For the lack of anything better to write about. Actually, I have 6 drafts in work, but am just not in the mood to finish them. I have other posts whirring about in my head too, but I feel more like just jotting down a few things that I find annoying word quirks for now.
- effect and affect – so many people botch the use of these words. Simply appalling, especially in published articles.
- irregardless – it’s a double negative and negates itself. Just stick with regardless. Please!
- Suzy – not that I have anything against anybody with this name, but it’s just not my name, and I don’t like it for me. I don’t know what it is about that zy, but it makes my skin hurt.
- Suzy-Q – see Suzy, above.
- Susie – forgivable if you’re either my mother or my grandmother in an Alzheimer’s moment, but otherwise, please, no.
- Sue-C – see Susie, above.
- lol – how I loathe this so-called word. Actually, I sort of loathe all things cell-phone/text messaging (and yes, I have a cell phone, so I am a hypocrite, but I use it for 33 second calls about three times a week in which I ask the Mr. if he’s able to collect the boy from daycare or if he can think of anything we need from the store, and that’s about it). I do get a kick out of the acronym ROTFLMAO, though. And I like emoticons. So go figure.
- alls – as in “alls I want is…” What’s with that extra s? Come on. I ask you.
- like – it gets inserted in everything, and has completely lost its meaning. Again, I’m a hypocrite. I mean, like, I use it all the time. Even so. Hate it. Can’t seem to stop it before it’s out of my mouth though.
- there, they’re, their – they’re NOT interchangeable. Please!
- here, hear – see there, they’re, their, above. I just saw some graffiti that said “<some name that I can’t remember> was hear.”
- Italian (EYE-talian) – why do people say this? Is there a place called EYE-taly?
That’s enough for now. Surely I can come up with something more cheerful, enlightening, or healing to blog about. Perhaps I need to kick up the Zoloft dosage a bit, no?
Only I’ve just now thought of some word quirks in which I have manifested myself as an idiot.
- awry – I didn’t know it was pronounced \É™-ˈrÄ«\ until I heard it used in The Division Bell album (Pink Floyd). Which was in the 90’s. When I was in my 30’s. So.
- segue – I didn’t know how to pronounce it until I heard it grossly overused during some seminar (\ˈse-(ËŒ)gwÄ, ˈsÄ-\) a few years ago.
Which leads me to recall other manifestations of idiocy.
- geographical faux pas – What? Alaska and Hawaii are not next to each other? They look that way on all the US maps I’ve seen. (If geography was of any interest to me, I might have taken a moment to consider the differing climates between Alaska and Hawaii, and figured out their flat map representation was just that, a representation. Alas, that inclination never occurred to me until I was quite soundly into adulthood.) And Georgia is a coastal state? I embarrassed myself last weekend whilst playing Pictionary. I put Georgia in the generally south-eastern region, but not on a coast.
Which leads me to ponder the origins of one’s interests. Why do I have little to no interest in geography, history, and a multitude of other things? They are interesting. Just not enough for me to immerse myself in.
So what does interest me? Family. Friends. Children. Words. Language. Art. Beauty. Design. I’m glad I took a moment to think of these things. I was beginning to suspect I was even more woefully dull than I had ever previously imagined!
