Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Fake words I hate

I've talked before about phrases that bug the $*&% out of me. A few more were thrown into my face this weekend and lodged themselves into my brain. I'm hoping that releasing them into the blogosphere will cure me.

1. disorientated - Merriam Webster claims this is a word. Yet my brain implodes a bit when I hear it in conversation. I know I'm not alone in thinking this but I believe this is a word that people have repeated so often that it's become acceptable and commonplace. Still, I can't bring myself to use it.

2. impactful - Not. A. Word. See how the little red line comes up in spell-check when you try to type it? That should be your first clue not to use it. This is adspeak (also not a word), something that's used in business, much as people use nouns as verbs as in "conference me in."

3. for all intensive purposes - The phrase is actually "for all intents and purposes." I'm sure your purposes are intense (and even intensive) but the phrase means, "for all practical purposes" and in fact, should be "to all intents and purposes."

Whew! Okay, they're out of my brain and, much like the "It's a Small World" song, they're now in yours! Thanks for letting me share...