make-believe.org

It might be easier if you just stopped talking

I have a nerve ending somewhere, probably in my brain, that is hypersensitive to certain spellings and sayings. There's always a few on my hit-list. "Irregardless" is an evergreen, but several others are less clearly wrong and more a matter of taste. I am going to list a few in the hope that you might never subject me to them again.

• begrudgingly: yes, it's a word according to some authorities. But just say "grudgingly", please.
• quite the: as in, "I had quite the weekend". You know you sound like a dickhead.
• I beg of you: no, just beg me. And get down on your goddamn knees.
• dependant: (see also, independance, etc). Again, it's a word. But it's a noun, and only in British-English anyway. The noun you might be thinking of is "dependency". But usually you're looking for the adjective anyway.

I think that will do for now. We'll see how we go with those four.

(And though you might contend that I'm falling off the crest of the wave of change, I would counterpose that this is simply a proper crusade against a sub-trend of unintentional linguistic recidivism. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just telling you to stop.)

Joseph | 2 Feb 2008