• LillyPip@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          It’s a minor niggle I was joking about with hyperbole, but it does bother me a bit because ‘when’ means a specific time and ‘whenever’ means any of multiple times. Their meaning isn’t interchangeable.

          Like: ‘I talked to my dad when he was in town’ means I talked with him that last time he was in town, but ‘I talked to my dad whenever he was in town’ means any or all the times he was in town – it might have been a hundred times or two, I can’t tell, but not the one time like the other more accurate sentence.

          It doesn’t make me mad, but it very briefly ruffles my feathers. (e: and then I move right on)

            • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              52 here. I think I get more annoyed with certain phrases the older I get. Like I said, not enough to be actually aggravated, but certain phrases raise my hackles every time, and ‘whenever’ is a big one.

              It may be because there’s someone on a podcast I regularly listen to who does this, or it may be because I’m a writer and am more keyed in to errors like this, or it may be both.

              I may also be inebriated.