More Language Issues
My good friend Jennifer Davis keeps adding to my list of annoying things people say and it inspired me to add a few more here. It's late, though, so I will be brief...or at least briefer than usual.
1. "more Unique" - according to Webster, the word Unique means: "Being the only one of its kind". If it is a one of a kind, how can something be more unique or the most unique? Can something be more one of a kind than something else? Of course not. Something is either unique or not, there are no degrees. Try "unusual" or "exceptional".
2. 110% - I understand that mathematically, there is a use for this expression as in "the cost of going to a movie has increased 110% since I was in college." Or the gas bill for my H2 is roughly 110% of my annual income. However, this should never be used to describe effort as in "he gave 110%, but still could not eat as many hotdogs as the petite Asian woman who dips the hotdog buns in water before she eats them. (Tangent warning: Ever notice that the champion hotdog eaters are almost always slender Asians? Is this some kind of illusion that David Blaine will tell us all about later?)
Basically, when it comes to effort, you can only give as much as you can give. That amount is 100% of your effort. Giving 10% more than you can possibly give leaves you with a bit of a puzzle. Either you haven't given as much as you can, or you just aren't that good at math and might should consider becoming a lawyer rather than a doctor. I should warn you though, going to law school is not easy. It might take as much as 136% of your effort.
3. "I strongly encourage you." This is a representative of an entire category that includes other phrases like "I strenuously object" and "I urge you in the strongest possible terms." To say "I strongly encourage you" is not in fact a strong admonition, but rather a description of some conduct that has not yet taken place. What you are really doing is describing what you would like to do rather than doing it. If you want to strongly encourage someone, tell them in different ways, offer them rewards, threaten them, yell, scream, jump up and down, involve pom-poms and usettlingly happy people who do cheers. Any one or combination of those things might strongly encourage someone to do something, but saying "I strongly encourage" is actually a pretty weak encouragement to the extent it is one at all. Don't tell me what you're doing, do it. If you want to "strongly" encourage, recommend, etc., then do so. Then you won't have to tell me that is what you are doing.
Imagine if we just removed all emotion from speech and replaced it with this sort of description.
College roomate 1: I angrily protest you leaving your disgusting dishes all over the appartment.
College roomate 2: I half-heartedly apologize.
CR1: I enragedly demand you get off your butt and pull your weight around here
CR2: I sarcastically point out that you are one to talk.
CR1: I sadly concede that you will never change.
CR2: I incredulously don't think I should have to.
You get the idea. Remember, describing something you might do is not the same as doing it.
1. "more Unique" - according to Webster, the word Unique means: "Being the only one of its kind". If it is a one of a kind, how can something be more unique or the most unique? Can something be more one of a kind than something else? Of course not. Something is either unique or not, there are no degrees. Try "unusual" or "exceptional".
2. 110% - I understand that mathematically, there is a use for this expression as in "the cost of going to a movie has increased 110% since I was in college." Or the gas bill for my H2 is roughly 110% of my annual income. However, this should never be used to describe effort as in "he gave 110%, but still could not eat as many hotdogs as the petite Asian woman who dips the hotdog buns in water before she eats them. (Tangent warning: Ever notice that the champion hotdog eaters are almost always slender Asians? Is this some kind of illusion that David Blaine will tell us all about later?)
Basically, when it comes to effort, you can only give as much as you can give. That amount is 100% of your effort. Giving 10% more than you can possibly give leaves you with a bit of a puzzle. Either you haven't given as much as you can, or you just aren't that good at math and might should consider becoming a lawyer rather than a doctor. I should warn you though, going to law school is not easy. It might take as much as 136% of your effort.
3. "I strongly encourage you." This is a representative of an entire category that includes other phrases like "I strenuously object" and "I urge you in the strongest possible terms." To say "I strongly encourage you" is not in fact a strong admonition, but rather a description of some conduct that has not yet taken place. What you are really doing is describing what you would like to do rather than doing it. If you want to strongly encourage someone, tell them in different ways, offer them rewards, threaten them, yell, scream, jump up and down, involve pom-poms and usettlingly happy people who do cheers. Any one or combination of those things might strongly encourage someone to do something, but saying "I strongly encourage" is actually a pretty weak encouragement to the extent it is one at all. Don't tell me what you're doing, do it. If you want to "strongly" encourage, recommend, etc., then do so. Then you won't have to tell me that is what you are doing.
Imagine if we just removed all emotion from speech and replaced it with this sort of description.
College roomate 1: I angrily protest you leaving your disgusting dishes all over the appartment.
College roomate 2: I half-heartedly apologize.
CR1: I enragedly demand you get off your butt and pull your weight around here
CR2: I sarcastically point out that you are one to talk.
CR1: I sadly concede that you will never change.
CR2: I incredulously don't think I should have to.
You get the idea. Remember, describing something you might do is not the same as doing it.
Comments
Me: Please stop doing that.
Son: [ignoring me]
Me: Please stop doing that. I REALLY mean it. Stop.
[as opposed to before when I didn't mean it.]
Son: [ignoring me]
Me: Hey, stop! I am serious. Do it again and you'll be in real trouble [as opposed to before when I wasn't serious and before he was in trouble]. Do you want to be in trouble?
Son: No. [slight wimpering starts here]
Me: Then I strongly suggest you stop doing that.
Eek!
Plus, when it comes to talking to kids all bets are off. It's like trying to survive in a strange wilderness. You stop trying to do things "right" or act like you would in civilization and just do your best to stay alive.
Grammar, logic, reason, etc. are all a luxury you can't afford because he's pouring grape juice on the carpet and you just need it to stop no matter how.