Re: Most annoying word

[doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com]

On Tuesday 28 February 2006 07:47, John Posada wrote:
> ubiquitous
>

True story:  Some v-e-r-y smart smurfs at Sun announced at the first Java One 
conference that their goal for Java was to be "ubiquitous everywhere."  I, 
nonplussed, wondered in self-doubt if perhaps there was correctly no locative 
content in the meaning of ubiquitous.  Damned smurfs.

Most Annoying Word:  Actually.

My generalized, unanalyzed feeling is that 9 of 10 uses add nothing to 
meaning, but possibly serve some social function.  Like "red Volkswagen," you 
may not be aware of how common it is until you start looking for it.

Yet Another Most Annoying Word (YAMAW):  any preposition.

Especially where it is not obvious from/through/by/in context what preposition 
is called for.   But also because of their sneaky way of becoming causes for 
grammarians (don't end a sentence with one), and their seditiousness in 
becoming idiomatic adverbs strickly to amuse those gods who delight in 
pugnacious attempts to reconcile usage and grammar.  âThis is the sort of 
English up with which I cannot put.â

Thanks to Sir Winston (of?) Churchill for the quoted joust on/about/to this 
point. 

Ned Bedinger
doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- kong





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