- When someone pronounces et cetera (/et ˈsedərə/) as “eggseddera”. We are not making salad with mayonnaise; we are denoting the fact that there are more things in a list we aren’t mentioning. There’s a T in there, friends, let’s use it.
- The word trainings, e.g., “we’re having some trainings on proper use of company credit cards.” I know we talk about meetings, but trainings was never pluralized until I entered the NGO space. Now I’m going to go have a walkings with my dog.
- Corollary: Learnings. E.g.: What learnings have you taken away from this event?
- When someone talks about being orientated towards something. Especially when it’s a BBC reporter. I suppose this is a British English thing, but it still hits me like nails on a chalkboard. You’re oriented towards something. You attend an orientation.
What bastardizations of the English language have you heard lately?
Oh how I loathe “orientated.” Crocodile Hunter used to say it all the damn time, so I guess it’s Australian too.
I have so many, I don’t know where to start, but to narrow it down somewhat, I’ll go with any kind of corporate jargon that verbs a noun. “Architect” is a noun. Anyone who is going to “architect” something is telling you that they have no idea what they’re doing, but it’s going to be expensive and convoluted and ultimately useless.