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a year blanketed in snow, untrod

Thirteen irregular word uses

August 16th, 2007 | Category: Ne-e-e-e-e-erd!, Triskadekaphilia

To quote Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes fame): "Verbing weirds language".

  1. Impact is not a verb, no matter how often people say "the plane impacted into the mountainside".
  2. Irregardless is not a word. Regardless of what you I might think. (However, I still think it's a pointless word meaningless verbal bastard. (Thanks, Doug!))
  3. Unthawed means to freeze, not to make not frozen.

  4. You borrow things from someone, not to someone.*
  5. Alot is two words: "a lot".
  6. …looks on has reached its saturation point in newspaper photo captions.
  7. I find it irritating to be mocked by Americans for pronouncing "about" as aboot**—especially when I continue to hear the word roof pronounced as ruff by some of our neighbours south of the border.
  8. Even though it's a real word, orientate gets my goat. There's a perfectly good word already, and it's orient.
  9. Unnecessary non-standard words, used in an effort to sound eloquent, such as utilized where used would suffice, or…
  10. …at a high rate of speed for fast. These always strike me as terms used by people trying to sound intelligent; unfortunately they usually make them sound pompous.
  11. Comprised of annoys me. It should be "composed of". Both of the following are correct: "The band trip was composed of thirty-five high school students." "Nineteen wolves comprised the whole of the zoo. What a boring zoo trip that was."
  12. My high-school gym teacher once told us, before a ski trip, that we should dress warm, but not "like the abdominal snowman". I was the only one in the gym that laughed.
  13. Thursday is not a verb, but I feel like I've been Thursdayed.

* This is a French thing, and I hear it in my hometown, but not in the town where I now live. It's because en français, the verb prêter means both "to borrow" and "to lend". It's a vectored verb, in that it has a direction. (If "vectored verb" isn't a grammatical term already, I hereby coin it.)

** Which is a pronunciation I've never heard in Canada, by the by.

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13 Comments so far

  1. erin August 16th, 2007 9:29 AM

    I love this list! #5 is my biggest pet peeve; I'm trying to figure out a way to launch a crusade against the use of alot. It really drives me nuts, and I don't know how it's been perpetuated! Happy TT!

  2. Kendra August 16th, 2007 11:15 AM

    a lot… that's a good one that i often forget about! good TT list… my TT this week is all about things not to feed my dog (based on unfortunate previous experiences)!

  3. laura August 16th, 2007 12:36 PM

    thank you! I don't think i've ever said Aboot or 'eh'.

    and the borrow/lend thing is something my husband and i argue over all the time. nice to see i'm right! ;)

  4. laura August 16th, 2007 12:36 PM

    oh, and my TT is up.

  5. jeanjeanie August 16th, 2007 1:17 PM

    Ruff? I've never heard that down here, except from my dog. Must be a Yankee thing.

    I love Canadian pronunciations. And I love Canadians.

    Great list!

  6. laura August 16th, 2007 3:47 PM

    yeah, no coke and no coffee makes Laura something something…..

  7. Patrick August 16th, 2007 5:14 PM

    Laura
    Oh, I've said 'eh' many a time. I probably said it a dozen times today and didn't even notice.

    Also: "Go crazy?"

  8. Suprina August 16th, 2007 5:23 PM

    I agree with you on all of them. Except for #2.
    It is a word and is in the Webster's dictionary.

    Great T13!

  9. Patrick August 16th, 2007 5:56 PM

    Suprina
    How 'bout that. I stand corrected.

    However, I also note the following, in the Merriam-Webster online definition for irregardless:

    "Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead."

  10. Doug August 16th, 2007 11:46 PM

    My pet peeve has always been people who pronounce "harass" as if it were someone's last name. And it really cheesed me when I discovered that that was an allowable pronunciation.

    My high school English text called irregardless "a meaningless verbal bastard." I love that.

  11. Balls and Walnuts - more than you ever wanted to know » Thirteen comedy duos August 16th, 2007 11:56 PM

    [...] Pat, a cool Thirteen for [...]

  12. Nicholas August 18th, 2007 10:29 PM

    I assume you also hate "at this time" and "at this moment in time" when "now" will always suffice.

  13. Patrick August 19th, 2007 11:44 AM

    Nicholas
    That would be correct.

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