Words or phrases that annoy you

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Originally Posted by bbobb

This is an issue to which logic is the answer:

* I could care less means "I do care somewhat", since one can only care less if already caring
* I couldn't care less means "I don't care at all", since one cannot care less if not caring

Evidently, if you mean to say "I don't care at all", the latter term, I couldn't care less, is the one to use.

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You'd be right if logic set the rules of language, but that's not the case. Common usage sets the rules of acceptance in a language, and I can honestly say that I've heard and read "could care less" just as much as "couldn't care less." Stupid or not, it's a pretty widely accepted phrase from my experience.

Not reading the thread to see if this has already been mentioned... but I DESPISE the trend of merging the names of a celebrity couple (Brangelina, Tomkat, Bennifer, etc). Especially when they then use singular-form verbs in reference to them ("Brangelina was sighted at..."), as though they were some sort of two-headed mutant.

When people purposely misspell the word "come" as "cum."

When fags call themselves "bitches."

The phrase "warts and all."

The word "poop."

When people pronounce caramel as carmle. There are two a's in it, people.

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Originally Posted by JesusC

what the fuck is nice tea? Is that a mispelling or something you actually say.

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lol, I want this answered.

Posta and nice tea pls.

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Originally Posted by flux=rad

You'd be right if logic set the rules of language, but that's not the case. Common usage sets the rules of acceptance in a language, and I can honestly say that I've heard and read "could care less" just as much as "couldn't care less." Stupid or not, it's a pretty widely accepted phrase from my experience.

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So are using "your" for "you are", "loose" for "lose", and "it's" for it in the possessive. Doesn't make them correct, doesn't make this correct either. "Could care less" is incorrect.

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Originally Posted by flux=rad

Stupid or not, it's a pretty widely accepted phrase from my experience.

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They're still wrong. Working with computers in stores and at companies has shown to me that a PC is also often referred to as a "hard drive," but that doesn't make it so. Those people are wrong. Many people wrote the abbreviation for PlayStation as PSX, but the PSX initially meant a particular stage of development and later was a totally different piece of hardware. Those people were wrong.

A word can take a different meaning over time (see: Nimrod), but that is a phrase which uses English words in a specific manner. The fact that there are large groups of people which are idiots does not change "could" into meaning "could not" in one particular instance.

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Originally Posted by prosciutto

When people purposely misspell the word "come" as "cum."

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yeah, that bothers me too.
I am really picky about words.

Language is far more fluid than you guys are allowing. Idiots have a pretty large influence on how languages change over time. Like I mentioned earlier, the original phrase was "buck naked." Over time, people confused the phrase and started to say "butt naked." Soon, the phrase "butt naked" became more common than "buck naked" because people fucked up the original phrase.

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Originally Posted by torgo

So are using "your" for "you are", "loose" for "lose", and "it's" for it in the possessive. Doesn't make them correct, doesn't make this correct either. "Could care less" is incorrect.

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The difference here is that these are WIDELY regarded as spelling errors. Any educated person recognizes and agrees that all of those examples are spelling errors. "Could care less" is not widely accepted as incorrect. Go ahead, look it up. Type into google "could care couldn't care less" and see what some people have to say about it. Some people agree with you guys that it is a mistake, but plenty of people find it perfectly acceptable.

It's possible that eventually "your" and "you're" will be interchangeable because idiots confuse them so many times. Spelling has remained relatively unchanged since the printing press, though, so that's unlikely.

I don't know why you guys are so resistant to reading the phrase as sarcastic. Seems perfectly reasonable to me.