'deal breaker'

Oh yes, this makes me nuts. It's just lazy. Finding it in an online dictionary doesn't make it legit in my book.

Another example is "ask" as a noun instead of "request," usually in the context of a request for a donation.

"Not so much" is tiresome. Last year, "pivot" was being used all the time ("the pivot to Asia" in U.S. foreign policy). The word is fine; just when it's suddenly overused it gets really annoying.

And don't get me going on "aggressive" in the sense of "we have an aggressive timetable for this project." How about "ambitious" instead?

Last, another lazy locution is the use of "about" to mean "the essence of" or "primary characteristic." "We're all about providing value to our customers."

Recently I've noticed the word "reveal" used as a noun.

Example: Apple has set the _reveal_ of their new iGizmo for next Tuesday.

Why not, 'Apple will reveal their new iGizmo next Tuesday'?

I did find it as a noun in a on-line dictionary as 'the act or instance of revealing' but that does not keep it from grating my nerves.
 
This posting made me think of one of the pretentious terms I encounter here, and only here -- "draw." "I love how the 'cron draws."

I hate morons who say they are going to "pull the trigger" instead of saying they are going to "buy something". (oops. I re-read the thread and discovered Roger Hicks beat me to this one)

In another universe, I was severely admonished for insulting "lux" and "cron" posters. If I ran a camera website, anyone who used the term "lux" or "cron" would be subject to immediate banning.

I also really hate the term "walkaround" lens. What about "sitaround" lens, or "lay in a stupor" lens? Or "pass out in a puddle of drool" lens?

And I would like to slowly boil in rancid body fluids anyone who uses the term "go-to". That is my "go-to" lens. Or "go-to" restaurant. Or your "gone and went" restaurant.

But the most hideous, the most awful term of all, I haven't mentioned, because that battle has been long-lost. I may elaborate later.
 
This posting made me think of one of the pretentious terms I encounter here, and only here -- "draw." "I love how the 'cron draws."

And yet "draws" seems less pretentious than the alternatives: its "signature," or how it "renders." Of course, photography is "light writing," so the writerly metaphors all work for me. Then again, I'm a 'lux and 'cron abbreviator (and ashamed of it) :eek:
 
And yet "draws" seems less pretentious than the alternatives: its "signature," or how it "renders." Of course, photography is "light writing," so the writerly metaphors all work for me. Then again, I'm a 'lux and 'cron abbreviator (and ashamed of it) :eek:

...and you should be...ashamed!
 
Indulge me one more petty irritant: the disappearance of the infinitive "to be," as in "This thread needs edited." Even the journalists here in West Virginia do this...in headlines!
 
I don't have a problem with "signature," actually, since it implies a characteristic. And I'm OK with "renders" if it's followed by what it renders, e.g. "I love the way this lens renders delicate foliage." Otherwise, it's just like "draws."
 
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