The DU Lounge

Last edited Wed Apr 16, 2025, 02:21 PM - Edit history (1)

First, I'm with you. It's jarring when I hear people mispronounce words or worse, use them inappropriately. To me, it illustrates a weak mind that doesn't know its native language.

My list of offenses is long but a few of my pet peeves include:

- Inverting "scan" and "skim." To skim something means to glance at its surface, (skim milk has the layer of fats removed leaving the non-fat milk). To scan something means to look at it in great detail, (a scanner copies things at 300 dpi or greater). Too often people will say, "I didn't have time to read it in detail so I just scanned it." That's an illogical statement.

- Inverting "infer" and "imply." I imply something and you infer it from my implication. Too often, people will use them interchangeably.

- Using the expression, "It begs the question..." This does not mean it suggests a question. According to Merriam-Webster, the phrase actually means, "To beg a question means to assume the truth of what you are trying to prove, often leading to circular reasoning. In modern usage, it can also mean to prompt a specific question that needs to be answered." It's quite a difference!

Second, English is a bastardized language meaning it changes all the time. If you could be transported in time back to Elizabethan England, you probably wouldn't be able to hold a meaningful conversation with Shakespeare because the words and grammar were so substantially different as to be practically a foreign language. Words change all the time! Consider that a mere 30 years ago, the word "suck" was almost as offensive as "fuck." Today, it's used in serious conversations. Fascinating

You and I and a handful of others are the bulwark against the destruction of the English language. Meanwhile, Trump & Co. have turned words inside out and upside down ala Orwell's Newspeak.

Enjoy your week, Rizen. We are pilgrims in an unholy land!