Grammar that makes you cringe

[clarion]

You do need to know what sort of tripods you are looking for.

[Cudzoziemiec]

The two-legged tripods fall over and the four-legged ones are clumsy, so always insist on a three-legged tripod. Make sure you're not fobbed off with a three-legged bipod though!

[Mr Larrington]

Pentapods are RIGHT out!

[Cudzoziemiec]

“I loved you. I was a pentapod monster, but I loved you. I was despicable and brutal, and turpid, and everything, mais je t’aimais, je t’aimais! And there were times when I knew how you felt, and it was hell to know it, my little one. Lolita girl, brave Dolly Schiller.”

You can see why a pentapod is not on.

[hellymedic]

I posted this in the Badly-named business thread a while back... http://tinyurl.com/q2vbv5v

[Guy]

What semi-literate baboon put this in Weekly Routine Orders?

The link bellows provides and updated version of...

[Legs]

“I loved you. I was a pentapod monster, but I loved you. I was despicable and brutal, and turpid, and everything, mais je t’aimais, je t’aimais! And there were times when I knew how you felt, and it was hell to know it, my little one. Lolita girl, brave Dolly Schiller.”

You can see why a pentapod is not on.

In reference to Humbert's pentapodishness pentapodiatry pentapod five-leggedness, I keep thinking that he should be declaring himself "despicable and brutal, and turgid..." 

[Mr Larrington]

“I loved you. I was a pentapod monster, but I loved you. I was despicable and brutal, and turpid, and everything, mais je t’aimais, je t’aimais! And there were times when I knew how you felt, and it was hell to know it, my little one. Lolita girl, brave Dolly Schiller.”

You can see why a pentapod is not on.

In reference to Humbert's pentapodishness pentapodiatry pentapod five-leggedness, I keep thinking that he should be declaring himself "despicable and brutal, and turgid..." 

I have just spent a Several of minutes trying to work out where that ^^^^ came in "Sir Henry At Rawlinson End"¹ before I twigged.

1: Lie.

[T42]

The Chronicles of the League of Gentlemen Cyclists.

[Andrij]

Capt Murakhtin spoke to Russian media outlets, who did not show his face

 

[drossall]

How do they manage to run the whole of King's Cross with just one contractor and, given that they do, why do they need a special reception for just one person?

[Wowbagger]

It's been like that for since the reign of the last monarch. He was very angry about it, hence the name of the station.

[Cudzoziemiec]

An advert for Lapierre bikes:

Merci Thibaut.
Thibaut Pinot, winner of the mythical Tour de France stage at l'Alpe d'Huez on his Xelius SL!



I'm sure in a few years it will seem as fitting as 'legendary' or 'epic' but right now it sounds like a mistake! (Actually, I expect it's a bad translation, in which case it won't seem any different in a few years' time.)

[T42]

Probably. Mythique means the same in French as mythical in English, but the mediums here tend to use it as shorthand for "worthy of myth".  The ad was either translated by someone at Lapierre who speek ze Anglish good, or by an agency that couldn't care less or who farmed it out to a low-grade labourer.  Or it might have been translated competently by an agency and then "corrected" by the aforesaid good Anglish speeker.

[Ian H]

An advert for Lapierre bikes:

Merci Thibaut.
Thibaut Pinot, winner of the mythical Tour de France stage at l'Alpe d'Huez on his Xelius SL!



I'm sure in a few years it will seem as fitting as 'legendary' or 'epic' but right now it sounds like a mistake! (Actually, I expect it's a bad translation, in which case it won't seem any different in a few years' time.)

See also 'fantastic'.

[Cudzoziemiec]

And 'terrible'. It's often tempting to go for the cognate, even when it's wrong.

[Wowbagger]

Not to mention "fabulous".

[billplumtree]

And 'terrible'.

But see also the famed terrible knitters of Dent...

[Ian H]

Is there a name for those adjectives that gradually lose their specific meaning and become mere intensifiers? 

[Cudzoziemiec]

I don't think it's fair to say legendary, epic, boss, or even myth-worthy(!) are mere intensifiers. They have lost their original specific meanings but retain meaning beyond 'very'.

[Ian H]

I don't think it's fair to say legendary, epic, boss, or even myth-worthy(!) are mere intensifiers. They have lost their original specific meanings but retain meaning beyond 'very'.

I think many people who use them would be unaware of their specific meanings.

I also thought of 'nice' which does seem to have lost its original meaning, except as preserved in 'nicety'.

[Cudzoziemiec]

So we're no longer making nice distinctions in our choice of adjectives.

Kids at school are now taught not to use nice, cos it's overused. They're also told to use 'wow words'. Both would seem likely to increase the popularity of legendary etc.

[Nuncio]

N's challenge is to develop a means to process Security Related Agile User Stories by making affinities between the underlying requirements and identify any inter-dependencies in a graphical form in order to develop coherent requirements which aim to satisfy the user needs using a limited set of architectural patterns. The entire process will use ISO Standards as a means to determine a common vocabulary and relationships to make associations so to inform the architectural pattern definitions.

ETA: Under a heading reading "Simpler. Better. Safer".

[hellymedic]

My school English teacher told us "'Nice' used to mean 'precise'".


Anyway, I give you:
Wicked
Awful
Awesome.

[T42]

Amazing

And in the

And 'terrible'.

But see also the famed terrible knitters of Dent...

Tricoteuses de teeth