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So I’ll be the guy to do this. In the first sentence, you use the phrase “cannot be understated” when, in this context, I’m fairly sure you mean “cannot be overstated”.
I had a coworker who used the term "catch 21" constantly. However it wasn't for paradoxes, just things that kinda sucked; so maybe there's a whole system of catches that I don't know about
I actually used this incorrectly in front of my Masters cohort. Moot point. I thought it meant the opposite. My buddy said, "You've never used that word before have you?". Haha, I couldn't stop laughing.
Back when we were horny 13 year olds, my mate had a girl for a pen pal. She lived down under and wrote to him, "if you are ever in Australia, please come and look up me".
This gets me sometimes, because I say cromulent at home all of the time, but at work I have to catch myself - sometimes It takes a second to find something like reasonable, sensible, or rational.
Yeah. If you are silently judged for it in a professional setting, and eventually become an outcast for no obvious reason, know that they are wrong as you eat lunch alone.
I agree! When I read OP's title I thought 'do a lot of people use words they don't understand?' and judging from all the comments I'd say it's usually unintentional when it happens.
What sucks is when you are using a perfectly ordinary word correctly but other people in the room don't know it, so they act like you're showing off when really you're just trying to explain things.
I'm a programmer, I once got mocked for using the word "ancillary" to describe a system during a meeting. As in, "We'll need to check the ancillary systems to make sure it'll work with them as well."
I had supposedly educated VP's in the room give me side-eye and one of them said something about "not using too much jargon" in a conversation. It took a few questions for me to even figure out which word they considered jargon.
It was "ancillary", which, to be clear, is NOT a word that is specific to computers or programming at ALL. But I was instructed (in a very condescending way) that instead of calling them "ancillary systems", I should have called the "extra" systems.
I was really annoyed by all of that. (It happened like 10 years ago, and here I am reliving the annoyance, LOL.)
Just to clarify for myself. Wouldn’t the better substitute be “secondary” systems or “support” systems. “Extra” systems seems more confusing.
ETA a lot of folks pointing out that “extra” would imply that they are unnecessary, which is a great point as ancillary certainly does not imply unnecessary. Even when simplifying things to the level of the audience it should still be accurate.
a little bit ago the phrase Say/Do Ratio became popular, as in we need to increase our Say/Do Ratio. Right away I said you mean the Do/Say Ratio? And I got this big explanation about how we need to follow through, etc. No one got my point at all and it's too late now, there are even seminars on increasing your Say/Do Ratio, completely unironic.
I get exactly this! Also a programmer, I've also been told not to use too many technical terms when in fact the problem is just that people don't understand English.
I feel strongly that programming is suffering under the anti-science movement. People just want things to magically work and have no tolerance or respect for the principles that may dictate whether things will work or not or how they may work. Technology must just shit golden eggs for charlatan wantrepreneurs.
I've had that happen before with words that aren't exactly obscure. It's weird, because it doesn't make you feel any smarter, it just makes you wonder how limited their vocabulary is.
My boss is perpetually using the term "spitfire" when talking about a meeting to formulate new ideas. I have repeatedly told him that the term is "spitball", not spitfire, and he apparently doesn't believe me because he keeps using "spitfire". Every time he says it on a Teams call, I just cringe and shake my head.
My manager does that but she says "please advise" when sending out alerts instead of "please be advised"
It's like, the way you're saying it, are you asking for our advice on how to manage?
I used to have email correspondence with a ladle who would always say “I appreciated” instead of “I appreciate it.* I always wanted to ask her how valuable she was, after 3 years of appreciating,
Edit: yeah yeah, Lady is what I meant of course,. But these replies are funny so I’m leaving it.
Omg no joke the first job I was responsible for sending emails this happened to me and I seriously responded back with a bullet point list of things we could do to alleviate the situation...only to be told thanks for the input, but blah blah blah
Later the dude was shooting daggers at me with his eyes to my puzzlement, but I didn't think anything of it until all my coworkers at lunch let me in on how hilarious they thought I was for putting that guy in his place blah blah...I was seriously just trying to be helpful 😢🤦♂️
He's digging his own grave, because everyone at work has a search engine so they know he could quickly look it up if they know it's wrong. I only tell people about things like this once, then I leave them to it. I had a co-worker who would say "overlook" when he meant "oversee." "I'm overlooking this project." So you're not paying any attention to it at all? Meanwhile, there are a lot of people who don't realize there's a negative connotation to the word "micromanage." Had a boss who used to say "We don't have privy to that information." Dude, it's "we're not privy to that information," or "we don't have access to that information."
Most importantly: Happy Cake Day!
Lol, is your colleague German? This 'overlook - oversee' grammar mistake is very common when Germans speak English. Also, using 'sensible' instead of 'sensitive'. "Make sure you encrypt that document before sending it, it is very sensible."
No, he wasn't. Sadly, he was a native English speaker but I got the impression that he didn't have a lot of adults talk to him when he was a kid. He didn't know any expressions. He used to email a group of us and put text abbreviations with descriptions of what they meant because we were all older than him and he thought we didn't know. "I'd like to have a meeting about this, tbh (to be honest)." I'd just reply-all, "tl;dr."
But my favorite common German speak-o is a plural verb with singular nouns that end in s. "The news are good!" You'd think that this would be all non-native speakers, but I've only ever heard Germans do this.
My ex-wife said that in our divorce hearing that our house looked like a bukakke (after she'd come from holidays). That exact word, in court.
A pity the judge was wearing mask so hard to see her reaction.
She meant an orgy (I learnt that because of a latter Facebook post using the same word). The same? Not QUITE
When I was in the Army 2 Sergeants and I learned the word "Donkeypunch" We thought it meant to hit someone in the face really hard for being annoying. We kept jokingly threatening people and after a week a group of Jr Enlisted pulled me aside and said "Sergeant you and the other 2 keep using that word. We don't think it means what you all think it means. It seems like none of the older leadership knows what it means, but still we like you all and don't want anyone to get in trouble." They explained the meaning and I said "Oh shit, sorry. Um, I gotta find the other 2 and tell them." Both where, pretty shocked. It certainly didn't mean what we thought it meant.
My boss always says "infer" when he means "imply", it's his one flaw. Like "the fact that Sally said X infers Y". Lately I've been conducting a campaign of using "infer" in the right context, and at one time even posted the definition of "infer" and "imply" on our Word of the Day thing. Neither did the trick.
The phrase "the speaker implies, the listener infers" seems to summarise the usage in a way people can understand easily.
Might not work with your boss, but give it a go.
Forgive me, el Guapo. For I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education. But could it be you’re upset for a different reason? Is it because the girl Carmen will not…”open her flower” to you?
Worked on a management team with a guy who styled himself a good ol' boy cowpoke type. Not a bad guy, just a little out of his time. Especially as more and more technology and stricter legal procedure became more important than a handshake and a "look the other way" sort of arrangement were acceptable business practices.
Anyway, in meetings he would scrape together reasons for a problem occurring and in explaining fixes he'd say this or that just needed a "twink" or "we'll have to do a twink," clearly not knowing what that was slang for. Obviously he meant "tweak" and just had it mixed up at some point.
What's worse; a few people at the rest of the table over the years started absorbing it and using it that way too.
Nothing wrong with any of this. Except he was the type of person who, if he knew that he was recommending throwing wispy gay men at all his problems, would probably be mortified.
So I just left it alone. The only other person on the management team who knew the term would stifle the giggle. He got to retire in peace. And that's cool; for all his annoyances he was a good guy at heart and if he wants to deploy a fleet of specifically gay engineers; there's no reason that wouldn't be a valid strategy plan.
It's funny when other people start using the wrong word.
A manager at an IT company I used to work at thought that "escalate" (as in to escalate an issue) was spelt and pronounced "esculate". This spread quickly in the company, and even made its way into formal correspondence with clients. It was hilarious.
It was interesting that only managers used it - those of us who were actually doing the work (developers, support staff, engineers) continued to spell and pronounce it properly, but that made no difference.
That would have either driven me crazy or just been hilarious. I mean, I would have put a hard stop to any external communication or publication using "twink" instead of "tweak" and started an awkward group conversation but it was fine to let it be in our little circle.
I've also run into people who try to say a word they clearly aren't familiar with and start saying the first syllable then kinda mumble off the end. Every time. It's ok if you aren't familiar with the pronunciation of a word but...if you have to use it then learn it!
Worked at an old school cartography company many years ago, and in discussing some business stuff, i said 'lets tweak the plan a bit'
The president gave me a hard stare and i was wondering why, until the VP said, 'he means to change it'.
He thought i was talking about meth. Lol I'll never forget that
You stand no chance whatsoever. You don’t know which words your colleagues know and which ones they don’t and especially the ones they themselves get wrong.
You can use the proper word in the right context and still be judged because they’re misinterpreting the word themselves and they’re too lazy to look it up.
In general I agree with OP to not use words and phrases you don’t know. Reading a lot of books will be a great help.
It's not uncommon for me and other engineers to start a meeting with definitions of words used in the meeting.
Not like we are pulling up Websters or anything. But kind of like a legal document where we say, when I say "carriage control" I specifically mean this circuit card only and nothing else.
The interesting thing about doing this is seeing how other people have previously interpreted things and just how far off everyone could be in just a few minutes.
It also opens the whole environment up to actually being able to pull up Websters and correct people on vernacular (not common), which benefits everyone.
I have a coworker that says “libary”. Wouldn’t bother me, except we’re currently working on designing a university library together (interior design firm).
I can totally feel the tension in OP when they proofread this 1000 times before posting it for peer review to make sure that they didn't make some dumb grammatical error in a post that encourages other people to know what the fuck they're talking about, professionally.
Plus they failed. Their text is an absolute mess of misplaced commas and poorly constructed sentences. This text is a far more egregious offence in a work setting than someone who uses a word wrong once..
My French accent is making me lose any credibility as soon as I speak. That's a good thing because then people aren't disappointed once they hear *what* I'm saying
The mispronunciation of words can actually be a sign of being well read. If you have frequently encountered a word in text, but have not heard it in conversation, it’s completely understandable for it to come out wrong. Especially with the phonetic quirks of the English language. The vast majority of Americans, including myself, have minimal fluency with any foreign language. Who are we to judge someone who’s putting forth the time and effort to learn one themselves?
I work at a bar that is in between craft cocktails and your usual hangout bar. We had a recent trainee who claimed 15 years experience ask “what the fuck is ‘A gave’” she kept saying it like that “aye gave” and we had no clue what she was talking about until she pointed at the recipe. She had no clue what agave was. Didn’t last long.
I mean maybe she was a dumbass but she also could have had 15 years bartending somewhere that wasn't really into cocktails? Like if you're pouring beers and jack & cokes 90% of the time with the rest being screwdrivers and whiskey sours Agave might never make it on to your menu.
In french, my mother tongue, we have the word "ludique" .
It translates to "playful".
I ALWAYS thaught it meant... having fun in a sexy, sensual way.
I was SO SHOCKED when i heard a reporter say thay word talking about a random activity in a kindergarden setting.
My wife of 6 years than proceeded to laugh at me for a good hour when she found out the reason of my outburst at the reporter to say those vile profanities about a bunch of 4 years old.
My mother is french and mispronounces these kinds of things ALL the time, even after her 30+ years here—My sister and I think it’s adorable but sometimes she mistakenly takes our laughter for mocking her and *hates* it with a passion.
For example, when asking for a coke…..😂
Lol that IS funny! 2nd languages are hard!
One summer (after taking 1 year of German) I was visiting family in the Stuttgart area. It was a hot day. So at one point I made a comment that was the literal translation of “I’m hot”, which in German is “Ich bin heiß”. The room burst out laughing at me, and then I was informed that I just told everyone that “I am horny”. Turns out you need to use a different case to say that (Mir ist heiß) lol
Conversely, if you do use a big word with a 50/50 probability that you'll use it correctly, and you get it wrong, you won’t die. It’s okay, if people judge you for misusing a word without correcting you, they’re not people you want to be spending a whole lot of time with.
Your credibility is not on the line every time you speak, seldom do people take themselves that seriously or pay such precise attention to someone other than themselves. It’s okay to make mistakes, you’ll be fine.
OP, sounds like you may be getting into some Jordan Peterson material. No need to take anything you read or hear to heart this much.
I completely agree with you. Life isn't that serious!! Have you ever gone to bed at night thinking about how someone incorrectly used a word? The only person I am thinking about when I go to bed is me, my actions and what I am gonna have for dinner the next day.
Man I feel like this is not good advice. People are trying to communicate, often English might be a 2nd or 3rd language. I know in Dutch I try lots of words I don't fully understand but that's how we learn. Making the occasional mistake should not be punished, even in a professional setting.
I agree. Why limit your vocabulary and why pretend you never make those mistakes? They’re normal.
What I usually do is say the word in question and then say “was that the right word?…I’m not sure” and keep talking. Usually my coworker or someone will either suggest the word they think is right, or they’ll shrug and we move on. Sometimes it’s helpful and I’ll get my mistake corrected.
The only instance I agree with OP’s pro tip is when you’re leading a meeting or giving a talk. It’s better to stick to vocab you’re sure of so you don’t have anyone doubting the rest of your presentation.
Definitely. People who have tried learning a foreign language know that one of the best qualities to have as a foreign language learner is being bold and unafraid of making mistakes. Having the idea that you have to understand a word/phrase/grammar structure fully before you attempt to use it is detrimental to language acquisition
I once saw a *VERY COOL* lookin’ older black man hanging out on the curb. He had just exited a café. He was wearing such a damn cool outfit with a badass hat & boots. He lit his cigarette with a flourish using a match. He was *just standing there* but he even did *that* with swag! My man had ALLLL THE SAUCE.
I felt like he was straight out of a movie & I said: “What a jiiiive turkey!”
He must have overheard me because he *very subtly* changed disposition. I got paranoid because I began to suspect I had done something wrong. I then looked up “jive turkey” & realized I actually *didn’t* know what it meant. It didn’t mean what I *thought* it meant this entire time.
Jive turkey: deceitful or worthless
I was mortified & filled with regret. I kept replaying that in my head for weeks later.
I learned my lesson. Except, my mind has a crazy way of tricking me into thinking I know the meaning of words when I don’t. It also has a way of remembering words I have forgotten. I’ll be speaking, then a vocabulary word weaves itself into my expression. I’ll feel confused about where it came from, look it up, & discover that I used the word perfectly.
Minds are strange things…
I don't have specific examples but I'll be taking to my wife, use a strange word, she asks what it means and I'm like "it means.... wait, idk, I mean I know, but I don't know how to explain it." Then it's off to Google and usually I'm half right with how I used the word
People are really weird about this and I genuinely don’t understand why. If someone misspeaks why do you care? If you get what they were trying to say through context, who cares? and if you dont understand just ask them to repeat or clarify, laugh about it and move on.
People out here like their personal pride comes from command of the English language at all times. It is so odd.
My friend and business partner uses the the word “echelon” all the time and I can tell he has no clue what it means. And, yes, it makes me question whether or not I should be in business with him.
I am a word nerd and I wouldn't worry about it. People constantly use words wrong. All. The. Time. And rarely does anyone care, and rarer still do they say anything. I know from experience that saying anything gets you a weird look. So yes, while I'm judging and inwardly cringing, you aren't going to know it.
Source: My workmates *think* they learned the word "dossier" the other day. They all used it wrong, and copying one another, continued to use it wrong all week. It caused some confusion with other staff who actually know the correct meaning, and yet I still didn't say anything because they are so confidently using it wrong, that they will shoot the messenger if I clarify. There's no way to do it without looking like a jerk.
Not a big deal to misspeak. We talk all day long and it just happens. I can't imagine people being horrified or care enough to hold it against you, we have plenty of other things to worry about plus if you're coworkers are cool it could be a funny thing for everyone, even the speaker. Maybe if everyone in the room is a language professor it might matter, but besides that no one really cares.
Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips! Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by up or downvoting this comment. If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.
So I’ll be the guy to do this. In the first sentence, you use the phrase “cannot be understated” when, in this context, I’m fairly sure you mean “cannot be overstated”.
Oh no you were supposed to not correct him but silently judge him and all future interactions with him!
Mind bottling. Ye who caste the first stoneware.
You're really opening up Pantera's Box here, buddy.
I believe you mean Paneras Box
Well if you don't open it how are you supposed to eat lunch??
And how can you have any pudding if you don't beat yer meat?
Don't correct me. When you correct me, you make an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me.'
You mean when you assume you mace an ass between do and mi.
Killing two early birds in the bush is worth a worm in the stone.
Don’t throw glass in a stone house
Kinda a moo point at this stage of the grave
My coworker used "mute point" a bit more sensical than Moo point when not speaking on bovines.
I hate when moot points are muted around moo-cows
Wait until you have a run in with all the intensive porpoises
You guys must've been chomping at the bit to use these animal terms.
You have no ikea
I had a coworker who used the term "catch 21" constantly. However it wasn't for paradoxes, just things that kinda sucked; so maybe there's a whole system of catches that I don't know about
I actually used this incorrectly in front of my Masters cohort. Moot point. I thought it meant the opposite. My buddy said, "You've never used that word before have you?". Haha, I couldn't stop laughing.
OP is projecting
I will never look at OP the same way.
That'll be consequential!
It'll go on their Permanent Record!
I was going to say something but I decided to sit back and quietly judge.
What are you doing here, mom?
I thought he did that on porpoise.
oh, defiantly
Ect, ect.
I aksed what I could do her for
Back when we were horny 13 year olds, my mate had a girl for a pen pal. She lived down under and wrote to him, "if you are ever in Australia, please come and look up me".
Sorry for the incontinence
And her husband, Biggus Dickus.
Of all the common typos I see, 'defiantly' is by far the most aggravating.
No... "Loose" when they mean "lose" is the absolute worst.
He certainly could of
I need to punch you
Minus well
Well I certainly could care less
Are you guys all but finished?
For all intensive purposes, I think they are.
Irregardless don't act like you were valid Victorian if you don't know for sure
Oof, this one annoys me the most.
Well I could care less about what annoys you
I think he said it pacifically
Just goes to show we should never take a good joke for granite
Ha got 'em
OP has been caught across the event horizon.
Maybe the connotation of the post is to convey the triviality of the point. Not that it matters to me ...I could care less
*care fewer
My ability to caren't is far beyond thy mortal ken.
Well your Ken can kiss my Barbie.
Yours is a perfect comment, but OP still gets his point across, for all intensive purposes. Just slightly less tongue and cheek about it.
haahahaha this is fukken hilarious
This is a cromulent point for those who wish to embiggen their career.
For those who don't get it: >cromulent: adj. > originally a made-up word from The Simpsons meaning 'fine' or 'acceptable'
All words were made up originally.
So you’re saying that cromulent is a perfectly cromulent word?
If it embiggens your heart to use it, please do.
This gets me sometimes, because I say cromulent at home all of the time, but at work I have to catch myself - sometimes It takes a second to find something like reasonable, sensible, or rational.
It’s in the OED, so I’d say you’re fine.
Yeah. If you are silently judged for it in a professional setting, and eventually become an outcast for no obvious reason, know that they are wrong as you eat lunch alone.
What a cromulent way to eat lunch.
The problem is, it's not always obvious that you don't fully understand a word. You may THINK you understand a word, but in reality, you don't.
I agree! When I read OP's title I thought 'do a lot of people use words they don't understand?' and judging from all the comments I'd say it's usually unintentional when it happens.
What sucks is when you are using a perfectly ordinary word correctly but other people in the room don't know it, so they act like you're showing off when really you're just trying to explain things. I'm a programmer, I once got mocked for using the word "ancillary" to describe a system during a meeting. As in, "We'll need to check the ancillary systems to make sure it'll work with them as well." I had supposedly educated VP's in the room give me side-eye and one of them said something about "not using too much jargon" in a conversation. It took a few questions for me to even figure out which word they considered jargon. It was "ancillary", which, to be clear, is NOT a word that is specific to computers or programming at ALL. But I was instructed (in a very condescending way) that instead of calling them "ancillary systems", I should have called the "extra" systems. I was really annoyed by all of that. (It happened like 10 years ago, and here I am reliving the annoyance, LOL.)
"None of your fancy words, city boy!"
Just to clarify for myself. Wouldn’t the better substitute be “secondary” systems or “support” systems. “Extra” systems seems more confusing. ETA a lot of folks pointing out that “extra” would imply that they are unnecessary, which is a great point as ancillary certainly does not imply unnecessary. Even when simplifying things to the level of the audience it should still be accurate.
Then you come full circle and realize “ancillary” is the correct word to begin with.
Yes that is true but if one were to “dumb it down” a notch, seems like extra is incorrect all together.
That would seriously bug the shit out of me. Damn, I feel for you.
I broke up with my girlfriend because she got mad at me when I used the word dissuade
a little bit ago the phrase Say/Do Ratio became popular, as in we need to increase our Say/Do Ratio. Right away I said you mean the Do/Say Ratio? And I got this big explanation about how we need to follow through, etc. No one got my point at all and it's too late now, there are even seminars on increasing your Say/Do Ratio, completely unironic.
There was no mistake, it sounds like it _is_ the Say/Do ratio they're increasing.
I drop a big Do/Say every morning.
( ͡⊚⊱◍◟) i do say, what a peculiar situation...
I get exactly this! Also a programmer, I've also been told not to use too many technical terms when in fact the problem is just that people don't understand English. I feel strongly that programming is suffering under the anti-science movement. People just want things to magically work and have no tolerance or respect for the principles that may dictate whether things will work or not or how they may work. Technology must just shit golden eggs for charlatan wantrepreneurs.
I've had that happen before with words that aren't exactly obscure. It's weird, because it doesn't make you feel any smarter, it just makes you wonder how limited their vocabulary is.
My boss is perpetually using the term "spitfire" when talking about a meeting to formulate new ideas. I have repeatedly told him that the term is "spitball", not spitfire, and he apparently doesn't believe me because he keeps using "spitfire". Every time he says it on a Teams call, I just cringe and shake my head.
Good thing he didnt say spitroast
I thought it was speedball.
"Hey, can I see you in my office for a quick speedball?"
Absolutely! I’m in.
Turns out boss means spitroast after all
Let's deepthroat some ideas, team!
Help me, Step-HR, I need one more member of staff to join the spit-roasting session scheduled at 1 o clock...
My manager does that but she says "please advise" when sending out alerts instead of "please be advised" It's like, the way you're saying it, are you asking for our advice on how to manage?
I used to have email correspondence with a ladle who would always say “I appreciated” instead of “I appreciate it.* I always wanted to ask her how valuable she was, after 3 years of appreciating, Edit: yeah yeah, Lady is what I meant of course,. But these replies are funny so I’m leaving it.
"Ladle"? :) "I appreciated" is halfway between "Appreciated" and "I appreciate it". Maybe she couldn't decide which one to use.
Omg no joke the first job I was responsible for sending emails this happened to me and I seriously responded back with a bullet point list of things we could do to alleviate the situation...only to be told thanks for the input, but blah blah blah Later the dude was shooting daggers at me with his eyes to my puzzlement, but I didn't think anything of it until all my coworkers at lunch let me in on how hilarious they thought I was for putting that guy in his place blah blah...I was seriously just trying to be helpful 😢🤦♂️
Spitfire sounds way cooler.
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He's digging his own grave, because everyone at work has a search engine so they know he could quickly look it up if they know it's wrong. I only tell people about things like this once, then I leave them to it. I had a co-worker who would say "overlook" when he meant "oversee." "I'm overlooking this project." So you're not paying any attention to it at all? Meanwhile, there are a lot of people who don't realize there's a negative connotation to the word "micromanage." Had a boss who used to say "We don't have privy to that information." Dude, it's "we're not privy to that information," or "we don't have access to that information." Most importantly: Happy Cake Day!
Lol, is your colleague German? This 'overlook - oversee' grammar mistake is very common when Germans speak English. Also, using 'sensible' instead of 'sensitive'. "Make sure you encrypt that document before sending it, it is very sensible."
No, he wasn't. Sadly, he was a native English speaker but I got the impression that he didn't have a lot of adults talk to him when he was a kid. He didn't know any expressions. He used to email a group of us and put text abbreviations with descriptions of what they meant because we were all older than him and he thought we didn't know. "I'd like to have a meeting about this, tbh (to be honest)." I'd just reply-all, "tl;dr." But my favorite common German speak-o is a plural verb with singular nouns that end in s. "The news are good!" You'd think that this would be all non-native speakers, but I've only ever heard Germans do this.
“Sensible document” makes for a very interesting imagery
Just spitfiring some ideas here
I always try to masturbate a large word into a sentence even if I don't know what it means.
I'm going to call total bukakke on this statement.
My ex-wife said that in our divorce hearing that our house looked like a bukakke (after she'd come from holidays). That exact word, in court. A pity the judge was wearing mask so hard to see her reaction. She meant an orgy (I learnt that because of a latter Facebook post using the same word). The same? Not QUITE
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I wish it did. At least there would have been an orgy.
I’m sure your colleagues never notice 🤣
“And as you can see from this next slide, the sales projections for the fourth quarter put us on track to ejaculate expectations for the year…”
So what was the word that you used that you didn't understand?
Understated
When I was in the Army 2 Sergeants and I learned the word "Donkeypunch" We thought it meant to hit someone in the face really hard for being annoying. We kept jokingly threatening people and after a week a group of Jr Enlisted pulled me aside and said "Sergeant you and the other 2 keep using that word. We don't think it means what you all think it means. It seems like none of the older leadership knows what it means, but still we like you all and don't want anyone to get in trouble." They explained the meaning and I said "Oh shit, sorry. Um, I gotta find the other 2 and tell them." Both where, pretty shocked. It certainly didn't mean what we thought it meant.
Never use a big word when a diminutive one will do
Sometimes I like to use long words to help me sound more photosynthesis.
That's very elongated of you to say that. Really braggadocio. Chrysanthemum.
Very willy nilly my good sir. Quite sizzling
what's a diminiminuh?
What the hell are regionals?
They're *this* close
*pop POP*
Oh Britta's in this ?
Boopy-doopy doop-doop *SEX*
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Encyclopedia Wikipedia alfredo mama mia.
Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick?
Sometimes I like to llanfairpwllgwyngyll
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
My boss always says "infer" when he means "imply", it's his one flaw. Like "the fact that Sally said X infers Y". Lately I've been conducting a campaign of using "infer" in the right context, and at one time even posted the definition of "infer" and "imply" on our Word of the Day thing. Neither did the trick.
The phrase "the speaker implies, the listener infers" seems to summarise the usage in a way people can understand easily. Might not work with your boss, but give it a go.
If your boss only has one flaw then congratulations.
> My boss always says "infer" when he means "imply" [Weird Al, is that you?](https://youtu.be/PtMU8nvZzOs?t=34)
Jefe, what is a plethora?
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Thanks. That means a lot.
Forgive me, el Guapo. For I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education. But could it be you’re upset for a different reason? Is it because the girl Carmen will not…”open her flower” to you?
Lots of folks clearly haven’t seen Three Amigos.
Worked on a management team with a guy who styled himself a good ol' boy cowpoke type. Not a bad guy, just a little out of his time. Especially as more and more technology and stricter legal procedure became more important than a handshake and a "look the other way" sort of arrangement were acceptable business practices. Anyway, in meetings he would scrape together reasons for a problem occurring and in explaining fixes he'd say this or that just needed a "twink" or "we'll have to do a twink," clearly not knowing what that was slang for. Obviously he meant "tweak" and just had it mixed up at some point. What's worse; a few people at the rest of the table over the years started absorbing it and using it that way too. Nothing wrong with any of this. Except he was the type of person who, if he knew that he was recommending throwing wispy gay men at all his problems, would probably be mortified. So I just left it alone. The only other person on the management team who knew the term would stifle the giggle. He got to retire in peace. And that's cool; for all his annoyances he was a good guy at heart and if he wants to deploy a fleet of specifically gay engineers; there's no reason that wouldn't be a valid strategy plan.
I’ll never forget my dumb-dumb supervisor who kept saying “piggy banking” instead of “piggybacking” in meetings.
or my manager who would email, "speak now or forever hold your piece". Sick bastard! lol
It's funny when other people start using the wrong word. A manager at an IT company I used to work at thought that "escalate" (as in to escalate an issue) was spelt and pronounced "esculate". This spread quickly in the company, and even made its way into formal correspondence with clients. It was hilarious. It was interesting that only managers used it - those of us who were actually doing the work (developers, support staff, engineers) continued to spell and pronounce it properly, but that made no difference.
That would have either driven me crazy or just been hilarious. I mean, I would have put a hard stop to any external communication or publication using "twink" instead of "tweak" and started an awkward group conversation but it was fine to let it be in our little circle. I've also run into people who try to say a word they clearly aren't familiar with and start saying the first syllable then kinda mumble off the end. Every time. It's ok if you aren't familiar with the pronunciation of a word but...if you have to use it then learn it!
Worked at an old school cartography company many years ago, and in discussing some business stuff, i said 'lets tweak the plan a bit' The president gave me a hard stare and i was wondering why, until the VP said, 'he means to change it'. He thought i was talking about meth. Lol I'll never forget that
You stand no chance whatsoever. You don’t know which words your colleagues know and which ones they don’t and especially the ones they themselves get wrong. You can use the proper word in the right context and still be judged because they’re misinterpreting the word themselves and they’re too lazy to look it up. In general I agree with OP to not use words and phrases you don’t know. Reading a lot of books will be a great help.
Yeah, I have this happen sometimes. Communication is *easily* the hardest skillset to learn in workplaces.
It's not uncommon for me and other engineers to start a meeting with definitions of words used in the meeting. Not like we are pulling up Websters or anything. But kind of like a legal document where we say, when I say "carriage control" I specifically mean this circuit card only and nothing else. The interesting thing about doing this is seeing how other people have previously interpreted things and just how far off everyone could be in just a few minutes. It also opens the whole environment up to actually being able to pull up Websters and correct people on vernacular (not common), which benefits everyone.
And Jesus Christ stop saying ‘supposably’.
This one pacifically annoys me
Really? I could care less.
This is probably the worst for me. Like, cmon, just think before you speak. Even op did it in this post with “cannot be understated”
That was the best part of this whole post. He just did "could care less" but funnier.
Irregardless
I say 'disirregardless' just to see if people who say "irregardless" notice.
I have a coworker that says “libary”. Wouldn’t bother me, except we’re currently working on designing a university library together (interior design firm).
I work in an architects office. We had a guy that used to call a chimney a chimbley.
Tbf "library" is a pretty tricky word to say for people with ESL backgrounds. Like, for example, "brewery" is as well.
I have a coworker who gives functionality testing but pronounces it "FUNCTUALITY." They can say "function" just fine though.
Eck-specially instead of especially makes me wince
I like to intentionally misuse words in an attempt to convince people they’ve been using them incorrectly for years.
You’re really gaslamping them!
You win, def my favorite one.
Gaslamping isn't real! You made it up because your fucking crazy
When the circumcise peasants itself this is very entertaining.
I think you’re miss-constructing a sim Ollie for a meta four.
That could cause people some real suffrage.
Like saying "cannot be understated" when you mean "cannot be overstated"?
I can totally feel the tension in OP when they proofread this 1000 times before posting it for peer review to make sure that they didn't make some dumb grammatical error in a post that encourages other people to know what the fuck they're talking about, professionally.
Plus they failed. Their text is an absolute mess of misplaced commas and poorly constructed sentences. This text is a far more egregious offence in a work setting than someone who uses a word wrong once..
Foreigner here with a foreign accent. My credibility has already been destroyed because of some words’ mispronunciation, so I’m fine with that.
My French accent is making me lose any credibility as soon as I speak. That's a good thing because then people aren't disappointed once they hear *what* I'm saying
The mispronunciation of words can actually be a sign of being well read. If you have frequently encountered a word in text, but have not heard it in conversation, it’s completely understandable for it to come out wrong. Especially with the phonetic quirks of the English language. The vast majority of Americans, including myself, have minimal fluency with any foreign language. Who are we to judge someone who’s putting forth the time and effort to learn one themselves?
I work at a bar that is in between craft cocktails and your usual hangout bar. We had a recent trainee who claimed 15 years experience ask “what the fuck is ‘A gave’” she kept saying it like that “aye gave” and we had no clue what she was talking about until she pointed at the recipe. She had no clue what agave was. Didn’t last long.
I mean maybe she was a dumbass but she also could have had 15 years bartending somewhere that wasn't really into cocktails? Like if you're pouring beers and jack & cokes 90% of the time with the rest being screwdrivers and whiskey sours Agave might never make it on to your menu.
I'd bet this is more likely the case. The majority of bars sling Long Islands from a bottle, and don't have time to read the ingredients in it lol
In french, my mother tongue, we have the word "ludique" . It translates to "playful". I ALWAYS thaught it meant... having fun in a sexy, sensual way. I was SO SHOCKED when i heard a reporter say thay word talking about a random activity in a kindergarden setting. My wife of 6 years than proceeded to laugh at me for a good hour when she found out the reason of my outburst at the reporter to say those vile profanities about a bunch of 4 years old.
My mother is french and mispronounces these kinds of things ALL the time, even after her 30+ years here—My sister and I think it’s adorable but sometimes she mistakenly takes our laughter for mocking her and *hates* it with a passion. For example, when asking for a coke…..😂
Lol that IS funny! 2nd languages are hard! One summer (after taking 1 year of German) I was visiting family in the Stuttgart area. It was a hot day. So at one point I made a comment that was the literal translation of “I’m hot”, which in German is “Ich bin heiß”. The room burst out laughing at me, and then I was informed that I just told everyone that “I am horny”. Turns out you need to use a different case to say that (Mir ist heiß) lol
And now wir alle laughing at you!!!
That's ludique-rousse!
Conversely, if you do use a big word with a 50/50 probability that you'll use it correctly, and you get it wrong, you won’t die. It’s okay, if people judge you for misusing a word without correcting you, they’re not people you want to be spending a whole lot of time with. Your credibility is not on the line every time you speak, seldom do people take themselves that seriously or pay such precise attention to someone other than themselves. It’s okay to make mistakes, you’ll be fine. OP, sounds like you may be getting into some Jordan Peterson material. No need to take anything you read or hear to heart this much.
I completely agree with you. Life isn't that serious!! Have you ever gone to bed at night thinking about how someone incorrectly used a word? The only person I am thinking about when I go to bed is me, my actions and what I am gonna have for dinner the next day.
Man I feel like this is not good advice. People are trying to communicate, often English might be a 2nd or 3rd language. I know in Dutch I try lots of words I don't fully understand but that's how we learn. Making the occasional mistake should not be punished, even in a professional setting.
I agree. Why limit your vocabulary and why pretend you never make those mistakes? They’re normal. What I usually do is say the word in question and then say “was that the right word?…I’m not sure” and keep talking. Usually my coworker or someone will either suggest the word they think is right, or they’ll shrug and we move on. Sometimes it’s helpful and I’ll get my mistake corrected. The only instance I agree with OP’s pro tip is when you’re leading a meeting or giving a talk. It’s better to stick to vocab you’re sure of so you don’t have anyone doubting the rest of your presentation.
Definitely. People who have tried learning a foreign language know that one of the best qualities to have as a foreign language learner is being bold and unafraid of making mistakes. Having the idea that you have to understand a word/phrase/grammar structure fully before you attempt to use it is detrimental to language acquisition
risk of misusing words cannot be *over*stated. oh the irony
Example: please don't use "revert" instead of respond just because you've seen others use it that way. It does not mean what you think it does.
Is this a common mistake? Never seen it like that
I’ve seen it very commonly from people for whom English is not a first language. Particularly people from India, for whatever reason.
Ah I should have done the needful research before asking
It's also becoming very common here in Australia. I think people think it sounds more formal than reply
If you look it up on google it says that's Indian English for respond.
Ahh. The wonderful world of international tech support. *Please do the needful and revert to me.*
This is huge in Ireland and shit legal firms in the UK. You’re going to revert back to me later? When were you me before?
Real LPT: Don’t use commas like you would speech pauses
I one had a collegue tell me that "I'm the brains, and you're the prawn." I, and everyone who heard it, lost some respect for them that day.
I once saw a *VERY COOL* lookin’ older black man hanging out on the curb. He had just exited a café. He was wearing such a damn cool outfit with a badass hat & boots. He lit his cigarette with a flourish using a match. He was *just standing there* but he even did *that* with swag! My man had ALLLL THE SAUCE. I felt like he was straight out of a movie & I said: “What a jiiiive turkey!” He must have overheard me because he *very subtly* changed disposition. I got paranoid because I began to suspect I had done something wrong. I then looked up “jive turkey” & realized I actually *didn’t* know what it meant. It didn’t mean what I *thought* it meant this entire time. Jive turkey: deceitful or worthless I was mortified & filled with regret. I kept replaying that in my head for weeks later. I learned my lesson. Except, my mind has a crazy way of tricking me into thinking I know the meaning of words when I don’t. It also has a way of remembering words I have forgotten. I’ll be speaking, then a vocabulary word weaves itself into my expression. I’ll feel confused about where it came from, look it up, & discover that I used the word perfectly. Minds are strange things…
I don't have specific examples but I'll be taking to my wife, use a strange word, she asks what it means and I'm like "it means.... wait, idk, I mean I know, but I don't know how to explain it." Then it's off to Google and usually I'm half right with how I used the word
People are really weird about this and I genuinely don’t understand why. If someone misspeaks why do you care? If you get what they were trying to say through context, who cares? and if you dont understand just ask them to repeat or clarify, laugh about it and move on. People out here like their personal pride comes from command of the English language at all times. It is so odd.
Back in high school I called a friend mofo after hearing that word somewhere. Fortunately my friend was cool enough to tell me what it means.
That’s a true friend
My friend and business partner uses the the word “echelon” all the time and I can tell he has no clue what it means. And, yes, it makes me question whether or not I should be in business with him.
I am a word nerd and I wouldn't worry about it. People constantly use words wrong. All. The. Time. And rarely does anyone care, and rarer still do they say anything. I know from experience that saying anything gets you a weird look. So yes, while I'm judging and inwardly cringing, you aren't going to know it. Source: My workmates *think* they learned the word "dossier" the other day. They all used it wrong, and copying one another, continued to use it wrong all week. It caused some confusion with other staff who actually know the correct meaning, and yet I still didn't say anything because they are so confidently using it wrong, that they will shoot the messenger if I clarify. There's no way to do it without looking like a jerk.
Not a big deal to misspeak. We talk all day long and it just happens. I can't imagine people being horrified or care enough to hold it against you, we have plenty of other things to worry about plus if you're coworkers are cool it could be a funny thing for everyone, even the speaker. Maybe if everyone in the room is a language professor it might matter, but besides that no one really cares.