Words that get on your nerves

@BB3 Split infinitives????

Nice used to mean particular as in being nice in their ways. Now it's anadine with a wide range of meaning depending on the speaker and yone of voice.

Concerning used to mean "in relation to" or "in respect of" but now means worrying and I find that worrying.

 

Well spotted. I boldly go where no pedant has gone before @Obelix-Vendée

 

Another common word that has changed it's meaning is 'phone'.

It used to refer to a telecommunication device that enabled people to talk to eachother over long distances without having to stand on top of a hill or tall building and shout. Nowadays it means pocket computer and digital master.

 

Split infinitives these days are considered acceptable as they often make something clearer and avoid confusion.
Only the most pedantic teachers get upset about them.
They can be traced back to Early English pretty much disappeared and then reappeared in the 1700s and 1800s.

 

It still has a mute switch and an off switch so I'm in charge.

This never stopped many people shouting when on the phone, especially elderly relatives.

 

We have a 'phone with 2 extensions plus 3 mobiles which are called "portable" in France, "GSM" in Belgium and "cell" in the USA. My mobile is mostly switched off as I use it only if I need to contact or be contactable when out doing something so is definitely a tool, not a master.

 

I've never understood what a split infinitive is.
Or an infinitive that has been split.

Yeah, what was wrong with just lighting a beacon.

 

Yes, a useful tool to have but not to run your life around. I rather like the German word for a mobile phone, "Handy". I once rendered a young colleague horrified by saying that I'd switched my mobile off before going into a yoga class and three days later I hadn't switched it back on. You'd've thought from the reaction that I'd cut my own arm off.

 

Mine frequently runs out of charge. In the past, I would use my landline to find it. After a few goes or maybe a lot, it was 50p a pop.
It turns up eventually and anyone who matters to me knows my landline number.

 

The dropping of T and/or H is nothing new but it still irritates the **** out of me. Our nephew is married to Hannah and my wife used to work with Anna. I never knew who my wife was referring to, and whether she was talking about (H)annah or Anna. I was still the one in the wrong when I asked for clarification. That however is a cross most married men carry.
Many moons ago I worked at a place where a woman came round with a tea trolley mid-morning and mid-afternoon. She didn't just drop 'H' she would put one in where it didn't belong, I think in the mistaken belief that it made her sound posh. Every day a poor guy by the name of Hamish would be assailed by " 'ello 'amish would you like a (h)apple?" or something similar.

 

@pete. "To go" is an infinitive. "To boldly go" is a split infinitive. "To go boldly" is grammatically correct and more elegant.

 

Well it could be your age.

 

But the split infinitive has more impact.much like a banana split covered in nuts and chocolate sauce as opposed to a neglected fully clothed banana waiting despondently in the fruit bowl in the hopes that passing fruit fly will join forces to wreak revenge for a life wasted.

 

Have to disagree @BB3 unless the impact is gritted teeth. English, spoken correctly, is the most beautiful, elegant, expressive and precise language whether the subject is art, romance, history, technology, science, even diplomacy.

i can also think of better things to do with bananas.