0919: "Tween Bromance"

[sherlip]

Alt: Vebiage. Va-jay-jay. Irregardless.


Eh...

I understand every word, but not the comic itself. I am not meta.

[Eebster the Great]

It seems Randall has been visiting this thread.

These are all among the most hated English words (specifically, "tween," "bromance," "guesstimate," "frenemy," "yiff," "moist," "taint," "panties," "preggers," "verbiage," "va-jay-jay," and "irregardless").

Randall is going for a new sort of density record.

[sherlip]

It seems Randall has been visiting this thread.

These are all among the most hated English words.

And thus my vexation has been alleviated.


I love the word yiff. lol.

[LSN]

On an unrelated note: where is the forum link on the main site page?

[LordDragonfang]

On an unrelated note: where is the forum link on the main site page?

I was wondering the same thing. How am I supposed to enjoy an immediate explanation of every droll nuance of basically every online comic without the link on the page of said comic?

[rapturemachine]

None of those fazed me at all until I read the last word of the alt text. Ugh, irregardless.
Also, is it weird that when I saw the title, I started trying to somehow put the words of the comic to the tune of "Bad Romance"? It took me a second to understand that that's not where this is going...

[Gedaechtnis]

After six months of "No, it'll suck away all my time!" and years previous of obsessively checking in on xkcd, I made an account just so I could suffer with others if nobody had explained this comic yet.

I only have problems with words that are wrong, like irregardless. Moist? So what? If something is moist, it's moist!

[Kirby]

On an unrelated note: where is the forum link on the main site page?

I was wondering about that. Are these forums being disowned by Randall? Are we that much of a disappointment?

[glasnt]

On an unrelated note: where is the forum link on the main site page?

I was worried, but I thought it was more of a deterrent, like the lack of comments on his blag posts.

But just want to give him and his misses a big hug and a cake shaped like the internet

[big boss]

On an unrelated note: where is the forum link on the main site page?

I was wondering about that. Are these forums being disowned by Randall? Are we that much of a disappointment?

The sheeple can no longer provide adequate entertainment for him.

[Invisiblemoose]

Yeah, lack of a forum link really gave me a startle. Anyway, it must be hard to keep trying to make humorous comics with all his pain and worries. :c Maybe he should stop parodying Softer World and start doing them for real.

[CorruptUser]

Irregardless isn't a real word. But yeah, those words make my eyes bleed pure hatred.

I wonder what she was typing?

[sherlip]

None of those fazed me at all until I read the last word of the alt text. Ugh, irregardless.
Also, is it weird that when I saw the title, I started trying to somehow put the words of the comic to the tune of "Bad Romance"? It took me a second to understand that that's not where this is going...

I was too. Caught in a Tween Bromance

[alreadytaken4536]

Hey hey, what's wrong with 'panties' ?

[joee]

On an unrelated note: where is the forum link on the main site page?

I was worried, but I thought it was more of a deterrent, like the lack of comments on his blag posts.

But just want to give him and his misses a big hug and a cake shaped like the internet

*missus? Unless you think he has more than one

Reading that comic makes my brain hurt. Need bleach

[Eternal Density]

What is this, I don't even?
Also, Zombine. And where's the link to the forum on the main comic page gone?

[CorruptUser]

Hey hey, what's wrong with 'panties' ?

It is awful and should be removed. [/dirty_joke]

[Eternal Density]

It is awful and should be removed. [/dirty_joke]

That describes the comic in general.
Including the tag.

[doggitydogs]

On an unrelated note: where is the forum link on the main site page?

I was worried, but I thought it was more of a deterrent, like the lack of comments on his blag posts.

But just want to give him and his misses a big hug and a cake shaped like the internet

Indeed.

My Firefox cut off the bottom of the "new blag post" announcement, but I went looking for the forum link, and there wasn't one. At that point, I glanced over to see "new blag post" and thought it would be about the forums.

My condolences go to Randall and his fiancée.

As for a cake shaped like the internet, all you need to do is give a DNS server, router, and [url="http://opte.org/maps/"]these[/url] to Bartolo Valastro... and live in the NYC metropolitan area. But who am I to bring such humor at such a horrible time?

[Fire Tock]

I believe that he removed the forum link because of his recent view into his personal life. Less talk surrounding it?

[Eternal Density]

It's not like everyone doesn't know the URL to the forum anyhow, so I don't see how removing the forum link achieves anything beyond fostering conversations such as this one.

[zemerick]

Arguing about english language is pointless. Very few if any english words are the real ones any more. The grammar, spelling, pronunciation, letters..all of it has been heavily modified over the years. "Irregardless" is just as real as any other word. It is the use of people that matters, not what some literary snob says. Remember that languages purpose is the clear and concise transfer of information. As long as the 2 parties can understand each other, nothing else matters. As such, I would argue that words like "obnubilate" are less real than "irregardless", because the latter is much more commonly understood. The former only serves to further obscure the information as it is so rare.

[Fire Tock]

Also, there hasn't been any recent comics where someone isn't in front of a computer. Some of us want nature! (not that I'm complaining, carry on with your godlike godliness Mr. Munroe)

[Rilian]

What is this, I don't even?

+1

[Azkyroth]

Weird; I find I'm pretty tolerant of most of these, though "cutesy" shortenings like "preggers" (and "delish," "hubby," "the fam," etc.) are like nails on a chalkboard to me. And no one who didn't exit one within the last 2-3 years should ever use the word "vajayjay."

And, "irregardless" strikes me as a word that could be useful - for emphatically correcting someone who claims something doesn't matter: "well, regardless of that..." "no, irregardless."

[You, sir, name?]

On an unrelated note: where is the forum link on the main site page?

I was wondering the same thing. How am I supposed to enjoy an immediate explanation of every droll nuance of basically every online comic without the link on the page of said comic?

Or he doesn't want this blog post to cause the forums to be overrun with people expressing their sympathies (which, while nice, is a futile gesture as he rarely ever visits.)

[Ehsanit]

And, "irregardless" strikes me as a word that could be useful - for emphatically correcting someone who claims something doesn't matter: "well, regardless of that..." "no, irregardless."

I agree. Unfortunately that isn't what it's taken to mean, being illogically considered synonymous with regardless.
I wonder how much stubbornness it would take to get it accepted correctly.

[Psychicmind]

I faintly remember Natalie Tran doing something about words she didn't like. Moist and I think Panties were among them.

Anyway, I dislike most of those words, myself. Combining two synonyms to create yet another synonym? Brings back horrors of learning Kanji in high school.
A few more words to add: unthaw, confuzzled, and chillax.

And what the heck is a guestimate? A guess and estimate are two different things.

[zephalis]

Arguing about english language is pointless. Very few if any english words are the real ones any more. The grammar, spelling, pronunciation, letters..all of it has been heavily modified over the years. "Irregardless" is just as real as any other word. It is the use of people that matters, not what some literary snob says. Remember that languages purpose is the clear and concise transfer of information. As long as the 2 parties can understand each other, nothing else matters. As such, I would argue that words like "obnubilate" are less real than "irregardless", because the latter is much more commonly understood. The former only serves to further obscure the information as it is so rare.

Arguing about English is most certainly not pointless as it is one of the most common languages of the world and should be treated as such. Most English words do retain their original meanings. Unfortunately the ones that don't are the more common ones which does not stand without reason as the common words are those used by the most common, and less linguistically capable portion of the population. Proper syntactic shifts happen over centuries and are normal in any popularly spoken language. Some shifts are quite unacceptable though as they increase ambiguity by allowing local dialects to unnaturally infiltrate popular dialects (through conquer or technology).

I'm not sure where you get your information about "grammar, spelling, pronunciation, letters..." but most of those have not noticeably changed over the last 200-300 years despite the appearance of many dialects in the language in recent years attributed to more widespread communication provided by the internet. The last major change in letters and spelling change was during the shift from Old English to Middle English; the last major pronunciation change was the slow creation of United States, Australian, and Indian English; the last grammar change was the Anglo-Saxon shift.

Use of the people? The same people who believe China is the devil? The same people who believed Y2K was going to be the end of the world? The same people who believe that the difference of 1% in a statistical analysis of 100 people is significant?

Although I agree (and have made the argument) that 'if the parties involved understand each other, then the dialect doesn't matter'; I don't agree that this applies in a general sense, especially in a global environment (such that mass media has produced). Yes, " languages purpose is the clear and concise transfer of information.", but "irregardless" does not fit that description. If I say that "President Obama is a douche-bag", in the middle of an argument like this, there will be many thoughts from readers as to what I mean based on a combination of their views, those of their peers, and even the most recent experiences they have had (both related and unrelated to the subject matter). I could very easily mean that I don't like Obama, or maybe I don't like some new policy he backed recently, or I could be trying to get a rise out of someone, or maybe just be generating a situation that other people will react to to fish out responses. If your looking for clear and concise, learn lojban... Unfortunately making the case that 'it doesn't matter as long as two parties understand each other' leads to problems when you consider both that many conversations have become global, the mess that is the US legal system fundamentally rooted in the ambiguity of English, and that many misunderstandings have arisen simple because all parties involved in a conversation did not perceive the specific language the same way (or the speaker perceived what they were saying as wrong). [Not that I'm not guilty of making the same argument].

Examples of common, ambiguous words in English:
love, hate, syndrome, disease, decimate, [most metaphors], coward, unravel, etc ad nauseum

Okay...I forgot a lot of points I wanted to make so I'm done now 8o).

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[[To Randall: Hoping for the best for your situation]]

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Sorry for my first post being so off topic...

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xkcd #1000...soon...very soon....

[MonkeyBoy]

The good news: in another 30 years, no one will be saying "irregardless" anymore. The bad news: the reason is because by then, common-use English will have deteriorated to the point where most people don't use or understand words with more than three syllables.

[ExplodingHat]

Is it bad that I find "irregardless" to be least abominable of the comic's list? (Also, interestingly, "irregardless" apparently does not warrant a red squiggly underline in my browser... )

[Waladil]

I don't know about all the other ones, but I use irregardless. Then again, I also use y'all and ain't on occasion. I like to sound folksy. Anyway, I did take a moment to look it up a few months back and "irregardless" is listed by several dictionaries (including Miriam Webster: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irregardless) as a nonstandard form of "regardless."

I want to point out that we live in an era where new words are being made up constantly. Rickroll is a known verb; google is a verb as well. These are commonly used in modern English, (especially google. That one's used constantly, even by my parent's generation and my last semester's writing professor) and we accept them because they make sense. If you've ever said "Let me google that" then are you any better than someone who says "irregardless?"

Also, according still to MW, "Guesstimate" is a word (a real one, not a nonstandard one) that was first used in 1923, so it's probably older than everyone on this thread. For the people who were wondering, it's an estimate that you're guessing at. (As opposed to a known estimate or a precise guess. It's used to be less accurate than either. Like a shot in the dark, pretty much.)

[AvatarIII]

Is it bad that I find "irregardless" to be least abominable of the comic's list? (Also, interestingly, "irregardless" apparently does not warrant a red squiggly underline in my browser... )

i actually find irregardless to be the only word that annoys me in the comic, because all the other words are slang, (apart from moist and taint, which i have no problems with anyway,) and therefore acceptable, irregardless is annoying because regardless is a perfectly good word, why do you need to add another syllable to it? let alone a negative prefix on an already negative word, it's like saying unrelentless to mean both unrelenting and relentless, which both mean the same thing anyway.

[Steroid]

I like vajayjay.

Wait, that came out wrong.

I like *the word* vajayjay because I think it's more mellifluous for that particular item than a soft-g into long-I sound.

[imantodes]

I like to sound folksy.

"Folksy"? That also goes in the list of words that should be banned. Its only redeeming feature is that it is a reliable marker indicating people one should avoid. People like Sarah Palin. If you didn't know she was an idiot, that she is "folksy" would be sufficient to enlighten you on this point.

I want to point out that we live in an era where new words are being made up constantly. Rickroll is a known verb; google is a verb as well. These are commonly used in modern English, (especially google. That one's used constantly, even by my parent's generation and my last semester's writing professor) and we accept them because they make sense. If you've ever said "Let me google that" then are you any better than someone who says "irregardless?"

Also, according still to MW, "Guesstimate" is a word (a real one, not a nonstandard one) that was first used in 1923, so it's probably older than everyone on this thread. For the people who were wondering, it's an estimate that you're guessing at. (As opposed to a known estimate or a precise guess. It's used to be less accurate than either. Like a shot in the dark, pretty much.)

You seem to be assuming that neologisms are all equal and that novelty is the only reason to object to a word. This is not the case. Using "guesstimate" is stupid, no matter how old the word is. Using "rickroll" or "vajayjay" is also stupid, no matter how young they are. Novelty neither causes nor prevents stupidity. Stupidity is timeless.

[...m...]

irregardful

...salvage something logical out of that lexiconographic train wreck...

[Lukc]

What in blazes is vajayjay?

CORRECTION: Thanks to urban dictionary, I now know. Ugh. Stupid word, I agree.

It sounds like the misspelling of an exotic far-eastern ruined temple in a Conan novel.

[feyayeruka]

orientated was missing from the list.

[RevengencerAlf]

I don't know about all the other ones, but I use irregardless. Then again, I also use y'all and ain't on occasion. I like to sound folksy. Anyway, I did take a moment to look it up a few months back and "irregardless" is listed by several dictionaries (including Miriam Webster: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irregardless) as a nonstandard form of "regardless."

I want to point out that we live in an era where new words are being made up constantly. Rickroll is a known verb; google is a verb as well. These are commonly used in modern English, (especially google. That one's used constantly, even by my parent's generation and my last semester's writing professor) and we accept them because they make sense. If you've ever said "Let me google that" then are you any better than someone who says "irregardless?"

Also, according still to MW, "Guesstimate" is a word (a real one, not a nonstandard one) that was first used in 1923, so it's probably older than everyone on this thread. For the people who were wondering, it's an estimate that you're guessing at. (As opposed to a known estimate or a precise guess. It's used to be less accurate than either. Like a shot in the dark, pretty much.)

The notion of googling something at least makes sense. There's nothing that says new words can't be fabricated. It happens on a daily basis, and when they fall far enough into connotative usage, the people who supposedly know these things even add them to their dictionaries. "Irregardless" however, is not only not a word, but a fallacy. It would actually mean "not regardless" or something along those lines, but of course it's never used that way. It's really nothing like someone saying they're going to google something and much more like if they followed that up with "I didn't get no search results"

Just because something is recognized by some alleged authority as a word doesn't mean it isn't god damned awful, and just because it's not doesn't mean it has no legitimacy or use.

With me personally, the bother comes from people using words when they obviously have no idea what the hell they mean. No one uses irregardless in an at all accurate manner, and anyone who says Guesstimate is either being contradictory or redundant. I'm not a huge fan of it but if someone says they googled something, they accurately conveyed the fact that they searched something on the internet, and that they specifically used google to do it. Now if "google" starts getting used as a verb to generically refer to all search related activity, then we'll have a problem.

Long story short, if someone is using words like irregardless and guesstimate, it damages my opinion of them, not that they should care about that, but I just refuse to take seriously anyone who uses words they obviously don't understand, or someone knows damn well they're wrong but continues to do it anyway.

[neoliminal]

Regardless of your feelings for the word irregardless, it is indeed spelled correctly. (I'll note a long history of double negatives in language to denote emphasis rather than logical cancelation.)

Arguing about english language is pointless. Very few if any english words are the real ones any more. The grammar, spelling, pronunciation, letters..all of it has been heavily modified over the years. "Irregardless" is just as real as any other word. It is the use of people that matters, not what some literary snob says. Remember that languages purpose is the clear and concise transfer of information. As long as the 2 parties can understand each other, nothing else matters. As such, I would argue that words like "obnubilate" are less real than "irregardless", because the latter is much more commonly understood. The former only serves to further obscure the information as it is so rare.

This get's the big bromantic +1.

I would go on to modify part of the statement:
As long as the 2 parties can understand an utterance, it is a word.

As for the the comic, I was just trying to make sense of it... it wasn't until the forum that the humour intended made any sense at all.

Oh, and for the record: Automagically.