Words that people shouldn't use...

[Zillah]

Ha, I had been using "all right" for a long time, and I eventually realized that I was in the minority and that "alright" is so commonly used that it's recognized as a word by my spell checker. Lots of words and expressions have come about through slang. All words had to be invented at some point, so I no longer see a reason to use "all right" instead of "alright".

"Okay" is a pretty new English word too. The origin of "okay" that is most widely believed is that it is one of many abbreviations from the 1800s of common phrases with comical misspellings. "O.K." stood for "oll korrect" ("all correct"). It's definitely much more slangy than "alright", though it's not any more or less a word.

[Unicorn Dancer]

[Archers Lust]

@Zillah:

I'm surprised someone besides myself actually knew that.
Most people care even less for the origin of a word than they do about whether they're actually using it in a sentence correctly.

*Adjusts my glasses*

I'm impressed.

[Zillah]

@Unicorn: He is using it as a replacement for "so", which is incorrect. In my example I used it to replace "because", which is correct. In fact, I bet that is how the incorrect usage became common in the first place!

@Archer: Haha, I double-checked wikipedia before I said that because it just sounds so much like a silly old myth. xD

I find etymology interesting, but I have to say that it is more important to be able use a word correctly than to know where it derives its meaning from. Language is useful for communicating so that others can understand you. It allows us access to abstract concepts that we couldn't communicate through gesturing like we could with nouns and verbs. You and I don't need to know the etymology of "okay" in order to have a common understanding of its meaning.

[Unicorn Dancer]

this is what I want to do to his brains.

[Archers Lust]

I probably sound less intelligent by saying I had no idea it was called etymology till now, but oh well.
I just find new information to be fascinating, whether I'm learning about a person, place, historical time, and even words.

I agree with you on being able to use words correctly in speech being much more important.
Much like art and music, language is a large factor in the expression of human emotion and ideals.
Unfortunately, problems will always occur in the world as long as communication is hindered by religions, different languages, and even something as small as different skin color.

Taking myself as an example, I have no issue with communicating my thoughts over the web using forums such as this as tools.
However, I am unable to voice myself in a face to face conversation as my words are often stammered, tripped over, and even non-existent despite the number of thoughts that pass through my mind.
All wishing to be heard so that they may be agreed or even disagreed with and critiqued.

[Revolushion]

After reading all the words you guys have given I can't really think of any that annoy me... because now I'm thinking about how much those words bug me! xD

My mom can't stand "Meh" though... I use it constantly. xD I'm a huge Simpsons fan so I've been using it for years... and I was SO excited when it became an actual word in the dictionary!

Edit: I thought of one! Though I'm pretty sure I'm the odd-ball with this one...

Everyone uses Melancholy as a word for being sad... and I've just always grown up with it meaning more of that empty/nothing feeling, because that's what I would describe and my mom would always tell me the word for that was Melancholy. It almost makes it more annoying though because I can't correct people when they use it since I'm pretty sure I'm the one with the incorrect meaning. :/

[KathiraNarae]

I personally can't think of any particular words that annoy me, but what does annoy me is chat speak and leet speak. Just because we're on the internet does not excuse shortening sentences to near-illegible gibberish. Chat speak originally evolved from when text messaging had really constricting character limitations, but those don't exist anymore. With the current much larger--or sometimes non-existant--character limitations, there's no need for it, and it just drives me mad.

Actually, I'm no longer fond of 'conspiracy'. It's supposed to pronounced 'con-SPIH-ra-see' but I've heard several newsreaders (NEWSREADERS!) pronounce it 'con-SPEYE-ra-see'. That is not how conspiracy is pronounced, ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!

[Saygen40]

I've never heard it pronounced con-speye-ricy before. That just sounds...odd. :/

I have a personal disliking of the word "divine" when used to explain the taste of food. "Those biscuits are divine." "Those shrimp are simply divine."

'Simply divine' is actually much, much worse.