What linguistic constructions do you hate that no one else seems to mind?
What linguistic constructions do you hate that no one else seems to mind?
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 <blank> doesn't mean <blank>." That sentence structure invites one to take "just because <blank>" 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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I loathe: "With that said...".
This is almost always meaningless words thrown in to make the listener(s) think you're more intelligent. I always think the opposite.
I use it to mean and all these arguments lead me to the following conclusion.
But yeah, I read a lot and was trained as a kid to be a walking factoid dispensor so I can seem pretentious.
Isn't it generally used to mean the opposite of that? "Despite what I just said, I hold or will present the following apparently contrary position," more or less. Like if you spent a couple of paragraphs talking about the excellent cinematography of a film and then followed it with "That said, I didn't actually enjoy it. I found the protagonist insufferable."
I can see it used that way. Yes, but then I'd think there'd be an obligation to explain why the proceeding arguments trump the previous ones if it's not obvious. With that said is certainly a bridge from one part of an argument to the next.