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Literal Takes On Popular Phrases

Bhuter

Bhuter

I'm a BIIIIIG word person, thanks to my over-corrective mother and George Carlin (the latter is funnier). I love George Carlin! I had most of his cassette tapes from the 70's on up. I saw him live once in California and twice here in Michigan, through the years.
Words are often misused, mispronounced, misspelled, and sometimes people just make words up and people just accept it, like: "irregardless"....
I like to think of phrases we use and think of them literally (yes, I spend too much time in my head, without quarantine).

YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE
Ok. This sounds like a really bad dream. Actually, It's the antithesis of that. Nightmare suck! We know that. And some dreams are good. You wouldn't consider THOSE your worst nightmares. But they are. Good dreams are pretty bad at being scary. So those are your WORST nightmares.
"You call yourself a nightmare? You're the worst!"

Does that make sense to anybody else but me?

This might cause semantic satiation, but:
Other things are words that lose their own meaning. Like "succeed". If somebody had succeeded and they're still doing the same thing, they haven't succeeded yet. Success means "the end". Once you've succeeded, you're done doing that.

I have loads of stupid shizz I think about when I'm sitting home alone and the power goes out (Carlin).

Anybody else too analytical?
 
We keep going to doctors who practice medicine. Where are the professionals? We just get the people who are practicing? I guess the professionals have literally succeeded.

Why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways?

Sending a package:
You send a shipment which goes by car to the water where it goes on a ship and becomes cargo.
 
kentishman said:
I could care less.

Should be I could not care less.
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Yes! Thank you!
That's a reeeeeeeally common one that some people haven't thought through thoroughly.

If you COULD care less, it denotes that there is some care there. If you couldn't care less, ZERO care. Lol.

Great one! Thank you!

My uncle pointed this out to me about 15 years ago (yes, my MOM's brother. Lol):
Ppl started leaving out the adverb "ly".

"I want that so bad."
"I want that so badly."

So thanks to him, I had a new "progression-stopper" in the world of conversation.

"Stop acting so crazy."
Sounds normal. But incorrect.
"Stop acting so crazily."---Correct.

Thanks uncle. That's everywhere, you bast-hole. Lol.

Thanks again, Kentishman!

I love these!
 
hogleg said:
One of my favorite words since childhood
 
Disgruntled 
 
And if Disgruntled is a word then Gruntled also must be a word is it not?
Click to expand...
  

Yes!!! I effing love that!!! And thanks to NECM and his quality linking abilities, I found a new word!!!!! see below

The_NorthEast_ChileMan said:
Of course! If  gruntle is a word, all derivatives (Verbs, adverbs, etc.) are also words.
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This is awesome! I've never explored the etymology of that word. While checking NECM's links, I happened upon this golden nugget of a word:
REGRUNTLED:
To return to humour; to cause a disgruntled person to cease being upset.

Thank you very much!!!
 
Bhuter said:
I'm a BIIIIIG word person, thanks to my over-corrective mother and George Carlin (the latter is funnier). I love George Carlin! I had most of his cassette tapes from the 70's on up. I saw him live once in California and twice here in Michigan, through the years.
Words are often misused, mispronounced, misspelled, and sometimes people just make words up and people just accept it, like: "irregardless"....
I like to think of phrases we use and think of them literally (yes, I spend too much time in my head, without quarantine).

YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE
Ok. This sounds like a really bad dream. Actually, It's the antithesis of that. Nightmare suck! We know that. And some dreams are good. You wouldn't consider THOSE your worst nightmares. But they are. Good dreams are pretty bad at being scary. So those are your WORST nightmares.
"You call yourself a nightmare? You're the worst!"

Does that make sense to anybody else but me?

This might cause semantic satiation, but:
Other things are words that lose their own meaning. Like "succeed". If somebody had succeeded and they're still doing the same thing, they haven't succeeded yet. Success means "the end". Once you've succeeded, you're done doing that.

I have loads of stupid shizz I think about when I'm sitting home alone and the power goes out (Carlin).

Anybody else too analytical?
Click to expand...
i always thought Carlin was top notch comedy. the seven dirty words you can`t say on television! feeling up Ellen.  farting in the closet!  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:
 
Reggie is a wordsmith and i`m sure when he finds this thread my guess he`ll have some to add.
 
luvmesump3pp3rz said:
i always thought Carlin was top notch comedy. the seven dirty words you can`t say on television! feeling up Ellen.  farting in the closet!  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:
 
Reggie is a wordsmith and i`m sure when he finds this thread my guess he`ll have some to add.
Click to expand...
Man, Carlin is/was so spot-on!

"If there are 2 ppl in an elevator and one of them farts, everybody knows who did it."

:rofl:

Reggie will probably correct my stuff and put me in my place. Lol.
 




"So about 80 years after the Constitution is ratified, the slaves are freed. Not so youd really notice it of course; just kinda on paper. And that of course was at the end of the Civil War. Now there is another phrase I dearly love. That is a true oxymoron if Ive ever heard one: Civil War. Do you think anybody in this country could ever really have a civil war? Say, pardon me? (shoots gun) Im awfully sorry. Awfully sorry.
-George Carlin
 
"Hot water heater."  This one kills me.
 
It's a "water heater." 
 
Another one that grates my cheese is the lack of using possessives or proper conjugation/tenses by a large segment of folks I deal with.
 
"My baby daddy."  {sic} 
 
"The door was lock." {sic}
 
"I went to Adam brother house." {sic} 
 
Oh, and this one - "conversate" {sic}   Used so often, many people take it to be real. The proper word of course is "converse." 
 
 
Edit: Just re-read the thread title, I guess grammar wasn't part of it but I had to include a few examples anyway....
 
Walchit said:




"So about 80 years after the Constitution is ratified, the slaves are freed. Not so youd really notice it of course; just kinda on paper. And that of course was at the end of the Civil War. Now there is another phrase I dearly love. That is a true oxymoron if Ive ever heard one: Civil War. Do you think anybody in this country could ever really have a civil war? Say, pardon me? (shoots gun) Im awfully sorry. Awfully sorry.
-George Carlin
Click to expand...
"This country was founded by slave owners who wanted to be free. So they killed a lot of white English people, in order to continue owning their black African people, so they can wipe out the rest of the red Indian people, and move west and steal the rest of the land from the brown Mexican people, giving them a place to take off and drop nuclear weapons on the yellow Japanese people."

"....'Please secure your own oxygen mask before helping your child with his'
I did not need to be told that. In fact I'm probably going to be too busy screaming to help him at all!!! This will be a good time for him to learn SELF-RELIANCE!"


Oh, Reggie........
There's ALWAYS time to correct somebody's grammar.

My mom actually bought me a shirt which read,
"Anuther Brilyunt Mind Diztroid By The Publik Edjukashun Sistum."

Great stuff!
 
I guess I'll continue using a pen/pencil and paper at home, at least. Unless 3M crashes and erases all of my Post-It Notes.

Thank you for hustling to fix the server problem, Boss! :clap:
 
Uncle_Eccoli said:
One of these days I'm going to cut somebody. 
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Yea........ I feel the same way!
 
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English is not my language but I've often wondered about the use of the words 'reduce down' when watching a US or UK cooking show.
 
Maybe one of you native English speakers can tell me why you add the word 'down' when 'reduce' alone should be enough. Using 'reduce down' is what we in Danish would call dobbeltkonfekt (a pleonasm). Or or are you magically able to reduce up also ;)
 
Another thing I've been wondering about is the fact that you call our neighboring country Sweden and the inhabitants Swedes but you call my country 'Denmark' and my people 'Danes'. Logically it should be either Danmark (which is the name we use) and Danes or Denmark and Denes or..??
 
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