Misused words

[Exile714]

Enormity. People think it means 'a lot of something'. It actually means a 'outrageous or heinous on a grand scale'. The holocaust was an enormity. Your sandwich is not.

Maybe not a misused phrase, but I hate it when people don't understand hyperbole. Maybe a sandwich doesn't warrant the word "enormity," but if someone says that it is then it's hyperbole.

That said, I hate it when people use the phrase "literally" as hyperbole. EG, "My sandwich was as big as a whale!" (Acceptable hyperbole through simile). "My sandwich was as big as a whale... literally!" (Unacceptable hyperbole through the use of the word "literally").

Also, if someone said Pis-zah when they meant pizza, I would laugh so hard. What makes it funnier is that the guy actually has the nerve to call out everyone else for saying it wrong when he is clearly incorrect.

 

[VladG]

Oooh, wait, I have one for English speakers too:

Nucular. Why do so many people pronounce Nuclear (/nukjəlɚ/) as nucular? It makes no freaking sense, they aren't even close, and it's become so common that some dictionaries are even considering making it a correct form!

 

[maskedklaus]

The funny thing about this thread is that an actual linguist would probably laugh at this. Language is a fluid, ever changing thing, and thus words taking on new meanings is natural. Hell, do you know how many words you use now that used to mean something completely different? Example: "Nice" used to basically mean "stupid," but now we are all 'misusing' it. Getting upset over words' changing and developing new meanings is contradictory to the entire history of language! If everyone starts to use a word in a way other than intended, guess what? THEY WIN.

That being said, I'm a bit of a hypocrite; I cringe whenever anyone says "irregardless." The word is "regardless" people! It already means "without regard!" Adding the prefix "ir-" is idiotic. I suppose that may not count, as that isn't misusing a word, since it isn't a freakin' word.

 

[Mittenz]

Troll. A thousand times that. People have taken to calling anybody they don't like, or who disagree with them, or who are wrong about something trolls. A troll is someone who posts something that's meant to get you riled up. If the post is not an attempt to piss people off, it's not trolling.