Words we could do without

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  • PendragonPendragon Shipmate
    Yes, seat belts are compulsory, sounds normal in UK. To say mandatory is unlikely, in fact, it's rare.
    I have come across 'mandatory' at work, in the context of my annual mandatory training: although some of it does cover legal requirements about staff training, it's only mandatory if I want to pass my appraisal and get my annual salary increment.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Dotting back a few posts, I noticed, as I was pulling apart a small plastic packet containing a few slices of cured meat for lunch, that it described itself as an 'antipasto platter'.

    That does seem to be stretching language until the elastic snaps.
  • Enoch wrote: »
    Interesting.

    'Compulsory' means 'you've got to do it' here. Somebody in authority, whether the government, the law, the police, your teacher or whoever can compel you to comply. It doesn't have an internal sense. The way it's normally used I can't see how it would - e.g. 'wearing seat belts when driving is compulsory'. That isn't speaking about an inner compulsion.
    Here, we’d usually say “wearing seat belts while driving is mandatory.” The idea is that someone in authority has mandated that it be done. To be honest, I rarely hear “compulsory” used here. In my experience, “compel” and forms of it are typically used in a construction such as “I feel compelled to . . . .”

  • I wish people would specify what "here" means.
  • I wish people would specify what "here" means.
    Sorry. I try to remember to do that, but forget sometimes. “Here” for me is the American South, specifically North Carolina. But in the case of “mandatory” vs “compulsory,” I think “here” probably applies to usage throughout the US.

  • Nick Tamen wrote: »
    I wish people would specify what "here" means.
    Sorry. I try to remember to do that, but forget sometimes. “Here” for me is the American South, specifically North Carolina. But in the case of “mandatory” vs “compulsory,” I think “here” probably applies to usage throughout the US.

    Cheers.
  • If I rent you a piece of property for a year for £20 that's a nominal charge. There is a sliding scale.
  • Firenze wrote: »
    'With it' - now there's a phrase comes with a date stamp. Along with 'happening' and 'groovy'.

    How about "rap" for talking casually? "The women's rap group discussed whether they should burn their bras collectively at the August conference".
  • I hope this wasn't mentioned previously...I have always despised referring to one's spouse as "the old ball and chain". I suppose some people think it's hilarious but I am not one of them. When a person refers to their spouse that way, I think to myself, "Oh, yeah, this marriage is going to end early or badly. Perhaps both.
  • Lily Pad wrote: »
    .........moving forward...............blech, hate that too!

    So agree, moving forward, going forward, what other direction is there for Pete’s sake. So unnecessary
  • The5thMary wrote: »
    I hope this wasn't mentioned previously...I have always despised referring to one's spouse as "the old ball and chain". I suppose some people think it's hilarious but I am not one of them. When a person refers to their spouse that way, I think to myself, "Oh, yeah, this marriage is going to end early or badly. Perhaps both.

    I call mine the trouble and strife.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    The5thMary wrote: »
    I hope this wasn't mentioned previously...I have always despised referring to one's spouse as "the old ball and chain". I suppose some people think it's hilarious but I am not one of them. When a person refers to their spouse that way, I think to myself, "Oh, yeah, this marriage is going to end early or badly. Perhaps both.

    I call mine the trouble and strife.

    Werl, that's yer rhyming slang innit? (I take it Cockneydom hasn't come up with a snappy rhyme for 'husband' yet - foot and hand? Brass band? Van Diemen's land?)

    Dunno what 'ball and chain' is meant to rhyme with.
  • It's supposed to be pot, i.e., pot and pan for old man. I've never heard it. I don't think ball and chain is rhyming slang.
  • The5thMary wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    'With it' - now there's a phrase comes with a date stamp. Along with 'happening' and 'groovy'.

    How about "rap" for talking casually? "The women's rap group discussed whether they should burn their bras collectively at the August conference".

    A dry, business-ese minutes from that meeting could be a hoot to read.
  • Lily Pad wrote: »
    .........moving forward...............blech, hate that too!

    So agree, moving forward, going forward, what other direction is there for Pete’s sake. So unnecessary

    Backward, sideways, up, down. Since you ask.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    One of the best book titles ever - a collection of Beachcomber columns (J B Morton) - Sideways Through Borneo.
  • SparrowSparrow Shipmate
    Firenze wrote: »
    Werl, that's yer rhyming slang innit? (I take it Cockneydom hasn't come up with a snappy rhyme for 'husband' yet - foot and hand? Brass band? Van Diemen's land?)

    Dunno what 'ball and chain' is meant to rhyme with.

    Ball and chain isn't rhyming slang, it refers to the old cartoon cliche of prisoners wearing a ball and chain.
  • So..... to use the language of a former supervisor of mine, are we saying that these many words and phrases should be put in the parking lot since use of them gets us into the weeds until we are told to talk to the hand?
  • How about this for multiple offences against the language?
    Altogether, the project will airport Rolls-Royce’s IntelligentEngine vision, where engines are connected, contextually aware, and even comprehending, right from their time on the testbed.
    = They are building an engine flight test plane.
  • Nooooooo! Please issue a health warning before posting nonsense like that.
  • The Welsh Finance minister today said, "I would absolutely encourage people to staycate here in Wales and make the most of everything that we have on our doorstep". Quite apart from that stray "absolutely", what's this "staycate" word? It's clearly derived from the already-horrible "staycation" ... but it has echoes of "vacating" rather than "vacation" - which itself is IMO an Americanism.
  • This isn't a single word, but is wider than that. Sometimes I come across novels written in the present tense, rather than the past. These aren't great literary works, but modest things I could have enjoyed. As it is, I find them unreadable.
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    I find it varies for me. Interestingly the Gospel of Mark uses the present tense a lot, although that is often lost in translation. For me, Hilary Mantel’s use of the present in her Cromwell novels also works well.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I belief Hilary Mantel's Cromwell trilogy is written thus. Which if he dies in Book 3 (spoiler, sorry) makes sense.
  • Maybe that's why I can't get on with Mantel. Sometimes I rewrite books without noticing.
  • EirenistEirenist Shipmate
    I was able to cope with the Mantel, once I grasped that 'he', throughout, is Cromwell. ind you, I have yet to grapple with the third volume.
  • A reporter on the local radio station earlier in the week stated the fire brigade was looking into the 'causation' of the fire! WTF?
  • We recently drove past a nicely spruced up building out in farming country with a sign announcing it to be an 'agronomy centre'. Last time we were there it was the feed store.
  • PendragonPendragon Shipmate
    How about this for multiple offences against the language?
    Altogether, the project will airport Rolls-Royce’s IntelligentEngine vision, where engines are connected, contextually aware, and even comprehending, right from their time on the testbed.
    = They are building an engine flight test plane.

    The robots are coming to take over.
  • A plane for flight-testing engines. Not seeing the problem.
  • I think the point is that these engines are monitoring themselves and constantly sending back to base information about themselves, the aircraft and the light characteristics. However the language - which to me sounds like a translation anyway - is ghastly, especially the use of the word "airport" as a verb.

  • I haven't grokked what "airport" as a verb means. Anyone else stuck?
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    I haven't grokked what "airport" as a verb means. Anyone else stuck?

    I can only imagine it means something like "to bring into service at an airport"; qv. chefs' use of 'plate' as a verb.
  • 'Airport' here apparently means 'to carry by air'. The quote was taken from the Rolls-Royce website.

    The whole confounded thing merely means a development of the telemetry (old, good, well-established and understood engineering term meaning 'measurement from a distance') that has been around for many decades.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    'Airport' here apparently means 'to carry by air'. The quote was taken from the Rolls-Royce website.

    Ah. So avoiding that very technical jargon word "fly"...


  • The whole confounded thing merely means a development of the telemetry (old, good, well-established and understood engineering term meaning 'measurement from a distance') that has been around for many decades.
    Now there's a Proper Word!

  • Am I allowed a phrase? If so "Reach out to" - why not "meet?"
  • Responses beginning with "Look..."
  • Am I allowed a phrase? If so "Reach out to" - why not "meet?"

    Because that's not what 'reach out to' means.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    mousethief wrote: »
    Am I allowed a phrase? If so "Reach out to" - why not "meet?"

    Because that's not what 'reach out to' means.

    Indeed. However, it's equally weird as a synonym for "contact".
  • KarlLB wrote: »
    mousethief wrote: »
    Am I allowed a phrase? If so "Reach out to" - why not "meet?"

    Because that's not what 'reach out to' means.

    Indeed. However, it's equally weird as a synonym for "contact".

    Not sure I'd call it that either. I'd say that's the genus but not the species. It carries implications that you haven't contacted that person in a while, or that your connecting them will be unexpected.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    mousethief wrote: »
    KarlLB wrote: »
    mousethief wrote: »
    Am I allowed a phrase? If so "Reach out to" - why not "meet?"

    Because that's not what 'reach out to' means.

    Indeed. However, it's equally weird as a synonym for "contact".

    Not sure I'd call it that either. I'd say that's the genus but not the species. It carries implications that you haven't contacted that person in a while, or that your connecting them will be unexpected.

    That may have been, but it has become weakened of late to a mere synonym for contact. I have read news articles that end with things like "we reached out to McDonalds for comment but no-one was available to speak to us"

    To me the phrase implies offering or attempting to obtain emotional support.
  • As I hear “reach out to” used, it typically doesn’t carry a connotation of unexpectedness or of of passage of time, or of emotional support. It’s basically become, in my experience, a current version of “touch base with”—i.e., contact.

  • A victim of base verbicide.
  • To me, "reaching out" implies taking an initiative to get in touch or obtain a comment, possibly in a situation where the other party - perhaps through previous hurt - is not likely to do so themself.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Circus Host, 8th Day Host
    I also dislike "reach out". It's a neologism for "get in touch with". I grant that it's a shorter term, but it sounds unnecessarily touchy-feely to me.
  • I also dislike "reach out". It's a neologism for "get in touch with". I grant that it's a shorter term, but it sounds unnecessarily touchy-feely to me.
    My feeling exactly.

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