This year I've been finding nouned verbs more annoying. Customers don't make requests, they have a 'key ask'. And now Waitrose is at it. The instructions on the Emperor's Sticky Ribs tell me to remove the lid "for a stickier eat".
Sometimes there's a good reason to weird the language, as Calvin and Hobbes put it. Strunk and White defines flammable as "an oddity, chiefly useful in saving lives. The common word meaning 'combustible' is inflammable. But some people are thrown off by the in- and think inflammable means 'not combustible.' For this reason, trucks carrying gasoline or explosives are now marked FLAMMABLE. Unless you are operating such a truck and hence are concerned with the safety of children and illiterates, use inflammable."
