awful means full of awe, no?

Massive = beautiful

Awesome.

frozenfrozen

All the people posting on this thread quoting wikis trying to look smart. Irony in its purest form

Hunchback

take everything wrote: »

"he was talking to you and I"
"the most important tenants of religion"
"i didn't illicit any signs of distress"
"I'm nauseous"
"what are you inferring by that statement?
"Poor concentration is exasperated by tiredness".

Some not exactly what the OP is talking about but they are bloody annoying.

Fan of The Big Bang Theory?

Earthhorse

frozenfrozen wrote: »

All the people posting on this thread quoting wikis trying to look smart. Irony in its purest form

I'm not trying to "look smart" by quoting online dictionaries, I'm simply trying to back up my claims. For some reason people are very sensitive to corrections when it comes to language so I prefer to substantiate my claims to quell the ensuing backlash.

Earthhorse

Love2love wrote: »

Awful = terrible, awful means full of awe, no?

Another word whose meaning has changed over time. It did originally mean that but it's more commonly used to mean something dreadful or terrible so people who use it in that sense are not wrong at all.

frozenfrozen

Earthhorse wrote: »

I'm not trying to "look smart" by quoting online dictionaries, I'm simply trying to back up my claims. For some reason people are very sensitive to corrections when it comes to language so I prefer to substantiate my claims to quell the ensuing backlash.

I said wikis; websites which the information is gathered by random people with no qualifications required, and there's no quality control on what **** gets put up there. All of the people saying colloquial use of a word has changed and back it up with a wiki are the people I was referring to. Read over the thread and laugh at the people who in the same paragraph are saying they hate people who want to appear clever, who then go on to quote a lot of bs from a wiki to try make themselves appear to be clever.

Earthhorse

frozenfrozen wrote: »

I said wikis; websites which the information is gathered by random people with no qualifications required, and there's no quality control on what **** gets put up there. All of the people saying colloquial use of a word has changed and back it up with a wiki are the people I was referring to. Read over the thread and laugh at the people who in the same paragraph are saying they hate people who want to appear clever, who then go on to quote a lot of bs from a wiki to try make themselves appear to be clever.

Okay, fair enough. Someone had said I had linked to a wiki-like website earlier and I hadn't seen anyone else do it so I assumed you were talking about me. Sorry for taking you up wrong.

dxhound2005

The soon to be new Prime Minister of Australia.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/10236990/Australian-election-debate-Tony-Abbott-makes-suppository-gaffe.html

Knight who says Meh

I sat opposite a father and his kid on a train once and was more than amused when Dad insisted that his son 'ajopilise' for some previous bad behaviour.

GreenWolfe

I have a confession to make: for years I thought inveterate was "inverterate".

Love2love

Play it by year......


Also my mothers friend is currently attending Visiyo for her bad knee.

MurdyWurdy

My father in law was told about a new job at his old work. He considered that the job was his without being interviewed or anything (it really really wasn't!) . He was telling everyone ke knew he was the incumbent for the role, seriously everyone. I had to explain to him what it really meant but not before he'd made a right tit of himself, especially as the job was as a teacher!

nomdeboardie

dxhound2005 wrote: »

The soon to be new Prime Minister of Australia.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/10236990/Australian-election-debate-Tony-Abbott-makes-suppository-gaffe.html

Now there's a candidate for 'talking out of one's rear end'!

Capt'n Midnight

Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.
No one ever said elves are nice.
Elves are bad.

― Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

Capt'n Midnight

The ioneer hospital.

polydactyl

Just overheard today in the pharmacy. After asking to change a few things " oh I hope now I have not upset the whole apple TART"

Many giggles from behind the counter

du Maurier

RTE Sport would want to sort out their incorrect/awkward use of "Statuesque". Any goalkeeper that stands rooted to the spot (as the ball whizzes past them), is "Statuesque" apparently. My interpretation differs somewhat - More like this:

Statuesque
adjective
the headmistress was statuesque: tall and dignified, imposing, striking, stately, majestic, noble, magnificent, splendid, impressive, regal, well proportioned, handsome, beautiful.

Drained_Empty

Awesome

salacious crumb

du Maurier wrote: »

RTE Sport would want to sort out their incorrect/awkward use of "Statuesque". Any goalkeeper that stands rooted to the spot (as the ball whizzes past them), is "Statuesque" apparently. My interpretation differs somewhat - More like this:

Statuesque
adjective
the headmistress was statuesque: tall and dignified, imposing, striking, stately, majestic, noble, magnificent, splendid, impressive, regal, well proportioned, handsome, beautiful.

Speaking of RTE, it bugs the sh*t out of me when news reporters talk about "unlawful killings". Do they not understand that every "killing" in Ireland is unlawful?

ronan45

Chap in work ... Jebus he comes out with some great ones.....
Yesterday he asserted the following

"People in rose tinted glasses shouldnt throw stones"


:rolleyes:

Frito

Ambivalence does not mean indifference.

Frito

salacious crumb wrote: »

Speaking of RTE, it bugs the sh*t out of me when news reporters talk about "unlawful killings". Do they not understand that every "killing" in Ireland is unlawful?

I understand where you're coming from. Damn tautologies...."unsolved mystery".