It bugs me when people say “the thing is is that” (if you listen for it, you’ll start hearing it… or maybe that’s something that people only do in my area.) (“What the thing is is that…” is fine. But “the thing is is that…” bugs me.)

Also, “just because <blank> doesn’t mean <blank>.” That sentence structure invites one to take “just because <blank>” as a noun phrase which my brain really doesn’t want to do. Just doesn’t seem right. But that sentence structure is very common.

And I’m not saying there’s anything objectively wrong with either of these. Language is weird and complex and beautiful. It’s just fascinating that some commonly-used linguistic constructions just hit some people wrong sometimes.

Edit: I thought of another one. “As best as I can.” “The best I can” is fine, “as well as I can” is good, and “as best I can” is even fine. But “as best as” hurts.

  • Chadus_Maximus@lemm.ee
    52·
    6 months ago

    The letter w. Absolutely unjustified existence vhen v can be used instead. Also referring to people as pupil. Nothing else in English sounds as bad. Like, there isn’t even anything fundamentally vrong with it. It’s just bad.

    • MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io
      10·
      6 months ago

      Vhile ve are at it, Chadus, let’s get rid of the letter u as vell. It is redicvlovs to have so many letters to keep track of vhen a covple can do dovble dvty as consonants and vovels alike, as the letter y does. Actualli, let’s do avai vith “y.” And “j” too for simpliciti. “I” mai vork iust as vell in both iobs.