Words and phrases recently introduced into the English language.

[Acey]

I liked Cosplay in the early days but their last couple of albums are naff

 

[simonw]

How about using the word "shop" when they mean "buy"? Adverts will often invite me to "Shop our new range of xxx". Possibly it's because many people now treat shopping as a leisure activity in its own right but buying something is more directly associated with the painful bit of actually paying.

Because buy means to purchase whereas shop means to browse as well as to purchase.

 

[Dr Day]

For some reason I can cope with 'text' being both a verb and a noun eg 'can you text me later?' as well as 'I sent a text' but it grates using the word 'message' as a verb eg 'can you message me later?'

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

For some reason I can cope with 'text' being both a verb and a noun eg 'can you text me later?' as well as 'I sent a text' but it grates using the word 'message' as a verb eg 'can you message me later?'

Be careful not to mix up the words "message" and "massage" in such circumstances...

 

[Bevan Price]

It is strange / irritating/ incorrect use of grammar, rather than words, that I often find to be irritating.

e.g.

The train arriving TO Platform 5. (Some station announcers)
(it is arriving at a platform)

Moneybags United suffered a defeat TO Crewe Alexandra. (Seems to be getting common on TV & Radio)
(they were defeated BY Crewe)

The organisation is headed UP by Mr/Mrs X.(All too common)
(The "up" is totally unnecessary; "led by" would be shorter and more accurate.)

Starting OFF ON the Motorways (Radio Traffic News).
"Off / on" are contradictory; starting "with" the motorways would be more accurate.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The train arriving TO Platform 5. (Some station announcers)
(it is arriving at a platform)

I personally love that London Underground quirk of, even more accurately, announcing "the train now arriving alongside platform 2..."

 

[AM9]

Starting OFF ON the Motorways (Radio Traffic News).
"Off / on" are contradictory; starting "with" the motorways would be more accurate.

Every time somebody said that they were going to go somewhere, my late MiL would ask whether they were going twice.
There's one of those in post #117 of this thread.

 

[AlterEgo]

Moneybags United suffered a defeat TO Crewe Alexandra. (Seems to be getting common on TV & Radio)
(they were defeated BY Crewe)

Not new, and in fact not even at the peak of its usage. Perfectly cromulent grammar:

Google Books Ngram Viewer

Google Books Ngram Viewer

books.google.com

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The Americanism that gets on my wick at the moment is how they pronounce the word "divisive". The ÷ key on your calculator is "divide" not "divid".

 

[Ediswan]

Starting OFF ON the Motorways (Radio Traffic News).
"Off / on" are contradictory; starting "with" the motorways would be more accurate.

Looks fine to me. Here, "Starting off" is a phrasal verb, not the opposite of 'on'.

 

[simonw]

Every time somebody said that they were going to go somewhere, my late MiL would ask whether they were going twice.
There's one of those in post #117 of this thread.

going to present tense.

Going to go future tense

 

[AndrewE]

Not new, and in fact not even at the peak of its usage. Perfectly cromulent grammar:

Good reply... I had to look that up: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/what-does-cromulent-mean

---

There are plenty of TV catchphrases that have seeped into our lexical consciousness, but none of them has been as sly as cromulent.
Cromulent first appeared in the February 18, 1996 episode of The Simpsons called "Lisa the Iconoclast," in what could be considered a throw-away line given during the opening credits. The schoolchildren of Springfield are watching a film about the founding father of Springfield, Jebediah Springfield. The film ends with Jebediah intoning, “A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man.” One teacher at the back of the room leans over to another and says that she’d never heard the word embiggen before she moved to Springfield. “I don't know why,” the other teacher replies. “It's a perfectly cromulent word.”

Though 'cromulent' originated as a joke on The Simpsons, it's a perfectly cromulent candidate for future entry in the dictionary.

The word cromulent ended up in the script courtesy of a showrunner’s challenge to the writers. According to the DVD commentary for The Simpsons, the showrunners asked the writers to come up with two nonce words that sounded like words that could be in actual use. Writer David X. Cohen came up with cromulent as one of those words. It means "acceptable" or "fine."
The joke was so sly and subtle that as "It's a perfectly cromulent word" was repeated, it wasn't necessarily clear to the hearer that it was a joke.

 

[TwoYellas]

This thread is getting a bit too technical for me now.

Peace out.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

This thread is getting a bit too technical for me now.

Peace out.

My beatitude for the day,,,,,

"Blessed be the lexicologists, for they shall open the eyes of the grammatically challenged".

 

[krus_aragon]

Starting OFF ON the Motorways (Radio Traffic News).
"Off / on" are contradictory

Ah, but that's how the (Westminster) Government's making those new-fangled "digital roads", you see...

 

[317 forever]

And I will add my name to that list.


I blame Jay Z!

There was also the All Saints song Never Ever from nearly 25 years ago. It included "from A to Zee" in the lyrics

 

[joebassman]

Bruv

Thats one often used by younsters who feel the need to talk in African American and Caribbean accents that is popular now days.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Thats one often used by younsters who feel the need to talk in African American and Caribbean accents that is popular now days.

Sometimes referred to as "Ja-fake-an".

 

[Purple Train]

"Unique" now seems to be, in some quarters at least, considered to be equivalent to "unusual", which grates somewhat.
One I'm less sure on is the use of "-phobic", which, to me, should only be used in the context of a strong hatred or a fear, but seems to have crept into a more general usage - but then I'm probably wrong on my original interpretation of it, so could anyone put me right on this issue?

 

[Gloster]

"Unique" now seems to be, in some quarters at least, considered to be equivalent to "unusual", which grates somewhat.

Yes. The misuse of ‘unique’ annoys me. Unique is an absolute: something is unique if it the only one with such qualities. If there are others, even only one, then it is (very) rare, but not unique. Something can be be close to being unique: if it had slightly different qualities it might be unique, but as it is it is not unique if there others.

 

[joebassman]

Lol

I've actually heard people say this instead of laughing.

 

[Calthrop]

Yes. The misuse of ‘unique’ annoys me. Unique is an absolute: something is unique if it the only one with such qualities. If there are others, even only one, then it is (very) rare, but not unique. Something can be be close to being unique: if it had slightly different qualities it might be unique, but as it is it is not unique if there others.

I'll submit -- just to be annoying -- the following from a song in the musical My Fair Lady -- first produced in 1956 -- and set shortly pre-World War I !

"Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?
This verbal class distinction must by now be quite unique ..."

Will readily admit, however, that re any fictional work in any mode -- "poetic licence" excuses most things; in / concerning, no matter what era.

 

[J-2739]

Bruv

Thats one often used by younsters who feel the need to talk in African American and Caribbean accents that is popular now days.

What African-American have you heard saying 'bruv'?

 

[joebassman]

What African-American have you heard saying 'bruv'?

I've never heard one say it but I've heard plenty of youngsters here say it in a fake African American accent

 

[Bletchleyite]

Lol

I've actually heard people say this instead of laughing.

Often ironic, when the thing being laughed at is only funny because it's so awful or pathetic.

I've never heard one say it but I've heard plenty of youngsters here say it in a fake African American accent

It certainly does seem to be the case that chavs in the London area speak with an accent with a measure of African/Caribbean influence rather than just classic Cockney as they used to or even Estuary English which is kind of a lazier form of Cockney/Mockney. I'm not sure if that's good or bad - good because it's "anti-racist", bad because it's associating that accent with antisocial behaviour and low level crime.

I don't think "I iz a chav innit bruv" (a phrase I used to throw at my Scouts if they used that sort of street language in my presence, which made them utterly cringe) is specifically associated to the African/Caribbean communities.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Yes. The misuse of ‘unique’ annoys me. Unique is an absolute: something is unique if it the only one with such qualities. If there are others, even only one, then it is (very) rare, but not unique. Something can be be close to being unique: if it had slightly different qualities it might be unique, but as it is it is not unique if there others.

I have to admit I've not encountered 'unique' being used in that way, but that seems to me like part of a general trend where words that have very strong meanings are getting 'dumbed down' by being used to refer to much weaker things. I suspect it's usually because people try to use them for dramatic effect or in order to emphasise (political) points they are making, and you then end up with the word being over-used and its meaning therefore getting weakened.

Other examples would be 'horrific' used to describe things that are really just annoyances or inconveniences. Earlier in the thread I mentioned 'traumatised'. @Purple Train 's example of -phobic being frequently misused. And we're starting to see the same thing with 'misogynistic' being used (especially in political circles) to describe anything where women might be being disadvantaged - despite the actual meaning being to do with hating women. At the risk of getting politically controversial, I'd say in the last few years we've started to see the word 'racism' go the same way.

 

[joebassman]

A childist was a new one I heard the other day.

Though it was Piers Morgan who was being accused of it.

Apparently according to the one speaking it, it means someone who doesn't believe a child should decide their own rules and get to decide for themselves what identity they are.

 

[Gloster]

I was delayed in the supermarket today (by two old ladies who got their trolleys jammed together as they tried to get past each other at a pinch point) and found myself staring at the cheap ‘Let’s learn the alphabet/numbers’ type of books. I realised that, based on the cover pictures, these all seem to be American. I bet they say ‘Zee’ (and other transatlanticisms).

 

[nlogax]

A childist was a new one I heard the other day.

Though it was Piers Morgan who was being accused of it.

Tbh that tallies and is no surprise at all.

 

[Gloster]

How long has ‘redacted’ been in common use. Not many years ago it was a word that you only occasionally came across, but now it keeps on appearing. Are documents more easily available than they used to be or is the blanking out of details becoming more common? Was it one particular report that changed everything: possibly the Iraq dodgy dossier enquiry?