Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Just Say Guess, You Fracking Fracks

One of the things that really makes me angry that I understand is entirely irrational is when people say "guesstimate". I am all in favor of combining words that share syllables in order to create two different meanings, except in this case you're combining words that share the same meaning. You're not fucking clever, you're just a redundant fucking clown.

Either say "guess" or say "estimate". When you say "guesstimate" it hurts my fucking ears. They mean the exact same thing, at least in the limited context that you understand the word "estimate" to mean. I'm not trying to insult Americans who understand the subtelties of the English language, but I am trying to insult the subset of stupid Americans who use the word "guesstimate". You people suck. Stop it.

3 comments:

The Notorious LJT said...

I agree I'm not a fan of the guesstimate - although a 'guess' would seem to imply more of a taking a shot at the answer where an 'estimate' implies more of an informed prediction.

So, guesstimate is somewhere in between, an 'educated guess', really.

I do agree it is a dumb word though. Instead of guesstimate, you should say educated guess.

Open Bar said...

"Guesstimate" annoyirritates the hell out of me. Every time I hear it I just want to murderkill the bastardmotherfucker who sayspeaks it.

Anonymous said...

I agree with LJT - and felt compelled to post to point out that I actually feel that "guess" and "estimate" are two entirely different concepts.

As a fellow math teacher, don't you agree that telling a student to "guess" an answer and "estimate" an answer are entirely different?

Sorry if I'm being pedantic...