To ask where this stupid phrase has come from?

[Bluesheep8]

"Swap out"
Why the addition of the word 'out' ?
I was in a restaurant last week and heard someone say "can I swap out the chips for new potatoes?"
The word swap says all that's needed surely? It just makes no sense

Shout out on the radio gets on my tits. What happened to mention?
Reach out - contact.
Why is everything followed by out?

Wear it with a red lip!

I’ve never heard anyone say this!

Oh and another one I see on MN a lot is people adding “in which” to the middle of sentences.

“Ex is earning 3 times what I am, in which I have no chance of spending as much in Xmas as him”

@Thepennysjustdropped

Wear it with a red lip!

Uh huh!

Just one red lip. The other purple. Or yellow.

@AdobeWanKenobi

Oh. Another thread where people can't accept that language evolves is coming then. Marvelous.

Of course it evolves, nothing wrong with that. But people aren't going to love the sound of everything.

@IthinkIsawahairbrushbackthere

"It's too big of an ask", "too long of a wait" - the addition of "of" makes me uncomfortable.!

Urgh yes. ‘Not too big of a deal’

My kids talk about ‘hating on’. I don’t see the need for the ‘on’.

There is a special place in hell for 'signposting'.

@Thepennysjustdropped

Wear it with a red lip!

Haha. A pop of colour!

"Over the last several years"

I think it's American, it really irritates me.

Swap out"
Why the addition of the word 'out' ?
That construction sounds to me like it's a translation from another language (German?)

That's entirely possible. American English has of course evolved from archaic forms of English plus influences from early settlers from elsewhere in the world who were learning to speak English as the 'common' first language of the USA. It's not surprising much of it is different to English as we know it. The grammar, syntax, spelling and sentence construction has evolved from many different language patterns.

The 'swap out' thing is odd, though. Americans often say 'I am going to sub the XXX for YYY. The act of swapping something or substituting it mean essentially the same thing, but they don't say 'sub out.' Just 'sub'.

''Shop local'' is my bugbear.

''Shop locally'' makes sense. ''Shop local'' just looks inane.

another one is things being "curated"....e.g. putting ornaments on a mantel piece, organising your wardrobe etc

Reach out

“If you would have called me” instead of “if you had called me” rankles too.

I just knew when I read the title that it was bound to be America’s fault

@worriedstar

another one is things being "curated"....e.g. putting ornaments on a mantel piece, organising your wardrobe etc

I think that's used in similar vein to 'help me style my outfits' - making something sound a lot more complex and grand than it really is.

[quote reallyalurker]The "needs sorted" construction is Scottish I think. See here on "sorted" generally and re Scottish use in comments: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2017/09/sorted.html And here on "needs washed": ygdp.yale.edu/phenomena/needs-washed.[/quote]
Yes very normal here in NI too.

It would feel unnatural for me to say “the bathroom needs to be cleaned” rather than “the bathroom needs cleaned”. I’d have to consciously think about it to add in the “to be”

Meanwhile, can I add 'atop' to the discussion? It just sounds daft.

Same goes for the saying so beloved of tv chefs: 'fry off'.

American English has a long history of adding unnecessary prepositions. We just have to get where it is at

@HerBigChance

'Station stop' is another when travelling on public transport.

It's a station, or it's a stop. It's not both.

I used to hear this year’s ago on trains when I was a teenager. I always took it to mean that there may be other stops (waiting for another train to pass, break down, leaves on the track etc), but that “Bristol” would be the next stop that was an actual station.

“Pop/Bob in to Asda for some bits for tea”

🤮

I don't actually mind most of these! 'I personally' is my bugbear, why 'personally'? Who else could you be referring to when you say 'I'?

Imagine having bits for tea!! Bits of what? Give me the whole of whatever it is.