Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[salymap]

I think of hove as a town in Sussex or a nautical term. I'd rather say it came into view, or something similar.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Does the Albert Hall during the Proms Season heave-ho into view?

[french frank]

Except that heaves into view doesn't correspond to any modern sense of heave.

It's always transitive, for a start.

Not according to the OED which gives several intransitive and absolute usages, as :

21. intr. (from sense 13) heave in sight: to rise into view, become visible, come in sight, as an object at sea when approaching or approached; hence (colloq.) transf. in general sense.
1778 J. Sullivan in J. Sparks Corr. Amer. Revol. (1853) II. 205 Those ships were out of sight yesterday morning, but I hear they afterwards hove in sight again.
1816 ‘Quiz’ Grand Master i. 24 The Table-mountain heaves in sight.
1830 J. Galt Lawrie Todd I. iii. ix. 248 A most tremendous he-bear hove in sight.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People v. §1. 223 The great Spanish ships heave in sight, and a furious struggle begins.
1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 103 They hove in sight of the enemy..to the west of the promontory of Ecnomus.

[mangerton]

Not according to the OED which gives several intransitive and absolute usages, as :

21. intr. (from sense 13) heave in sight: to rise into view, become visible, come in sight, as an object at sea when approaching or approached; hence (colloq.) transf. in general sense.
1778 J. Sullivan in J. Sparks Corr. Amer. Revol. (1853) II. 205 Those ships were out of sight yesterday morning, but I hear they afterwards hove in sight again.
1816 ‘Quiz’ Grand Master i. 24 The Table-mountain heaves in sight.
1830 J. Galt Lawrie Todd I. iii. ix. 248 A most tremendous he-bear hove in sight.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People v. §1. 223 The great Spanish ships heave in sight, and a furious struggle begins.
1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 103 They hove in sight of the enemy..to the west of the promontory of Ecnomus.

Yes, my rather smaller Chambers agrees.

[Thropplenoggin]

'It is what it is.'

Wikipedia has its own page for this, in which it states, 'It Is What It Is' is an idiomatic phrase, indicating the immutable nature of an object or circumstance. In lieu of such a lofty definition I would have: a fatuous truism of impressive vacuity.

[jean]

Not according to the OED which gives several intransitive and absolute usages...

I meant the modern meaning of heave.

I had thought of hove in sight as a set phrase derived from the older absolute meaning. I had never come across examples of the present tense (a bit like inventing a present tense for used to, I thought).

But you have a couple of examples of the present tense there.

[jean]

...a fatuous truism of impressive vacuity.

No more so than http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/che_sar%C3%A0,_sar%C3%A0

[Thropplenoggin]

No more so than http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/che_sar%C3%A0,_sar%C3%A0

Tacit, Gladys.

[french frank]

I had never come across examples of the present tense (a bit like inventing a present tense for used to, I thought).

But you have a couple of examples of the present tense there.

And the BBC version of hoves into view (which was where it all started) was presumably (and interestingly) their attempt at a present tense, 'heaves into view' being unfamiliar to the writer ...

[Sir Velo]

We haven't had much in the way of tautology lately. One redundancy beloved of sports commentators and heard again from the new master of gaffes, Charlie Dagnell: "Buttler played a little cameo of an innings".

Another bizarre coinage from the world of sport: "laxadaisacal".

Oh, alack-a-day!

[Thropplenoggin]

We haven't had much in the way of tautology lately. One redundancy beloved of sports commentators and heard again from the new master of gaffes, Charlie Dagnell: "Buttler played a little cameo of an innings".

Another bizarre coinage from the world of sport: "laxadaisacal".

Oh, alack-a-day!

Reminds me of the nonsense one reads in the Eye's Colemanballs section.

[teamsaint]

Reminds me of the nonsense one reads in the Eye's Colemanballs section.

Of which a couple of my all time favourites:
"This boy swims like a greyhound".

"....and there was Keegan, like a surgeon's knife.......bang !"


" And we will have more football later, but first highlights of the Scottish League cup final ". (Apologies to Scotty and JC).

[Thropplenoggin]

Of which a couple of my all time favourites:
"This boy swims like a greyhound".

"....and there was Keegan, like a surgeon's knife.......bang !"


" And we will have more football later, but first highlights of the Scottish League cup final ". (Apologies to Scotty and JC).

Oh, that's brilliant!

[amateur51]

Of which a couple of my all time favourites:
"This boy swims like a greyhound".

"....and there was Keegan, like a surgeon's knife.......bang !"


" And we will have more football later, but first highlights of the Scottish League cup final ". (Apologies to Scotty and JC).

Brilliant stuff, teams

Still OT, the late great Joe Mercer, one-time manager of England and Man City was often good for English-of-the-moment, e.g., "Ohh that was a sap-strengthening blow" and "Playing at Wembley can be samina-stapping experience" being two personal faves

[Beef Oven]

Of which a couple of my all time favourites:
"This boy swims like a greyhound".

"....and there was Keegan, like a surgeon's knife.......bang !"


" And we will have more football later, but first highlights of the Scottish League cup final ". (Apologies to Scotty and JC).

We need a result.

Game of two halves.

Sick as a parrot.

...the more esoteric examples...