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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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 Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 5:25 pm Post subject: |
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| I consider "like" abuse to be the verbal version of littering. |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 5:37 pm Post subject: |
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"on so many levels"
(when you press people who say this you find out that there are two or at most three meanings recognized - shallower than deep, by the shallow) |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Delirium's Brother wrote: |
| The contrast of pro-active is reactive or retroactive, perhaps. In that contrastive sense, it is a useful word. What makes pro-active annoying is its over-use and mis-use. |
Exactly. An over-used, psychobabble euphemism. It has a bureaucratic tinge to it, also.
Makes me irritable.  |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 6:06 pm Post subject: |
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| desultude wrote: |
| Delirium's Brother wrote: |
| The contrast of pro-active is reactive or retroactive, perhaps. In that contrastive sense, it is a useful word. What makes pro-active annoying is its over-use and mis-use. |
Exactly. An over-used, psychobabble euphemism. It has a bureaucratic tinge to it, also.
Makes me irritable. |
It is bureaucratese of the first water. Corporatese, too. And yeah, psychobabbly, New-Agey, and just smarmy as fark.
Bureaucrats use it in their PR to convince taxpayers they're really bustin' ass for your won, euro, dollar when they aren't. In the corporate world, I think it's more commonly used in internal pep talks by the Big Man to the desk-slaves. "I want to thank you all for your active efforts (ass-bustin') last year, and I encourage you to be pro-active (bust even more ass) in the coming fiscal period. Thank you." |
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The Hammer
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Ullungdo 37.5 N, 130.9 E, altitude : 223 m
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| Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 7:05 pm Post subject: |
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Detention Center = Jail = Prison = Fiery Death Trap
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SPINOZA
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul
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| Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 10:45 pm Post subject: |
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Euphemism: many posters in this thread have used it as a platform for expressing concerns about language-use that - whilst being outside the category of 'euphemism' - are pressing issues that deserve serious consideration.
Disphemism/reality: Many English teachers on Daves clearly don't know what a euphemism is. |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 10:56 pm Post subject: |
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Comfort women --- sex slaves
Friendly fire --- shooting a comrade
Conservative --- scared (of change)
passed away --- died
person with disabilty/illness --- disabled/sick person
The American people (maybe not a euphemism but a painful expression) --- Americans |
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superacidjax
Joined: 17 Oct 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 12:22 am Post subject: |
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| jajdude wrote: |
person with disabilty/illness --- disabled/sick person
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disabled -- handicapped. |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 4:06 am Post subject: |
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| superacidjax wrote: |
| jajdude wrote: |
person with disabilty/illness --- disabled/sick person
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disabled -- handicapped. |
True. PC has taken over. Retarded is an absolute no no now. |
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hairy sue
Joined: 18 May 2006
Location: weewee heaven
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| Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 4:51 am Post subject: |
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| "to convince taxpayers"....that's funny |
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Young FRANKenstein
Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)
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| Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 5:39 am Post subject: |
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| "zero tolerance" seems to be a euphemism for "can't be arsed to think about anything, so we'll treat all cases the same even though it makes us look retarded...oops, mentally disabled" |
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Delirium's Brother
Joined: 08 May 2006
Location: Out in that field with Rumi, waiting for you to join us!
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| Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 5:34 am Post subject: |
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| stevemcgarrett wrote: |
Or, alternatively and in my case usually:
insurgent = terrorist |
Thank-you for calling me on that one. It has been bugging me for a while that I wrote that. I was being too flippant. What I really meant to say was:
insurgent
= terrorist, sometimes
= local mafioso, sometimes
= nationalist fighters, sometimes
= sectarian fighters, sometimes
= former regime fighters, sometimes
= others fighting for unclear reasons...
The thing that bugs me about the word insurgents, as it is commonly used, is that it obscures a lot of complexity on the ground. I guess the one thing that they all have in common is that they are fighting against the American/British coalition in Iraq, but I am always curious why each group might be fighting.
I'm all about the peace... but I know this:
| Sun Tzu, c. 544 � 496 BC, wrote: |
| If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. |
There is some wisdom there, I think. |
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swetepete
Joined: 01 Nov 2006
Location: a limp little burg
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| Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 5:45 am Post subject: |
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By far the worst: at Starbucks they had a post-it by the sugar and cream table saying "if you want Equal brand sweetener, please ask one of our partners."
Ah, c'mon...they're employees, not partners! They're partners like a queen bee and her drones, or like I'm partners with my dinner. |
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Ginormousaurus
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
Location: 700 Ft. Pulpit
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| Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:17 am Post subject: |
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| Mowie wrote: |
| "Climate change" as the softer version of "Global Warming" irritates me as well. |
I'd say that "climate change" would be a more appropriate word since some areas of the world are getting warmer while other parts are experiencing cooler temperatures. |
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Ginormousaurus
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
Location: 700 Ft. Pulpit
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| Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:20 am Post subject: |
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| swetepete wrote: |
By far the worst: at Starbucks they had a post-it by the sugar and cream table saying "if you want Equal brand sweetener, please ask one of our partners."
Ah, c'mon...they're employees, not partners! They're partners like a queen bee and her drones, or like I'm partners with my dinner. |
Of my exgirlfriends works at a resort in Indonesia. All the staff are refered to as "Gentle Members". How stupid is that? |
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