Overused Terms and Clichés
Requested by Liesolotte: “things that are said way too much, and plotlines that are strikingly predictable.”
Date: May 2, 2007
Categories: Life, The Universe
Thursday, 28 March 2024
Life, the universe, pies, hot-pink bunnies, world domination, and everything
Requested by Liesolotte: “things that are said way too much, and plotlines that are strikingly predictable.”
Date: May 2, 2007
Categories: Life, The Universe
–resists urge to scream “ERAGON” at top of lungs–
-cougheragoncough-
Yes, I do harbor a deep and unrivaled hatred for that book. And you really don’t want to ask why, because you’ll get a rant that you probably don’t care about.
The books are good, but the plot is basically Star Wars minus the Death Star.
Durza is the Death Star.
Yeah, pretty much. I was actually going to say the Urgal army, but now that you say it that makes a lot more sense.
There were some semi-oroiginal ideas though, and it was rather well written.
1- I’ve noticed. You seem to mention it every three threads. It isn’t the best, but there are worse. I think I may have to reread it just to see what you’re talking about.
Don’t
you’ll be wasting you’r time. That book should be read once then put down in the basement with all the other books that hit the best selling list and became the worst movie ever.
I think it’s only famous because of the age of its author.
Um, like, “like”?
©
(3) vintageboy,
Are you the MBer formerly known as jammin j?
4- Yah, like, totally, like I know for, like a fact, and, like, it’s so, likie, dumb.
I have to say, the first Shannara book by Terry Pratchett is a direct ripoff from Tolkien. But don’t hold it too hard against him, he was trying to create his world and characters, and he’s really an exceptional writer. And it’s still a fun read.
1- I read Eragon this week, against my better judgement.
I liked it. *cringe*
I could totally see the ripoffs and plagiarism, but I still liked it. Don’t whip me. *dies of hypocritism*
I know what you mean.
Plotline for just about any fantasy book you will ever read:
Young underdog is made a hero by magic/secret noble bloodlines/something else and proceeds to save the world from tyranny/certain DOOM/other nasty occurances and lives happily ever after. ^_^.
:idea:TNO:idea:
9 – no, no, NO!!! have u ever read The Shaktra, Alosha, The Yanti, Flyte, LotR, and other amazing Fantasy books? your description is inaccurate!!!
have you ever noticed? how people? speak in questions? and, like, how? annoying that is? like, seriously?
8- You’re not alone.
I knew that what’s-his-name-I-know-it-begins-with-M-because-that’s-how-you-tell-people-are-evil was that-other-emperor-guys-son. Or maybe I knew that he was Eragon’s brother. Or maybe both.
He’s Eragon’s brother? dang, you spoiled it for me!
After my family watched Pochahontas, my dad kept saying “(name) speaks with a wisdom beyond her years” (which is a quote from that movie) whenever someone said something smart. I got so annoyed.
13- I’m really really sorry! I forgot that that wasn’t in Eragon. I always forget that other people dislike spoilers. I’m so sorry.
Big Clichés/overused phrases I can think of: (And no, I did not think of these just now. I did it for Poetry class. Actually, we did them together as a class. That’s why they’re in alphabetical order)
All That Jazz
As Far as the Eye can See
As the Crow Flies
Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies
At the end of the rope
Back to the drawing board
Bark is worse than it’s Bite
Better late than never
Bite your tongue
Break a leg
Butterflies in stomach
Chip off the old block
Cry over spilled milk
Cute as a button
Don’t count your chickens before they hatch
Don’t judge a book by its cover
Don’t rock the boat
Dumb as a doornail
Easy as abc/123
Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth
Grow like a weed
Haste makes waste
Hope Springs Eternal
Hot water
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride
In the nick of time
Joined at the hip
Knuckle Sandwich
Long time no see
Luck of the Draw
Make a mountain out of a molehill
Make your blood boil
My Way or the Highway
No brainer
No strings attached
Off your rocker
On the same page
Over the top
Penny saved is a penny earned
Plain and simple
Put your best foot forward
Raining cats and dogs
Rhyme and reason
Sharp as a tack
Sick as a dog
Silence is golden
Slow as molasses in January
Splitting hairs
Take the bull by the horns
The way the cookie crumbles
Time flies when you’re having fun
Too many chefs spoil the soup
Two heads are better than one
Watched pot never boils
Whatever floats your boat
When it rains, it pours
Wrong side of the tracks
Like, oh my god?
MY FAMILY DIED
IM GONNA GO AVENGE THEM NOW
BUT I’M TOO WEAK
OH WAIT NVM I JUST GOT STRONG
-SAVES WORLD-
-COMES OF AGE-
THE END
Or:
(Extremely unlikely/weird name) is a social outcast. No one talked to him, and he talks to no one, and that’s the way he likes it. Until one day November/similarly named spunky girl came along and changed everything
I have so many more. I get so fed up with book plotlines. I stopped reading stuff in the kids section early because THEY WERE AL THE SAME BOOK.
Also, I can;’t tell you how many times a book summary is prefaced with a parent death. No disrespect meant to those who have had family members die, but it’s so contrived, so overdone. People don’t need to die for you to be emotionally moved.
18-Even though those are cliches, many experts agree there are 3, 7, 42, or 112 different book plots. Just so you know.
18- Hmm. Nobody dies in my books. Or at least not so far. The RRRs, on the other hand…
I agree, saving the world from certain doom, etc. is definitely cliche. But it depends on the book, really. Maybe the plots are remarkably similar in most books (or maybe they’re not), but some are more subtle and enjoyable. They’re not all as weirdly dramatic as you say. And you have to take into account different writing styles. If a writing style is good enough, who cares if the plot has been used twenty times? And also the details make a difference. For example, if you take out all the details and keep only the barest bones, you can sum up almost any fantasy/adventure/scifi
book as: Some people saved a place from a horrible fate. Or else they didn’t.
Axa, I think that applies to all books of the aforesaid genres, and not just children’s and YA.
3-I never got the book, cuz it was always out in the library… and since I have’nt read the book, I thought the movie was pretty good. But I assume my opinion will change when I will read it.
4-My friend once dared me to use the word “like” inbetween every word I said for a whole day. He got my quarter
8-*whips Kiki anyway* Just kidding.
Overused phrases I overuse:
Oh My Gawd
What was that?
Hey look a ____ (ex. cow, moose, water bottle)
I like pie
WTF?
And it was all really ____ (ex. gross, weird, disturbing)
Resistance is Museless
Koko for president
*nods head* I know, I know (when I dont)
Nasty!
Go eat a ___ (ex. cow, moose, water bottle)
SHOES! OMG SHOES!
_____ rules the world
_____ will rule the world one day
And you know it
That was absolutly ____ (ex. gross, ridiculous)
Dum Dum, you give me gum gum.
Wee cacca?
And thats about it.
And thats about it.
My overused phrases:
No s***, Sherlock.
Really? Never would have guessed!
Hey look! A distraction!
____________(do/don’t do something) or I will kill you.
Holy s***!
(said with Mafia-type accent)You got a problem with that?
(also said with Mafia-type accent)You talking to/looking at me?
Yeah, I guess I swear a lot. You got a problem wid dat?
Lol…this isn’t technically a cliche, but I know this trio of guys, and one of them will say, “Hey, look, a _____!”, and then another will go, “I’ll show you a (same thing as first one said)!”, and then the last one will be like, “I’ll show you mom a (same thing as the others said)!”…it can get pretty nasty…tehe…
I like Eragon.
22-Oh I do too. its a bad habit
I say hey look a distraction a lot too… I have so much more!
Cliche:
What’s your screenname?
Be careful about making fun of people who use “like” too often by using it yourself. My aunt tried it and it took her three months to stop saying “like” every three sentances.
16- Actually, there are a couple of those I’ve never heard before…
20- Second. As long as something is well written and creative, it doesn’t really matter to me if the plot is exactly the same. Look at P.G. Wodehouse’s books. All of his plots are essentially the same (and he wrote a lot of books) but they are so exquisitely written that you don’t really care. Though plots that are really different make a nice change.
Cliches:
Your face is ____
Get a life
Borat accents
I love/hate you
Idk (there’s another one) I’ve got homework to do.
I’ve been trying to come up with a truly uncliche plot. Suggestions? Or should this go on Books in Progress?
I have one but I’m using it.
When my sister says something unbelievable, I say, “I believe that like I believe you have a green beard” or something along those lines. It’s my variation of “when pigs fly.” Of course, when she gets out the markers and draws a green beard on, then it doesn’t work so well…
28- Yeah, it should. If you put it there, I will try to think of some suggestions.
YOUR MOMS.
ALL OF THEM.
8 (Kiki)- NUUU RETURN TO THE LIGHT.
Actually, I don’t care that much if other people like Eragon, so long as they recognize that it’s, so to speak, a vole.
Mostly I have such a horrible vendetta against it because Mr. Paolini doesn’t deserve all the hype, imo. Maybe it’s a bit of a jealousy thing, or something.
HIS MOM TOO.
CALL [snip] EMPIRE TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[??? –Robert]
Why is kt’s dad posting? And saying something that should be snipped?
The snipped bit was an 800 phone number. It looks to me as if a spambot may be using their e-mail program (or at least spoofing their address). If so, they ought to know about it. That’s why I approved the comment.
31- He doesn’t, but neither does Lemony Snicket. And he doesn’t even have an excuse. It’s not like he was a kid and wrote a 500-page book. And I’m sorry, but I don’t really think Harry Potter does either. Who cares about hype, anyway? And rejoice. The book is a thousand times better than the movie. (I saw some of it last night. Grrrrr. I’m not even a purist when it comes to Eragon.)
Math is overused *gack*. What does absolute value have to do with second degree inequalities anyway???
I like Eragon. I refused point blank to go and see the movie though. Harry Potter is BAD. The first three or so were pretty good, but then it got BAD.
Hmmm… Cliches.
24/7.
Cliche.
Stuff.
Hurrah!
One thing I say too much: cliche. I am hypersensitive to movie cliches as well as book cliches. Here are ones that particularly annoy me:
girl finds/wants/owns horse/dog or aspires to be ____. Father disproves. various scenes ensue. Father approves. The End. (the plot of far too many movies to name)
protagonist or villain is two dimensional-has no depth.
Girl in love with the ‘cute guy’-who turns out to be just perfect! they get together-the end.
teenager is either moody/depressed, obssessed with dating, blonde and popular, or unsure of him/herself.
I’m sure their are plenty more, but these are the ones I immediately thought of. Overused phrases are:
ohmigod/gosh
he is soooooo cute/hot/whatever
retarded
As for Eragon, I LIKE IT. The movie is horrible, but the book is an honorable and enjoyable effort. It has its slight cliches but usually they just hide something deeper. This is especially revealed in Eldest. The plot isn’t such a big mystery as it’s supposed to be- I knew the dude who-you know who I mean- was related to him right away.
I do have one criticism for CP- he doesn’t know how to run a fandom. JK Rowling keeps up a steady flow of hints and suggestions to keep us interested, but the excitement has kind of worn off in the Eragon department in the hiatus between Eldest and Book three.
I say “aforesaid” too much. At least I have in the past few days.
I do that “heh heh heh no.” thing a lot. My friend says “You so killed it” even when there was’nt a joke.
Women crying on people’s chests. Way overused. Also identical twins being telepathic communications to Earth from spaceships. Oh, and triadic relationships.
7-Terry Brooks wrote the Shannara series. Pratchett wrote Discworld. Not that you can really tell, though.
36-Math is the most important thing you can learn.
I thought of another one. “Your mom.”
Math is the most important and the most boring thing you can learn. Like chard is good for you, yet abhorrent and revolting.
ERAGON ROX!!!
42-So true. Once there was this kid who said “Your mom” way too much so I said “Who do you secretly smooch with at night” and he said “Your mom” and I laughed cuz it was funny.
I’m undecided on Eragon. I can see how people could like it, but also how they could hate it. And I hated the movie.
21- LOL!!!!! *realises that he has just used something overused* but i like lol…. the omg shoes thing. you do not know how much i agree with you. iI DESPISE THAT THING. (oh. for some of the more lucky people, i am referring to a very stupid and incredibly popular youtube video)
25- i fail to see why.
44-umm. right.
eragon had poblems…but it was still an interesting read. i read it 6 times…very boring to know a ton of lines fom it. movie was he worst thing i have ever wasted money on. i hate myself.
Cliches:
Cliche
wat da heck(i say that to everything)
go to heck(more fun to say)
I’ll play it by ear(epecially when they say it on the phone..ugh)
you always generalize!!! hahaha
i’ve told you a million times…don’t exaggerate! also funny
yeah, right
yur momma
sarcastic laughing(oh, wait…i do that all the time)
and thats about it.
5-no thats not me, i am different and i like eragon(not the movie)
The first book was OK. Yeah, I know it was cliched, but there were some really interesting parts (i.e., Angela & Solembum). The movie reeked, and the second book reeked even worse. All Eragon did in Eldest was whine and act stupid. Sorry, Eragon fans, but it’s true.
43-I like math.
My friend’s catchphrase is the phone number of Empire Carpets, we all know the number and even if I posted it, Robert would snip it…
can we say stuff that we think gets too much credit? if so:
harry potter
harry potter
harry potter
he is a whiny little boy who is always taking credit for stuff that other people save him from. he should die. someday i will meet him and punch him in the face. he he.
49-i agree completely
“Cliches are not good practice, so avoid them like the plague.”
Anything unusual there?
Actual quote from brit lit teacher. She was joking, but only me and one other person got it.
I hate how before spelling bees and other academic competitions (maybe other kinds of competitions too. I don’t know) people always say that we’re all winners, because we won the competition at a lower level already or because we learned so much from studying and that’s what really matters and stuff like that. I guess it’s sort of true, I just get tired of hearing it year after year after year at te regional bee and other things. And I know i’ll hear it at the national.
the eregon books were ok , but they could of been a LOT better. the first three HPs were good, but they gotA overused and B rather stupid.
I have a group of friends (okay, it’s basically the whole band that does this) that responds to everything you say with one of the three:
~Your face is [adjective/noun or adjectival/nominative phrase you just used].
~Your mom is [adjective/noun or adjectival/nominative phrase you just used].
~That’s what she said.
41: oops. Sorry, i constantly confuse he two.
52-I agree that Harry Potter the character is an idiot, but the books are still good. And Harry isn’t nearly as bad as Ron, who I absolutely loathe. I really, really, really want Ron to die.
I probably say ‘how’s life?’ to much. I just get tired of all the random little questions people ask so hey knoe whats oing on and just make my friends tell me whatever stright out.
Otherwise, I think I’m pretty good at avoiding most of them. I don’t say lol, or things like that very much, if at all.
I say, “have fun!” whenever someone leaves the room, especially if they’re not going to have fun. “I’m going to go to work now.” “Have fun!”
59-Harry was only an complete idiot in the 5th book. In the other books he had idiot moments but they weren’t chronic. I think Ron is totally lovable…even though he is really dumb.
Here’s something everyone I know says when they can’t think of anything else to say (er…me too.)
‘Cool’
Cool.
my thoughts on harry potter: HATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEHATEEE
I read something really funny about the upcoming harry potter movie. I’ll post it if I find it lying around the house somewhere.
59-Ron is cool. Harry needs to die. Although i actually hope he doesn’t die, because he’d be sure to die in some long, drawn-out, particularly whiny way. and then we’d have to deal with all the 13-year-old fangirls (no offense to 13-year-olds, just offense to the shrieking fangirls :D) yelling “NOOO! HOW COULD IT BE HARRY!!!! I LOVE HARRY! I KEEP A POSTER OF HIM ON MY WALL AND SMOOCH HIM EVERY NIGHT!!!! WHETHER HE DIED OR NOT! SO THERE!!!!”
Unlike Sirius of course. Sirius truly was schmexy. and fred and george, although they didn’t die yet. (hopefully they won’t, but ALL my favorite characters die…)
Anyway, this isn’t the harry potter thread.
overused terms? your mom, take that and wind it back, pwned…basically anything hecht says…
k know what bugs me? people who walk around saying pwned and pwnage and stuff like they invented it, but who have NO IDEA WHAT IT IS. *coughhechtcough* Like today…
sarah: pwned!
me (knowing she didn’t have a clue but saying it anyway out of sheer annoyance): I didn’t know you were 1337 sarah.
sarah: What?
andy: 1337. *pause* you’re not.
sarah: i don’t even know what that means
me: pwned is 1337…
(this goes on for a while and is rather boring. in the end sarah just denies her own un-1337ness (though she still doesn’t know what it means despite our trying to explain) and says “pwned!” like that just won her the entire argument (although it wasn’t really an argument, more like an explanation that she didn’t want to listen to))
anyway, that was all really random and probably doesn’t belong here, but it just annoys me.
Here’s a NEW and UNDERUSED term-math is a p a to the r t! (actually the formula is pe^rt but that’s bad spelling :D)
except that it isn’t really, and i hate math. but whatever, it’s fun to say to random people who don’t know what you’re talking about.
OK, found it in the recycling. It was from The Onion (newspaper).
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
What it’s about: We’re not sure. An Internet search on this “Harry Potter” character yields very little information. Is he an alien or something? We’re a little stumped.
Why it might be worth seeing in theaters: Again, we’re not sure. The trailer makes this look like some sort of Dragonheart sequel, but there’s no sign of Sean Connery.
Why you’re probably better off waiting for the DVD: You might have no other choice. There’s a good chance that this obscure indie could come and go from theaters in a flash, if it plays in your city at all.
Possible special feature: We did discover that it’s based on a book by someone named J.K. Rowling. Maybe he could provide and audio commentary or something.
That should be “an audio commentary” not “and audio commentary”. typos.
This one isn’t overused in my family, but my friend swears all her aunts and uncles say “teenybopper.” Apparantly it means a young teenager.
66- 1337? I thought I knew what “pwns” means, but maybe I don’t. I was under the impression that it was a misspelling of “owns”. Am I wrong?
Haha, i love the onion…
67- heheh. pretty funny. I posted it on the HP thread.
and LOTR is cliche.
LOTR is what everyone is getting their fantasy cliches from, I think.
Not that I like it.
Wait, why did I just reply to a 2 1/2 year old post?
72- I don’t think LOTR is cliche. It seems like that NOW, but when it was written it was fairly novel.
70-no, you’re right. but i’m pretty sure it started as 1337. Or at least with the people who speak 1337
.
“pwn” is indeed leet speak in that it is overused by ever single kid on the internet who thinks s/he’s ~in the know~ what with their haxxor skillz. Also it was coined by gamers, who made 1337, therfore it is 1337. Now let us never speak of this again.
Gahh! What is 1337? That’s what I’m asking people to explain! What is it?!
[/screaming and yelling bout]
Oh, I didn’t see Axa’s post. Sorry.
“Step back in time.”
I get that a lot in my job. Mainly from the press. It’s about the only phrase they know to describe anything vaguely historical. I’ve already started wincing when I hear it or see it in print, and the summer season’s hardly started. It only needs a few more camera-wielding verbal sloths to trot it out, and I’m likely to do something drastic with my hurdy-hurdy.
But I won’t. That’s called self-discipline.
I will ignore the comments that have leaped into your minds.
Marilyn Manson as a figure representing metal and Satan.
69- AHH! We(me+3 friends) went to Baskin Robins the other day for ice cream after the dance because the other ice cream places were closed, and there were a lot of people inside the place we don’t get along with too well, and a ton of seniors. So we sat outside, and this random couple comes out and says something like ‘there’s a ton of teenyboppers in there!’ They didn’t know we were sitting outside till we cracked up with indignation. ‘Teenyboppers!’ Gah! (ahhhhh my computer is telling me how to correctly spell it to! what is this!(hmm… that’s probably an overused phase to, actually.)
78- Huh, I thought is was a ‘hurdy-gurdy’ not ‘hurdy-hurday.’ Then again, you’re the one who plays one so you probably know.
66-I use pwnage but I have No Idea what 1337 is… is’nt pwn a misspelling of own? Like pwnsome and pwt pwns?
1337 is the numerical (I don’t know if that’s the correct word in this instance, but I can’t think of any other way to express this) spelling of “leet.” Wiki it.
82-1 sh0u1d h4v3 k^0w^ +h4+!!! But I still don’t get what leet has to do with Pwnsome or Pwnage or Pwn.
Oh frick.
“The only limit is your imagination.”
Uh, how about the laws of physics?
Or how much money one has in the checking account?
The limits of other people’s patience?
85- All true, all bothersome.
“Don’t ever give up!”
Actually, sometimes you need too. Holding on to something for an obsesive amount of time can be detrimental. Also sometimes giving up is a good stratagy, say you’re fighting someone (literally or figuritively) and they’re overpowering you, can can suddenly stop pushing and their own weight overbalences them and gives you the upper hand. I can see where tthis saying could aply in some situations, but to not ever give up wouldn’t be very good. Like excessively stubborn people (you’ve all met one. Arn’t they annoying? So closed-minded…)
(81. 83)
1337/ leet is derivative of the word “elite”. I retract my statement about it being coined by gamers- it was popularized by them, but instead coined by message boards in the eighties. So.
There are several common terms dubbed”leet”Such example are misspellings such as teh or pwn (the “o” key is next to the “p” key, so when one wishes to say “I owned you” it often becomes “I pwned you”.)
ugh srsly just refer to wiki I’ve explained this over 9000 times
Basically leet is old meme and only used by WoW kids who think they’re all that.
So, does that mean I can’t use 1337? I probably can’t, but I did extensive wiki research to try (and fail) to figure it out. “pwt pwns” is in my email signature. People at school…
Robert:*something refuting my argument with pointlessness and incredibly annoying and infuriating to me*
Brian: You got pwned!
me: But I didn’t get a chance to respond! I don’t think I was pwned. Don’t I get any say in this?
Brian: No.
me: Why not? I should.
Brian: No.
*I continue asking questions, Brian keeps replying “No”, bell rings and science begins*
Usually he pronounces it owned, so I do too. No idea how to pronounce pwt. Sorry for going incredibly off topic. I felt like posting a random tangent and talking about my life. Lack thereof.
78- Musica, not Museica?
87-“Basically leet is old meme and only used by WoW kids who think they’re all that”
god, i wish. EVERYBODY at my skool uses it, even those who have no clue what it means and have only the vaguest idea of what to do with a computer, whether gaming or message boards.
And there’s even a kid with a t-shirt that says PONED on the front in big letters. Spelled just like that. It’s really sad.
88-argh, i hate that “No” thing. hecht does that too. and others too sometimes. it’s so annoying, if they don’t want to listen to you they could at least shut up and let you talk to the people who DO want to listen.
7: he evolved, though. i liked the jerle shannara ones
Someone called our History sub (regulars on maternity leave) a n00b when he first came, so today I had to explain to him what it meant. He took a while to get it, then we all made fun of him (not in a mean way, though).
I have a camp friend who usually, when expressing delight, would squeal “it pwns!” (pronouced owns) in a high pitched voice. She knew what it meant, though. Or at least I’m assuming she did…
*GASP* ‘my’ thread is at the bottom of the page!
(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
I overuse exclamation points.
I overuse the three little dots at the end of most of my posts…like that…i know there’s a name for them…i just can’t remember…
the most cliched books i have ever read are the series of unfortunate events. every book has the same plotline. then theres scooby doo, more detective cliches than grains of sand on a beach.
People…post here…my brother overuses the phrase “your mom”
Is his name Andrew? Because I have an ex-friend who did that. It got really annoying.
No, my brother’s name is Ian.
Anyone ever seen the movie cliche site? It’s really funny, and often really true.
99- What movie cliche site?
101- GAPAs! Spam!
Thanks, TMFA! ZAP.
Out of curiosity, what was it?
A cliche in Math world problems is that every kid mentioned will have a strange name you have never heard before.
In Everyday Math in fourth grade there was a kid named Yoshi in a story problem.
104- I’ve noticed that.
Another cliche is that when kids go stargazing, one will look through the telescope/binoculars to see a person’s face and freak out. Done in tons of cartoons, and the novel The Children of Wilesden Lane.
You know, I actually did like Eragon. But the movie… *growls* These people need to get it right!
I’ve read plenty of books where people die. They are still good books, but when I read them again, I always feel sorry for the person/people.
43-Eragon Shadeslayer??? You must really like that book.
Sorry, 44, not 43
94-It’s called an ellipsis…I have no idea why…
Cliches
Some people in my class have taken to saying things are uber. Without saying anything after it. VERY confused.
I’m posting too much on this thread, but I have an overused plot. Here is the basic plot for all science fiction books/movies. Or almost all of them.
Aliens/machines/computers take over the world. The humans fight back. The End.
Here, everyone says “Alright?” instead of “hi” or “hello”. Example: When ever I meet my neighbours mom, who I know, but not well, walking down the street, she says
“Alright?” And I have no clue what to say to that.
You get sent to go looking for a special person, and it turns out that person is you.
Oh, yeah, like in the Deltora Quest series…. I used to love those, but that was back in 3rd-5th grades. 7th grade reading is a lot more my style.
(112) That happens in real life. Dick Cheney started out as the head of George W. Bush’s vice-presidential search committee.
Remember that language article awhile back? My brother saw the cartoon with the baby saying “parental units, i appreciate this super-absorbent undergarment…etc.” ? So now, whenever he picks up the phone and they say “Is your mom/dad home?” he says “here is my female/male parental unit!” And he’s never even read the article!
Overused by my Mom:
If you aren’t anywhere else, you must be here!
and others which I had in my head and promptly forgot.
111- You could just repeat what they say. Like this:
Person: “All right?”
You: “All right.”
111-aight?
that word drives me crazy. half the school uses it, including the principal
“Stay tuned!”
113- I meant in terms of “looking for the Chosen One” and the like.
I think “the chosen vice-presidential running mate” is the closest thing to a Chosen One you’re likely to find in real life. Cheney was asked to recommend one, and he recommended himself.
There’s no doubt, though, that Chosen Ones in general are a dime a dozen in kids’ and YA novels.
119- I liked Un Lun Dun because it parodied that.
I just typed “beacueas,” “piroadiead,” and “taht.” My tipaargaphfy is not ipmro ing.
Yup. Star Wars started the “chosen one” thing and it’s been misused (and well-used: see Harry Potter) ever since.
120- Earlier when I was typing “purely” I accidentally typed “purple.”
And I nearly did it again.
No News is Good News.
120 – That’s better than trying to type “bird” and typing “birhtngrbd”
or something. I do that quite often.
Penty once typed “wnnnnnnhy.” Stuck keyboard, maybe?
123- NO, no news is NOT good news. I mean, what if IBCF has pleaded with his parents, received a negative answer, and not yet been able to inform Meow and I? THAT’S NOT GOOD NEWS.
Sorry, I’m thinking about that a lot right now.
The hero says “Over my dead body” and the villian says “My pleasure.” or something similar.
THE CHOSEN ONE…
127- Oh that is soooooo true. *glares at JK Rowling*
here is another one:
girl heroes are sexy.
boy heroes have sexy girlfriends.
What about the pimply girl? Does she have to go out with the heroes? Nooooooo….. SHE*S CUT OUT OF THE MOVIE! even the bad guy’s girlfriend is sexy!
yes, I am mad at Iron man and Kim Possible.
128-You need to read Un Lun Dun by China Miéville. It makes fun of the whole Chosen One thing. It’s also a great book with great illustrations.
I think someone just said that, but oh well…
(126) Yes, that’s a good one. Maybe we could give the villain a snappier comeback — something like:
“Over my dead body!”
“Oh, dear, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I abhor bloodshed.”
Or:
“Over my dead body!”
“Dead, alive, whatever.”
131 – Those are good.
I have another one.
“Any last words?” And then the hero leaps up, says something witty, and defeats the bad guy.
133 – Like in Indiana Jones.
“Any last words, Doctor Jones?”
“I like Ike.” Indy then escapes from the evil lady, but defeats her a lot later.
(133, 134) The Evil Overlord List is quite clear on that point: Shoot the hero first, and only then ask whether he has any last words. It’s amazing how many promising villains ruin their careers through that simple mistake.
Yes.
*dies laughing* Well, almost.
135 – True, true. If you ask your captive that it’s almost guaranteed they will then escape, then defeat you. No matter hoe smug you are.
I think my favorite variation on the whole “Any last words” thing is from The Fantastiks:
Villian: Know any prayers, boy?
Hero: I’ll say some for you.
137 – I meant how. I’ve had many typos lately.
Like, I can’t, like, think of any, like, overused, like, terms or, like anything right, like, now.
If I were a villain, this is how the conversation would go:
Hero: “Wait! Aren’t you going to ask me if I have any last wUUUURRRKKKK…. °dies°
(138) The Fantasticks! Great show! I was in it in college.
The Fantasticks? “Try to remember the kind of September…”
Yes, that one.
The other songs in the show are better than the one everybody knows.
I know most of the songs. *is a musical theater geek* “Try to Remember” has sentimental value for me, because my parents used to sing it as a lullaby.
I mean, why let the hero have a last word? It just gives the hero more time to make up a plan. And then he says something stupid like “duck” and the villain looks at him stupidly and dies. That’s what most villains make the mistake of doing.
For anyone annoyed by Harry Potter cliches, read A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin. The original wizard school book, plus its 5 or so sequels. Very good book.
Funny story- I was reading it, and one of the chapters is called “The School For Wizards”. My mom looks over my shoulder and says, “A school for wizards? That doesn’t look like Harry Potter…” and trails off. I laughed very loudly and she walked off looking confused..
saying touche. When you have No. Idea. Whatsoever. Of its meaning.
Touche= Touch, in fencing and French.
“Touché” (pronounced “tooSHAY”) actually means “touched” or “hit.” You say it to acknowledge that your opponent has poked you with the point of ens foil, scoring a point against you. Metaphorically, you can say it to note that someone has gotten the better of you in an argument or an exchange of repartée.
This is the one that bothers me the most–Cheerleader fights deserving nice girl over cute football player. Cheerleader mean. Deserving nice girl nice. Stuff happens, and football player chooses deserving nice girl, who emerges from her shell and becomes beautiful in the eyes of the world!!!!
“Epic fail” is starting to become cliche too.
That sounds vaguely like the plot of high school musical. And then there’s the variation:
Chearleader fights deserving nice girl over cute football player. Unpopular but kind boy loves deserving nice girl. Deserving nice girl rejects unpopular but kind boy. Stuff happens, and football player chooses deserving nice girl. She rejects him because she realizes she’s in love with unpopular but kind boy. Deserving nice girl and unpopular but kind boy emerge from their shells and become beautiful in the eyes of the world!!!
Epic fail? Cliche? *sniff*
No, what that sounds like, is very much like that one country song that for the life of me I can’t remember the name of, but which I have heard WAY too many times. ((Back home, the country station on the radio is what’s most often playing at my work place, so…..You hear about 6 different songs about six different times in one day. This song is one of those))
Let’s see, how’s it go….
*singing* She wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts/She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers…….
That would be “You Belong With Me,” by Taylor Swift. SUCH an obnoxious song.
As are most country songs, especially when they’re played incessantly…..
.I know! So many people like it too, and it’s overplayed. Ugh.
My mom likes country, so when i was little she always had the radio in the car onthe country station. Then, when I started work at 16, my employers liked country music, so they always had the radio in surgery playing country, so for the past 3 years I’ve had to listen to it there, when i couldn’t tune it out. And this semester, the girl across the hall keeps playing country music at random times. And rather loudly, too. Grrr.
Wow, how annoying. I really can’t stand country, I can’t pick apart two songs. They all sound the same to me! Actually, some of the other Taylor Swift ones are decent (I have a few on my iPod) but not that one. I’m more of a soft rock/alternative fan to be honest. I don’t really listen to songs that are popular for kids my age to listen to, so dances can be a bit difficult. I mostly pretend i know all the songs when in truth I’m racking my head trying to figure out if I’ve ever heard it.
The video is all right, except when he dumps his girlfriend at prom. In the middle of prom!!! Doesn’t he realize that he just ruined her whole night? She may be catty and all, but still, he has no class.
Re: You Belong With Me: I like the song, but it is overplayed. Her other songs are better, mainly because I don’t hear them quite as often, therefore I am not sick of them. I like country music in general.
– The villain always sets up some convoluted way to kill the hero, and then the hero (NOT heron… Stupid keyboard) escapes.
Was that already said? It gets on my nerves.
– The word “like” used improperly and far too often
– Without changing the general circumstances, someone whom the popular guy/girl would never have looked at previously suddenly catches en’s eye, and, though en might have known this person since kindergarten… Insert predictable middle, and they all live Happily Ever After. (I can’t even write it, it so bothers me!)
All explorers being depicted as English, except astronauts, who are Texan.
All americans being protrayed as southern/texan
When a sleeping person wakes up, and they sort of show it from the person’s perspective, with the eye shape blinking open. I’ve seen it in, like, three different places. Even Club Penguin did it in one of their games.
Eragon is horrible! The whole book is a cliche! But for some reason I like it anyway…x
That’s what’s known as a “guilty pleasure.”
Because it’s well written and still has some good ideas.
SFTDP Sorry, the x was an accident.
Rainbow- I hate that too! I also hate when they zoom in on tv to just show the person’s face. *gags*
149- Brisingr (won’t even bother to check the spelling) made me so aggressive! It was a jumbled up mishmash of overprice rubbish (okay, okay, I’ll stop ranting).
147- Ditto.
131- How about this one-
“Over my dead body.”
“No problem” *fires*
151-or at least variations on the dead body one.
When the villain has the hero trapped, the villain always proceeds to gloat, explain their entire plan, and then leave the room, giving the hero a chance to escape. Why doesn’t en just kill the hero? It would keep whatever plot en has from being put into jeopardy.
You can pick up many similar hints for successful supervillainy on the Evil Overlord List and its variants. For starters, see the Wikipedia article: en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/Evil_Overlord_List
The Master has figured this out.
“Why don’t we stop and have a nice little chat while I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to stop me, I don’t think!”
-“Utopia”
Most villains seem to think that the hero will not be able to follow the complexity of the villain’s Sneaky Plan.
Something I overuse a lot: “Just go away, will you?” (said in a commanding tone)
My friend tends to overuse the “That’s what she said” fad that’s going around. Me, now, I’m perfect, aside from:
Uh, dead, because I killed it.
**** you.
Are you ****ing me!?
Well…..crap.
There goes the planet.
You did…..whuuuut?
Have a nice day, now!
Next victim!
The term “coming of age story” … I hate it. HATE it. Isn’t there a better way to describe a book?
Bildungsroman.
It’s one of the only useful things our English teacher taught us this year… I think we learned more about her husband, son, and Hugh Jackman than English.
We learned that this year too…(and a lot of other stuff besides; sorry about your unfortunate english experiance)
Wow. I saw this thread on the recent comments bar and was just about to post “the term coming of age”. Then I saw this comment. *facepalm*
I particularly dislike the use of the word “totally.” It implies that the item or action is coated in something slimy. To me, at least.
I also hate how some people add “ishly” or just “ish” or “ly” to their adjectives so they say something like “awesomely awesome.”
Nice girl becomes popular. Promptly becomes mean. Drama happens, everyone ends up being friends. The End.
Overly misused word = epic. If something is epic it spans multiple generations. movies are not often epic, though the stories could be. 14-year-old crushes of your friends are not epic. the party at your house last weekend wasn’t epic either. The Lord of the Rings (if you include The Hobbit) is epic. The Years, by Virginia Woolf, is epic. The Sahara being a desert is exceedingly epic.
Haha, I hate it too… but I use that word. It’s a bad habit; what can I say.
I say that all the time even when I know I’m not using it properly. Definitely a habit.
NONE OF THOSE ARE EPIC.
The word “epic” describes a specific form of long poetry which must contain numerous essential story elements and basic ideals. Homer’s Iliad is an epic. The Aeneid is an epic. Beowulf is an epic. Paradise Lost is an epic. Faust is an epic.
Things can take the story ideals from epics and create prose works: the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars both do this.
EVERYONE: LEARN THIS. LOVE THIS. STOP USING “EPIC” INCORRECTLY.
epic (adj) Also, epical. 1. noting or pertaining to a poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style: “Homer’s _Iliad_ is an epic poem.” 2. resembling or suggesting such poetry: “an epic novel.” 3. heroic; majestic; great size or extant. –n 5. an epic poem. 6. epic poetry. 7. any composition resembling an epic poem. 8. something worthy to form the subject of an epic. 9. [something about a Greek dialect that I’m not bothering to copy. also, things in quotation marks are italicized in the dictionary.]
— Random House dictionary, college edition, 1968
While your definition covers 1, 2, 5, 6, and maybe 7, it completely omits 2 and 8. Since language tends to become more inclusive, not exclusive, over time, I’d suggest that your definition is overly restrictive.
Wait… it covers 2 but completely omits 2?
she meant 3
Ah, yes. You’re right, the whole poetry thing is kind of key, though epic can definately refer to novels. I got confused because….long story. Anyway, same point, people massively misuse the word, I myself don’t actually use the word (not even to describe poetry) but being well-intentioned does not stop fails….okay this is getting completely incomprehensible isn’t it…. my apologies…*shuts up*
It’s not a dominant habit of mine, but I must confess I do say it. Most of the time it’s jokingly though. Hah, now I can start correcting people.
The first recorded use that does not follow that definition was in 1731. I think by now we can probably accept that it doesn’t just mean what you’re saying it means.
-A
If you look at the history of teen slang (and slang in general), most of it consists of taking a word with a specific meaning and recruiting it to mean generally either “good” or “bad” (or sometimes “big,” “impressive,” “impressed,” “crazy,” or “intoxicated”). The meaning of “epic” may have broadened over the centuries, but its widespread use in the sense of “good” doesn’t go back very far. We’d never heard of it when I was in school, which wasn’t that long ago in the great scheme of things. We didn’t use “major” as slang, either, and nobody had heard of “majorly” at all.
(“Epic” is interesting because it’s used nowadays to mean both “good” and “big,” as in “epic fail.”)
Some other words that have drifted into “good” from other meanings are “fantastic,” “fabulous,” and “incredible.” All of them started out having to do with fantasy, unreality, or unbelievability (excellent sources for “good” slang words), but nowadays the slang meanings have become fairly standard, and the literal meanings are withering away. As usual, linguistic precisians are annoyed but powerless.
By the way, some expressions that MuseBloggers use regularly sound just as bad to people of my generation as anything that gets under your skin — and I’m not talking about slang. “Graduated high school,” “laying around the house,” “have sang,” “shrunk the kids,” “me and my sister had a fight” — when I was Muser-age and learning the rules of usage, those would have been considered shibboleths of semi-literacy. If you were composing dialogue for a play or movie, you’d have used them to show that someone was uneducated. Nowadays they’ve pretty much lost that stigma, and only old fogeys like GAPAs notice (and cringe). You’ll do the same, for different expressions, when you are old fogeys.
“Linguistic precisians”. I like that term, as I am one (or try to be as well as I can). It does upset me that I’ve become inured to bad grammar through being exposed to it so constantly. I try to cringe as often as is possible, but some grammatically disastrous phrases have become so common that they pass by unnoticed.
On the matter of the changing meanings of words: I highly value using words in their true senses, perhaps out of fear of a Newspeakian decline in possible expression. Besides that, the proper utilization of words is simply more efficient–if I could say “decimate” instead of “destroy one tenth of”, wouldn’t I?
The problem with “decimate” is that we don’t really need a word that means “destroy one tenth of.” The Romans did, because it was one of their standard punishments, but a person nowadays could wait for decades without getting a chance to use the word in its strict sense. Unfortunately, we do often need a word for “destroy a lot of.” That need, and the similarity in sound, explains why “decimate” has been rapidly replacing “devastate.”
The way to keep “devastate” alive, I’ve decided, is to use it and hope that others will follow my example. Nowadays I never say “decimate” at all.
It’s not always easy to pin down the “original” meanings of words, however — and even when it is possible, it’s not always useful. When I was a kid, adults would discourage me from using the word “kids” to refer to people my age. “A kid is a young goat,” they’d say. That struck me as silly. I lived in San Diego; when did I ever have to talk about goats? I’m not sure I’d ever seen one. I did, however, need a user-friendly, non-childish-sounding word for child, and “kid” fit the description perfectly.
The Master used “Decimate” correctly in a Doctor Who episode! (/randomness)
I’ll try and use devastate instead of decimate when correct.
The people who write “Doctor Who” are no doubt Oxford and Cambridge graduates, from whom no less could be expected.
I know. I was pretty horrified by what the Master was doing, but that one thing gives him major brownie points in my mind.
I shall also try to do that.
128-Its a movie. Everyone is sexy or a laughingstock. Even the bad guys.
COMMA SPLICES/ EXCESSIVE USE OF COMMAS
My classmates use them far too often, it’s not like every single pause should be marked with a comma. <- See that? That's an example of a comma splice, and I hate them. It's when you use a comma instead of a period or a semicolon. Anyway, not every pause should be marked with, a comma, because it's annoying.
It’s not merely annoying; it’s entirely incorrect and illogical.
Really, though, commas aren’t that unwieldy. I manage to use the correctly without difficulty.
I can be absolutely insufferable to watch movies with, because if said movie is not good enough to distract me I will start to pick up on cliched plot elements.
So I’ll say, “Hey, (another character) did that in (another movie)!”
Or “This movie’s plot is exactly like (another movie)!”
If it’s an adaptation of a book, I’ll say, “X happened this way in the book”, or “X didn’t happen in the book.”
At this point, my brother will give me a death glare and I will shut up for approximately ten minutes.
Sounds like Pseudo.
Or moi.
I say “X didn’t happen (that way) in the book” or “X wasn’t like that in history” or “X is completely impossible, because in real life, Y…” all the time, so my brothers don’t like watching movies with me, either.
I do the exact same thing. Especially with the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes” (based on the book “fried green tomatoes at the whistle stop cafe”) where they essentially have the same characters and some of the same plot events but not in the right order and not with the right relationships. I screamed at the movie.
And shadowfire even does that with Doctor Who (or did) but it wasn’t COMPLETELY insufferable, just a bit annoying. (“[Shadowfire], it’s a sci-fi show. Some liberties were taken”)
Judging by how we’ve all responded, I think this is a common feature of MuseBloggers~
But yes, right now I’m watching this lame little Chinese martial arts animated film-thing. It’s hilarious for all the wrong reasons: the Main Antagonist’s son falls in love with the Female Main Character, who is actually in love with the Male Main Character, and then at the same time, Other Semi-Minor Character turns out to be the Long Lost Heir of Magical Sword Skills, etc.
I definitely agree, I always do things like that. Especially complaining about how bad movies are compared to the respective books.
The only reason I didn’t do that during the H2G2 movie is because they used actual writing of Douglas Adams, and kept the feeling of the book. However, the PJ movie did not keep most of the plot or the feeling of the book. In the book, Percy is supposed to be depressed and angsty, and in the movie he’s having the time of his life fighting monsters.
Definitely a common feature. Also, if I really hate what I’m watching, or just really bored, I’ll start pointing out all the things that are physically impossible or scientifically inaccurate. This is a killer when it comes to watching Tom and Jerry. ‘That anvil should have killed him when dropped from that height’ ‘Dynamite in a teapot should cause shrapnel to fly all over the place, not make a pretty sunflower shape around Tom’s head.’, etc.
re: epic – EPIC FAIL. it’s a noun -and- an adjective. overused, maybe. wrong? absolutely not.
everybody in the universe needs to start using http:// www. wordnik .com (never fear, GAPAs, it’s completely harmless (not even just mostly!). It searches three or four dictionaries and finds a bunch of literary examples of different uses of the word.
in annoyance terms, i hate hate hate when people say “and i” in every situation because their teachers were too lazy to explain the rules properly and just told them to always say “and i.” SOMETIMES IT IS WRONG! (ex: the GAPAs pied roonykins and i. should be the GAPAs pied roozydiddles and me)
sorry i just had a conversation with someone about that and it irritates me. i don’t know if it’s overused, but it exists? people do it? so yeah.
The “and I” has been bugging me for decades, especially “between you and I.” But I wouldn’t blame the teachers. I think most of them get it right. Their few voices are no match, however, for the vast and I-ing hordes, which seem to include almost everyone in broadcasting media, even those you’d expect to be more grammatically sound.
As for the catch phrase and buzz words — personally, I mostly let them roll past. (Or try to.) Most of them will wear out and disappear; the others we’re stuck with for the duration. Some of them may unexpectedly become quaint with time. In the meantime new ones pop up, often more annoying than the ones they replace. There’s nothing I can do about them, so I’d just as soon channel my energy elsewhere.
In most cases, I think, the “and I” confusion starts out as a genteelism: an attempt to avoid one error, which results in another error. You get smacked down for saying “Me and my sister were fighting,” so you turn around and overcompensate by saying “My parents grounded my sister and I.”
People with good brains and loads of advanced degrees seem about as prone to this mistake as anybody else. Many’s the time in meetings I’ve heard smart people, even editors, say things like “He agreed to meet with Sally and I.” Those of us who are consciously aware of the rule for declining multiple linked pronouns cringe, as we were taught to do, and feel superior, because learning the rules ought to have some reward, even if it’s just a private one.
Anyway, you’d better get used to hearing this particular solecism, because I have a feeling it’s going to be around longer than any of us will be.
Ahh, curses, I always mix up the proper cutsy endings after roo! I would have used -nykins in the second situation there when it is CLEARLY -ydiddles now that you point it out! And I’m ashamed to admit I’m simply lost as to where -nicorn should be properly used!
What I hate is when people say, “and myself”. It doesn’t even make sense… Myself is a reflexive word; it’s used when you’re doing something to your body/mind.
The overuse of “myself” is a classic genteelism. People think it sounds more formal (or something), but they don’t know why.
It bothers me SO much. Our band director always says it, and I always get the urge to correct him, but I don’t think he’d appreciate me correcting him…
SFTDP just wanted to mention i’m working for a grammarian right now so bad grammar is really going to irritate me for a while, just because i’m paying more attention to it
In my opinion, it’s a darn shame that Latin has become an uncommon language to learn in school. Latin has given me a tighter grasp on English grammar and vocabulary than years of English classes.
It’s offered in my school, rather than German or something.
Fortunately, learning any foreign language will give you more insight into your own. While I learned rules in English classes, I began to understand structure from studying other languages as well as older forms of English.
Sometimes in English you simply go with what sounds right, but that isn’t always correct. With a new foreign language nothing sounds right or wrong so you learn it the correct way. If you transfer a lot of the rules to English it can be very helpful.
163- I don’t often see that mistake, but I see incorrect subject/verb agreement all the time. Mostly with ‘to be.” People always say things like, “There’s too many classes,” and I’ve been cursed to hear this and cringe every time I hear it. My English teacher did it far too often. My friend also told me that you can’t end a sentence in a preposition (which I never really thought about until she told me), so she keeps correcting me. There are several more tiny grammar things I could say that bother me but I think I’ll stop before I start boring any non-existent readers of this post.
TFATF42:
In English, it’s perfectly fine to end a sentence with a preposition. Certain grammarians dreamed up the no-preposition “rule” hundreds of years ago because they admired Latin, in which prepositional endings really are forbidden. But English isn’t Latin, or even a Romance language; it’s a Teutonic language, and it works differently.
So you can tell your friend that her incessant corrections are (as Winston Churchill said in a different context) something up with which you will not put.
Similarly, learning verb forms in Spanish has caused me to further notice irregular verbs in English. When you’ve been speaking a language all your life, the irregularities are harder to spot.
it’s all about the tenses. other languages have different endings for them. most people don’t even know they exist in english
i took latin in high school and i’m taking italian now
I like Latin. I don’t know why everybody else says it’s a dumb language to learn (at my school, they offer Spanish, German, French, and Japanese – I think German is kind of useless, as only 2 1/3 important countries speak it [Germany, Austria, 1/3 of Switzerland], but that’s just me).
Excuse the rant. I just like Latin. (I’m in Spanish, but trying to teach myself Latin. I’m now rather good at recognizing root words, prefixes, and suffixes to the point where I can identify what unknown words mean by breaking them down. I’m not VERY good, but better than most of my classmates, if you’ll pardon the boasting.)
Oh dear, that was long.
Latin’s the best because then you can at least understand a lot of other languages even if you can’t speak them. people talk at me in spanish all the time and are shocked when i know what they’re saying
I love latin—history, root words in an impressive quanity of languages, and hell, ITS THE ROMAN EMPIRE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! Only one of the most important civilizations in western history and a fairly important civilization in world history…
I’m with you there, Latin is definitely a good language. Especially when you learn to say things like “vespertiliones scintellare nolite”.
If practical applications were most important, I wouldn’t have bothered studying Old English or Gaelic.
Anyway, the number of speakers are not always the primary consideration (as presumably you would agree if you like Latin). German is very useful to know if you’re doing research in certain fields, for instance (including classical music, art history, and philosophy). Just recently several random subjects I was looking up have landed me on German-language pages, making me wish I could remember more of the language. Google translations can take you only so far. Besides I like to be able to compare for myself.
Does it make me a terrible person that I rate how much I like a language based on these priorities:
1. How happy it makes me to speak a sentence in the language. Yiddish rates highest on this, giving me words like “zaftig”, “schmuck” and “schlep”. Italian is a close second, because it’s just so PRETTY.
2. How awesome its alphabet is. I love Armenian because Õ¡ÕµÕ¶ Õ¸Ö‚Õ¶Õ« Õ¢Õ¸Õ²Õ¸Ö„-Õ§Õ· Õ¡ÕµÕ¢Õ¸Ö‚Õ¢Õ¥Õ¶Õ¨. I love Georgian more because მისი დáƒáƒ›áƒ¬áƒ”რლáƒáƒ‘რკიდევ გáƒáƒšáƒáƒ›áƒáƒ–ებáƒáƒ¨áƒ˜. It’s so PRETTY. Like Sindarin.
3. Whether it has words for those things you totally need words for. Yiddish is awesome. No other language has a word for schlep.
4. How awesome its swear words are. Seriously! It’s my mission to learn as many foreign swear words as possible! I can swear fluently in Spanish, which is kind of unoriginal because it focuses so much on religion, like most Romance languages. Mandarin has the best swear words of all time.
I honestly can’t think of another reason to like a language, except for Spanish, which I like mainly out of Californian pride. Oh, and English is my favorite language in the world because of the multitudes of way-ness that a dude can screw with it, y’know, y’all?
I’m pretty good at recognizing root forms too, but I didn’t take Latin or anything. 5th grade English was essentially learning a bunch of prefixes and suffixes.
Hehe… I never took 5th grade English… ^^
Anyway, attempting to read a medical dictionary cover to cover (twice) has also taught me a lot of medical terms, Latin roots, etc. etc. It was actually quite interesting, except I lost my page the second time and I lost the book the first time!
How dare you say German is useless! All my good insults are in German!
I wonder if this ‘improve your grammar’ thing only applies to the Indo-European language family, because although I’ve taken Arabic for several years I have noticed no improvement in my English grammar. I have, however, become rather glad that English does not have a dual verb tense. Or a feminine one. Or an imperative tense.
I know my Arabic grammar is lacking; though at least there are very, very few exceptions to its multitude of rules. At least in the written language. Arabic as she is spoke is quite a different matter.
Bah. Staying in an Arabic-speaking country has made me very, very aware of how much I still need to learn. And it’s frustrating, because in Enlgish I never lack for the right word to use. In Arabic, I start to say something, and realize that although I can name just about everything else in the kitchen I don’t know what ‘countertop’ is.
I can think of exactly one school in my general area which offers Latin, and it’s also one of the geekiest I can think of.
Re: epic: I generally use epic either to mean “exciting” or to describe something Tolkein-esque. As with other slang, however, it has slowly crept into my vocabulary and it’s too late to stop it. I resisted for a long time, but I tend to unconsciously pick up words and mannerisms from my close associates, and I had been hearing those words and phrases every day for three years. It was inevitable really.
Not to mention ‘awesome.’ I misuse it all the time, but…
Also, has anyone else noticed that nearly every fantasy villain ever has a name beginning with (or at least including) ‘Mor?’ I think it means death, so I can understand why someone would want to name their villain that, but at this point it’s extremely unoriginal, and it’s quite easy to tell whether or not someone is a villain. I mean… Morgoth. Morgra. Voldemort. Et cetera. It’s everywhere these days…
Morgoth is fine. Tolkien is immune to any cliches because of his awesomeness and period in history.
If a writer you like seems to indulge in clichés, you can always call them archetypes.
I agree about Tolkien, though. He was a literary scholar and knew his epics inside and out. If he borrowed a device from someone else, you can bet he did it knowingly and deliberately.
Not to mention the fact that Morgoth is a name taken from Sindarin, not Latin. I think it means something like “Black Enemy of the World”.
*sigh* Tolkien…
Perhaps we should blame MORgan le Fay?
Oh, oops. I didn’t see your post when I mentioned her.
I’m finding it funny that this appears in the RC bar just above a comment saying nothing but “Awesome! :)”
It is because mor- or mort- means death. Hence, Voldedeath. Deathgoth. Deathgra.
But, as I said, Morgoth is not derived from Latin, but rather Sindarin, “mor” meaning “dark” or “black”. Were Tolkien’s languages influenced by Latin? Yes, to an extent. But I feel the distinction must be made.
And ‘Volde’ means flight of or theft of, so Voldemort =Theft of death, which makes sense when you consider that that was his aim and he himself was the one who decided upon it. He must have known French. But technically, should he really be so upset about his name, in that case? Really, he’s lucky that it just happens to be an anagram for ‘I am Lord [insert an interesting-sounding foreign phrase for what he wants]. What surprises me is that, before he became known as a dark wizard, no-one who met him and learned what he called himself ever seemed to know French and say, “Wait. your name means theft of death? That’s… very interesting.” or whatever people would say.
Excuse my HP analysis paragraph. Sorry. That happens, occasionally, due to general obsessiveness (about both HP and analysis). I’ll stop.
And now I just thought of the word morbid…
I’ve always seen it as “Flight from death,” though “theft of death” works, too.
I read that it could mean both ‘flight of death’ or ‘theft of death.’ ‘Flight from death, though… That’s interesting. Since ‘from’ and ‘of’ often mean the same thing, but don’t here, quite a lot would depend on the translation… I was only using ‘theft’ and not ‘flight’ because I thought it fit better, but I like ‘flight from death’ more, actually.
Huh, I always thought it was just a name.
Some of us discussed Voldy’s potential anagram mishaps a while back.
Well, r IS one of the most threatening sounds. That’s why it’s called “murder,” not “muckduck”!
And don’t forget Mordor- I know it’s not a villian, but it’s not exactly the most friendly place, is it?
True. Dark enemy of the world, I think. And, not having read very much fantasy from before Tolkien’s time in the first place, I don’t even know whether it was even overused then. But seeing as his work has been imitated so extensively over the years, it could be that he actually started the whole… archetype. Either way, although it’s true that many of the authors who use it are excellent, it gets somewhat annoying to see it over and over again.
And Mordred. And Morgan LaFaye and he Morrigan and…*
I wonder if the word ‘murder’ is related to it. I’m sure morgue is, and postmortem, but… Oh! I just realized: I just mentioned the Morrigan, and since murder is also a group of crows… Hm. Interesting. I’m going to have to look up that word’s origins. *does so* It’s… hard to tell. But still, I just wonder about it, even though it’s extremely improbable that they’re at all related. Etymology is intriguing.
*Alright, they aren’t exactly villains. Close enough, though.
NEVERMORE. RAVEN. Both have the r sound in them. I think that R goes well with M for threatening, dark, mysterious names. POE. Fine, neither of those, but still!!
This may be a bit off the topic, but if I ever write books, I’ll have to make a couple of them tragedies. It seems to me that most books written recently have a happy ending. Not that I dislike happy endings-I love them!-but after a hundred or so novels, I just want that hero to fail! Or even just something completely random to happen. Mmmm, pie. *-*
Hello, kotoktet. Are you new here? If so, it’s a good thing you like pie.
I like it where there’s a lot of suspense at the end, but things are not completely resolved and a character who means a lot to the main character dies.
Wow, i have not been on in a while
Anyway, I completely agree with kotoktet. Books get boring if you know for sure the hero will save the day and everyone will go home happy. Sometimes, you need a book in which the hero loses, just to keep things unpredictable.
Overused and cliché plot, from nearly all the books in the YA section:
Sally moves to a new town and feels like an outcast at her school. She attracts the attention of the handsome/mysterious/brooding/sulky/sparkly/smelly/wannabe-emo/did I mention HOT/ Bob, and later discovers that he is a vampire/werewolf/fairy/elf/wizard/gnome/unicorn/dragon/Bigfoot/Yeti/angel/alien/some hybrid of the above. Dark forces/evil people/interesting antagonists/stupid antagonists/the end of the universe/some higher power/darkness/Weeping Angels/some other antagonistic thingy threaten everything they hold dear. Will their love prevail, or will aforementioned evil thingies ruin their lives forever?
This is why I’m the lone teen in the science section. Not only are the books more interesting, but they’re usually cheap!
I’d say it’s ripe for parody, but it would be hard to write anything sillier than some of the “serious” plots already out there.
Leave it to the Harvard Lampoon.
Bob?
I’ve noticed a lot more books along that plotline since Twilight became so much more popular. *snarl*
Not just Bob, but The Bob.
Oh yes. Now it’s not just Twilight, but Vampire Academy, Vampire Dreams, Vampire Darkness, Vampire Secrets, Under the Vampire Moon, Vampire Dentistry, Vampire Blood, Dark Vampire Secrets, Vampire Chill, Vampire Breath (sans garlic!), Vampire Kisses, Vampire Shadows, Vampire Awareness and Prevention…
I vote Buffy for President.
Team Pushbellaoffacliffandwatchedwardandjacobrunafterher.
Team Tyler’s Van.
Team Harry Potter. You don’t see people with that kind of shirt! (no one would wear a “team Voldemort” one though…)
Team Ron Weasly.
I’d be with you if I weren’t voting Harold Saxon for President. (I don’t care if he’s not a natural-born citizen! Archangel can change that rule!)
Really, I’m Team Tyler’s Van. Or maybe Team Get Some Actual Policemen In Here Because Some Of This Stuff Isn’t Even Legal. Or Team Anti-Pedophilic Supernatural Creatures (lookin’ at you, Edward, Jacob, and Quil). Or Agent Lightning’s team, which I think is a very nice team.
On the topic of Breaking Dawn, I think Vampire C Section would make a fantastic name for an indie band.
VOTE SAXON!
This gives me an idea for a media-saturated dystopian story in the vein of William Gibson.
Political candidates have long since ceased to be actual people — everybody votes for a choice of virtual celebrity-personas, each one controlled by shadowy networks of advisors and sycophants who squabble for the real power. But when the virtual Lieutenant Governor of the Maine-Brunswick Occupied Zone begins making his own political decisions, the Shadow People have to face the terrifying possibility that their cybernetic puppets with good PR have evolved beyond their control…
*squee*
You need a subplot where at least one of them manages to download their mind and take a human body.
This reminds me slightly of the Penultimate Truth, by Phillip K Dick. There aren’t really political candidates, but there is a network of people controlling a cybernetic politician!
It’s a good book, but it took me a while to get through the beginning.
Why are all the books named after moon phases/ times of the sun rising/setting? I mean…
The New Epic Vampire Fantasy:
1 in the Morning…. DUN DUN DUN…
TEATIME
That one sounds good. I’ll buy it when it comes out.
Earthlight.
Sequel to Crepuscule and followed by Transit.
That sounds like a very nice SF trilogy.
I couldn’t agree more. I tend to avoid that section most assiduous. I too, am a teen most likely found in a science section, though I do frequent some other, adult, sections as well.
Or else:
Sally is an unpopular yet very nice high schooler who has two other unpopular yet very nice friends, one of whom is an OMGHOT guy, Sam. She and her friends are terrorized by the mean popular girl Sadie, who is going out with also-popular dude Fred, who Sally secretly fantasizes about and believes to be perfect, although he likes Sadie. Then, through unstinting effort Sally manages to make herself popular, and Fred dumps Sadie for Sally. But Sally’s old friends are mad at her because she is not being true to herself, and then the popular people find out something lame about her and stop liking her, and Sally realizes that Fred is a shallow jerk (gasp!) Then Sally’s old friends forgive her and Sally realizes she has been in love with Sam since kindergarten and they all live happily ever after.
There are some genuinely nice people I know who say “like” a disturbing number of times in one sentence(the record may be about 20). It’s painful, but I feel bad about groaning at them because they are nice people and I don’t want to offend them. It Just Bugs Me.
I am such a person. I’m rather inarticulate, and find that ‘like’ is an easy way to sort out what I’m trying to say while I’m saying it. It’s not a very good habit, but I’m a slow thinker, so… It helps me stay on topic.
This is me, though I’m ashamed to admit it. I talk faster than I think sometimes, particularly when nervous or excited, and the gaps get filled in with “like”s.
I’ve gotten better with it, but I haven’t really kept track of how much I say it nowadays.
Another Overused Plotline: Jane’s friend George is behaving weirdly and is avoiding her. When she confronts him it turns out he is actually madly in love with her. She feels awful but doesn’t like him back. Later, she realizes she does, in fact, like him back, and goes to tell him. Unfortunately it turns out he’s a vampire/creepy thing/sociopath/ he killed his sister, and she tells him she loves him anyway and they all live happily ever after.
Can you tell me how original this plotline is? (fake names used)
What Bob doesn’t know is that there is another univerese/dimension called — where there is magic, magical creatures, superpowers, kings, queens, ect.ect.ect. And also that his school is not a school at all, but a training fort for young Hairbrushians (from the country of Hairbrush in the universe of–) who have the magic powers of
a green thumb (magic plants)
a yellow thumb (controls the weather)
a red thumb (talk to animals, shape-shift)
Ect, ect,ect. And all the people there are either magical creatures or people with the thumb powers. They are there to train for war against the Bathrobians (sorry for the horrendus names) . But since Bob is there the Hairbrushians cannot train but must learn algebra. Then Bob finds out about — and Hairbrush and Bathrobe. His friend Sally is the 13-year-old queen of Hairbrush since all the other heirs were dead or turned evil. Then Bob finds that he is an orange thumb and can control fire and that his dad is the kingof Bathrobe. (Lukeiamyourfather, I know, but I couldn’t resist.) Then they have adventures involving swords and Bob has to kill the king (harsh) and it leaves off at a cliffhanger leading up to the sequel.
How original would you say this was?? (I used fake names)
Another Overused Plot Line: Giant/monster/alien-thing is feared by everyone until little boy Billy discovers that giant/monster/alien-thing is actually nice.
Agree to disagree. It just sounds stupid.
I know. Not even exciting.
176, 177: What sounds stupid? I can’t figure out what you’re responding to.
*puzzlement* I was stating that the phrase “agree to disagree” sounds stupid.
175.
and robots. Let’s not forget giant robots. And sometimes the boy’s name is Timmy.
It would be the best movie/book ever if Billy/Timmy got eaten by one of the dragon/robot/giant/alien things.
How to train your dragon was a good book though, and it used this cliche, so it isn’t the worst of cliches.
It’s weird that the movie(how to train your dragon)had about 1 second of non-botched film,and it still was good.
I love that movie!!!!
Twilight. Any mention of, or reference to Edward Cullen ought to be punishable by repeated viewings of Star Trek: the Motion Picture. *recovers from seven hours among 14-year-old girls*
This particular 14-year-old female will gladly watch Star Trek(any incarnation) with you. She’ll drag all her friends too. Make it a general sci-fi/anime/comedy session and all will be happy.
Oh, dear. My teacher is in big trouble…
Mine too. Worse still, she’s my English teacher…
Shoot. HTML gnome? :D”
[Done.]
A List of Highly Annoying Adolescent Cliches
1. Awesome
2. lol
3. Cheese
4. Bob
5. Hi
6. =), =], and anything involving = for eyes
7. Random
8. Hehe
9. Anything that needs a fake British accent to be quoted
Okay, this has shifted into a list of things that annoy me. That can be saved for another day.
What an awesome list, lol! I love how random things like cheese get on there, hehe, and also more general things like Bob =) =) =).
Not funny.
I remember this phase. *wince* I think it was around sixth grade. Everyone, feel lucky I found MuseBlog when I was 14 and not 11…
I HATE, HATE, HATE how people decorate everything with “=]”. School projects, whiteboards, notebooks, whatever. It is not clever and it is SO UNORIGINAL and an equals sign DOES NOT RESEMBLE EYES IN THE SLIGHTEST.
Really? I think it does, at least to some degree.
Only in that there are 2 of them, one beside the other. Colons are much better for emoticons, in my opinion.
What’s wrong with the word ‘hi?’
Totes, like, kk
These are more recent.