"Amazing" Should be Banished From the English Language

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Why is an American University saying anything about the English language?

As an Englishman I have to protest that the people in charge of this survey utilise the language incorrectly in hundreds of ways every single day.

Pavement, not sidewalk
Dustbin/rubbishbin, not trashcan
Colour not Color
Lefttenant not Lootenant

Keep English English!

BIG SMARMY EDIT WITH KNOBS ON: Also, Americans can't understand sarcasm.

 

[Engarde]

I'd personally go for "The exception that proves the rule" because as far as I am aware, exception means it doesn't conform to the rule and how can not obeying a rule prove a rule? Usually from what I've seen it could be replaced with "This doesn't agree with me so I'm going to ignore it".

Also, the word technically. I don't think it should be applied to the beginning of a sentence to imply the other speaker is ignorant and you are correct. I always thought it meant it was to separate the creative or subjective from the rigid or objective. A piece of software could be technically impressive, say, have innovative code structures but be creatively terrible, say, boring and unintuitive to use.

I am done bitching and probably came across a bit condesending. I also agree that amazing and baby bump should be forcefully removed, but I've never heard man cave.

 

[Macgyvercas]

I'd probably go with "knee," "arrow," "in" and "the." Not in that order.

And Grey's Hammer of Judgment falls once again! Well seeing as how that particular phrase seems to finally be breathing its last I can't complain.

That joke used to be funny...then it took an arrow in the knee.

SORRY! I couldn't resist.

Personally, I not sure calling for words to be banned is a good idea. I mean, I get the idea, but just the fact that this is actually a thing (albeit more than likely tongue in cheek) seems to be a mild form of censorship.

 

[Aurora Firestorm]

I want to ban any word ending in -ism. Not only do we have the originals like racism and sexism (which were fine terms but a bit overused when everyone started jumping on the "IT'S BECAUSE I'M (group here)" bandwagon, but we've ended up with "ableism," "lookism," and other such abominations. They're cheesy and overused buzzwords, created to make a zingy ring to something that should be better defined for its audience. It's a cheat sheet for not speaking real English.

We have to start saying what we actually want to achieve with these words. "I think you're judging me unfairly because I'm (state here), and I'd prefer it if you would (action here) instead of (other action here)" is a much more mature turn of phrase than screaming "ISM ISM ISM" all over the place.

I feel like I'm slightly inviting the mod-hammer here, but eh.

To the complaining Englishman types, I'm pretty sure American English isn't different enough to be called its own dialect. Hell, all we did was drop some U's and change a few words. I am unimpressed.

 

[Wolfram23]

They must not be gamers or they would have nominated "epic".

 

[Amphoteric]

Why is an American University saying anything about the English language?

As an Englishman I have to protest that the people in charge of this survey utilise the language incorrectly in hundreds of ways every single day.

Pavement, not sidewalk
Dustbin/rubbishbin, not trashcan
Colour not Color
Lefttenant not Lootenant

Keep English English!

Allow Stephen fry to own you in the Broca's area.

 

[Major_Tom]

What an amazing bunch of amazingly uptight arseholes. Amazing.

 

[Nalbis]

Reading that article pissed me off a bit if I'm honest. I'm probably in the minority here but I don't really think you can overuse a word. It comes across as being really nit-picky to me to say that the word "amazing" and others are being used too much or in the wrong manner. Who is THAT guy to tell me how to speak?

I probably need to clarify a little, I've always found it very childish and just plan irritating when people judge/stereotype people on words they use or the way they speak. If I wanna use the word "awesome" 5 times in 5 minutes then I will. I come from Essex in England which is well known for its poor use of the English language, I've met people who speak almost perfectly and I've met people with a very relaxed speaking manner and if I'm honest I'd rather spend time with the relaxed type. I'd much rather a friend come up to me and say: "'Sappening Bruv" than "Hello mate, what's on the agenda today then?" I know this is an extreme example but that's how it is.

And for the record (last part I swear) I think baby bump is a perfectly legit term that does its job well. I couldn't imagine using any other words to describe a baby bump that wouldn't sound weird or just creepy.

EDIT: I realise this pretty much turned into a rant, but I'm gonna leave it here anyway.

 

[KefkaCultist]

I find it ironic that the word "irony" isn't mentioned since it's one of the overly misused words these days.

 

[Nalbis]

I find it ironic that the word "irony" isn't mentioned since it's one of the overly misused words these days.

If The Escapist had a like button, I'd be hammering it right now.

 

[Helloo]

"I'd probably go with "knee," "arrow," "in" and "the." Not in that order."

Hahahaa. But to be fair to annoying douchebags everywhere, this meme has died down quite considerably in the last few weeks.

One word which needs to be banned is "epic".

"Dude, did you see that car? It was epic". Urghfhs.

 

[Dastardly]

"Amazing" Should be Banished From the English Language

I think the only areas in which I have disagreement are:

1. When someone uses a phrase or word as though it had the exact opposite meaning.

"Infer" and "imply," mentioned in the Fry video, are one of those cases. If you "infer" it means you think I said it, while if you "imply" it means I should be lead to think you said it.

For another, more extreme example, consider if someone told you, "That substance is inflammable." If we aren't using the agreed-upon definition, you might be led to believe that substance is not a fire danger. Dire consequences follow.

2. When structure, grammar, or punctuation cloud the meaning of a sentence:

Susie slapped Jenny after she barged in uninvited. Wait... who barged in uninvited? If it was Susie, well, she's clearly in the wrong here -- she barged in uninvited and slapped the girl! If "she" meant Jenny, however, it may be that Susie only slapped Jenny because she barged in uninvited.

3. When a word is clearly created out of ignorance or the mishearing of actual words.

Irregardless. Mistaken combination "irrespective" and "regardless."
Should of. Mishearing of "should've" meaning "should have." "Of" isn't a verb.

 

[AkaDad]

The only word that should ever be banned, is ban.

 

[geizr]

In my opinion, this phenomenon is the result of two issues: 1) most people's vocabularies are too small, and 2) the people making these lists need to get over themselves.

 

[sunpop]

Then we all send Grey messages on escapist telling him stories about arrows implanting themselves in our knees.

 

[SomebodyNowhere]

I do have a keen dislike for the phrase "baby bump"

 

[DreamingMacaron]

Is this the same Lake Superior State University that wanted to ban the word "truthiness" a few years back? If so, it's funny how I've never heard of this university in any other context but this stupid publicity stunt....

 

[ImperialSunlight]

I understand using words such as "literally" and "ironic" less because they are frequently used incorrectly but words like "awesome" and "amazing" are used for hyperbole. Saying "Your hair is awesome!" may be an overstatement but it isn't incorrect.