Words, usages, and phrases that annoy the shit out of you...

People misusing “nonplussed” or any word and then being like “well language evolves you know”

flappy bird, that begs the question about what we're really disinterested in.

is misuse of nonplussed just due to confusion btwn it and nonchalant? or is it mis-derived somehow from "not plus."

it's because it kind of sounds like what people think it means

only if plussed meant enthusiastic

it doesn't have to

or i guess not enthusiastic - just having any kind of reaction? it's a kinda weird association tbh. which makes me think it's maybe just confusion bc of nonchalant which means what ppl seem to think nonplussed means.

I really don't think it's confusion with nonchalant

I've actually thought about this a lot

This was mentioned above, my pet theory is that it rhymes with "not fussed"

See also ppl thinking "craven" means shameless - this is everywhere these days and I'm pretty sure it's just cause it sounds a bit like "brazen"

Maybe it's something to do with all of the 'un-' words we have denoting passive states.

unconcerned
unperturbed
undisturbed
unimpressed
unemotional
unruffled
unmoved

If we don't have another meaning for 'nonplussed', we're inclined to hear it as falling in this category.

Like "craven", tv chefs/critics etc using 'unctuous' to mean, idk, attractively oozy rather than just greasy/oily

Nonplussed dates back to Google Plus and means something you couldn't even be bothered to 'plus one' ("like")

also patently/blatantly although I guess that's not so bad as the intended meaning is usually the same

Never heard nonplussed used in that way before - lol Americans p'raps?

“happy new years”, unless it’s become 2018 and 2019 and i missed a key development

flappy bird, that begs the question about what we're really disinterested in.

And yea apologies I just realized I’m definitely the one that brought up “nonplussed” itt p recently

Seems to me that “happy new years” incorporates the elision so well-beloved by North Americans with the confusion and imprecision so well-beloved by humans everywhere, where the "day" in "happy New Year's Day" gets chopped off and the stump, "happy New Year's" is conflated with the more general greeting, "happy New Year" often used on days that are near to, but not, January 1st.

"unctuous" is unusual in that it's the reanimation of a medieval sense otherwise lost to cynicism: it was once a positive word, in culinary and in religious terms. in the ritual or religious sense, "unction" still maintains some of sense of the approval -- the anointment of the monarch or of the dying -- tho (this is where the cynicism comes in) the adjective seems to have become more associated with fake piety a loooong time ago

basically the problem for chefs is that they very much need a word for the approving quality, but all the ones to hand have gone negative on them: "it's really oily! but in a good way!"

unless it’s become 2018 and 2019 and i missed a key development

Would that mean twice as many birthday presents?

I think the downfall of unctuous as a positive word was when it was extended to describe a slick, flattering "oily" personality.

i like it as a culinary term, it has good mouthfeel

Plussed, that great term we all use

Also language evolves

omg...

Where it all went wrong for nonplus was in the verbing. “Reduced to a nonplus” much less likely to be, uh, confused

“happy new years”, unless it’s become 2018 and 2019 and i missed a key development

Now that is lol Americans.

figured it was an apostrophe as in "Happy New Year's..." as in "Happy New Year's Eve"

still shit

nobody says “merry christ”

it's already an elision of Christ's Mass

“merry mass” would make more sense then

"data detox"

oof haven't heard that one yet, my sympathies

all the data ones are bad

"data wrangler"

ffs

big data
big ag
big pharma
big oil
big tobacco

big hair

"normies"

failson

3 days behind

oooo word, well it bears repeating

seems antithetical

lol ok otm

idk

Seems kinda like there could be a hiatus on dudes/bros for a while when used as short

hand for dislike of men

idk tho

phantom submit there dudes btw

a balmy _____ degrees

Glamping.

Nicknames for Donald Trump

45 scoops of cheetos