My New Pet Peeve

I cannot stand it when people use the word Ginormous. It's not a word, and there are a myriad of reasons why. 1. If it was a word, spell check wouldn't flag it as a typo. 2. It's a hybrid of giant and enormous, which pretty much mean the same thing. That means it's redundant. I hate things that are redundant. 3. It's not a word! And I personally think that when businesses use it on signs, or writers for TV guide use it, they look stupid. That includes the essential oil shop in town. The only thing that would make it look stupider was using Comic Sans for the font on the sign. But that's not the point.

Because this makes me cringe, I have banned the use of the non-word ginormous from my house. I have forbidden by 2-year-old daughter from learning the non-word and using it. And really, I cringe when I hear this word.

Yes, I do realize that if you go to dictionary.com and check you will find ginormous listed. And yes, it lists the etymology of the word to the 40's. But, it still has a stupid definition, and it hasn't come into popular usage until the last year. Just because someone jumps off a cliff, doesn't mean we all jump off a cliff. Literary or literally.

While I'm mentioning non-words, it turns out agreeance is actually technically a word, although it is considered obsolete and of questionable parentage.