My grasp of the English language is Mr. Burns-ian weak. I wish Smithers would stand by me and correct all my errors. I grew up in various trailer parks in South Florida and Texas, so my ability to pronounce particular words can be a burden. I also misuse words or create ones that don’t even exist. Take the word irregardless. Somehow it has infiltrated into our modern vernacular.
“Irregardless is considered nonstandard because of the two negative elements ir- and -less.”
But the prize-winning misusage of all words is the seemingly, innocent twelve-letter word: scatological.
“Scatology is the study of feces. In literature, it is used to describe works that make particular reference to excretion or excrement, as well as to toilet humor.”
As in, “Watch out for that dog scat!” or in Spanish, “¡Cuidado con las que mierda de perro!”
I thought the etymology of the word was derived from scat which is an improvised, jazz singing style.
Scat singing is vocal improvisation with nonsense words and syllables or without words at all. Scat singing gives singers the ability to sing improvised melodies and rhythms, to create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using their voice.
So I would use the word to describe people who conveyed non-linear ideas in a fluid manner. Which is mortifying because people would misconstrue my non-sensical statements.
I would say, “The movie was too scatological for most people, but personally I really enjoy that type of film.”
They would hear, “The movie was non-stop, “Larry the Cable Guy” poop jokes for most people, but personally I really enjoy that type of film.”
Now it makes sense why I turned so many girls off in the early stages of my comedy “career”:
At that point the girl would stare at me like I confessed that I created an organization that protects the rights of people who like to rape babies, give me a weird look and would slowly slip out of the conversation with Poops McGee or The Scat Man (which was my stage name at the time).
I’m an idiot.
Other verbal offenses:
trinkle instead of trickle (pertaining to money)
exuberant instead of exorbitant (also pertaining to money)
kitten gloves instead of kid gloves
{ 1 trackback }