The 58 most commonly misused words and phrases

The 58 most commonly misused words and phrases(independent.co.uk)

5 points by outputchannel 10 years ago | 3 comments

dTal 10 years ago |

>Data is a plural count noun not, standardly speaking, a mass noun. [Note: "Data is rarely used as a plural today, just as candelabra and agenda long ago ceased to be plurals," Pinker writes. "But I still like it."]

So... if a meaning is "rarely used today", and the author admits it's just personal preference, surely it shouldn't be on the list? I've seen some serious contortions in academic papers that try to use 'data' as a mass noun but still pedantically write "data are" instead of "data is". I've concluded at this point it's essentially an academic shibboleth.

Retra 10 years ago |

>Cliché is a noun and is not an adjective.

I wouldn't call this 'misuse', but evolution.

dTal 10 years ago | |

As the article notes by example, we have an adjective form already - "cliched". Overloading a word when you already have another perfectly good one results in a strict reduction in language usefulness (even if the effect is minor in this case).