Words, usages, and phrases that annoy the shit out of you...

Four Words: Use Other Words Please
"Use other words please."
Commonly used phrases that inexplicably bug you
Most irritating cliche/phrase/expression
"Taking Things to a Whole `Nother Level!"
words that annoy
Words that should earn the author a slap
PROVERBIAL and other tip offs to poor writing

-- caitlin (wpsal...) (webmail), December 23rd, 2003. (caitlin)

Oh yes, yes yes. I second that one. And the people who say it, say it over and over.

I also have a horror of people who write prolifically in all caps.

This is true.

But, this is a topic that should be dealt with routinely and harshly... the only way we can correct the language and suppress it's organic growth is by exposing and banning every new usage as it occurs... Isn't that what the French do?

Also: 'fridge,' girls who refer to each other as 'girl,' proactive...i'll be back when i think of more....

'poetic justice'. Used by the lazy to describe all 'justice' the speaker approves of, instead of a particular type. The adjective is rendered meaningless.

Agree re 'bird' for woman/girl, and lament its threatened return. Stinks of 'I'm being un-PC, where's my medal?'. Also the C-person uses it, which kinda ends the argument.

Wait, huh? Fridge is the thing you put food in, whats wrong with it?

I'm picturing him saying things such as "Would you like me to remove another beverage from the refrigerator for you, whilst we watch some association football?"

As used to describe a footballer running into a streak of good form

When used in phrases like "a raft of policies" or "a raft of new measures" - why?!?!??!!?

Or a colon.

COINKY-DINK, "guestimate," and any time someone ends an interrogative sentence with "at," as in "Where's my keys at?" or "Where's your head at?"

"hating on"

'picky bits' - innocent smoothie marketing aesthetic pushed via every supermarket, combined with speed with which people let word virus memes take over their brains, combined with it being too hot to do proper cooking, means i've heard this in the wild about 10 times this week. maybe very middle class households have always said this, but it feels like its avalanched. possibly as vile in british smugness levels as 'yummy mummy'. no idea why it bugs me so much.

Agree this is truly fucking dire

wait so picky bits is British girl dinner?

they wore me down and now that's how I casually talk to dogs

sadly this is actually how dogs talk, so it's best to speak their language

It’s non-gendered dinner here, for people too thick or twee to use the words ‘charcuterie’ or ‘antipasti’. It also sounds like a pet name for eczema scabs you’ve been warned by a medic not to touch.

I didn’t think it could get worse than girl dinner but leave it to people and they will provide.

Oh I have one of these. Football commentators saying "it's one of those" about everything. A foul looks soft? "It's one of those," according to Lee Dixon. The ball bounces in an odd direction? "It's one of those," states Alan Shearer. Anything slightly interesting happens? "It's one of those," says Danny Murphy. ONE OF WHAT?

they wore me down and now that's how I casually talk to dogs

All dogs are "buddy." Hey, buddy, how's it going? (rubs dog's head)

All cats are "dummy." Hey, dummy. No, you don't live here, you can't come inside. (rubs cat's head)

I call my cat both "buddy" and "dum-dum."

Sometimes, with local dogs I’m frightened by and trying to self-soothe without annoying their macho/déclassé owners: ‘big guy’.

“Hey, big guy!”

I like bud for the big ones and sweety for the littles
I don’t interact w any cats in my daily life

Pretty sure my smallest cat thinks her name is “teeny” cos of how often I call her it

haha my boss calls everyone buddy (except people he hates I guess but I've never seen him hating anyone yet)

my neighbor has the cutest corgi named Marty and I always pronounce his name with a Brooklyn accent (from the movie)

“Hey Mawty”

My trouble with baby talk for pets is this assumption -

sadly this is actually how dogs talk

- which is unproven IMO and kinda arbitrary. In the thought experiment "what if pets could talk?" pople tend to think "if they could, they wouldn't be very good at it. Like Toonces (the cat who could drive) could drive, but wasn't good at it.

To which I say: how the hell do we know? It's like, we get to pick an amount for much the skills improve for the purposes of the thought experiment. But we stop short of granting them proficiency even though there's no reason to impose those limits; it's all imaginary anyway. Why can't your dog speak better than you, like Peabody from Rocky & Bullwinkle?

like when the bear plays violin but "not very well."

Or the vet uses my last name for my cats. Muffin Smith or whatever. How the fuck do you know what my cat's last name is? Ffs * I * don't even know her last name.

See I personally love that - it’s how you choose a good pet name by pairing it with your own surname to show you’re family.

my cat had a number of publications before we met so she kept her maiden name of Cholmondeley

Our cat has my wife's last name because it sounds better with his first name (and is good for rhymes).

I haven’t made any judgements about Widget’s potential human speaking voice but his elderly whippet uncle Wilf, who was a huge part of my life until he died last October, was said to have borrowed the voice of Kenneth Williams.

dogs and cats' brains lack broca's area and have a severely diminished wernicke's area, this means that though they can pick up a limited vocabulary, they are unable to use grammar. if your pet could speak, it would be only using individual words/utterances. so if you want to imagine them speaking you do not need to be constrained by reality.

Damn. All that time teaching W to conjugate verbs was a complete waste.

things that my cat is which i remind him of daily:
sweet boy
fluffernutter (he's an orange tabby)
sugar booger
carpetbagger
pumpkin horker (he loves canned pumpkin)
tub o' love
handsome, as a noun. i.e. you're such a handsome.
sassafras
cutie patootie with a big bazootie

Re: picky bits. I dont mind people dropping this usually IRL from time to time. It grates when a brand does it

'picky bits' sounds like 'sensitive ballsack' to me *shrug*

picky tea

― kinder, Saturday, December 23, 2017 9:22 AM (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Glad you're all coming round - hoped this would die a death but instead, as you've noted, it's in the bloody supermarkets now.
Just makes me think of scabs

i call my elderly male cat alternately “big boy” or “little man”, “potato”, “Mister Sir” and various permutations thereof

yes, "picky bits" can fuck off, every few months this country tries to gaslight me into thinking that some twee marketing bollocks they just made up is in fact intangible cultural heritage at the core of our national identity.

My obnoxious cat epithets:

animal
beautiful animal
wee beastie
creature
monkey
white cat
black cat
blue/green/yellow eyes ("owl eyes" for the one whose pupils almost constantly look like she's trippin on acid)
loudmouth
puzzled panther (Germs reference)

rat creature (Jeff Smith/Bone reference)

pretty sure a colleague from about a decade ago brought their snacks into work in a decorated tub that said "picky bits" on, the sort of thing you get in a card and gift shop

It’s giving dead skin…

Oh I have one of these. … ONE OF WHAT?

anonydogs to me are labelled “pup” or “pups.” anonycats and often my just get “cat.”

i just started yesterday as a vol at a local humane society, intending to do both cat and dog work, so i suspect these may change.

there is a cat there who lives in seclusion who was lifted as a juvenile by a raptor and had all the skin from face to neck ripped off to bare flesh. he is loved well loved fixture. he is named “creature.”

“my own”

Lily, Anna replied (her mum is from Montenegro) and says:

Low/mid 30s is pleasant in Montenegro. It's much less humid than here. I'm assuming they're sleeping outdoors?? If they're sleeping up a mountain it will be lovely and cool. If they're down near the water there may be mosquitos. But it should be fine. Is she particularly sensitive to heat? It feels much worse here (London) than there...

breweries that now call themselves “fermentaries”

new to me

seems to be all over Virginia

Our dogs, Sally and Pearl sleep in our bed. So I call them “bed rats.”

Sally is a pit bull mix and her most used nickname is Chonkey Donkey.

Pearl is a boston terrier and is sometimes called Granny Panda, but also Shit Biscuit.

I call my dog "Bobo" at least as often as his given name, Howie

I also sometimes call him "muffinman" for some reason. it just makes sense.

Chonkin' on Bobo