Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[LezLee]

Hadn't thought of that before. Perhaps not quite the same thing, but we say "that wall badly needs a coat of paint", "I badly need to go on a diet", " the garden badly needs weeding" ...
I think you've started something unfathomable here!

[Joseph K]

A renowned opera singer said to me recently:

"And trust me when I go on stage, I try so badly to always do my best."

This made me wonder if it is grammatically correct to use words with negative connotations to explain positive situations?

I think it's a perfectly cromulent use of such words.

Sick, even...

[Richard Tarleton]

Such words embiggen the language

[Joseph K]

Such words embiggen the language

[vinteuil]

Such words embiggen the language

... bigly.


.

[LezLee]

I love 'embiggen' and use it whenever I can. 'Cromulent' sounds more like a shipping forecast.

[LMcD]

'Negative majority'. Isn't that a minority?

[ardcarp]

Not sure this is the right thread to relate a converstion with a Brummie chap who was busking, and to whom I gave a small donation via a hat.
"Avyer gorra side eye?" he asked, without stopping playing his squueze-box. I involuntarily put a hand to my temple wondering whether some biological miracle had been wrought. "Nah", he grinned, pausing on a whheezing cadence, and indicating a nearby pile of his recorded ouevres. Well, I just had to buy one, didneye?

[Padraig]

'Negative majority'. Isn't that a minority?

re Negatives: "I don't want No Deal".

[ahinton]

re Negatives: "I don't want No Deal".

I can't get no satisfaction...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Radio 3 - the home of the BBC Proms
BBC New Generation Artists
amazing; fantastic

[oddoneout]

'Negative majority'. Isn't that a minority?

I will resist the temptation to shoehorn the B word, and go for the more general - a majority composed* of pessimistic folk.

*which reminds me of that irritating misuse, so beloved of estate agents among others, of 'comprised'.

[Dave2002]

Obviously I'm just a very grumpy pedant, but I always dislike "male toilet", "female toilet" as descriptions. Conjures up images of toilets trying to copulate to produce "baby toilets". Some conveniences do have "baby changing" rooms - perhaps that's how they're produced, though what the babies are changed into I can't imagine.

Then of course there are "disabled toilets" - which I suppose don't work at all, or are otherwise immobilised.

It's difficult to think of suitable words or phrases to get round this linguistic problem - maybe that's why many toilets have symbols, though even those are doubtful. Not all women were skirts/dresses, and would a man in a kilt be allowed into a "Ladies", or a woman wearing pants be allowed into the "Gents"?

Lastly, in some of these locations there are notices about "operatives" being at work. Since when have people been referred to as "operatives"?

[un barbu]

Obviously I'm just a very grumpy pedant, but I always dislike "male toilet", "female toilet" as descriptions. Conjures up images of toilets trying to copulate to produce "baby toilets". Some conveniences do have "baby changing" rooms - perhaps that's how they're produced, though what the babies are changed into I can't imagine.

Then of course there are "disabled toilets" - which I suppose don't work at all, or are otherwise immobilised.

It's difficult to think of suitable words or phrases to get round this linguistic problem - maybe that's why many toilets have symbols, though even those are doubtful. Not all women were skirts/dresses, and would a man in a kilt be allowed into a "Ladies", or a woman wearing pants be allowed into the "Gents"?

Lastly, in some of these locations there are notices about "operatives" being at work. Since when have people been referred to as "operatives"?

The main 'shopping mall' in my native dorp labels its lavatories as being for 'Laddies' and 'Lassies'.

[LMcD]

The main 'shopping mall' in my native dorp labels its lavatories as being for 'Laddies' and 'Lassies'.

Shouldn't that be 'Wee Laddies' and 'Wee Lassies'?