Instead of Amazing



  • Are you guys are as tired and frustrated with people misusing the word "amazing" as I am? They use it to mean "very good" when it actually means "better than expected". I find it hard to believe that everything these people are experiencing is better than expected. I mean, how low were their standard to begin with?

    I was so fed up, I decided to do something about it and built Instead of Amazing. It's a satircal site that suggests alternatives to the word "amazing" in the context most people are using it in.

    I realize this is a partial plug, but I figured the language nazis on here would get a kick out of it. If you agree, be sure to use the social buttons to spread it around as much as possible!



  • a·maz·ing [uh-mey-zing] adj.

     causing great surprise or sudden wonder.

    Hm, yup.



  • @Soviut said:

    I was so fed up, I decided to do something about it and built Instead of Amazing. It's a satircal site that suggests alternatives to the word "amazing" in the context most people are using it in.

    Light gray on dark gray. WTF?



  • @ochrist said:

    @Soviut said:
    I was so fed up, I decided to do something about it and built Instead of Amazing. It's a satircal site that suggests alternatives to the word "amazing" in the context most people are using it in.
    Light gray on dark gray. WTF?
    So you are now getting all gray on us, what about green, blue or some other color?



  • @ochrist said:

    @Soviut said:

    I was so fed up, I decided to do something about it and built Instead of Amazing. It's a satircal site that suggests alternatives to the word "amazing" in the context most people are using it in.

    Light gray on dark gray. WTF?

    I like that combination. accessibility be screwed, it looks kewl and amazeen



  • Amazing what people can nazi about.


  • Trolleybus Mechanic

    @Soviut said:

    Instead of Amazing. It's a satircal site
     

    I think it's amazing that when something self-identifies as satirical, it ceases to be.

     



  •  Duuuuuude....you're site is so amazing!



  • What amazes me, even in the amazing world of today, is that while amazing advances have been made in screen technology to gain amazing amounts of contrast for amazingly small amounts of power, graphic designers want these muted barely readable indoors designs. Amazing.



  • I get nauseous when people treat language as though dictionary meaning were descriptive rather than proscriptive.  



  • @Soviut said:

    Are you guys are as tired and frustrated with people misusing the word "amazing" as I am? They use it to mean "very good" when it actually means "better than expected".

    Wow. You lost me on the very first sentence. That's amazing.

    Amazing might be over-used, but where did you get that it means "very good"? It's just a synonym for "outstanding", or "set apart". The Brillant Paula Bean is amazing, but definitely not "very good".

    Anyway, your site suggested "admirable" as an alternative, which has absolutely nothing in common with "amazing" except both words start with A. I can't think of a single situation in which you could swap "amazing" for "admirable" and not change the meaning.



  • AH-SUM!



  • Personally I hate the word cute.  Everyone uses it but forget that it was roriginally used as a derogitive term, "Don't get cute with me!"

    I have seen the worse things ever be called cute, like the little plastic dog doo gag, "Aww, how cute".  Makes me want to lay a pile right there in front of them and say "Now how cute is that!"

    And even today, advertising has clenched on the fact that some girls will buy anything cute and so now we have cute little tampon applicators.

    Come on, what the hell does cute actually mean these days?  Time to get rid of the word.



  • @Rootbeer said:

    I get nauseous when people treat language as though dictionary meaning were descriptive rather than proscriptive.  

    It's "prescriptive" not "proscriptive". And English dictionaries tend to always be descriptive, not prescriptive.



  • @KattMan said:

    Everyone uses it but forget that it was roriginally used as a derogitive term, "Don't get cute with me!"

    [citation needed] I don't believe that it was originally a derogatory term.

    @KattMan said:

    Come on, what the hell does cute actually mean these days? Time to get rid of the word.

    Adorable or amusing. So we should get rid of a word because you aren't sure what it means? And how dense do you have to be to be unable to decipher its meaning from context?



  • @KattMan said:

    Personally I hate the word cute.  Everyone uses it but forget that it was roriginally used as a derogitive term, "Don't get cute with me!"

    I have seen the worse things ever be called cute, like the little plastic dog doo gag, "Aww, how cute".  Makes me want to lay a pile right there in front of them and say "Now how cute is that!"

    And even today, advertising has clenched on the fact that some girls will buy anything cute and so now we have cute little tampon applicators.

    Come on, what the hell does cute actually mean these days?  Time to get rid of the word.

    You are so cute when you get angry.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    At least the name of the website is reasonably accurate, though I was kind of amazed at how difficult it was to read. So I guess even the name is ironic, then. Well done!



  • I think the OP is first example of Godwin's law passing 1 rather than just approaching it



  • "Please join in signing our opening hymn, number 321, Fantastic Grace."



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @KattMan said:
    Everyone uses it but forget that it was roriginally used as a derogitive term, "Don't get cute with me!"
    [citation needed] I don't believe that it was originally a derogatory term.

    @KattMan said:
    Come on, what the hell does cute actually mean these days? Time to get rid of the word.
    Adorable or amusing. So we should get rid of a word because you aren't sure what it means? And how dense do you have to be to be unable to decipher its meaning from context?

    So plastic dog doo is adorable?  A tampon applicator is amazing?  No you can't derive meaning in the way it is used. except maybe it just now only means small.  "Oh what a cute dog", only said about small dogs, but also when they are ugly.  "What a cute baby" please, most babies are wrinkled pieces of pink flesh, I know, I had one, but they are small.  A cute phone, is a phone adorable or amazing, no just small.

    Seems like anyone looking to apply adorable or amazing as meaning to the word cute proves my point that you cannot derive meaning from context.  Cute means nothing except for maybe little or small, but not a single person will agree with that normally.

     As far as original meaning, Meriam webster has this to say:

    1 a : clever or shrewd often in an underhanded manner b : impertinent, smart-alecky <don't get cute with me>
    2 : attractive or pretty especially in a childish, youthful, or delicate way
    3 : obviously straining for effect
     
    Two out of three have negative connotations, and the third could be demeaning when applied to an adult acting childish.  Originally a short version of acute, which follows the meaning from 1a above.


  • @KattMan said:

    Personally I hate the word cute.  Everyone uses it but forget that it was roriginally used as a derogitive term, "Don't get cute with me!"
     

    Bullshit.   In the sentences "She is so cute" and "Don't get cute with me" the word cute menas the same thing.  It's just being used in different context. @KattMan said:

    And even today, advertising has clenched on the fact that some girls will buy anything cute and so now we have cute little tampon applicators.
    If girls want cute tampon applicators, what do you care?



  • @Soviut said:

    Are you guys are as tired and frustrated with people misusing the word "amazing" as I am?
    I'm more tired and frustrated with people who put up garbage websites that are impossible to read.  Take a hint.



  • @El_Heffe said:

    @KattMan said:

    Personally I hate the word cute.  Everyone uses it but forget that it was roriginally used as a derogitive term, "Don't get cute with me!"
     

    Bullshit.   In the sentences "She is so cute" and "Don't get cute with me" the word cute menas the same thing.  It's just being used in different context.

    Right and it means what exactly?  It means she is being a shrewd underhanded little girl that should be smacked hard.  It does not mean she is pretty or nice to be around.  Pay attetion to meriam websters meanings and the etemology of the word.

     



  • @KattMan said:

    So plastic dog doo is adorable?  A tampon applicator is amazing?  No you can't derive meaning in the way it is used. except maybe it just now only means small.  "Oh what a cute dog", only said about small dogs, but also when they are ugly.  "What a cute baby" please, most babies are wrinkled pieces of pink flesh, I know, I had one, but they are small.  A cute phone, is a phone adorable or amazing, no just small.

    Seems like anyone looking to apply adorable or amazing as meaning to the word cute proves my point that you cannot derive meaning from context.  Cute means nothing except for maybe little or small, but not a single person will agree with that normally.

    I said adorable or amusing, not amazing. And are you seriously so stupid you don't know what the word cute means? It does not mean small, but rather small things tend to be thought of as adorable.

    @KattMan said:

    As far as original meaning, Meriam webster has this to say:

    1 a : clever or shrewd often in an underhanded manner b : impertinent, smart-alecky <don't get cute with me>
    2 : attractive or pretty especially in a childish, youthful, or delicate way
    3 : obviously straining for effect
     
    Two out of three have negative connotations, and the third could be demeaning when applied to an adult acting childish.  Originally a short version of acute, which follows the meaning from 1a above.

    Yes, I know it comes from acute. You still haven't proven that it was originally derogatory, just that one of the meanings is derogatory.

    What is wrong with you? You act like you're a robot who has never encountered the word cute and can't seem to understand that a word might have more than one meaning. "DANGER! DANGER! How can puppy and baby both be cute?? Puppy is not baby! Illogical!"



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @kattman said:
    As far as original meaning, Meriam webster has this to say:
    1 a : clever or shrewd often in an underhanded manner b : impertinent, smart-alecky <don't get cute with me>
    2 : attractive or pretty especially in a childish, youthful, or delicate way
    3 : obviously straining for effect
     
    Two out of three have negative connotations, and the third could be demeaning when applied to an adult acting childish.  Originally a short version of acute, which follows the meaning from 1a above.

    Yes, I know it comes from acute. You still haven't proven that it was originally derogatory, just that one of the meanings is derogatory.

    What is wrong with you? You act like you're a robot who has never encountered the word cute and can't seem to understand that a word might have more than one meaning. "DANGER! DANGER! How can puppy and baby both be cute?? Puppy is not baby! Illogical!"

    Not what I am saying at all, and yes I did prove my point.  Note two of the definitions (1 and 3 to be exact) are connotativly negative, and the original meaning, coming from acute, was to mean shrewd in an underhanded manner, that is not a positive point.

    What I am saying, regardless of the original meaning, is that it no longer has any real meaning, because it is used for damn near anything out there.  It's similar to 80's valley girls using "like" in between every other word like you it was like something like cool you know.  It lost it's meaning, it's an empty word now.  Very much like when every email I get is high priority, if everything is high priority then everything is normal, there is no high priority any more.

     



  • @KattMan said:

    Not what I am saying at all, and yes I did prove my point.  Note two of the definitions (1 and 3 to be exact) are connotativly negative, and the original meaning, coming from acute, was to mean shrewd in an underhanded manner, that is not a positive point.

    No, you did not prove your point. Cute comes from acute, meaning clever or shrewd. You're simply assuming that because its modern meaning is negative that the original meaning was negative. Also: it's fucking irrelevant. The word cute has had meaning #2 for quite some time. You seem to believe that just because a word has a possibly negative meaning that all meanings must be just as negative which is stupid.

    @KattMan said:

    What I am saying, regardless of the original meaning, is that it no longer has any real meaning, because it is used for damn near anything out there.

    I don't know what world you live in where cute has no meaning but here on Earth it primarily means "adorable", "attractive" or "amusing". Your complaint seems to be that people you associate with think many things are adorable, attractive or amusing which is your problem, not mine. Yours seems to be a difference of opinion and taste, not definition..



  • @Lorne Kates said:

    I think it's amazing that when something self-identifies as satirical, it ceases to be.

    The site doesn't self-identify, [i]I[/i] identified it as such. I'm "amazed" you didn't pick up on that.



  • @El_Heffe said:

    I'm more tired and frustrated with people who put up garbage websites that are impossible to read.  Take a hint.

    The contrast looks pretty good on my end, and I've checked it on my PC monitors, my macbook, my iphone, my ipad and my TV for consistency. Besides, the only part that's really crucial to read is the top and that contrasts very well.



  • @Soviut said:

    The contrast looks pretty good on my end, and I've checked it on my PC monitors, my macbook, my iphone, my ipad and my TV for consistency. Besides, the only part that's really crucial to read is the top and that contrasts very well.

    Gray-on-gray is not easy to read. It's readable, sure, but trying reading a few pages of it and your eyes will cross. It's a terrible design choice which favors flash-in-the-pan aesthetic conformity over your readers' comfort.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @KattMan said:
    Not what I am saying at all, and yes I did prove my point.  Note two of the definitions (1 and 3 to be exact) are connotativly negative, and the original meaning, coming from acute, was to mean shrewd in an underhanded manner, that is not a positive point.
    No, you did not prove your point. Cute comes from acute, meaning clever or shrewd. You're simply assuming that because its modern meaning is negative that the original meaning was negative. Also: it's fucking irrelevant. The word cute has had meaning #2 for quite some time. You seem to believe that just because a word has a possibly negative meaning that all meanings must be just as negative which is stupid.

    @KattMan said:
    What I am saying, regardless of the original meaning, is that it no longer has any real meaning, because it is used for damn near anything out there.
    I don't know what world you live in where cute has no meaning but here on Earth it primarily means "adorable", "attractive" or "amusing". Your complaint seems to be that people you associate with think many things are adorable, attractive or amusing which is your problem, not mine. Yours seems to be a difference of opinion and taste, not definition..

    What a cute reply.


  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @Soviut said:
    The contrast looks pretty good on my end, and I've checked it on my PC monitors, my macbook, my iphone, my ipad and my TV for consistency. Besides, the only part that's really crucial to read is the top and that contrasts very well.

    Gray-on-gray is not easy to read. It's readable, sure, but trying reading a few pages of it and your eyes will cross. It's a terrible design choice which favors flash-in-the-pan aesthetic conformity over your readers' comfort.

    I agree it isn't the highest possible contrast, but I find it actually pretty easy on the eyes since it isn't so harsh. Hell, many text editors and IDEs offer dimmer colour schemes for this exact reason. Naturally, if someone has their monitor brightness turned way down, there isn't much I can do unless I'm going to create pure black on white designs. Also, I wouldn't exactly call this "aesthetic conformity" since it was just a design idea I had and decided to create; I wasn't basing it on anything else.

    That said, I ran this design through many displays and past several people, both designers and average joes, and nobody complained about legibility or discomfort. Had my hallway usability tests come back negative, I would have adjusted.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    @Soviut said:
    Are you guys are as tired and frustrated with people misusing the word "amazing" as I am? They use it to mean "very good" when it actually means "better than expected".

    Wow. You lost me on the very first sentence. That's amazing.

    Amazing might be over-used, but where did you get that it means "very good"? It's just a synonym for "outstanding", or "set apart". The Brillant Paula Bean is amazing, but definitely not "very good".

    Anyway, your site suggested "admirable" as an alternative, which has absolutely nothing in common with "amazing" except both words start with A. I can't think of a single situation in which you could swap "amazing" for "admirable" and not change the meaning.

     

    You don't quite get it do you? He was saying people overuse the word 'amazing' because they don't understand it and use it in the wrong context mistakenly or because they just like the word and want the 'wow' factor that is seen in most tabloid story titles.

    The suggested alternatives are not alternatives to the correct meaning of amazing, but alternatives to the misused occurances of the word.

    Your stupidity doesn't amaze me anymore, but it used to.

     



  • [quote user="People complaining about the "wrong" usage of cute and amazing"]

    blah blah blah

    [/quote]

    Oh boy... wait until you find out what oxygen actually means



  • @Soviut said:

    The contrast looks pretty good on my end, and I've checked it on my PC monitors, my macbook, my iphone, my ipad and my TV for consistency. Besides, the only part that's really crucial to read is the top and that contrasts very well.
     

    Under regular office light conditions, the contrast really can't be called "good".

    Maybe at home when in the dark or subdued light— sure. At any rate, #888 or #999 instead of #666 would be better.


     



  • The Brillant Paula Bean is better than expected". I can't think of Amazing
    Reply Favorites Contact
    I hate the little tampon applicator is not easy on Thu, Sep 15 2008
    In the face of a pile right there are using it to say:
    1 a possibly negative which has this to 80's valley girls will cross. It's readable, sure, but forget that some other color?
    It's similar to mean she is that!"
    And English dictionaries tend to read is the contrast looks pretty especially in which is that it is that just because a phone adorable or "set apart". The



  • @serguey123 said:

    [quote user="People complaining about the "wrong" usage of cute and amazing"]

    blah blah blah

    Oh boy... wait until you find out what oxygen actually means

    [/quote]

    Wat?



  • @ASheridan said:

    You don't quite get it do you?

    I think I do, yes.

    @ASheridan said:

    He was saying people overuse the word 'amazing' because they don't understand it and use it in the wrong context mistakenly or because they just like the word and want the 'wow' factor that is seen in most tabloid story titles.

    That's the part I disagree with. I don't see the word "amazing" misused often at all. (I also don't think it has any 'wow' factor, but that's a different issue.)

    @ASheridan said:

    The suggested alternatives are not alternatives to the correct meaning of amazing, but alternatives to the misused occurances of the word.

    But if it's mis-used, almost by definition you can't possibly supply a "generic" alternative, because you don't know what word "amazing" was mis-used for.

    If I call Paula Bean "amazing", then go to this site and look up an alternate it provides me with (refreshing site) "superb." But "superb" isn't what I meant! Paula definitely is not superb, but she remains amazing.

    That is why I think this site is useless: 1) I think the premise is wrong, and 2) even if I assume the premise is correct, the site doesn't actually help anything



  • @blakeyrat said:

    Amazing might be over-used, but where did you get that it means "very good"?

    You misunderstood what I said. I'm saying that people are misusing "amazing" by saying it when they actually mean "very good". So my site offers more appropriate words for the context people are using it in.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Soviut said:

    @blakeyrat said:
    Amazing might be over-used, but where did you get that it means "very good"?

    You misunderstood what I said. I'm saying that people are misusing "amazing" by saying it when they actually mean "very good". So my site offers more appropriate words for the context people are using it in.

    But maybe they mean it's amazing in a good way. If they didn't think something would be as good as it is, then that's using amazing correctly. Your examples just show people who have different expectations than you.



  • @Soviut said:

    You misunderstood what I said. I'm saying that people are misusing "amazing" by saying it when they actually mean "very good". So my site offers more appropriate words for the context people are using it in.

    But amazing can mean "very good". (Or, rather, "I'm surprised it is this good", which is a similar sentiment.)

    I still disagree with your premise. People aren't misusing "amazing", you just don't know what the word means.



  • @Soviut said:

    I'm saying that people are misusing "amazing" by saying it when they actually mean "very good".

    Or perhaps they mean "I am amazed by that", because they found it outstanding and spectacular in some way - whether good or bad is dependent upon the situation and their response to it.

    It could be gob-smackingly terrible (so they were amazed at just how bad it was) or jaw-droppingly wonderful. Both will ... amaze.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    That is why I think this site is useless: 1) I think the premise is wrong, and 2) even if I assume the premise is correct, the site doesn't actually help anything

    Nope, you still don't get it. You're still under the impression the site is suggesting alternatives to the word amazing when the word is being used correctly. It's not. It's suggesting alternatives to the most frequent mis-use cases of the word.

    This site is not for synonyms of the word amazing, it's for synonyms of words which people aren't actually using.

     


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @ASheridan said:


    Nope, you still don't get it. You're still under the impression the site is suggesting alternatives to the word amazing when the word is being used correctly. It's not. It's suggesting alternatives to the most frequent mis-use cases of the word.

    This site is not for synonyms of the word amazing, it's for synonyms of words which people aren't actually using.

    We disagree, and think the OP has amazing aesthetics, to boot.



  • @ASheridan said:

    It's suggesting alternatives to the most frequent mis-use cases of the word.

    I already covered that. You should try reading my post further than one sentence in.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    @ASheridan said:
    It's suggesting alternatives to the most frequent mis-use cases of the word.

    I already covered that. You should try reading my post further than one sentence in.

     

    I did, but I felt the need to reiterate it because you didn't seem to get it.

    And if you clearly can't be bothered to read other peoples posts, then you can't very well tell others to ensure they read yours, which are usually opinionated, full of idiotic ranting and pedantic dickweedery.



  • The word "amazing" is horrendously over-used by some people (teenage girls seem to be particularly afflicted by this).  But to claim that "amazing" is being mis-used and that people should instead use "ideal", "exquisite" or "admirable" (actual examples from the website) completely misses the point.  Words, in common usage, often take on additional meanings that really don't make any sense when closely scrutinized under the microscope of pedantic dickweedery.

    For example, "ton" is a unit of weight.  However, it is commonly used (and annoyingly over-used) to mean "a large amount".   For example, "I have a ton of work to do"  or  "We had tons of fun".  Technically, those statements make no sense.  No, you don't actually have "2000 pounds of work to do",  just as those new shoes you just bought aren't really "amazing".  But it has become common usage and we understand what it means. Whether we like it or not, "amazing" has become a catch-all word that is used to convey the idea that something is not ordinary (either good or bad).

    I find it humorous that the OP says: @Soviut said:

    I figured the language nazis on here would get a kick out of it.
    When it seems to me that he is the one who is being a "language nazi".



  • @ASheridan said:

    which are usually opinionated, full of idiotic ranting and pedantic dickweedery.

    Who cares?



  • @ASheridan said:

    which are usually opinionated, full of idiotic ranting and pedantic dickweedery.

    Woot a fan!

    What sets my posts apart from the other posts that are opinionated (BTW is that supposed to be a bad thing?), full of idiotic ranting and pedantic dickweedery is that mine are also funny. At least, I find them funny, your mileage may vary.



  • @Soviut said:

    Besides, the only part that's really crucial to read is the top and that contrasts very well.

    Unfortunately, the part that grabs my eye (because it contrasts more than that crucial part) is the little cloud of social media buttons on the left. To make matters worse, the black-on-dark-grey "refresh for more" and "zamtools" links, which have even worse contrast than the light-grey-on-dark-grey to begin with, are directly above the bright buttons, and thus pretty much disappear when placed next to them.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @serguey123 said:

    [quote user="People complaining about the "wrong" usage of cute and amazing"]

    blah blah blah

    Oh boy... wait until you find out what oxygen actually means

    Wat?[/quote]
    Something that produces acid?


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