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Plethora. No one used that word till Rumsfeld started using it all the time. Then everyone started using it ALL the time. Ugh. Couldn't stand Rumsfeld. Can't stand suck-up mimics. Every time I hear the word I cringe.
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Originally Posted by Beau&Cloe
I had a boss for years that liked to use the word "caveat" as frequently as possible. He liked to pretend that he went to law school when it was highly doubtful and the closest he probably ever got to the law was his numerous speeding tickets. Everytime he said "caveat" it made me cringe.
Not only are "plethora" and "caveat" overused, they are frequently misused.
But why is "time" added to it? H/She got into debt. H/She got into a small amount of debt. H/She are in large amount of debt.
There again, I think it's an emphasis thing, which is just how regular people talk. Most of us don't sound like grammar teachers all the time; we vary words and expressions, and misuse them too, to apply emphasis.
So... "He got into debt big-time" substitutes for "He is in a large amount of debt" which is both stilted and makes the listener halt at the word "large". Of course, the idiom does demand familiarity; the foreign ear might wonder why someone is using a clock to measure their debt.
One thing you become aware of if you write fiction... to be readable, your characters can't talk like we do in Real Life (too, uh, much, really, basically I mean filler, you know?) nor like grammar experts (precisely the pedantry up with which we will not put!) Readability and flow demand something inbetween to sound natural. Realworld speech is too messy, but precise grammar comes off as stuck-up or "not a native English speaker" or worst of all, just plain cardboardy.
"Comparing apples to oranges". I see that a lot on City Data Forum.
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