Yes, the post you all wait for, wherein I rant and rave about trivial, petty things that would never bother a normal person. To begin:
First, the word “bespoke.” It means “custom made for a specific person” and originally was supposed to refer to articles of clothing. I know this because I looked it up. It’s not a new word. However, I have only noticed its use recently in publications sold to the public, and the word as used is applied not only to jackets and such but also to furniture, carpets, and other products for the home. And it PISSES ME OFF to no end. Why can’t they just say “custom-made”? “Bespoke,” though apparently a term in use for a long time, is obviously one of those words that are meant for the specialized ears of the fashion industry and the people who depend directly on them. The reason why is because such words used in public sound unbearably twee and precious, and any normal (ie, non-fashion-world denizen) person hearing these words are probably allowed by law to beat the user of such words like a red-headed step-child. Come on, doesn’t reading the phrase “the foyer, with its red wallpaper patterned after a 13th century Kyoto wall hanging and containing a charming bespoke divan upholstered in chartreuse dupioni silk” make you want to find the person who wrote that and beat them with a tire iron?
Second: the way people have started to refer to areas around and in a house as “space.” For example: on one of those tart-up-your-house-to-sell-it (because, duh, no one wants to buy a house cluttered with worn 80s furniture, kids’ toys, with a kitchen covered in a fine layer of old toast crumbs and dried orange juice) shows, people were referring to the home’s back yard and patio as a “lovely space.” It’s a fucking yard and patio, not a “space.” If I’d been working for days (while HGTV’s cameras rolled) in mowing my lawn and cleaning up my back patio, I’d feel rather insulted if someone implied that it was an empty void, which is what “space” more or less means.
Okay, that’s all for now.
3 Responses to “It’s time for pet peeves! Designer edition”
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December 7th, 2008 at 2:36 am
What’s good about any given “space” is what is in it, or what happens there. But what the hell…
Peeves? One that pisses me off is when people pronounce forte as “for-TAY” when they mean strength. If they use the word in its musical sense to mean loud, that pronunciation is appropriate. Otherwise, pronounce it as “fort.”
Such people are educated just enough to be stupid.
December 7th, 2008 at 2:42 am
I myself have never done that. NEVER.
NEVER.
*****
Trufax: I used to think the word “banal” was pronounced “BAY-nal” — you know, to rhyme with “anal.”
December 8th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
My least favorite word-with-a-past is “methinks.” It’s bad enough when it occurs in Shakespeare, but I cannot stand when modern people use it. And by “cannot stand” I mean that it makes my fillings hurt. I momentarily lose consciousness. I don’t know why it makes me crazy, but it does, and that’s enough reason that people should be forbidden from using it.
Most of my other pet peeves involve whatever just recently p!ssed me off. It’s a rapidly changing list.