Fresca at l’astronave has written a post about words she can’t stand.
We all have words and phrases we can live without. My friend Stefan Hagemann and I were talking about that just this morning. And then Fresca mentioned the word ginormous in a comment on a post about hyperbolic indefinite numerals. And now I’m here.
What words can’t you stand? What words can you live without? Comment on Fresca’s post, and comment here, too, if you like. Think of yourself as contributing to a merry little culture of complaint.
[I’ve written several posts about words I can live without: this one, about the educationese expressed that, has links to the others.]
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Words, can’t stand ’em
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comments: 4
Next up: words I do like!
Plosives are pleasant...
“A journalist once asked Carl Sandburg, ‘What is the ugliest word in the English language?’
After a few minutes Sandburg replied, ‘Exclusive.’
Well, since you've invited repetition...
I am beginning to hate the word "heal," especially in nonmedical contexts.
Other terms I have been disliking for much longer fit into the puffery category that others have mentioned. I think of them as Realtor® words: aplenty, nestled, galore, abound, amidst, a host of, a wealth of.
Oh, and I hate the word "simply." Here's something I wrote about that a few years ago.
Oh, oh, and "enhance" and "opine."
@john: I was guessing that Sandburg disliked the word because of what it means (or leads to). Yes, I see that he did.
@DN3: I like opine as a tongue-in-cheek word. “A host of”: how about daffodils? :)
I’ve never relied much on simply, but your post more or less removed the word from consideration.
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