Your most hated word

Jim Yingst: Who said they don't intersect? But even if they don't, that hardly implies they are parallel. It's certainly not true for lines anyway.
Homer: Uh, all this computer hacking is making me thirsty...

Shura
[ July 10, 2002: Message edited by: Shura Balaganov ]

Originally posted by Alex Ayzin:
How about "dude". Whenever I hear someone saying "hey, dude" with that special California's "Surf's Up-prononciation" I get uncontrolable urge to take this person to nearest Basic-english course and chain him there until he learns proper form of salutation/greetings.
P.S: I'm not some laid back 55 year old, I'm 29 from Brooklyn, just hate that word.
--Alex

Dude you need to chill.

Mark

I wouldn't classify these as "most hated", but I certainly avoid them in my conversation: appreciate, and apologize.
In a recent lecture, I heard this professor use the phrase "asymptotically speaking" in casual conversation. What do you think she meant?

I think she meant no one was truly paying attention and so she was alleviated from any responsibility for making sense.

Exactly.

Nuts.
"Asymptotically speaking" means that we are closer to the truth with each next act of speaking, yet will never reach it.

It probably means the more you stretch your imagination, the closer you are to understanding what's being talked about - but you'll never fully get it

It's pretty common lingo: In Google.

It could also mean that at some point in time you will suddenly achieve infinite enlightenment, but immediately afterwards you will fall back to the normal level of your mundane existence, with no lasting effect from your experience.

Seriously though, "asymptotically speaking" could be fairly straightforward in the right context - such as one where some mathematical function is under discussion. Prefereably one that actually has, well, an asymptote.

What was the lecture about?

This was cryptography... don't recall where the asymptotes featured here though