Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[vinteuil]

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I am aware that my feeble joculette was calculated merely to raise the tiniest kitten of a smile at most...

... I had a massive grin on reading fernet's joke.

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... I don't think it merited you stuffing it with a few bricks into the sack of literalism and chucking it into the river of pedantry.

... well, it was ahinton


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[jean]

My response was to you, not fhg and it related to the link that you, not fhg, had posted.

But my link only made sense as a response to your response to ferney.

(And if you'd wanted to make a pedantic point about there being two different words, you'd have made it better if you hadn't written 'he'd probably have spelt it "différence"'.)

[P. G. Tipps]

I am aware that my feeble joculette was calculated merely to raise the tiniest kitten of a smile at most, but I don't think it merited you stuffing it with a few bricks into the sack of literalism and chucking it into the river of pedantry.

And you talked about another thread being depressing ... ?

[ahinton]

I am aware that my feeble joculette was calculated merely to raise the tiniest kitten of a smile at most, but I don't think it merited you stuffing it with a few bricks into the sack of literalism and chucking it into the river of pedantry.

It wasn't a "feeble joculette" at all - far from it, indeed - and it certainoly amused me! My comment (which did not actually refer to your response) was intended for jean only, since I did not understand why she wrote as she did. It was not intended to - and indeed doesn't - reflect on your contribution in any way! I hope that this clears up any possible misunderstanding! Perhaps I'm just being too thick about this (no surprise there, then, peut-être)...

[ahinton]

But my link only made sense as a response to your response to ferney.

Not to me, it didn't, otherwise I'd not have written as I did.

(And if you'd wanted to make a pedantic point about there being two different words, you'd have made it better if you hadn't written 'he'd probably have spelt it "différence"'.)

So with what word are you suggesting that I might better have used that "it"?

I don't get it. I'm out of this particular discussion for that very reason.

[ahinton]

.... I had a massive grin on reading fernet's joke.

But you were not alone in that!

Anyway - vive la - er - FRANCE!

[Lat-Literal]

I don't like the phrases "car crash" and "train crash" as descriptions of matters that go wrong. They seem to me to be insensitive to people who have experienced such things.

[french frank]

.... I had a massive grin on reading fernet's joke..

Well, good for you - I'm still struggling to recover from that hard stare …

[teamsaint]

I don't like the phrases "car crash" and "train crash" as descriptions of matters that go wrong. They seem to me to be insensitive to people who have experienced such things.

Yes. I was thinking that the other day Lat, when I heard somebody on the BBC use it.
Needs taking out of the language.

[ahinton]

Well, good for you - I'm still struggling to recover from that hard stare …

Oh, it's not so hard, really...

[ahinton]

Yes. I was thinking that the other day Lat, when I heard somebody on the BBC use it.
Needs taking out of the language.

Interesting, though, that "car crash" and "train crash" are ued in such circumstances but I've yet to hear "plane crash" pressed into service for the same purpose...

[Lat-Literal]

Yes. I was thinking that the other day Lat, when I heard somebody on the BBC use it.
Needs taking out of the language.

Interesting, though, that "car crash" and "train crash" are ued in such circumstances but I've yet to hear "plane crash" pressed into service for the same purpose...

Yes.

And there are other fairly similar themes which would be regarded as unthinkable in terms of usage.

[gurnemanz]

I don't like the phrases "car crash" and "train crash" as descriptions of matters that go wrong. They seem to me to be insensitive to people who have experienced such things.

However dislikeable it might be, I can't imagine anybody being seriously upset by it. You surely can't condemn (let alone ban) all figurative usage based on subject matter with which some people might have had bad experiences: eg cancer, very commonly used to describe something evil or corrosive which is hard to eradicate. When Shakespeare used "plague" figuratively I assume he was looking for a forceful image and had taken into account that it might have bad associations for some of the audience.

[teamsaint]

However dislikeable it might be, I can't imagine anybody being seriously upset by it. You surely can't condemn (let alone ban) all figurative usage based on subject matter with which some people might have had bad experiences: eg cancer, very commonly used to describe something evil or corrosive which is hard to eradicate. When Shakespeare used "plague" figuratively I assume he was looking for a forceful image and had taken into account that it might have bad associations for some of the audience.

But usage changes over time, and often after the realisation that a use may be inappropriate, or that there are better, more acceptable alternatives. People like the BBC, government bodies reflect, adopt and begin to implement these changes.
The " car crash " term which has become so common really isn't particularly descriptive, useful or acceptable to describe, for example, what is happening to the Conservative government. The understanding that some people might be offended or upset is often enough to cause change in use.

[P. G. Tipps]

However dislikeable it might be, I can't imagine anybody being seriously upset by it. You surely can't condemn (let alone ban) all figurative usage based on subject matter with which some people might have had bad experiences: eg cancer, very commonly used to describe something evil or corrosive which is hard to eradicate. When Shakespeare used "plague" figuratively I assume he was looking for a forceful image and had taken into account that it might have bad associations for some of the audience.

I agree.

There are words and phrases that have been commonly used for some time that could be insensitive to others without us realising it. We quite regularly hear about, for example, colleagues and politicians being 'knifed in the back' and 'axed' from a job or a 'gun held' to his/her head. There are plenty more examples of perceived insensitivities especially in the current climate.

Recently a letter-writer to a newspaper complained of the use of the word 'idiot' on a headline because the correspondent happened to have a child with special needs. I admit to being somewhat staggered by that. I see absolutely no connection. I doubt there are many of us who have gone through life completely escaping the charge of 'idiot' ... even when I was a child, my parents and teachers used to use the word regularly.

Whilst it's entirely right to be as sensitive as possible to the feelings of others it's well-nigh impossible not to inadvertently hurt someone's feelings sometime, somewhere?