Linguistic Pet Peeves

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Okay, y'all. In spite of what some people will say, your use of language will influence what people think of you, and how intelligent and/or competent they think you are.

My current number one: You don't LOOSE your license, you lose it. (If your license is loose, you need to capture it...)

Don't even get me started on loosing YOU'RE license...

What are other some other linguistic "nails on chalkboard" for folks?

NursesRmofun said:

I don't like irregardless.

I don't either . . . however it doesn't denote how educated a person is as one of our really smart, kind, and compassionate physicians says "irregardless". I let that slide. 

One of the best/smartest nurses I've ever worked with says "supposebly" . . . I let that slide too. 

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"Literally." You're not literally up to your a** in paperwork unless you've just been through some kind of disaster. Also, the below-mentioned anxious vs. eager. When someone is anxious, they are experiencing feelings of dread and fear. Someone who is eager is experiencing the opposite. Consider the following: "Sally is anxious about going to the amusement park on Saturday." Does this mean Sally is looking forward to spending time with friends and the thrill of the rollercoasters or does it mean that Sally, who has motion sickness, is agoraphobic and sunburns easily, is beside herself with panic at the thought?

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Um, guilty. What is this specific region of the US so I can see if I'm in it?

The only people I've ever heard do this are from PA. But there may be more for all I know.

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you are making no sense, anyone who is a resident of the western hemispheres two continents, is American

I have traveled to many foreign countries. They indeed do refer to my country of origin as the USA, but they refer to people from the USA as "Americans." I have never had someone say "Are you North American, specifically from the USA?'' They called people from Canada "Canadians," people from Mexico "Mexicans," and people from the USA "Americans." Furthermore, I have NEVER heard a person from Canada or Mexico, or any other country in North, Central, or South America refer to himself as being "American."

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Specializes in Public Health, TB.

Referring to a patient having a great deal of pain as "painful". Mrs. Smith, POD 1, with a bilateral total knees is very painful.

No, the recovery is painful, not the patient.

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I don't like it either, but it has become so commonplace, it now seems to be generally accepted, even among educated public speakers. It "defiantly" "drive's" me crazy!

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...as long as it's not metoprol, or equally irritating, simvastin!

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There couldn't be a more annoying sentence than, "Well basically your Honor, what basically had happened was that my boyfriend basically had gaven me a vehicle and he had basically said I didn't owe him nothing." Yes, her boyfriend had basically gaven her a vehicle! That makes my teeth hurt and Judge Judy go berserk.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I hate it when people use "less" in place of "fewer", as in "The patient reported she lost less pounds on a low-fat diet than on the Atkins diet". It should be "The patient reported she lost fewer pounds on a low-fat diet than on the Atkins diet". It goes both ways, too: "There was one fewer star in the sky" as opposed to "there was one less star in the sky". Drives me up the wall.

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Specializes in Registered Nurse.
People in a specific region of the US bother me when they say: "That car needs washed." NO NO NO. That car needs to be washed.

I know this one and have been living with it and now I.....choke...say it!!!! LOL

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Specializes in Private Duty Pediatrics.
NursesRmofun said:
I do use "So,..." and I consider it an informal expression and the way I talk, at times. Reading up on it to refresh my memory of the right and wrong of it- It's a discourse marker. Discourse markers connect ideas together in a conversational way. Discourse markers ( so, right, okay ) - English Grammar Today - Cambridge Dictionary

If one begins a thread with "So ...", the implication is that there was a previous idea with which to connect. How can something be previous to the beginning?

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Specializes in Private Duty Pediatrics.
morte said:
yup! just spent a week in Brazil, it's USA, NOT "AMERICA"

If we can't call ourselves Americans, what term are we allowed to use? USA-ans?

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