New linguistic pet peeve dropped: people saying "accrue" when they mean "accumulate"
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@electrocutie "accrue" is something that implies exponential growth, particularly in earning interest on an investment or the like, whereas "accumulate" just means, like, it collects more stuff over time.
@electrocutie like you accrue interest on an investment, but your shoes accumulate dirt and mud over time
@electrocutie this is the same level of nitpicky as how my mom can't stand when people use "utilize" when they mean "use," because "utilize" has a connotation of "use for a purpose for which it wasn't intended."
@fluffy@plush.city @electrocutie@plush.city utilise is when you are writing paid by the character, use is for normal people.
I used to have this irk with my students, I’d encourage them to try and talk or write on a subject using normal words that anyone can understand straight away – using complicated flowery language might impress those at their level, possibly even impress them enough to allow a quick getaway by which time they’ll realise you don’t know what you’re talking about and have actually said nothing, but when talking to someone much higher up in experience, they’ll speak simply too, and they’ll view over decorative big-word speech with suspicion.
@fluffy what is the difference in your own words? Their definitions are so similar that I cannot guess at the sin