[dicklont]

Trinidad, on 2012-January-18, 17:28, said:

Dutch people who think that they know how to speak English but use terms like "World convention" when they mean "Leaping Michaels" (or "undertaker" when they mean "entrepreneur", i.e. someone who undertakes some activity) leaving those who actually do speak English completely confused.

Rik

One of the best known examples of Dunglish took place between the Dutch foreign minister Joseph Luns (a man whose main foreign language was French, the language of diplomacy prior to World War II) and John F. Kennedy. At one point Kennedy inquired what hobby Luns had, to which he replied "I fok horses". The Dutch verb fokken meaning to breed. Kennedy then replied "Pardon?" a word which Luns then mistook as the Dutch word for "horses" ("paarden") and enthusiastically responded "Yes, paarden!"[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunglish

[gwnn]

people who complain about computer dealt hands

[MickyB]

gwnn, on 2012-January-28, 06:10, said:

people who complain about computer dealt hands

On the way back from a match in which we had lost to a much weaker team, one of our players blamed the captain for allowing pre-dealt boards to be used, which had led to wilder distributions and thus greater variance. Not only should we have dealt by hand, we should have been careful to avoid shuffling too much.

[paulg]

gwnn, on 2012-January-28, 06:10, said:

people who complain about computer dealt hands

MickyB, on 2012-January-28, 06:51, said:

On the way back from a match in which we had lost to a much weaker team, one of our players blamed the captain for allowing pre-dealt boards to be used, which had led to wilder distributions and thus greater variance. Not only should we have dealt by hand, we should have been careful to avoid shuffling too much.

Was he from the West of Scotland? Fear of computer-dealt boards is endemic there.

[FrancesHinden]

Phrases such as "the average businesswoman spends £400 per year on.." or "the average household has 3 televisions" . They mean "the average number of televisions per household is...." but what they say is something completely different, and often meaningless.

And I hate pre-things. What does 'pre-reserved' or 'pre-warned' mean that 'reserved' or 'warned' doesn't?

[barmar]

FrancesHinden, on 2012-January-28, 13:50, said:

Phrases such as "the average businesswoman spends £400 per year on.." or "the average household has 3 televisions" . They mean "the average number of televisions per household is...." but what they say is something completely different, and often meaningless.

It's precisely because the literal wording is meaningless that it DOES mean what they intend. It can't mean what was said, so it's easy to interpret it. And after enough uses, the that's what the phrase means.

[Phil]

The following:

1) I only need about three hours of sleep every night;
2) I had seven hundred emails today.

[Phil]

FrancesHinden, on 2012-January-28, 13:50, said:

And I hate pre-things. What does 'pre-reserved' or 'pre-warned' mean that 'reserved' or 'warned' doesn't?

You and George Carlin

[Trinidad]

FrancesHinden, on 2012-January-28, 13:50, said:

And I hate pre-things. What does 'pre-reserved' or 'pre-warned' mean that 'reserved' or 'warned' doesn't?

Well, this thread is all about pre-venting.

When I was doing my PhD work, you had to start by coming up with a research proposal that you needed to defend for your exam committee. For some reason that I never understood this was called a "pre-proposal". I still find this one of the ugliest words I know.

Rik

[y66]

re: pre-reserved:

In Learning Python (2006), M Lutz wrote "In Python 2.6, the words with and as are scheduled to become new reserved words.

[gordontd]

I heard a new annoying phrase recently. When our plane landed we were told that we wouldn't immediately be able to "deplane the aircraft".

And I'm irritated by those who "give 110 percent"

[BunnyGo]

gordontd, on 2012-January-29, 13:28, said:

I heard a new annoying phrase recently. When our plane landed we were told that we wouldn't immediately be able to "deplane the aircraft".

And I'm irritated by those who "give 110 percent"

While in general I agree with both, they've been using the former for years now (gah!) and the latter is technically possible. For example, you can give 110% of what you can do safely. Thus (likely) injuring yourself, but getting the job done. This happens a lot in engineering with safety limits etc.

[barmar]

People who complain about figures of speech because their literal meanings don't make sense.

[gwnn]

Complaining is not the same as posting in a pet peeve thread methinks.

[Vampyr]

Phil, on 2012-January-28, 19:14, said:

1) I only need about three hours of sleep every night;

This is a peeve? You are so lucky.

[BunnyGo]

barmar, on 2012-January-29, 15:25, said:

People who complain about figures of speech because their literal meanings don't make sense.

XKCD was topical and amusing again! I'd never think aquaman was useful though.

[gwnn]

People who think xkcd is always funny! (ok ok this time it was pretty funny)

[gordontd]

Those who think offering to play high-stakes money bridge against someone strengthens their argument.

[mgoetze]

FrancesHinden, on 2012-January-28, 13:50, said:

Phrases such as "the average businesswoman spends £400 per year on.." or "the average household has 3 televisions" . They mean "the average number of televisions per household is...." but what they say is something completely different, and often meaningless.

On a related note, I am peeved by people wanting the mean even after I've tried to explain to them that the median would be much more useful in the given situation.

[andy_h]

Dummies that table their cards that is perfectly visible to all but they then proceed to spend the next two minutes with their hands on top of the tabled cards rearranging them endlessly.