Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[gurnemanz]

'Sekatry' now common on BBC for secretary (four syllables).

(Arguably for Pronunciation Watch thread - but it really sets my teeth on edge atm.)

This kind of thing is common and normal in casual everyday spoken English and for me it would only become an annoyance when used in a more formal context. If I thought about it I might get annoyed about "aksherly" until I realised that I actually say that myself when jabbering away in a spontaneous informal situation.

[vinteuil]

It's becoming popular, using unchartered instead of uncharted, presumably due to the modern day cut and paste approach to reporting and writing which removes the step of checking that the correct term is being used.

... or just perhaps - too many are recalling the Blake pome -

I wander thro’ each charter’d street,
Near where the charter’d Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

.

[jayne lee wilson]

It's becoming popular, using unchartered instead of uncharted, presumably due to the modern day cut and paste approach to reporting and writing which removes the step of checking that the correct term is being used. I tend to laugh when I hear it because the subject matter is never such as would lend itself to the chartering process.

Nice piece on this here.......

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/uncharted-vs-unchartered-waters-usage

Like the classic disinterested/uninterested, where two words are so similar in sound and appearance, their differences tend to be elided in usage, despite their usefulness. Both examples also include one term which has relatively limited application and a narrower definition (at least initially...).So they are encountered far less.

But these annoying humans, they never follow the rules, do they? Perhaps it is time to charter an interplanetary express and establish The Colony of Precision somewhere off-world...

[vinteuil]

This kind of thing is common and normal in casual everyday spoken English and for me it would only become an annoyance when used in a more formal context. If I thought about it I might get annoyed about "aksherly" until I realised that I actually say that myself when jabbering away in a spontaneous informal situation.

... yes. I think at speed, and in normal discourse, most RP speakers will aksherly say - Febry, vunrable, secatry.

Nothing to worry about. Only governesses ectually say febrru-ary, vull-nerable, secc-retary. And they might then fall in to the trap of saying wed nez day and al monds..
.

[Ein Heldenleben]

The Olympics brings with it more joy for the amateur philologist. The use of medal and (rarer) podium as verbs for example which first emerged I think in 2012 . As in “Team GB have medalled for the first t8me this Olympics with a silver in the Judo”. As it’s a fad and five years since that last one it might be that the rarer variant “podiumed” doesn’t make an appearance this time round.

[Ein Heldenleben]

... or just perhaps - too many are recalling the Blake pome -

I wander thro’ each charter’d street,
Near where the charter’d Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

.

Interesting that use of chartered in Blake’s magnificent poem. He obviously despised the notion that a natural thing like the Thames could be subject to human regulation , laws and control and then unforgettably sketches a few choice examples of how ‘ chartered’ London has ground humanity down.

[vinteuil]

The Olympics brings with it more joy for the amateur philologist. The use of medal and (rarer) podium as verbs for example which first emerged I think in 2012 . As in “Team GB have medalled for the first t8me this Olympics with a silver in the Judo”. As it’s a fad and five years since that last one it might be that the rarer variant “podiumed” doesn’t make an appearance this time round.

... and do winners gold - or golden? - silver, and bronze??



.

[vinteuil]

Interesting that use of chartered in Blake’s magnificent poem. He obviously despised the notion that a natural thing like the Thames could be subject to human regulation , laws and control and then unforgettably sketches a few choice examples of how ‘ chartered’ London has ground humanity down.

.... and also interesting that in his first draft [1791/92] he merely had 'dirty'

"I wander through each dirty street
Near where the dirty Thames does flow"

when incorporated in to Songs of Experience [1794] he changes it to the much more resonant 'charter'd'

.

[Sir Velo]

"Colleagues" as in "we will be updating guidance to all colleagues" and "looking forward to seeing as many colleagues as possible again". The ludicrousness of the usage of this word is clear when it is being used to describe people at vastly different levels within the same organisation. E.g. "'I'm going to speak to my colleague the managing director to ask for a payrise', said the first year trainee."

[LeMartinPecheur]

"Colleagues" as in "we will be updating guidance to all colleagues" and "looking forward to seeing as many colleagues as possible again". The ludicrousness of the usage of this word is clear when it is being used to describe people at vastly different levels within the same organisation. E.g. "'I'm going to speak to my colleague the managing director to ask for a payrise', said the first year trainee."

This I think started in the John Lewis group of companies where all employees share in the profits and have some voice in the running of their employer. Perfectly reasonable there, and I suppose it was bound to be copied by other less egalitarian companies as a way of conveying a quite probably specious air of caring about all their staff.

[Serial_Apologist]

This I think started in the John Lewis group of companies where all employees share in the profits and have some voice in the running of their employer. Perfectly reasonable there, and I suppose it was bound to be copied by other less egalitarian companies as a way of conveying a quite probably specious air of caring about all their staff.

Also, "colleague" has something of the air of someone liked or admired about it, whereas even in an egalitarian organisation this might not necessarily be the case.

[oddoneout]

This I think started in the John Lewis group of companies where all employees share in the profits and have some voice in the running of their employer. Perfectly reasonable there, and I suppose it was bound to be copied by other less egalitarian companies as a way of conveying a quite probably specious air of caring about all their staff.

John Lewis staff are Partners. The more accurate version of colleague is co-worker but I for one don't find that a particularly appealing alternative.

[french frank]

"Colleagues" as in "we will be updating guidance to all colleagues" and "looking forward to seeing as many colleagues as possible again". The ludicrousness of the usage of this word is clear when it is being used to describe people at vastly different levels within the same organisation. E.g. "'I'm going to speak to my colleague the managing director to ask for a payrise', said the first year trainee."

Yes, I noticed with RW (erstwhile CR3 ) that the colleague who at one time might have been called a private secretary, and later was a personal assistant, then became a 'colleague'.

I don't particularly object to it.

[johncorrigan]

"Colleagues" as in "we will be updating guidance to all colleagues" and "looking forward to seeing as many colleagues as possible again". The ludicrousness of the usage of this word is clear when it is being used to describe people at vastly different levels within the same organisation. E.g. "'I'm going to speak to my colleague the managing director to ask for a payrise', said the first year trainee."

Our Chief Exec in the Council used to use 'colleagues' in her pep-talk videos to the staff, and my colleagues and I were convinced she had to stop herself from saying 'Comrades' instead.

[kernelbogey]

Why is a preview almost always a 'sneak preview'?

Journalists seem to write this even, say, when they have been invited to preview the thing.