Misused words

[The Heik]

Well after a year's worth of gaming debacles, I've finally become sick of the word "entitled".

I'm not sure how, but evidently a fairly significant chunk of the Internet populace has gotten it into their heads that the word means something along the lines of "over-expectant and spoiled".

Now for convenience, here's the Oxford dictionary definition of the word (entry #1 in this case):

entitle
verb [ trans. ] (usu. be entitled)
1 give (someone) a legal right or a just claim to receive or do something : employees are normally entitled to severance pay | [ trans. ] the landlord is entitled to require references.
2 give (something, esp. a text or work of art) a particular title : an article entitled ?The Harried Society.?
? [ trans. ] archaic give (someone) a specified title expressing their rank, office, or character : they entitled him Sultan.
ORIGIN late Middle English (formerly also as intitle): via Old French from late Latin intitulare, from in- ?in? + Latin titulus ?title.?

Now I understand that language is a living organism, and that the meaning of words evolve over time (the multiple entries of entitle being proof of that), but when in the name of William Shakespeare's gym socks does word manage to mean the very opposite of it's original definition? That's like using the word "hot" to describe Absolute Zero! It's insane!

It's not even like there's much effort required in using the word properly in the context. Using the term "over-entitled" requires a whopping 5 extra characters, yet it fits the bill perfectly with no ambiguity or confusion.

*sigh* /rant

Anyways, for learning and discussion value, which words are your particular pet peeve for their misuse, and what is their original/correct intent? Feel free to use any language for this.

 

[Keoul]

IRONY
IRONY
IRONY
IRONY
And I'm done, that's literally the only word I can think of where people get all uppity about the meaning and such, for such a simple word it's meaning is just so hard to pin down...

Oh yeah and I thought people got over the whole "Gamer entitlement" thing by now?

 

[Nouw]

IRONY
IRONY
IRONY
IRONY
And I'm done, that's literally the only word I can think of where people get all uppity about the meaning and such, for such a simple word it's meaning is just so hard to pin down...

Would it be ironic if you wrote an example and got it wrong?

 

[Keoul]

Would it be ironic if you wrote an example and got it wrong?

Luckily I made no such mistake!

 

[Nouw]

Would it be ironic if you wrote an example and got it wrong?

Luckily I made no such mistake!

Indeed. That'd be quite ironic.

 

[Glasgow]

IRONY
IRONY
IRONY
IRONY
And I'm done, that's literally the only word I can think of where people get all uppity about the meaning and such, for such a simple word it's meaning is just so hard to pin down...

Oh yeah and I thought people got over the whole "Gamer entitlement" thing by now?

"literally" is also a word people misuse very often.

 

[Queen Michael]

Would it be ironic if you wrote an example and got it wrong?

Luckily I made no such mistake!

Indeed. That'd be quite ironic.

Let's just play it and get this over with early, I've got a birthday party I need to go to soon.

 

[Keoul]

"literally" is also a word people misuse very often.

Spoiler: If you are mocking me click this

Literally
Adverb
1. In a literal manner or sense; exactly: "the driver took it literally when asked to go straight over the traffic circle".
2. Used to acknowledge that something is not literally true but is used for emphasis or to express strong feeling.

Second definition, I am correct in my usage!

Spoiler: If you are not mocking me click this

It is indeed, but not misused as much as the word irony.

 

[Queen Michael]

"Censorship!"

Also closely tied in with "freedom of speech", but that's more than one word.

Honestly, the frequency with which these get misused makes me think that we need to inject massive amounts of censorship and free speech limitation into modern society, just so people get an idea of what they actually mean.

Spoiler: If you are mocking me click this

Literally
Adverb
1. In a literal manner or sense; exactly: "the driver took it literally when asked to go straight over the traffic circle".
2. Used to acknowledge that something is not literally true but is used for emphasis or to express strong feeling.

Second definition, I am correct in my usage!

Spoiler: If you are not mocking me click this

It is indeed, but not misused as much as the word irony.

Spoiler

Can we all at least agree that it's annoying when people use the word about something that has no figurative meaning? Like "I literally didn't get any sleep tonight"?

Also, that song rocks.

 

[The Night Angel]

How about the made up word "irregardless"?? I hear that way too often now days. Another would be people thinking metaphors and similes are the same thing.

 

[Angie7F]

literally, and IMHO.

I do some game app support and read emails from many many many people, and cant help but notice how many people misuse these words.4

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Misogynist and sexist. It seems that whenever someone wants some attention, they will start throwing those words around because hey, they sound important and deal with heavy subject matter.

 

[Lilani]

"Of"

Should "of"
Could "of"
Would "of"
Hadn't "of"

*cringe* Make it stop. I can understand making a mistake like this if you're a child and you've heard it but never read it, but come on. A grown-ass adult should have done enough reading in their life to understand this distinction.

 

[Inquisitor Slayde]

I think that you'll find that the majority of cases you're so infuriated by are simply using 'entitled' as a shorthand for 'falsely entitled' regardless of if they know it or not.

What they mean is that the people they are referring to feel like they are owed something when they are actually not owed a damn thing. They just don't know how to properly articulate that.

*Edited to remove drunken belligerence. Don't drink and post kids.*

 

[Legion]

Then and than being mixed up really gets on my nerves.

Then = A word describing a sequence of events or a potential sequence of events.

Examples: I went to the shops and then I went home. + I am going to go home and then I shall have dinner.

Than = A word to compare things.

Examples: I like chocolate more than ice cream. + I can run faster than you.

It's amazing how often people mix these up, and would use the former in the latter examples and vice versa.

Oh yeah and I thought people got over the whole "Gamer entitlement" thing by now?

They have. Now we are back onto sexism. Give it a month when another Triple A game developer does something bad, and it will be back in fashion.

 

[MadBlueWinnie]

When reading user reviews on mobile games such as the Google Play, I come across "The game is addicting" all the time.
I don't know why, but this irks me to no end. Isn't the correct use "The game is addictive" ??.

The word 'addicting' is used as a transitive verb. An example could be "Sally is addicting me to this game".

 

[RonHiler]

You know the one that gets on my nerves? "A lot". I don't know why, but it just makes me cringe when people write "alot". THERE IS NO SUCH WORD AS ALOT. Seriously, it's four letters, how do you misspell that? I've also seen people use "allot" when they mean "a lot", which is not quite as bad (at least it is an actual word, even if it's not the one they want).

Whenever anyone puts the word alot into one of their posts (and this covers what seems like about 85% of internet posters), it's a red flag to me that I can safely ignore the rest of whatever they are saying. If you're not intelligent enough to correctly spell a one and three letter word, there is very little chance anything you are saying is worth my reading time. Generally, whenever I see alot in a post, I immediately stop reading and move down to the next poster.

 

[Redingold]

Inconceivable.