Listen up, people on reality TV shows (I’m talking to you, Next Food Network Star). You’re buggin’ me. And I’m only going to write this once:
The verb Jive, spelled with a “v,” means to tease, to deceive, or to speak in the manner of hip folk. But jibe, spelled with a “b,” means to accord, agree, or mesh. So, like, an ingredient can’t jive with a recipe.
Got it?
Why can’t you just ask me these things?
An ingredient can jive with your recipe if the recipe is in a book and you make the table dance.
Jive time, baby!
You’re fighting a losing battle, Dominic. Nobody cares about the “meanings” of “words” anymore.
Are you sure you didn’t mean to say “loosing battle,” Aaron?
Thank you thank you thank you!
Now can we work on “regime/regimen” as in “I just started a new exercise regime”?
Webster’s New World College Dictionary actually already allows the jibe sense of jive (as its last entry), so this battle may be lost already.
To further complicate things, “jibe” (also spelled “gibe”) can mean:
: to utter taunting words
: to deride or tease with taunting words
So if I tease you about the stupid ingredients you use in your vertically-stacked deconstructed pot pie, I may be jiving or jibing you. The fact that the chicken, peas and carrots stacked on top of some piece of crust don’t go together? That means they don’t jibe.
Merriam-Webster gives the *first* definition of “regime” as “regimen” (and in fact “regime” is just the French form and “regimen” the Latin form of the same word), so “exercise regime” is more than defensible.
Language is post-scriptive, suck it.
Don’t EVEN get me started on ‘then’ vs. ‘than’.
GIANT PET PEEVE of mine.
This is similar to Brendan’s post about “nonplussed”. Words that once were striking become overused and lose their punch. That you notice the misuse is a warning to always seek something fresher from this point forward.
i’m weary of you. your rediculous.
meh, i am soooo nonplussed by it all that i just tweeted about it in my jive-recipe-regime-chat twitter feed.
multiple kudos to you for this post!
People who watch reality TV deserve to hear jive misused.
Chief, jive also means jibe–at least since 1943. The battle is not “lost”, because there is no battle.
Oh, and by the way: bug has only meant “to irritate” since 1949.
So stop whining. You sound like fucking Mudede.
And while we’re at it, can we please execute people who don’t know the difference between “exacerbate” and “exasperate?”
Wow, the dictionary defense? Seriously? Did your last English class involve these?
Since we’re listing language gripes, I’ll take the opportunity to shake my fist at the vulgar cretins who confuse “tact” and “tack,” and who write “must of” when they mean “must have.”
I’m with you, Furcifer. “Must of,” “could of,” “should of” – I see it all the time. It’s enough to drive a person to drink. Ahem.