Minor things that bother you

[SEWIGuy]

Sorry you have had bad experiences. I have not once had anything similar and I don't print out anything.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

When the made-up word "tryna" is used instead of the correct "trying to."

RIP the English Language!

You know, I frequently notice a common thread between the words HB often comes in here and complains about, and the demographic of society who largely uses them...

[Scott5114]

The Gen Z use of the verb "to ship" bugs me, to tell the truth.

It's been used like that well before Gen Z was a thing. It's just that it was confined to niche fandom spaces.

In casinos you sometimes hear "ship" meaning "pay someone out in chips". "Hey, this guy hit a $50 straight up bet; can you verify this $1750 payout?" [cuts and splashes chips] "Looks good, ship it."

[Rothman]

The Gen Z use of the verb "to ship" bugs me, to tell the truth.

It's been used like that well before Gen Z was a thing. It's just that it was confined to niche fandom spaces.

In casinos you sometimes hear "ship" meaning "pay someone out in chips". "Hey, this guy hit a $50 straight up bet; can you verify this $1750 payout?" [cuts and splashes chips] "Looks good, ship it."

Fine.  Millennial and Gen Z.

Don't see how the casino usage of the verb is all that strange.

[GaryV]

I don't understand why everyone is "gifting" things to people. Can we not just give something anymore?

[1995hoo]

I don't understand why everyone is "gifting" things to people. Can we not just give something anymore?

In a similar vein, I wonder why sports commentators—seems like hockey broadcasters are particularly prone to this—feel the need to tell us that a player "utilized" something (piece of equipment or a skill), rather than simply saying he "used" it. (One of my responsibilities at work is maintaining a style guide for written work product and "utilize" is on the list of "words not to use except when they appear in quoted material.")

Somewhat along those lines, what really makes me roll my eyes is when someone is trying to show off how smart he thinks he is but then misuses a word in doing so. The word "penultimate" means "next-to-last"—the two Latin roots, paena ultima, literally mean "almost last"—but I used to work with a guy who thought it was a fancy way of referring to "last." Then you have the people who, in the middle of summer, will tell you a meeting is scheduled for a certain time "EST" (should be "EDT"). The latter is harmless error, of course. The former could have more serious consequences depending on the particular circumstances, like if he were to (mis)use it in a contract or similar.

[Scott5114]

Fine.  Millennial and Gen Z.

Gen X were the ones setting up the framework for most of this stuff in the mid-90s. "Shipping" in its fandom sense was first seen in the wild in 1995 (it seems to have come from the X-Files fandom).

In a similar vein, I wonder why sports commentators—seems like hockey broadcasters are particularly prone to this—feel the need to tell us that a player "utilized" something (piece of equipment or a skill), rather than simply saying he "used" it. (One of my responsibilities at work is maintaining a style guide for written work product and "utilize" is on the list of "words not to use except when they appear in quoted material.")

That bothers me too. I think it's a word that people use to try to appear smarter than they are, not realizing that people smarter than them see right through it.

[1995hoo]

The one I really don't understand is when people intentionally misspell a word using the same number of letters as the regular word. That is, I can understand why, in casual typed usage, people might truncate a longer word, especially if whatever they're typing is subject to a character limit (or, in the old days of AOL chat rooms, they had to type quickly as the chat scrolled past). But I knew a guy who, apparently just out of laziness, used to spell "just" as "juss." That never made any sense to me (and also made him sound like a moron, but that's a separate issue).

[mgk920]

When the made-up word "tryna" is used instead of the correct "trying to."

There is a lot of that going on, like 'ur' for 'your', etc.  To me it is just a sign of a 'living' and ever evolving language.

Mike

[hbelkins]

The amount of ham that is not sliced when you buy a spiral-sliced ham, and thus often goes to waste.

[Rothman]

Fine.  Millennial and Gen Z.

Gen X were the ones setting up the framework for most of this stuff in the mid-90s. "Shipping" in its fandom sense was first seen in the wild in 1995

Pfft.  As an X-Files fan myself from the 1990s, this is a far cry from the prevalence in the younger generations today.

I mean, did you see us X-Files fans back then?  Not really the core of society...

[Plutonic Panda]

When the made-up word "tryna" is used instead of the correct "trying to."

There is a lot of that going on, like 'ur' for 'your', etc.  To me it is just a sign of a 'living' and ever evolving language.

Mike

I use that when I'm texting casually. But if it's an important message or regarding work, then I'll use proper English and spell correctly. I'll even proofread my text. 99% of the time I use text to speech like I'm doing right now. And I'll skim through my post to make sure I didn't misspell anything. Funny enough I can't remember what I sent my friend the other night, but I was using text to speech and my phone decided to turn the word "hey there, how are you" to "heterosexual, how are you?" I only caught that as soon as I saw it and by then I had already sent it. Obviously I sent a message right after and corrected it. I have no idea how my phone got that from me saying hey there.

[JayhawkCO]

When the made-up word "tryna" is used instead of the correct "trying to."

There is a lot of that going on, like 'ur' for 'your', etc.  To me it is just a sign of a 'living' and ever evolving language.

Mike

I use that when I'm texting casually. But if it's an important message or regarding work, then I'll use proper English and spell correctly. I'll even proofread my text. 99% of the time I use text to speech like I'm doing right now. And I'll skim through my post to make sure I didn't misspell anything. Funny enough I can't remember what I sent my friend the other night, but I was using text to speech and my phone decided to turn the word "hey there, how are you" to "heterosexual, how are you?" I only caught that as soon as I saw it and by then I had already sent it. Obviously I sent a message right after and corrected it. I have no idea how my phone got that from me saying hey there.

I would be better if they immediately responded "gay", having been in a joyous mood.

[wxfree]

I don't understand why everyone is "gifting" things to people. Can we not just give something anymore?

That form of the word makes sense to me.  I'm pretty sure it's been around for centuries, but mainly in formal usage.  To gift is to give as a gift.  If you give someone a thing, it might be because you owe it to them, or because you don't want it anymore, or because you broke it and they want to try to fix it.  There may or may not be generosity involved.  You might just be clearing out some space by getting rid of stuff.  If you gift a thing, it means to give as a gift, which is an act of generosity, giving without thinking of yourself first.  They're two different words.

[LilianaUwU]

"heterosexual, how are you?"

If I got such a message, I would probably ignore it. It's obviously not meant for me. 

[LilianaUwU]

Heh.  TikTok's censors are leading to overcensorship everywhere.

This fits in here as a minor thing that bothers me. If you're not on TikTok, you don't need to say someone "unalived themselves" or whatever. This feels more disrespectful than saying that person committed suicide, actually.

[Plutonic Panda]

"heterosexual, how are you?"

If I got such a message, I would probably ignore it. It's obviously not meant for me. 

I can only imagine what this person was thinking when they saw that message. I rarely ever use that term so I don't know why my phone would AutoCorrect. Hey how are you to that...

[Plutonic Panda]

Heh.  TikTok's censors are leading to overcensorship everywhere.

This fits in here as a minor thing that bothers me. If you're not on TikTok, you don't need to say someone "unalived themselves" or whatever. This feels more disrespectful than saying that person committed suicide, actually.

And then you have videos on YouTube where you can't say the word fuck for like the first one or two minutes or something like that in the video or it becomes ineligible to receive revenue from advertising. I'm kind of talking out of my ass on that one cause I don't really know the exact rules about it because I don't post YouTube videos. But I have noticed a lot of videos where he will censor profanity in the first part of the video and towards the end they'll start using more profanity. I've seen this, especially on a lot of Gordon Ramsay videos. It's really weird.

[J N Winkler]

The amount of ham that is not sliced when you buy a spiral-sliced ham, and thus often goes to waste.

How?  We just dice the heel for use in other dishes, like potato soup or omelettes.

[SEWIGuy]

When the made-up word "tryna" is used instead of the correct "trying to."

There is a lot of that going on, like 'ur' for 'your', etc.  To me it is just a sign of a 'living' and ever evolving language.

Right. The idea that a language is static goes against the history of every language that has ever existed.

From a communication perspective, there really is no difference between "tryna" being short for "trying to" and "didn't" being short for "did not." Just that one has been around long enough to be considered more grammatically correct.

[Max Rockatansky]

Most times when I see someone use "ur" I use it as an opportunity to bring up Ancient Mesopotamia.

[wanderer2575]

Calling a business or government agency, going through the interactive voice response and entering your account number, birthdate, shoe size, etc., listening to a mechanical voice repeat everything back and asking you to press "1" to confirm -- and then when you finally get to talk with a human, the first thing he/she asks for is all the information you already entered.

[Plutonic Panda]

Calling a business or government agency, going through the interactive voice response and entering your account number, birthdate, shoe size, etc., listening to a mechanical voice repeat everything back and asking you to press "1" to confirm -- and then when you finally get to talk with a human, the first thing he/she asks for is all the information you already entered.

Even worse is when you have some sort of a technical problem with something and the company you call has someone you talk to and you explain the entire situation which is already frustrating enough only for them to say oh that is isn't our department. Let me transfer you to the right department and then you have to repeat your whole story again.

[Rothman]

NYITS:

Me: "I have a problem with my Internet connection."

ITS: "Opened a ticket.  Will send out first tier responder."

Time passes.  First responder finally shows up and says, "I have confirmed you have a problem.  Needs second tier response."

More time passes.  First responder comes with second tier person.  "Yes, you have a problem.  Needs third tier response."

Time passes.  Get an e-mail from ITS: "Close ticket?"  Me:  No.

Time passes.  Finally, third tier response, a contractor, shows up.  "Fixes" the problem.

3 to 6 months pass.  Internet problem returns.

[Big John]

Calling a business or government agency, going through the interactive voice response and entering your account number, birthdate, shoe size, etc., listening to a mechanical voice repeat everything back and asking you to press "1" to confirm -- and then when you finally get to talk with a human, the first thing he/she asks for is all the information you already entered.

Or a job application where you first upload your resume, then they ask you questions on items already included in the resume.