Sunday, February 26, 2012

10 Signs You Might Be a Word Nerd

Yet another Monday is looming, and you know what that means: time to write a Listicle!  Rachel picked this week's topic, and it's a gooder, but February completely kicked my butt and now I feel like being a total rebel.  So I'm going way out on a limb and giving you a list that has been rattling around in my brain for a few weeks now.

I am a word nerd, through and through.  I don't have a problem admitting that.  And it must go with the territory of being a speech therapist, if my colleagues are any indication.  But how do you know if you are similarly afflicted?  Read on.  (It takes one to know one.)

10 Signs You Might Be a Word Nerd

1.  Your iPhone battery dies a lot more quickly now that you have ten Words With Friends games on the go at any given time.

2.  You write love letters to your sweetie in IPA.  That's International Phonetic Alphabet those of you who don't consider yourselves word nerds.  (Yes, I did this, and yes, he figured it out - which is why he is now the Hubs/Babydaddy/Captain Awesome.)

3.  You feel a slight wave of nausea come over you when people say things like "supposably," "disorientated," and "irregardless."

4.  You own every word game known to man.  Scrabble and Boggle are just the teeniest tip of the iceberg.

5.  You root for Bachelor contestants based on their pronunciation and grammar, and cringed every time Bachelorette Ashley talked about "moving fo-ward."  Every. Single. Time.  Which was a lot, because that seemed to be her catch phrase for the entire season.

6.  You post long, ranting Facebook status updates about the apostrophe epidemic and the rampant misuse of  pronouns. (Subject vs. object, people, subject vs. object!)

7.  You record and transcribe some your child's most adorable speech sound errors.  You know, just for posterity.

8.  You orchestrate situations and make up excuses to use a new word you have recently learned.

9.  You think it's cute to go around telling people you are a "Cunning Linguist."

10.  If you realize you have used the wrong word or made a typo in a blog post, you will stop at nothing to fix it, including waking from a deep sleep and jumping out of bed at 2 a.m. just to hit the edit button.




Now go visit the Listmaster to read why you
should or shouldn't attend your class reunion!

37 comments:

  1. This is awesome. I am a TOTAL word nerd!

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  2. Wow, it's like your post is all about me! I'm definitely a word nerd, in all of the ways you've described (and more)! Great list :)

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    1. Hee! I'll be sure and write my next comment on your blog in IPA. ;)

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  3. I love words and I think I am a word nerd. But my spell check and touch pads disagree with me and make me look like Ashley the Bachelorette most of the time. Great list Word Nerd extraordinaire!

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    1. Ha, is that my new title? Nothing compares to the Listmaster, but I'll take it! ;)

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  4. I worked with a woman who used say: "I'm so fUstrated!"

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    1. LOL, that one bothers your hubby too - I think we were tweeting about it one time!

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  5. Irregardless...so many people say that, that it should almost be made into a real word...or not? But wait! I noticed that Blogger didn't underline that word as a spelling mistake so I looked it up and according to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary it IS a word, just not one that is looked upon favourably. Huh. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irregardless

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    1. The Hubs and I had HUGE discussions about this years ago and finally went to a good old paper dictionary to settle it. "Irregardless" was listed as a comical or foolish way of saying "regardless." So it is a word, just not the best word choice. I can't help it: it still bugs me! Now the Hubs says it just to get on my nerves.

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  6. er...you have "form" instead of "from" in the last line. Which I noticed because I too am a word nerd. one of my roommates in college senior year used to say "it doesn't qualm me a bit that...." and I would want to leap across the room and throttle her. IT'S NOT A VERB!!!! Students now talk of "dorming" (that would be, living in a residence hall) and my colleagues (literary types, egads) say "metaphorize" (make a metaphor)... ARGH.
    love this post.

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    1. Haha, nice catch! I got cocky and tried to watch the Oscars while writing this post. I may be a word nerd, but I am terrible at multi-tasking!
      Oh yes, there are a lot of new verbs out there: "friending" (on Facebook), "medaling" (in the Olympics)... the list goes on. I'm glad you feel my pain! :)

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  7. LOVE your take on this, bwhahahaha you even spelled it out in Scrabble letters. Love letters in IPA, even I'm not that bad. Personal failure other than the Ottawa valley twang, yous as in yous guys, teased mercilessly when I arrived in Totonto, personal favourite, drug as in I got drug out of bed, gotta love those East coasters, personal cringe worthy, seen, I seen yous guys over there LOL Word Nerds Unite

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    1. Oh, and I will add "I says..." but I don't mind those quite so much, knowing they are differences in dialect, and most of the people who say "them things" :) wouldn't use them in formal writing (ie. they know they are dialect variations rather than "proper" English).

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  8. I'm only a semi-word nerd. This list made me giggle because it drives me insane when people say "irregardless"! It isn't a word!!

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    1. LOL, you and Marilyn are on the same page - see my reply to her comment above!

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  9. I think I'm a word nerd too, BUT I also think I still make mistakes. I catch myself splitting infinitives all the time! I think it's the difference between the speech and writing that trips me up. Oh, and I currently have exactly 10 WWF games going!

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    1. Oh I know what you mean. I don't want my blog writing to sound affected or stilted, so I try to write the way I would talk to a friend. Which means it's loaded with grammatical errors. I'd worry about splitting infinitives If I were writing a thesis, but not on my blog. I hope people don't start catching all the grammatical errors I make now! :)

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  10. I love word nerds. And your photo. Word nerds unite! (-:

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  11. What about telling your 10-year-old that "in this family, we don't accidentally say pacifically when we mean specifically?" I get so mad at their errors sometimes, and that's probably not so cool. But it will make them better people in the long run :)

    Love this list.

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    1. I ADORE my two-year-old's speech and grammar errors for their cuteness, but I definitely pull out Hector the Corrector at times, too!

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  12. I THOUGHT I was a word nerd. I just found out I'm only a word nerd in training.

    Word games are our favorites though. We have one called Word Theif that is always fun to play.

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    1. Nothing better than word games to bond (or alternatively, tear apart) a family! :) The Hubs and I have agreed that it is better for our marriage if we don't play word games together.

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  13. Like Nona, I too am only in the training stage. I need to get an iphone and start playing some words with friends to improve my vocabulary, and also to help prevent what's left of my formerly educated brain from turning into sludge as I continue as a stay at home mom!

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    1. Word games definitely help at least slow the effect of time and mommyhood on one's brain!

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  14. thought I was a Word Nerd....but I have no idea what Words with Friends is. yet again, I am out of the loop.
    Does this mean Pinterest isn't cool anymore? I was kind of enjoying not thinking too hard for awhile.

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    1. I have no interest in Pinterest, but I think it's still hot. I'm just too busy playing my ten games of Words with Friends!

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  15. I love words too!! None of my family members will play Scrabble with me anymore...something about my competitive nature and having to take every triple word score...whatever ;)

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  16. You are hilarious, my friend. And #3 - OY!

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  17. I think I love you.

    "You feel a slight wave of nausea come over you when they say things like "supposably," "disorientated," and "irregardless"

    You forgot relator (instead of realtor) and exscape.

    `TheGisSilent

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    1. Just noticed another typo: by "they" I meant "people."

      Oh, there are tons! I could spend HOURS adding to this list. "EXpresso" is another one.

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    2. Drives me bonkers too when people say "Alls I am saying is..." Uh, what?

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  18. Ha ha ha ha What a great list! I wish I was an much of a word nerd!

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  19. Yeah I might be in trouble here. My obsession is crossword puzzles. Now I must go find one to compete. I mean, complete.

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  20. I love Scrabble! I am definitely a word nerd! The IPA and I are buddies!

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