Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Tuesday pet peeve

I don't know why everyone's so negative about Mondays. I like Mondays. I come in all fresh and well rested, chat to various colleagues about their weekends, and settle into work full of enthusiasm and motivation. I spend my lunch break stocking up on milk, fruit, and other supplies to get me through the rest of the week, and have a very productive day.

(Mostly).

Wednesdays are hump days, which is nice. On Thursdays the weekend is in sight, with a pay cheque every second week, and then Fridays are usually the most relaxed day of the week, with coffee dates and longer lunches.

It's the Tuesdays that get me.

Tuesdays are busy but generally unproductive days, with endless meetings and emails and additions to my to-do list. I'm no longer quite so fresh and enthusiastic, tend to get bogged down in admin and crisis-of-the-week issues, and the weekend is still days away.

So it's a good day to start what may or may not become a recurring series of Tuesday posts.

Today's Pet Peeve:

"Regular" does not mean "Frequent".

How often do you see a questionnaire with options labelled "Never, Occasionally, Regularly, Always"?

"Regular" means that an event occurs at, well, regular, predictable intervals. That can mean once an hour, once a day, once a year, once a century, or once a millenium. It does not tell you anything at all about the frequency of the event.

A plague of constipation upon people who misuse the word "regular".

14 comments:

  1. Ha! Thanks so much! I thought I was the only one who had an issue with "regular" used for "often".

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  2. LOL! That is annoying! Astronomers tend to do something similar when they use the word "general".

    When I read something that says "In general..." I assume that means in the general case, and that there may be exceptions to that. Astronomers use it to mean "always".

    I don't know - maybe I'm the one out to lunch :P

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  3. no Kidding, I regularly pay my car insurance (once a year) and my daycare bill (once a month!)

    Mind you its never bothered me...

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  4. I agree with your "Pet Peeve"! I regularly see people making this mistake, and it's soooo annoying! Now excuse me while I go off to do #2.

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  5. Schlupp, any time! (And welcome, btw!)

    Mrs CH, that's such a bizarre way to use the phrase "in general"! I love these weird little field-specific foibles (although I'm sure that one confuses lots of people).

    SM, maybe you're not as much of a raving pedant as me!

    Thomas, thank you for the (too much) information!

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  6. Oh yay! I can't wait for more regular installments in this series. :)

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  7. It's Testy Tuesday! I love it :).

    Most people wouldn't even realize the word was used incorrectly, unfortunately, so I am not going to hold my breath for a change. After all, it is Marketing who puts surveys together and we all know how THAT works ;).

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  8. We've just finished Wednesday here:)

    Pet peeve - highly scented hand sanitizer. I have to use it at work for the moment!

    viv in nz regularly reading in here :)

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  9. Looking forward to the regularly posted Tuesday pet peeve. Will they generally be posted on Tuesday? ;)

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  10. You guys crack me up! I love "Testy Tuesday". (although as Mermaid knows, yesterday was an exception to the Bad Tuesday rule).

    I won't necessarily post every Tuesday, because I'm not that much of a bitter, twisted and cynical person and I don't get this pedantic and pissy every week. But if I think of something, I'll save it for the next Tuesday! (I already have one for next week).

    Mermaid, yeah, marketers suck!

    Viv, I don't really like highly scented anything! I don't know why people like to fill their homes with all those artificial smells, especially the ones emanating from those plug-in thingumies. But something that you have to use is particularly annoying!

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  11. So, here is my question: do you mention the iPhone to me "regularly", "often", or both ?

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  12. Both. It's a public service that I offer to all my wayward friends.

    (Although lately, I should be asking YOU that question!)

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  13. A related pet peeve:

    "Religiously" does not mean "frequently."

    (As in, "I read my email religiously.")

    Back to my normal Thursday programming.

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  14. Ha! Good one.

    Maybe they mean that they will anger the email gods if they don't check their inbox five times a day?

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