another annoying phrase

[daphnep]

"It goes without saying."

Well, if it does, you wouldn't be saying it, would you? The phrase automatically cancels itself out. It manages to invalidate both itself and whatever else it gets attached to.

The only way to possibly use it is to say "It should go without saying

Comments

[evilegg]

Did you ever read the Phantom Tollbooth?

[daphnep]

Nooo...I don't believe I have. It probably goes without saying that I should check it out, then. ;)

[evilegg]

You'd love it.
But that goes without saying or I wouldn't have asked.
It's written for early tweens, I think, but I didn't read it until I was 19 or 20 and one of Sam's GF's forced it on my entire family.
From wiki..."The book is full of puns, and many events, like Milo's sudden jump to the Island of Conclusions, are the consequences of taking English language idioms literally."

[daphnep]

Ha, ha...okay, I'll Amazon it. (if Movies get Netflixed, books can be Amazoned.)

Pet peeve.

[ernunnos]

"It goes without" instead of "It should go without".
"I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less".

I'm a geek, I understand the urge to abbreviate. Most of my life is acronyms. But could we at least abbreviate in ways that don't completely change the meaning?

Re: Pet peeve.

[daphnep]

ME TOO! I hate that one! In my head, I have to repeat it correctly to put the meaning right. (Hmm, maybe I'm going a little OCD, myself.)

Re: Pet peeve.

[zophine]

Add one to your list for me:

"It begs the question" (ask LD about this one if you want to hear a fun rant!)

And one that I can never figure out for myself: Is it "you have another thing coming" or "you have another think coming"? As in, "If you think that this is what happened, you have another ____ coming!"

Re: Pet peeve.

[daphnep]

I never quite got "it begs the question." I don't know what it's supposed to mean. Without looking it up, I seem to remember it's one of those that feels like it should go one way but actually means the opposite of what it sounds like.

Hence, in my confusion, I run the other direction.

And the second is "think". In my head, reading it, it's said with a definite redneck drawl: "Ya gotta 'nutter think comin'!"

Yeah. Say it like that. Then it makes PERFECT sense. ;)

[cjsmith]

Another one that bugs me along those same lines is the phrase "That is all." "That" was "all" until that last sentence got tacked on, now wasn't it? And now "that" is no longer "all." Hmpf.

[yesthatjill]

I hate 'To tell you honestly'.

Oh, good. You are lying to me the rest of the time?

[cynnerth]

Ha, yeah! That one catches my ear a lot.

That goes along with overuse of the word 'actually'.
"Is Mr. Smith in?"
"Actually, he's in a meeting right now."
Actually? Really? Get outta town.

[stachybotrys]

"After I quit hitting the crack pipe and found Jesus, my life did a complete three-sixty."