Stupid *new* words

[wolfie]

Hip Hop / Rap. The same place that words like Crunk came from.

From your spelling, it's clear that you've heard the word for that type of "music", but never seen it written down - the "C" at the beginning is silent.

[Ree]

Welcome to the world of living languages.
<snip>
"Cray-cray" may be a particularly annoying example of the effect, but in the right context, it's a perfectly cromulent word choice.
<snip>
That said, anyone using the word "irregardless" gets put on my list. >_>

So, you can be upset about the misuse of the word "irregardless" but the OP is supposed to just shrug and say, "Oh well, that's the English language for you."

I think "cray cray" is stupid and inane, and I doubt you will ever see it become a standard word in any dictionary, except the "Urban Language" dictionary. (Of course, that's just my opinion, and I have no doubt it will be shot down and argued. )

It's a stupid, annoying, cutesy term.

Just because the language has a tendency to evolve doesn't mean we have to like it or just shrug and accept it.

Maybe if more people would just speak up and refuse to give in to these moronic word changes, we wouldn't have so many annoying words peppering our day to day conversations.

Something that really bugs me is when people type "welp" instead of "well". It's the same number of keystrokes.

[Andara Bledin]

So, you can be upset about the misuse of the word "irregardless" but the OP is supposed to just shrug and say, "Oh well, that's the English language for you."

I hate the use of "irregardless" for a few different reasons. The first is because it's a made-up word for which there was already a perfectly serviceable word that was nearly identical. Second, it adds a syllable to the word it's replacing, making it less efficient. And, finally, the vast majority of people I hear using it are the same people who tend to say "with John and I" instead of "with John and me" and when called on it say, "Oh, well, it sounds more proper." No. No it doesn't "sound more proper." It sounds like you're ignorant and trying to put on airs as opposed to actually learning how to string together a proper compound object or compound predicate and it's just sad.

It's a stupid, annoying, cutesy term.

Well, yes, that kind of is the point of it. It is a term of mockery, after all.

Although, that doesn't mean you'll ever catch me using it, just like I've never said anything was "the bomb" or called anyone "brother" or "sister" who wasn't related to me, or referred to my domicile as my "hizzouse."

Something that really bugs me is when people type "welp" instead of "well". It's the same number of keystrokes.

This one's actually a lot older than most people realize; probably a century or more. It's just that in formal writing (which was nearly all writing until rather recently), nobody would use the word "well" in such a manner. When beginning a statement with the word "well" and using it as a form of finality (such as "well, I'm glad that's over" or "well, it's too late now" or "well, that's done it"), it's very common for the speaker to use what's called a bilabial stop to close it off, which doesn't quite result in it being pronounced "welp," but comes very, very close. Now that people are sharing their random thoughts informally, they're using words that are closer to how they actually speak, thus using "welp" in place of "well" in situations where that's closer to what they'd actually have said.

In this particular case, the use of "welp" vs "well" actually means something. It's communicating more than just the word "well" could do on its own. I strongly suspect that when chatting, I've used "welp" to indicate a particular type of declarative versus "well," which tends to be more introspective or formal.

It's worth noting that it took me nearly a decade to chat in a manner more related to how I speak and less like a professor giving a lecture. That, and being a lexiphile, has led me to really caring about whether or not the words that bothered me did so because they were wrong or because I was just being uptight, or (as I've discovered to be the case a few times) I was just flat out wrong and they were being used properly and appropriately.

[Ginger Tea]

I've not associated welp with well and it redlined it saying I should have typed whelp.
welp as a typeo'd whelp I can accept as the h is more or less silent.

I watch a gaming channel on YouTube and after 2 members all but destroyed their minecraft voltz world with a red matter bomb that ate the world and insta killed players nearby Whelp was the only response from the opposite teams leader, well the only written one, they were communicating over vent on a team level, but not server based.
if he had typed Well it would have looked odd to me, well ... could be well that was unexpected
well you really fucked that up
etc

but whelp or welp if the h was missed off, is more of a yelp.

[Andara Bledin]

If you're going to use "welp" at all, please don't spell it "whelp." That's another word entirely and entirely unrelated to the use of "welp" or "well." Common (and probably more accurate) are "wellp" and "well'p."

Discussion of welp at Slate.

[Ginger Tea]

well I had never known of 2 forms of welp, one with a h, nor did I know welp and well were kinda the same, the welp/whelp I have ever seen ended up more as oh fuck.

I don't use it myself, but that is the context I've seen it in.

[Rageaholic]

I'm gonna revive this thread for "amazeballs". This is actually a word according to Oxford Dictionary. I don't get it.

[dawnfire]

I'm gonna revive this thread for "amazeballs". This is actually a word according to Oxford Dictionary. I don't get it.

I don't get either. why not just use amazing ?

[Bloodsoul]

I'm not entirely sure of the history or truth behind it, but apparently "Mamma" was another name for a Sumerian/Babylonian goddess named "Ninhursag" associated with the creation of mankind. So… have at that what you will.

I still don't know how "sick" came to have a positive connotation. Maybe extreme sports players performing such a gnarly trick that it literally made the practitioner sick to his stomach as a result?

[Rageaholic]

I don't get either. why not just use amazing ?

Exactly. At least other words have unique meanings (as stupid as "Selfie" sounds).

[bainsidhe]

Exactly. At least other words have unique meanings (as stupid as "Selfie" sounds).

This entire thread I've been thinking about my loathing of the word "Selfie". I can't stand the word and how often it's being used. Selfie generally refers to a photo taken by smartphone and then posted on social media. Yet I keep seeing it in reference to any and all photographs that someone took of themselves, even decades ago. Or even a photo that someone else took. No, they took a photo. Ah, look here, a civil war photograph. No, no! That is not a selfie either! Ugh.

[HYHYBT]

"Selfie" covers any picture where the photographer is also the subject, and though the word became popular because of smartphones, it predates them.

[Bloodsoul]

Selfie of a selfie?

[NecCat]

I've also started to hear 'ussie' used now. A photo of several people where one of the subjects is also the photographer. I hope that doesn't catch on fast.

[Ginger Tea]

I'm a tolerate/hate with the word selfie.

Don't mind it as a shortened version of self photograph, arms out stretched or on a tripod/flat surface with a timer.

3rd party photograph being listed as a selfie just because the subject happened to post it to twitter or instagram or anything else, nope.

I don't care if it is your camera and you asked me to take the photo of you, it is me who is the photographer so it is not a selfie.

I do find it humorous that people over the last 9+ months I've frequented imgur have been out dating themselves with the first ever selfie. "Here's a picture of one of the Beatles in the 60's taking a selfie in the mirror." next week "Here's someone from the 50's doing the same." etc.