Author Topic: Words not to use...  (Read 11499 times)

stealth

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Words not to use...
« on: March 02, 2008, 07:34:44 PM »
Going through a journalism style guide, I came across a list of cliché's and words that shouldn't be used...

A few humours ones...

armed gunmen - An absurdity.  Think about it.
enormity - Means "great wickedness", not "huge size".
literally - "He literally lost his head." Did he really?

hans

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Re: Words not to use...
« Reply #1 on: March 03, 2008, 09:42:06 AM »
Um,
enormity can mean "big"
Code: [Select]
e·nor·mi·ty
–noun, plural -ties
3. greatness of size, scope, extent, or influence; immensity: The enormity of such an act of generosity is staggering.

And literally could sort of be used right there (def 4)
Code: [Select]
lit·er·al·ly
–adverb
3. actually; without exaggeration or inaccuracy: The city was literally destroyed.
4. in effect; in substance; very nearly; virtually.

I'll give you armed gunmen though.

Better choices for the words exists but that doesn't mean you shouldn't use them if you use them correctly in a sentence.
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Mike

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Re: Words not to use...
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2008, 09:59:23 AM »
literally - "He literally lost his head." Did he really?
"He got shot in the head from a 50 cal and literally lost his head".  Yep that works :p

So three armed gunmen enter some place and one of them gets disarmed, wouldn't they then be an unarmed gunman?  Ok that one was weak

micah

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Re: Words not to use...
« Reply #3 on: March 03, 2008, 11:25:14 AM »
literally - "He literally lost his head." Did he really?
"He got shot in the head from a 50 cal and literally lost his head".  Yep that works :p

So three armed gunmen enter some place and one of them gets disarmed, wouldn't they then be an unarmed gunman?  Ok that one was weak

but thats a good point, what is he called at the point that he drops his gun?

or what if he's in a position with the job title of "gunman" but is not currently armed? 

also, you could say something like the following without being redundant:

The gunman, armed with an AK-47, stormed into the bank and fired several rounds into the ceiling.
"I possess a device, in my pocket, that is capable of accessing the entirety of information known to man.  I use it to look at pictures of cats and get in arguments with strangers."

charlie

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Re: Words not to use...
« Reply #4 on: March 03, 2008, 11:46:54 AM »
but thats a good point, what is he called at the point that he drops his gun?

man?

Rob

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Re: Words not to use...
« Reply #5 on: March 03, 2008, 01:34:16 PM »
Ooh, ooh, my go. My pet peeve is people who talk about "towing the line". WTF?

Oh, and "Baited breath" :lol:

Stephen

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Re: Words not to use...
« Reply #6 on: March 03, 2008, 02:02:13 PM »
I think it's toe the line?

Rob

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Re: Words not to use...
« Reply #7 on: March 03, 2008, 02:05:08 PM »
I think it's toe the line?

Indeed. Which is precisely why tow the line annoys me so much. Also it's bated breath.

charlie

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Re: Words not to use...
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2008, 02:18:23 PM »
I dunno. I've known a few people that certainly seemed to have baited breath.

Stephen

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Re: Words not to use...
« Reply #9 on: March 03, 2008, 02:50:07 PM »
I think it's toe the line?

Indeed. Which is precisely why tow the line annoys me so much. Also it's bated breath.

I see. I've never used the phrase as, even when it's used correctly, it's cliche.

Mike

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Re: Words not to use...
« Reply #10 on: March 03, 2008, 03:16:46 PM »
"He was towing the line in with his baited breath after the nasty catfish dinner."

stealth

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Re: Words not to use...
« Reply #11 on: March 03, 2008, 07:33:21 PM »
Um,
enormity can mean "big"
Code: [Select]
e·nor·mi·ty
–noun, plural -ties
3. greatness of size, scope, extent, or influence; immensity: The enormity of such an act of generosity is staggering.

I know what you mean, and have used it in that context myself.  The general view seems to be that it's incorrect usage of the word.

http://www.answers.com/topic/enormity
http://www.cjr.org/resources/lc/enormity.php
http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-eno1.htm

hans

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Re: Words not to use...
« Reply #12 on: March 03, 2008, 09:54:54 PM »
In college, one of the best essays I had to write was one which we weren't allowed to use any flavor of "to be" (e.g. is, was, etc) and had to describe a fall day.
It was really hard but taught you to use more powerful and meaningful words. This was also the same class that many students were not very good at and the teacher wrote a sentence and told us to circle the noun and underline the verb. About half the class got it wrong.
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Mike

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Re: Words not to use...
« Reply #13 on: March 04, 2008, 12:06:02 AM »
Glad I didn't have to take that class.  We did something similar though in my engineering writing class.  We took a perfectly good sentence and added crap to it to make it bloated.  Showed us how a nice succinct idea can be lost in a poor sentence

Ken Fitlike

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Re: Words not to use...
« Reply #14 on: March 04, 2008, 06:56:30 AM »
Oh, and "Baited breath" :lol:

Aye.

I dunno. I've known a few people that certainly seemed to have baited breath.

Aye aye.
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Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?.