Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Lingustic Patrol Returns!

Mangled Term Of The Day:  Hate Mongrel (...wha'...???)  As in, "Don't be a hate mongrel," seen in comments to a news story about Pagan Pride Day and a Catholic Youth Organization track meet having to share Broad Ripple Park (little scheduling conflict, oopsie, but they worked it out).

     I've thought for years that "hone in"* should be the star attraction at any Sideshow Of Violated Verbiage, but it has been dethroned.  "Hate Mongrel." Gads.

     Somewhere in the afterlife, Cyril Kornbluth is laughing.
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* This staggeringly wrong usage is absolutely consistent with a culture in which nobody has ever sharpened anything with their own precious little hands. One is tempted to look askance at Ron Popeil but he only set the style.
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8 comments:

  1. JerrySeptember 25, 2012 at 7:43 AM

    Reminds me of the time that a local science fiction convention shared a venue with a Christian youth rally. Needless to say there were a few attacks of weirdness but everyone seemed to have survived with their delicate psyches intact.

    ReplyDelete
  2. BobGSeptember 25, 2012 at 11:03 AM

    Sounds like a poli sci professor I had one time; he was always using the word "irrelavent" in his talks.

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  3. Chas S. CliftonSeptember 25, 2012 at 11:06 AM

    I know that it's supposed to be hatemonger, but "hate mongrel" does work in this sort of off-the-leash bad-dog image, doesn't it.

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  4. BobSeptember 25, 2012 at 1:41 PM

    Or whoremongrel, like the former Attorney General of New York, Elliot "Client No. 9" Spitzer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. NotClauswitzSeptember 25, 2012 at 1:55 PM

    More specifically what kind of bark does a hate mongrel have? A deep Labradorean Woof-Woof or bright Yorkie Yipp-Yipp!?

    ReplyDelete
  6. BGMillerSeptember 25, 2012 at 5:59 PM

    Had a neighbor once that had a hate mongrel.

    Dog was even mean to his bowl of kibble.

    BGM

    ReplyDelete
  7. perlhaqrSeptember 26, 2012 at 7:47 AM

    I'm totally a hate mongrel. Instead of being one of those purebred haters who only pick one thing, like Jews or Eskimos, I hate everybody equally. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Windy WilsonSeptember 28, 2012 at 11:24 PM

    I worked with a fine fellow and pleasant coworker who always said "In Lieu" as if it meant "in View". It was fingernails on the chalkboard* to me, but I kept my mouth shut.

    Is this still a good metaphor or simile? Does Gen Y, Z, AA, AB, etc. still know what chalk is in a schoolroom setting or is it exclusively something for decorating sidewalks now?

    ReplyDelete

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