Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'd probably use 'alternatives'. But not 'alternates'

Oh - absolutely not!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

See it, say it, sorted.
The catch phrase encouraging reporting suspicous items on a train.
The fond hope of the power of aliteration defeated by the banality of the ideas.
And that 'sorted'.....

... sounds, in context, like "sort it!" - as if it's now our responsibility, not theirs!

(I think the announcers compelled to recite this daft phrase hold it in equal contempt: I was at a particular Railway Station where the announcer's accent made the whole thing sound like "Soyt" Soyt! Soyt!")

[Lat-Literal]

See it, say it, sorted.

The catch phrase encouraging reporting suspicous items on a train.

The fond hope of the power of aliteration defeated by the banality of the ideas.

And that 'sorted'.....

I don't like "Catch it. Bin it. Kill it" for sneezes.

The "Kill it" is unnecessarily violent and it is more hygienic to put it in your pocket.

[teamsaint]

Grab.

Has its uses, but can have a side that I don't like.

[MrGongGong]

See it, say it, sorted.

Always makes me think if this

[Lat-Literal]

Grab.

Has its uses, but can have a side that I don't like.

I don't like grab.

The door flies open and they need an immediate "conversation".

"Can I grab your ear for a moment?"

"Which one? Not the one which had to have butterfly stitching when my cousin chased me down the hall and I went crashing into a mirror".

Slows them down......door closes.

[Serial_Apologist]

{[...]the announcer's accent made the whole thing sound like "Soyt" Soyt! Soyt!")

Must have been a Noo Yoyker!

[oddoneout]

See it, say it, sorted.

The catch phrase encouraging reporting suspicous items on a train.

The fond hope of the power of aliteration defeated by the banality of the ideas.

And that 'sorted'.....

Each time I hear that phrase my brain inserts 'might be' in front of 'sorted'.

[LeMartinPecheur]

The Government's two alternative options for the Custom Union.

Everywhere on the BBC - but "two" is unnecessary.

Is it these days? I fully take the point from Latin etymology but can recall that in an Oxford English tutorial c.1973 my admittedly quite young tutor didn't agree that there can be only two alternatives. My 1972 Chambers Dictionary already defines the word as "a pair (loosely a set) of possibilities...".

And presumably things have got looser over the last 50-odd years??

[Serial_Apologist]

Is it these days? I fully take the point from Latin etymology but can recall that in an Oxford English tutorial c.1973 my admittedly quite young tutor didn't agree that there can be only two alternatives. My 1972 Chambers Dictionary already defines the word as "a pair (loosely a set) of possibilities...".

And presumably things have got looser over the last 50-odd years??

If there are only two options or choices, there can only be one alternative - the second to the first, or the first to the second. A third option would create a second alternative, consisting in choosing between it and the first or second options.

[Bryn]

If there are only two options or choices, there can only be one alternative - the second to the first, or the first to the second. A third option would create a second alternative, consisting in choosing between it and the first or second options.

Words are not solely defined by their etymology, but also by their use. "Alternatives" has come to embrace two or more options, not merely two.

[french frank]

If there are only two options or choices, there can only be one alternative

One alternative viewed in relation to the second alternative and considered from that second point. But considering both, equally, from a third standpoint, there are two.

In this matter I note two interesting quotations:

It was doubly incumbent upon the jury to determine..which of the two alternative charges of the libel they meant to find proved (1773)

and

Whatever the issue is, plan ahead for it by identifying at least three alternative ways to approach it (2002)

Is this the result of inflation - 50% in 200-odd years?

[LeMartinPecheur]

One alternative viewed in relation to the second alternative and considered from that second point. But considering both, equally, from a third standpoint, there are two.

In this matter I note two interesting quotations:

It was doubly incumbent upon the jury to determine..which of the two alternative charges of the libel they meant to find proved (1773)

and

Whatever the issue is, plan ahead for it by identifying at least three alternative ways to approach it (2002)

Is this the result of inflation - 50% in 200-odd years?

ff: I guess in the 1773 example the word 'alternative' makes it quite clear that a finding of guilt on both charges was impermissible? 'Which of the two charges' perhaps leaves that door slightly open.

[french frank]

ff: I guess in the 1773 example the word 'alternative' makes it quite clear that a finding of guilt on both charges was impermissible? 'Which of the two charges' perhaps leaves that door slightly open.

The definition of this usage is more specific:

"Of two things: such that one or the other may be chosen, the choice of either typically involving the rejection of the other. Also frequently of more than two things."

That is how I would have understood any discussion of, I don't know, perhaps two kind of customs arrangements between countries: when one is rejected, it leaves only the other; as distinct from the other being positively chosen as the better of the two. In the 1773 quotation, I would think the idea was rather more finely balanced between two possible/acceptable alternatives. But in the end, one must be chosen.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

One that makes me want to scream is "See It. Say It. Sorted" heard repeatedly on London Underground trains. After some helpful information about security, this annoying quote makes me forget the important information.

Clearly this has been thought up by someone who regularly attends useless courses.