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AIBU?

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Original poster

It’s GIVEN not GIFTED FFS !!!

494 replies

TriflePudding · 15/02/2021 18:19

Oh god it’s all over Facebook and it’s driving me crazy - “I have here to gift ...a tatty old sofa I can’t be arsed to get rid of myself so I’m fobbing it off on someone else”
or “I have been gifted a bag of baby clothes but they are too small, does anyone know if anyone in need ?”
Or “looking to gift some donations to local women’s refuge/children’s hospital- who do I get in touch with ?”

JUST FUCK OFF !! Say “given” and while we are at it just donate stuff quietly without any fanfare !

YABU - it is perfectly acceptable to use “gifted” as a verb

Or

YANBU - the word “gifted” being used as a verb was invented by Beelzebub himself.

Please feel free to add your own !

OP posts:
Thread gallery
13
poppycat10 · 15/02/2021 21:16

@ShimmyShimmyYa

"decimated"- incorrect use has given me the rage for a couple of decades diminished by one tenth, you say? that's really not so bad even the newscasters didn't get the memo- it's everywhere strongly suspect the fight is lost (and don't get me started on "disinterested")
Yes this morning Radio 4 were interviewing a lady from a travel-related trade association. She said the industry had been utterly "decimated" by 95%.

I remember them using "decimated" in an episode of Doctor Who a few years ago where they very clearly said it was one in ten to make a point.

SofiaMichelle · 15/02/2021 21:16

@IAcceptCookies

And what about the use of 'shop' instead of 'shopping' as a noun for things you've bought? It's 'shopping' not 'a shop'.

"Save £5 on your next shop!"

But shop also has a further meaning as a noun - ‘an act of shopping’ or ‘a shopping session’ (e.g. “I do our weekly shop on a Tuesday”) so “save £5 on your next shop” does work.

I disagree because "I do our weekly shop on a Tuesday" is something that's infiltrated our language and shouldn't have.

"I do our weekly shopping on a Tuesday".

It's only quite recently that people have started using "a shop" to mean the stuff they've bought rather than where they buy it from.

Learningtofeminist · 15/02/2021 21:16

@evilharpy I was reading through the thread just to see if anyone else hates ‘obligated’ as much as I do Grin There is a PERFECTLY GOOD WORD that actually EXISTS to mean what you’re trying to say...

But then @ElfAndSafetyInspector reminded me that ‘impacted’, except when referring to wisdom teeth or a dog’s anal glands, is what really makes me want to smack the speaker with a wet sock Angry

My husband does one of those bullshit jobs and also doesn’t speak English as a first language - can’t complain because it pays the mortgage but hearing some of the sheer business speak gibberish sometimes makes me want to despair of humanity.

BewareTheBeardedDragon · 15/02/2021 21:20

[quote DameCelia]@BewareTheBeardedDragon
Needs gone etc are Scottish dialect. See also Pittsburgh English.
(I swear I type that at least once a week on here Hmm)[/quote]
That is interesting and I am glad to know it. I wonder if all the poster using it on my local Home Counties fb page are Scottish.

Squooka · 15/02/2021 21:20

Verbing weirds language

www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1993/01/25

Willowwarble · 15/02/2021 21:21

"Take", what's that all about? "Are you going to take the jab?" No, I am going to agree to be vaccinated. And all this " taking the knee" stuff, it's kneeling down.
Another thing that bugs me, where I work we now have "floor plates" instead of offices. 🙄

Ellmau · 15/02/2021 21:22

My pet hate is disinterested used when they mean uninterested. Disinterested means something different.

BlackForestCake · 15/02/2021 21:22

Wanna, kinda, sorta

Yes, why can’t people write out “want of”, “kind of” and “sort of” just as they write out “would of” and “should of“ ?

Wink
Grendalsmum · 15/02/2021 21:23

What the actual fuck is a floor plate?

BewareTheBeardedDragon · 15/02/2021 21:23

@ShimmyShimmyYa

"decimated"- incorrect use has given me the rage for a couple of decades diminished by one tenth, you say? that's really not so bad even the newscasters didn't get the memo- it's everywhere strongly suspect the fight is lost (and don't get me started on "disinterested")
But decimated was not just reducing something by one tenth was it? It was quite specifically (I thought - happy to be corrected if I'm wrong) in the army if a superior officer was pissed with the Roman troops they would randomly kill every tenth soldier. Which is pretty atrocious despite only reducing the number of men by one tenth. I think that is why it is used in modern parlance to indicate that something is really devastating?
Shelby2010 · 15/02/2021 21:23

I give you REVERT. (Please take it away.)

I was sent an email by a colleague saying ‘Please read the attached documents and revert back to me.’

I cannot reply to the email & comment on the documents without saying ‘No. I was never you, therefore I can’t revert back to you.’ But the person who sent it is quite senior to me & it wouldn’t go down well. So I’m stuck.

IAcceptCookies · 15/02/2021 21:24

I disagree because "I do our weekly shop on a Tuesday" is something that's infiltrated our language and shouldn't have.

It shouldn’t have? Why not? It is informal, but not incorrect.

"I do our weekly shopping on a Tuesday"....

...is not the same as “I do our weekly shop”. Shopping is the purchased goods in your example; shop (in mine) is the act of shopping.

It's only quite recently that people have started using "a shop" to mean the stuff they've bought rather than where they buy it from.

As I said, it refers to the shopping session, the ‘going and doing it’ of shopping rather than the purchased stuff. “We did a huge Christmas shop on Thursday”

QueenAnnesHat · 15/02/2021 21:27

'Excited for'
As in 'I am excited for my holiday.'
Another Americanism.

QueenAnnesHat · 15/02/2021 21:29

Oh, and the tautologus '6.00 am in the morning.

suggestionsplease1 · 15/02/2021 21:30

@AlwaysLatte

I think 'to gift' is correct, but 'gifted' in the sense of being given a present rather than having special talents is not. So it is okay to say you are going to gift your beautiful heirloom plastic smurf to your grandchild. but not okay to say you gifted them that same treasure.
I'm really surprised by a lot of the responses here. I'm pretty sure 'gifted' can be used accurately as both the active and passive form of the verb 'to gift' and as an adjective., obviously depending on the construction of the sentence in question.
TatianaBis · 15/02/2021 21:30

Ooo yes a hopping mad language-mangling thread.

My bugbears are:

  • 'myself and my partner'
  • 'weary' instead of 'wary' - 'I was weary of him due to what I had heard'
  • 'reticent' instead of 'reluctant' - 'I was reticent to get involved'. Reticent means staying quiet, not expressing your thoughts. 'He was reticent on the subject'.
  • 'disinterested' instead of 'uninterested' Disinterested means objective, uninfluenced.
suggestionsplease1 · 15/02/2021 21:30

Sorry, didn't mean to quote that response!

TatianaBis · 15/02/2021 21:31

@snowblower

I lived in Canada until I was 10 & I quite like the American isms drifting into our vocabulary. I also really enjoy the regional differences in our words & phrases. There is only 1 word that really irritates me 'gotten '
'Momentarily' is catching on. 'I will be with you momentarily'
thenightsky · 15/02/2021 21:32

@Lavender2018

I got it “for free” grates on me
Oh yes, me too. I remember this creeping in during the 1980s and was used by people who wanted to sound cute and a bit childish. Probably the same sorts who would use the phrase 'bestest friend'.
Timpeall · 15/02/2021 21:33

Gotten has always been in use in Ireland. Us and the 'muricans.

Timpeall · 15/02/2021 21:34

@Ellmau

My pet hate is disinterested used when they mean uninterested. Disinterested means something different.
I was taught it as 'a judge should be disinterested but not uninterested'.
BringPizza · 15/02/2021 21:36

YANBU OP, nor the other examples on here of the misuse of borrow, decimate etc. No wonder the british are so slack at learning foreign languages when they can't even do what is for most of them their first language.

KaleJuicer · 15/02/2021 21:38

When newspapers describe couples “sharing” a child together. Unless they are describing custody arrangements, parents “have” children they don’t “share” them like sweeties.

Confusedandshaken · 15/02/2021 21:39

@AdaFuckingShelby

I have similar feelings about 'I am loving ' instead of 'I love'. As in 'I am loving your outfit'. No you're not, get off! Also wtf is 'my bad'?.
I think "I'm loving and 'I love' are different. I love indicates a situation condition that i don't expect to change such as I love my kids and my husband. I'm loving means something temporary so at the moment I'm loving watching Married at First Sight Australia and eating ham sandwiches for breakfast but I'm aware I will probably move on from them soon.
Providora · 15/02/2021 21:40

I can't believe the number of people who can't tell the difference between 'to' and 'too' anymore. They seem to think you can just chuck another o on to give the word emphasis or when it's at the end of a sentence.

THEY MEAN DIFFERENT THINGS!

And it's nothing to do with snobbery or education levels, we all got taught to spell 'to' when we were 4yo and this is a very recent thing.