Pet Intellectual Peeves

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Onairb
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by Onairb »

The 'do' usage that bothers me is the term 'do due diligence'. It's actually 'doing WITH due diligence', but I swear it's used so widely because of the 'do due'/'doo doo' thing which appeals to the 12-year old in most of us.
davey
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by davey »

Onairb wrote:The 'do' usage that bothers me is the term 'do due diligence'. It's actually 'doing WITH due diligence', but I swear it's used so widely because of the 'do due'/'doo doo' thing which appeals to the 12-year old in most of us.
Not really. "Due diligence" is a task, "the comprehensive appraisal of a business undertaken by a prospective buyer," involving research and examination of corporate filings. So it's exactly analogous to "doing fractions."
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alietr
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by alietr »

For whatever reason, my ex-wife refused to believe that 'due diligence' was an actual phrase. Given that I do it (thus avoiding the 'do due' issue), you would think she would have believed me, but noooo ....
Onairb
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by Onairb »

Well, I still say that 'due diligence' has been used incorrectly all this time, and that it should be a description of how the process is undertaken, not the definition of the process itself. Whoever coined the accepted definition is a do due head.
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

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teapot37 wrote:...and this thermos.
Or his mother's thermos.
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Robert K S
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by Robert K S »

The real issue, it would seem, is that "due diligence" as a noun phrase is needlessly redundant, like "needlessly redundant." And those who've only heard it, and not seen it in writing, get the idea that it's a verb phrase ("[to] do diligence"), spawning mutants like "I did my diligence" (as I recall the exasperated caller saying in the famous "Verizon Math" audio recording). One needn't do diligence, or even do "due" diligence (as if there is "undue" diligence); it's enough to be diligent.
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by Vanya »

Well, in legal and gov't circles, due diligence has specific definitions. Most often the verbs I see used with it are exercise and perform.
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by davey »

Robert K S wrote:The real issue, it would seem, is that "due diligence" as a noun phrase is needlessly redundant, like "needlessly redundant." And those who've only heard it, and not seen it in writing, get the idea that it's a verb phrase ("[to] do diligence"), spawning mutants like "I did my diligence" (as I recall the exasperated caller saying in the famous "Verizon Math" audio recording). One needn't do diligence, or even do "due" diligence (as if there is "undue" diligence); it's enough to be diligent.
I think due in the context means sufficient, enough. Not just that you've worked hard but that you've worked hard enough to examine the books so that, if the deal goes bad, your shareholders can't win a lawsuit against you. I'm sure there's a vast succession of cases adjudicating what constitutes "due" diligence.
Parsing words, of course, is what lawyers do.
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by Bamaman »

A few weeks ago, our supervisor at the corporate office changed and the new guy came out to introduce himself. In the three plus years I've been with this company, I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen the person in his position. He gave some big speech about what he expected us to be doing (which we already were) and kept saying that certain things were "pet peeves" of his. He used the phrase several times.

After he left, my boss at work said his pet peeve was people who have a bunch of pet peeves.
Onairb
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by Onairb »

Bamaman wrote:A few weeks ago, our supervisor at the corporate office changed and the new guy came out to introduce himself. In the three plus years I've been with this company, I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen the person in his position. He gave some big speech about what he expected us to be doing (which we already were) and kept saying that certain things were "pet peeves" of his. He used the phrase several times.

After he left, my boss at work said his pet peeve was people who have a bunch of pet peeves.
Well, clearly, whoever hired that new guy didn't do due diligence...or whoever did do the due diligence that was done, did due diligence that was doody diligence, or diligence was dumbly undone because it wasn't duly done, or because it was dung diligence...or something.
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by seaborgium »

Onairb wrote:
Bamaman wrote:A few weeks ago, our supervisor at the corporate office changed and the new guy came out to introduce himself. In the three plus years I've been with this company, I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen the person in his position. He gave some big speech about what he expected us to be doing (which we already were) and kept saying that certain things were "pet peeves" of his. He used the phrase several times.

After he left, my boss at work said his pet peeve was people who have a bunch of pet peeves.
Well, clearly, whoever hired that new guy didn't do due diligence...or whoever did do the due diligence that was done, did due diligence that was doody diligence, or diligence was dumbly undone because it wasn't duly done, or because it was dung diligence...or something.
Dude.
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OrangeSAM
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by OrangeSAM »

Bamaman wrote:A few weeks ago, our supervisor at the corporate office changed and the new guy came out to introduce himself. In the three plus years I've been with this company, I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen the person in his position. He gave some big speech about what he expected us to be doing (which we already were) and kept saying that certain things were "pet peeves" of his. He used the phrase several times.

After he left, my boss at work said his pet peeve was people who have a bunch of pet peeves.
I hope it's an outchange to the better.
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El Jefe
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by El Jefe »

I cringe every time I hear a chef on TV say 'marscapone'...? What effing food is that? I also detest the pronouncers of creme-fraiche* when they fry the middle**. It reminds me of the stuffy way that a particular Seinfeld character (Susan?) would say 'my fianCEEEEE...'

How about hypercorrection hounds who think social media feeds should read like monographs?

*Sorry, I don't care to look up all the alt codes for the French punctuation-laden spelling. It's /krem-FRAYSH/ or /kraim-
**Yes, I have seen the relevant South Park epsiode- very funny and true
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El Jefe
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by El Jefe »

Robert K S wrote:The real issue, it would seem, is that "due diligence" as a noun phrase is needlessly redundant, like "needlessly redundant." And those who've only heard it, and not seen it in writing, get the idea that it's a verb phrase ("[to] do diligence"), spawning mutants like "I did my diligence" (as I recall the exasperated caller saying in the famous "Verizon Math" audio recording). One needn't do diligence, or even do "due" diligence (as if there is "undue" diligence); it's enough to be diligent.
Indeed, and for that matter 'pet peeve' is also redundant, since it is presumed any smallish irritation is already familiar. How about all the people who say 'whether or not.' which is 2 words too many? Or 'potential risk'?
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OldSchoolChamp
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

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El Jefe wrote:I cringe every time I hear a chef on TV say 'marscapone'...? What effing food is that? I also detest the pronouncers of creme-fraiche* when they fry the middle**. It reminds me of the stuffy way that a particular Seinfeld character (Susan?) would say 'my fianCEEEEE...'
How about people who affect “sahnt-imeter” and “sahnt-igrade,” as if plain old English “sent-imeter” and “sent-igrade” weren’t good enough? Or “ahm-bi-ahnce” for “am-bi-ence”?
We shall not cease from exploration,
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
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OldSchoolChamp
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by OldSchoolChamp »

El Jefe wrote:How about all the people who say 'whether or not.' which is 2 words too many'?
Actually, one of my peeves is editors who always reflexively shorten whether or not to just one word. The longer form is not always wrong; it means “no matter whether.” I could check the weather forecast to see whether to take my umbrella with me tomorrow, but I think I’ll just play it safe and bring it anyway, whether there’s rain in the forecast or not.

And incidentally, the word is anyway, not “anyways.”
We shall not cease from exploration,
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El Jefe
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by El Jefe »

OldSchoolChamp wrote:
How about people who affect “sahnt-imeter” and “sahnt-igrade,” as if plain old English “sent-imeter” and “sent-igrade” weren’t good enough? Or “ahm-bi-ahnce” for “am-bi-ence”?
I haven't heard the first two pronunciations (but would only accept them as unpretentious from Britons, say) At least your last example has the benefit of two different spellings to officiate the dif. (I would still judge aspirators, too)
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by bomtr »

OldSchoolChamp wrote:
El Jefe wrote:I cringe every time I hear a chef on TV say 'marscapone'...? What effing food is that? I also detest the pronouncers of creme-fraiche* when they fry the middle**. It reminds me of the stuffy way that a particular Seinfeld character (Susan?) would say 'my fianCEEEEE...'
How about people who affect “sahnt-imeter” and “sahnt-igrade,” as if plain old English “sent-imeter” and “sent-igrade” weren’t good enough? Or “ahm-bi-ahnce” for “am-bi-ence”?
ahn-chi-la-da is doubly good.
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by Vanya »

Unfortunate caption by Comcast.net.

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seaborgium
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Re: Pet Intellectual Peeves

Post by seaborgium »

bomtr wrote:ahn-chi-la-da is doubly good.
I think Johnny Gilbert announced my regular-game defeater Enrique with the same first syllable.
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