Trivial as this may be I wish people would have better vocabularies. Have you ever noticed that we all tend to get into verbal habits. We say the same things over and over. We describe something as "amazing" or "awesome". Is every thing really amazing? I see some many interviews with people on tv who think whatever they did or sang or saw is just amazing or totally awesome. I am sure there are other words in the English language that describe the situation as easily as "amazing" or "awesome".
Then there are people who answer a question with "I mean...". What do they mean when they answer a question that way? The question may be about winning a ball game or a movie review. Sometimes it could be a serious question about a crime or a weather event like a tornado or flood. I mean why do they have to start the answer by saying "I mean".
Another phrase which, to me, is overused is "that's messed up". How is a situation messed up? A girl did something that was thought of as odd by someone else. "That's messed up" is used as a statement of opinion. Hum...
When I was growing up my parents tried to make sure that my vocabulary was well rounded. They encouraged me to read a lot. They thought reading would be a good way to increase my own vocabulary while reading a good story. I guess this is one reason I like Stephen King novels. He uses so many different words to describe the mystery, horror and terror. Who knew there were so many ways to describe an evil car or a crazy, rabid dog? I mean, it's totally awesome and amazing. I wish I could write good stories, but I can't and that's messed up. Jeez.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Words That Irritate Me
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4 comments:
I agree with you about lazy vocabulary (and don't forget spelling, too) that we see so often nowadays. I mean, you know, it's messed up, you know. It would be amazing if it were to turn around.
For some of us we know and use a lot more words than we write. Spelling is the problem, plain and simple. I don't spell well.My spelling is neither amazing or awesome. I mean that.
Well I have messed up this comment by now. I mean that as awesome and amazing as I expected it to be it isn't.
But its like, I mean, people don't like have to speak proper English, you know? And its all so messed up and stuff that no one can spell or form a proper sentence, or whatever.
When I first lived in an english city,
(my mother tongue is french)I remember I had a few girl friends that kept saying words like "wonderful","gorgeous"for any ordinary things.
It used to bug the hell out of me.
Maria
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