Made Up Words People Use Everyday - Broadcasting School

Made Up Words People Use Everyday

Conversate: This is not a word. It doesn't actually mean anything. It was meant to be a combination of conversation and converse and used as a verb. In reality, "converse" is the word you are looking for. Irregardless: This is not a word. The word you are looking for is "regardless." Supposably: This is not a word. "Supposedly" should be used instead. Flustrated: This is not a word. It might make you "frustrated" though to learn that. Expresso: This is not a word or a beverage. It's "espresso."

Words and phrases often mispronounced:

Supposed to: Do not omit the d. "Suppose to" is incorrect. Used to: Same as above. Do not say "use to." Toward: There is no "s" at the end of the word. Anyway: Also has no ending "s." "Anyways" is nonstandard. Couldn't care less: Be sure to make it negative. (Not "I could care less.") For all intents and purposes: Not intensive purposes. Vice-Versa: It's not "vice-a-versa." Hyperbole: It is hprbl/ not hyper-bowl. Whole Other: Not "whole nother." You could say "another" instead of "whole other," but don't combine them.

Words Used in Radio That Shouldn't Be / Clich?'s / Announcerspeak

"Flee" meaning "run away" "Youth" meaning "child" 5 a.m. in the morning After the break After these commercial messages All of you or Everybody (when referring to the audience) Authorities Completely destroyed, completely abolished, completely finished or any other completely redundant use Giving 110% Gotta pay some bills (going to commercial) On the flip side (going to commercial) Pedestrian Those of you Thus Time for a break Vehicle Victim We'll be right back Welcome back Welcome back everybody We'll be back We're back Via

Words That Can Be Confusing

Disinterested and Uninterested: To be disinterested in something means to not be biased about something (i.e. to have no personal stake in a particular side of an issue). To be uninterested means to not be interested in or intrigued by something (i.e. I am bored by it.)

Lie, Lay: Lie is an intransitive verb meaning to recline or rest on a surface. Its principal parts are lie, lay, lain. Lay is a transitive verb meaning to put or place. Its principal parts are lay, laid.

Set, Sit: Set is a transitive verb meaning to put or to place. Its principal parts are set, set, set. Sit is an intransitive verb meaning to be seated. Its principal parts are sit, sat, sat. She set the dough in a warm corner of the kitchen. The cat sat in the warmest part of the room.

Who, Which, That: Do not use which to refer to persons. Use who instead. That, though generally used to refer to things, may be used to refer to a group or class of people. I just saw a boy who was wearing a yellow banana costume. I have to go to math next, which is my hardest class. Where is the book that I was reading.

Imply and Infer: Something is implied if it is a suggestion intended by the person speaking, whereas a conclusion is inferred if it is reached by the person listening.

Irony and Sarcasm: Something is ironic if it is the opposite of or contrary to what is appropriate, expected, or fitting. Irony, generally speaking, can naturally occur in both language and circumstance; one experiences irony when the opposite of an expected situation or idea occurs. In essence, an individual does not need to go out of their way to experience an ironical situation or idea, they can occur naturally.

Sarcasm means to mock or convey contempt. When you say something sarcastically, your tone and your words mean two opposite things. Sarcasm, for its part, can make use of irony to make an observation or remark about an idea, person or situation. Sarcasm is generally intended to express ridicule or reservation of an expression or idea. Because of this, sarcasm tends to find more broad usage than irony.

Literally and Figuratively: Literally means actually. When something is literally true, it is actually true. However, people use literally along with hyperbole to show an emotion: "I haven't had Chinese food in literally a million years." This is meant to denote that the person hasn't had Chinese food in a while. The word those people actually want is figuratively. They figuratively haven't had Chinese food in a million years. They probably literally hadn't had it in a few days or weeks.

Margin and Ratio: You'll sometimes hear people refer to a two-to-one margin. That is wrong. Two-to-one is a ratio. A margin is a specific amount something is won or falls short.

A ratio exemplifies a quantitative relation between amounts. EXAMPLE: The final score was 56 to 7. The margin of victory was 48 points. The winning team out-scored the losing team by a ratio of 8 to 1 touchdowns.

Me, Myself and I: People tend to avoid the word "me" out of self-consciousness and replace it, incorrectly, with "I' or "myself."

For example, "Jim and me are goin' down to work out," is not correct. It should be "Jim and I" because if I were working out alone I would never say "Me is going. . . " It's usually appropriate to use "myself" when you have used "I" earlier in the same sentence: "I am not particularly fond of goat cheese myself." "I kept half the loot for myself." "Myself" is also fine in expressions like "young people like myself" or "a picture of my girlfriend and myself."

Of and Have: In some dialects of spoken English, of and the contracted form of have, 've, sound alike. However, in standard written English, they are not interchangeable. Than and Then: Only use THAN to compare things. The football is bigger than the baseball. Use THEN to denote past or future time. We threw the football and then we threw the baseball. Or We will throw the football and then throw the baseball.

Their, There, They're and There're There refers to the location of something. Their means "belonging to them". They're is a contraction of "they are". There're is a contraction of "there are".[

Words and phrases often misused:

Travesty

What you think it means: A tragedy or something unfortunate. What it really means: A mockery or parody. This is another one that people have wrong fairly frequently. You've heard people call 9/11 a travesty. Truth be told 9/11 was a tragedy. A travesty is actually a mockery or a parody. One might say that a Weird Al Yankovic album is a travesty.

Bemused

What you think it means: Amused. What it really means: Confused.

This is one of the many words on this list that will make you strongly dislike the English language. Despite looking all but identical to the word amused, bemused doesn't even come close to meaning the same thing. If you are bemused then you are actually confused.

Compelled

What you think it means: To do something voluntarily by choice. What it really means: To be forced or obligated to doing something.

The real definition is very close to the definition people generally use. The difference is the motivation. When people say compelled, they think the person wants to perform the action. In fact, they are forced to do it regardless of their personal feelings. Here's an example. When you're in court, you are compelled to give honest testimony. You may not want to, but it doesn't matter because you have to.

Nauseous

What you think it means: To feel ill. What it really means: To cause feelings of illness.

This is another understandable mishap that a lot of people make. If you actually feel sick then you are nauseated. The object that made you feel ill is nauseous. Here's how this works. If you're at an amusement park and you're sitting next to a full trash can, the fumes from the trash may make you feel ill. That means the fumes from the trash can are nauseous because they are making you feel nauseated

Redundant

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