Most Abused Words

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The word Bug to describe someone irritating...

He is a bug,...

It is so idiotic ...

Now bug used as a verb I understand ... having lived in the deep south ... where bugs are very irritating.

 

[jhcam8]

I'm in the 'awesome' and 'like' camp.

 

[Sir Humphrey Appleby]

Man up.

 

[lasbar]



Man up.

Bro...

I'm not your ******* bro..

 

[munchausen]

I'm sure these have been mentioned, but:

'irony' does not mean 'silliness'
'pretentious' does not mean 'serious' or 'arty' or 'intellectual'
'begs the question' does not mean 'raises the question'
'random' does not mean 'strange' or 'nonsensical'

 

[Sir Humphrey Appleby]

When Yanks say Basil and Oregano. Oh, and Yoghurt.

 

[munchausen]

In America we call them "white trash"

 

[Sir Humphrey Appleby]

In England we call them wannabe gippo scum.

 

[Sir Humphrey Appleby]



In England we call them wannabe gippo scum.

Actually that's a lie, but its a good description of them.

 

[Steve Smith]

Fanbase.

It is like nails on a chalkboard. Just say "fans".

 

[GoldenTribe]



2. It's "got", not "gotten".

Gotten is very much a word.

"Gotten is probably the most distinctive of all the AmE/BrE grammatical differences, but British people who try to use it often get it wrong. It is not simply an alternative for have got. Gotten is used in such contexts as
- They've gotten a new boat. (= obtain)
- They've gotten interested. (= become)
- He's gotten off the chair. (= moved)

But it is not used in the sense of possession (= have). AmE does not allow
- I've gotten the answer (unless it means 'I have figured out the answer,' rather than 'I have the answer')
- I've gotten plenty
but uses I've got as in informal BrE. The availability of 'gotten' does however mean that AmE can make such distinctions as the following:
- They've got to leave (they must leave) vs
- They've gotten to leave (they've managed to leave)."

 

[lasbar]



Actually that's a lie, but its a good description of them.

Did you enjoy my Big fat Gipsy wedding???

 

[L'Incandescent]



"Nay, mock not, mock not"
In my personal opinion, North American English is not THE proper English. Here in Britain, past participle of 'get' is 'got', not 'gotten'. This is not to say that it was always the way. In fact, 'gotten' is an archaism. You may argue that an archaism still holds some weight in our everyday speech, which is a valid point. Why not switch back to Shakesperean English altogether, which brings me to the following: "Nay, mock not, mock not. The body of [thy] discourse is sometime guarded with fragments, and the guards are but slightly basted on neither: ere [thee] flout old ends any further, examine [thy] conscience". Pardon me for altering the famous text a bit.

GoldenTribe has gotten served! I hope he is willing to concede the point now that such overwhelming evidence has been broughten forth.

 

[Sir Humphrey Appleby]



[quote
Did you enjoy my Big fat Gipsy wedding???

Didn't watch it, I doubt I would have liked it though, in fact I think it would have made me go on a rant about how we should scrap the BBC.

 

[Minarchist]

Beyond the merely annoying and into the educational, this article has some helpful disambiguations. 50, to be precise.