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What linguistic constructions do you hate that no one else seems to mind? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by TootSweet to c/asklemmy

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It bugs me when people say "the thing is is that" (if you listen for it, you'll start hearing it... or maybe that's something that people only do in my area.) ("What the thing is is that..." is fine. But "the thing is is that..." bugs me.)

Also, "just because doesn't mean ." That sentence structure invites one to take "just because " as a noun phrase which my brain really doesn't want to do. Just doesn't seem right. But that sentence structure is very common.

And I'm not saying there's anything objectively wrong with either of these. Language is weird and complex and beautiful. It's just fascinating that some commonly-used linguistic constructions just hit some people wrong sometimes.

Edit: I thought of another one. "As best as I can." "The best I can" is fine, "as well as I can" is good, and "as best I can" is even fine. But "as best as" hurts.

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[–] Boozilla 3 points 6 months ago (3 children)

For a period of time on spezsite, people loved posting photos using the title "Just a (whatever the thing in the photo was)".

I don't know why, but that convention of using "just a..." started to get under my skin after a while. The fad kind of faded away, though you still see it occasionally.

It's not that there's anything wrong with titling a post in that manner. But over time, it felt like nonstop humblebragging.

I'm probably making zero sense. Pet peeves can be weird like that.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

There are a lot of phrases from reddit that annoy me due to overuse. "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes" and "fuck around and find out" both annoy the absolute piss right out of me now.

[–] Cornucopiaofplenty 1 points 6 months ago

My absolute most hated saying from reddit is 'boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, that's why I shit on company time'. I don't know, it just really irritates me! I totally agree with the sentiment, it's just the rhyme makes it feel so childish and reactionary.

[–] Boozilla 1 points 6 months ago

Reddit is global, and I'm sure they would pretend to be highly diverse. But the vibe I always got there was, "early teens, white boy, east coast, USA".