> > > Come to think of it, I don't even get "all of a sudden" that much.
> >
> > But it's ok, because it's an idiom (and English is FULL of them) that's been around a long time. "All the sudden" (which, I guess I'm happy to say, I've never actually seen or heard) sounds like someone stupid that didn't hear the expression right and repeated it incorrectly. I can't stomach that.
> >
> > Same thing with "I could care less." I hate that with a deep-seated passion, too. It's a corruption of "I couldn't care less," which is an expression that makes sense and that I use myself. Again, somebody misheard it, didn't think about it, and dropped the "n't." And it caught on.
> >
> > Idiots.
>
> Speaking of corrupted language, one word that hits me like nails on a chalkboard is "irregardless". It's not even a word. "Regardless" itself is a negation of the sentence which it preceeds. The prefix "ir" negates as well. So, when someone says it, there actually stating a meaning that is the opposite of their intentions. They may as well not have used a word there at all. In fact, let's just not let those people speak whatsoever.

"Of course, people that pay attention to morons (for other than entertainment purposes) are morons themselves, and that's even worse. If there's anything worse than a moron, it's a congregation of them sharing non-ideas with each other. I'm not saying we should stop them -- that would be an illegal and undesirable infringement on our rights as a whole -- I'm just saying it should be legal to shoot stupid people." - Samuel Stoddard

Dar "The number of people who misuse and abuse the word 'hopefully' is aggravating... and don't even start on pronoun agreement" ien