Let's List the Most Misused Words in the English Language

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Nope, not "I love you." Not even "I'm the decider."

A comment I made in a different thread got me wondering which words in English are most often used or abused. There's no objective measure, obviously, so I say we nominate our own. My nominees:

1. Literally - The most abused; almost always used to mean it's exact opposite, "figuratively."

2. Ironically - Almost never used to describe something ironic; usually used to mean "coincidently" or "surprisingly."

3. Penultimate - Used as a synonym for ultimate by people who think four-syllable words will make them sound smarter (I'm just messing, with you, Oerdin )

What are yours?

[LordShiva]

Due (from "due to")

[Barnabas]

Ive never seen someone use literally for figuratively

I agree on ironic/ironically, think of the Alanis song

[SlowwHand]

loose and lose, here.

[Patroklos]

affect/effect. In fact I am pretty sure a lot of people do not even know the word "affect" even exists and just use "effect" for both.

[Dauphin]

Patriot.

[Sir Og]

Terrorist

[Heraclitus]

Evil.

[Tuberski]

Impacted.

It is rarely used correctly.

ACK!

[Asher]

Originally posted by Patroklos
affect/effect. In fact I am pretty sure a lot of people do not even know the word "affect" even exists and just use "effect" for both.

Ironically, this is the penultimate word whose affect have impacted us greatly (literally).

[Elok]

Originally posted by Tuberski
Impacted.

It is rarely used correctly.

ACK!

That's one of my GF's pet peeves.

[Monk]

What do you mean we can't smoke on top of the petrol tank when the label says it's highly inflammable?

[Blake]

"war"

[Wiglaf]

Asher

Originally posted by Barnabas
Ive never seen someone use literally for figuratively

I agree on ironic/ironically, think of the Alanis song

You have been owned, like everyone else who criticizes that song. The song itself is ironic because the lyrics don't really represent anything ironic despite claiming to. Alanis herself has said this, perhaps you should watch MTV before launching into tirades about menopausal woman music.

[Wiglaf]

Oh, and before someone gets cute and says "owned" is one of the most misused words in the English language, go try getting some more gamerscore points on Halo and play with your overproduced Warhammer set, I am out of time for your antics.