this post was submitted on 05 May 2024
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What linguistic constructions do you hate that no one else seems to mind? (lemmy.world)
submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by TootSweet@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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It bugs me when people say "the thing is is that" (if you listen for it, you'll start hearing it... or maybe that's something that people only do in my area.) ("What the thing is is that..." is fine. But "the thing is is that..." bugs me.)

Also, "just because doesn't mean ." That sentence structure invites one to take "just because " as a noun phrase which my brain really doesn't want to do. Just doesn't seem right. But that sentence structure is very common.

And I'm not saying there's anything objectively wrong with either of these. Language is weird and complex and beautiful. It's just fascinating that some commonly-used linguistic constructions just hit some people wrong sometimes.

Edit: I thought of another one. "As best as I can." "The best I can" is fine, "as well as I can" is good, and "as best I can" is even fine. But "as best as" hurts.

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[โ€“] Theharpyeagle@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I mean, to me it doesn't really make that much sense one way or the other. Genuine question, how is "by" being used here? What are other examples of it being used this way?

[โ€“] JoeKrogan@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

By chance or by design would be other examples. Your question prompted me to look into the origins of the phrase and it appears to come from Latin.

https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/pardon-the-expression/by-accident-vs-on-accident/