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

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Lately, "veggies" has been bugging the shit out of me... too flip, too Australian sounding. Also, "At the end of the day..." is being heavily abused by politicos... a new catch-phrase with no meaning.

Now, a small cadre of philistines in my office has been using the word "outreach" as a NOUN... "Were you able to establish some outreach with the printers?" etc.

What language abuses have been rubbing you raw lately?

― andy, Tuesday, 23 December 2003 22:18 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

"TURN BACK YOU POXY FULE"

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 22:35 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

what?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 22:36 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

That seems like it'd be right up your alley, TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 22:36 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

My friends got into saying "P-word" as a jokingly PC way of saying "pussy" .. i.e. - "so-and-so is a p-word." I tried to explain that it's a real pussy move to be afraid of saying pussy and hypocritical of anyone then to call anyone else a p-word. I think it fell on deaf ears.

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 22:37 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

my p hurts!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 22:37 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

If my dad wants to agree with something you've said, he says "This is true." It really, really gets me annoyed, for no other reason than overuse as far as I can think.

― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:21 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

"Have a Cool Yule!" - I haven't actually heard this lately but because of the season I remembered this the other day and darkly mulled over its wankiness.

― Chriddof (Chriddof), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:26 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

using "Cool Yule" seems like it should automatically warrant a knife in the face.

― El Santo Claus (Kingfish), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:36 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

My father met Cheech Marin while drunk and got his autograph. My father is not the autograph type, but kept it because it is a small bar napkin that says "BE COOL FOOL, CHEECH." A man of few words, that Cheech.

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:38 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

I cant stand it when I hear someone say 'impactful' is that even a word? Impact is not a property, its created.

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:45 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

It must say something about ILX that this is the most repeated topic of all time:

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

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:48 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

I'm getting really pissed of with american interpretations of 'Liberal', 'Libertarian' and 'Conservative'

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:52 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

I also get upset about "N-Word" as well. If you're using it in a critical context, people will understand that. If you're not, then you should have the conviction to let people hear it if you want to say it.

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:54 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

I hate "touch base" and "metrosexual"

― phil-two (phil-two), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:55 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

OH come on, let's touch bases.

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:57 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

Yeah, "metrosexual" is possible the lamest noun of the new millenia.

― andy, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:00 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

Or is it an adjective? I don't know.

― andy, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:00 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

If my dad wants to agree with something you've said, he says "This is true." It really, really gets me annoyed, for no other reason than overuse as far as I can think.

-- 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.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:02 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

But Ed, those words have different interpretations in almost every country in which they are used.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:03 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

I blame the consolidation of global political power and the diminution of class mobility on people who write in the passive voice.

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

― felicity (felicity), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:07 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

"It must say something about ILX that this is the most repeated topic of all time..."

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?

― andy, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:14 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

Least favorite (mis)usage ever - "ON accident..." it's BY accident you fucking moron!!

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

― roger adultery, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:47 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

I know, oops, but still it pisses me off.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:54 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

The recurrence of this topic is always accompanied by the recurrence of complaint about its recurrence.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 01:00 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

Space. All this crap about needing space. Fuck off, then.

― Roderick the Visigoth. (Jake Proudlock), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 03:19 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

All girls must now refer to one another as "guy"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 03:30 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

ok?

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 03:30 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

Using "Sexy" in a business environment that has nothing to do with sex. As in "this is a very sexy proposal for our company". Well, I guess, if ripping people off is what turns you on.

― BrianB (BrianB), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 05:26 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

'exact same'.

― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 20:47 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

"bird" instead of "girl" or "woman". AAAAAARGH.

― Melly E (Melly E), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 21:10 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

When people call each other 'babe' and the completely inappropriate use of the word 'literally'. Also can I add at this point, even if it may not be entirely relevant, the unjustifiable grammatical error in Rachael Stevens' song 'Sweet Dreams My LA Ex' : "accuse me of things I never done." And I've listened hard for "I've never done" to try and give her the benefit of the doubt but she doesn't say it.

― barbara wintergreen, Monday, 29 December 2003 18:24 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

"Begging the question" and "chomping at the bit." The first is almost always used incorrectly, and the second should be "champing," Goddamn it.

― Salmon Pink (Salmon Pink), Monday, 29 December 2003 20:18 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

or "bits"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 29 December 2003 20:34 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

'any way shape or form'. Most heard in full-media-glare denials of misdeeds. Used by dodgy sportsmen who have been 'coached' by their minders for the occasion. It immediately strips the first dozen layers of credibility from whatever statement is being made.

'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.

― Fred Nerk (Fred Nerk), Monday, 29 December 2003 23:59 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

optics

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 30 December 2003 00:00 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

also photonic inplace of optic

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 30 December 2003 00:10 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

"the....(insert superlative)...in pop."

― barbara wintergreen, Tuesday, 30 December 2003 00:19 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

To return to the top of the thread, I still after 20 odd years gag on 'outreach' as a VERB....

― Fred Nerk (Fred Nerk), Tuesday, 30 December 2003 00:46 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

the mightily empty "i could care less" variant on being unable to do the same

― ermes marana, Tuesday, 30 December 2003 01:47 (fourteen years ago) Permalink

one year passes...

People who pronounce the word "presentation" as "PRE-sentation".

― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Thursday, 18 August 2005 07:29 (thirteen years ago) Permalink

since i was reading some VICIOUS anti- rachael ray sentiment last night and i'm still feelin' the love: "E.V.O.O. EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL"

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 07:32 (thirteen years ago) Permalink

"YUM-O"

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 07:33 (thirteen years ago) Permalink

cf.

― gear (gear), Thursday, 18 August 2005 07:34 (thirteen years ago) Permalink

Also: 'fridge,'

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

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 18 August 2005 08:01 (thirteen years ago) Permalink

Saying "it impacted on me" instead of "it had an impact on me"... well that's annoying enough but, just recently, I've heard people say "it impacted me" - which surely would only make sense if the speaker was a molar?

― Diddyismus (Dada), Thursday, 18 August 2005 09:10 (thirteen years ago) Permalink

'fridge,'

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?"

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Thursday, 18 August 2005 10:29 (thirteen years ago) Permalink

bougie, instead of bourgeois. heard it four times last week.

― naus (Robert T), Thursday, 18 August 2005 10:38 (thirteen years ago) Permalink

"Chav"

― Diddyismus (Dada), Thursday, 18 August 2005 10:39 (thirteen years ago) Permalink

bourgie?

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 18 August 2005 10:42 (thirteen years ago) Permalink

Skipping 4920 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

There's a Pitchfork headline about Mac Miller's "posthumous" Spotify session and maybe I'm a pedant but I wish it said "posthumously released"

― resident hack (Simon H.), Wednesday, 28 November 2018 17:46 (two weeks ago) Permalink

impactful

― mookieproof, Wednesday, 28 November 2018 18:47 (two weeks ago) Permalink

“Look, I’m not going to lie...”
Ok, so everything you’re been saying EXCEPT this next statement has been bs

― calstars, Thursday, 29 November 2018 00:39 (two weeks ago) Permalink

^ given that the phrase is consistently used as the prelude to saying something you would prefer to be a falsehood, regardless of whatever was said prior, that seems like a perverse interpretation designed to neutralize having to accept whatever is said next as true by casting your interlocutor as an inveterate liar.

― A is for (Aimless), Thursday, 29 November 2018 05:49 (two weeks ago) Permalink

look, gird your loins for what i'm about to lay down here...

― andrew m., Thursday, 29 November 2018 14:53 (two weeks ago) Permalink

^ given that the phrase is consistently used as the prelude to saying something you would prefer to be a falsehood,

Yeah that’s one possibility. But as the listener you don’t know for certain.

― calstars, Thursday, 29 November 2018 15:55 (two weeks ago) Permalink

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results"

― ninthyoung, Thursday, 29 November 2018 16:32 (two weeks ago) Permalink

otm i alvvays luvd that qvote

― F# A# (∞), Thursday, 29 November 2018 17:57 (two weeks ago) Permalink

Sometimes that phrase comes to my mind when I walk into the bar. Though I’m not sure what result I’m expecting

― calstars, Thursday, 29 November 2018 23:55 (two weeks ago) Permalink

*checks notes*

really, ffs. do not.

that's not a reply to anyone on this thread, btw, it's a new offence.

― brokenshire (jed_), Friday, 30 November 2018 00:00 (two weeks ago) Permalink

“big spoon”/“little spoon” – spoons of different sizes do not nest together; spoons of the same size do. That’s why it’s called spooning

“The Venn diagram of A and B is just a circle” – this is not how Venn diagrams work. They do not represent proportions. Generally.

― I have measured out my life in coffee shop loyalty cards (silby), Friday, 30 November 2018 01:18 (two weeks ago) Permalink

impactful

― mookieproof, Wednesday, November 28, 2018

I've waged a Sommes-level battle against it for years. We've lost.

― I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 30 November 2018 01:18 (two weeks ago) Permalink

whoa @ spoon

― flappy bird, Friday, 30 November 2018 06:58 (two weeks ago) Permalink

“Business Garden”

― calstars, Monday, 3 December 2018 18:44 (one week ago) Permalink

on-boarding

― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 December 2018 18:47 (one week ago) Permalink

“Business Garden” is a terrible euphemism

― mick signals, Monday, 3 December 2018 19:19 (one week ago) Permalink

getting online in the matrix

― Karl Malone, Monday, 3 December 2018 20:22 (one week ago) Permalink

"how busy are you right now?"

― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 4 December 2018 13:25 (one week ago) Permalink

i mean. motherfucker you did not just say that

― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 4 December 2018 13:26 (one week ago) Permalink

'overly

the lamest of adverbs. it just looks wrong to me

― meaulnes, Tuesday, 4 December 2018 15:25 (one week ago) Permalink

stray apostrophe, there

― meaulnes, Tuesday, 4 December 2018 15:26 (one week ago) Permalink

referring to twitter as "this website"

― flappy bird, Tuesday, 4 December 2018 17:36 (one week ago) Permalink

yeah the proper term is "this hell website"

― I have measured out my life in coffee shop loyalty cards (silby), Tuesday, 4 December 2018 17:38 (one week ago) Permalink

I've got an 'overly bunch of coconuts

― kinder, Tuesday, 4 December 2018 17:47 (one week ago) Permalink

i LOVE "this website"

― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 4 December 2018 20:16 (one week ago) Permalink

Thanks, customer service wageslave. Yes, when I requested that billing correction, I actually only wanted your deep understanding and sympathy, not money.

Thanks for reaching out to us, I certainly understand your concern and assure you not to worry at all.
I truly see the importance of being fairly charged. Rest assured we're actively working to make sure all of your experiences are up to your standards, so you, coming to us with this concern will help us determine how to improve our services better. We apologize for your inconvenience caused by our policy and we wish you to know that customer satisfaction is our highest priority.

― mick signals, Wednesday, 5 December 2018 14:46 (one week ago) Permalink

The specific usage or phrase in this case would be telling me not to worry, which is IMO appropriate to say only a) if I have expressed worry rather than a simple professional request; b) if you are about to resolve a problem that might be causing me worry; and/or c) if you know me personally.

― mick signals, Wednesday, 5 December 2018 15:14 (one week ago) Permalink

, so you,

― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 16:09 (one week ago) Permalink

like "that marabou scarf is so you"?

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 17:08 (one week ago) Permalink

mick signals, those go down a lot easier if you mentally read them in the voice of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey

― Plinka Trinka Banga Tink (Eliza D.), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 17:12 (one week ago) Permalink

Huh! You're right. Even better if I mentally set myself adrift in frigid vacuum afterwards.

― mick signals, Wednesday, 5 December 2018 17:46 (one week ago) Permalink

“There’s no need to press numbers. You can speak to me just like you would a real person.”

― calstars, Wednesday, 5 December 2018 18:47 (one week ago) Permalink

"rapey"

― marcos, Wednesday, 5 December 2018 20:23 (one week ago) Permalink

Had this yearly 15-minute meeting with my principal today where you look over whatever diagnostic testing you did in the fall, flag students of concern, etc. And this: "How are you empowering modern learners?" "Um...I talk about Richard Nixon a lot!"

I didn't actually say that--it occurred to me on the way home that that's what I should've said. (I instead, as I always do, mumbled something close to "Um, you know, a little bit of this, a little bit of that.") I have to remind myself that I'm retiring this year, and now's the time to openly mock every mind-numbing bit of jargon I've encountered the past 20 years.

― clemenza, Thursday, 6 December 2018 23:11 (one week ago) Permalink

clemenza, have you considered

~activating~ the modern learners?

― Karl Malone, Thursday, 6 December 2018 23:15 (one week ago) Permalink

they are full of stored up potential, waiting to be unleashed. but first you must activate

― Karl Malone, Thursday, 6 December 2018 23:15 (one week ago) Permalink

And me in love with modern learning
Me in love with modern rock & roll
Modern learning and modern rock & roll
Don't feel so alone, got the modern learners activated

― clemenza, Thursday, 6 December 2018 23:36 (one week ago) Permalink

"I had that dream again" is getting pretty tedious

― flappy bird, Friday, 7 December 2018 20:06 (one week ago) Permalink

"hellscape"

― groovemaaan, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 07:20 (two days ago) Permalink

"jobby"

― meaulnes, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 17:04 (two days ago) Permalink

People that apologize for saying something weird. Being a normie isn't something people should strive for.

― ヽ(_　_ヽ)彡 ᴵ'ᵐ ᵒᵏᵃʸ_(･＿．)/ (FlopsyDuck), Wednesday, 12 December 2018 17:30 (two days ago) Permalink

"what fresh hell..." was good when it was new. it is no longer new.

― A is for (Aimless), Wednesday, 12 December 2018 17:36 (two days ago) Permalink

No longer fresh.

― jmm, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 17:38 (two days ago) Permalink

What everyone really needs to accept is that it’s horribly grating to hear anyone say anything that anyone else has ever said before

― devops mom (silby), Friday, July 6, 2018 6:18 PM (five months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― I have measured out my life in coffee shop loyalty cards (silby), Wednesday, 12 December 2018 17:41 (two days ago) Permalink

ugh my mom used to say that

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, 12 December 2018 17:43 (two days ago) Permalink

In The Flowers of Tarbes: or, Terror in Literature, Jean Paulhan distinguishes between rhetoricians – those who believe that language is a pre-existing reservoir of commonplace tropes – and terrorists – revolutionaries who demand that language be perpetually reinvented. I assume most of us itt are terrorists.

― pomenitul, Wednesday, 12 December 2018 17:50 (two days ago) Permalink

I like that construction

― I have measured out my life in coffee shop loyalty cards (silby), Wednesday, 12 December 2018 17:52 (two days ago) Permalink

I'm absolutely a terrorist, there's nothing I love more than the abject crimes against comprehensibility I sometimes find in the wild

― I have measured out my life in coffee shop loyalty cards (silby), Wednesday, 12 December 2018 17:52 (two days ago) Permalink

you might think of advertising and other forms of commercial text as tropey but the innovations I've seen in ads and headlines and marketing-speak have affected me profoundly

― I have measured out my life in coffee shop loyalty cards (silby), Wednesday, 12 December 2018 17:53 (two days ago) Permalink

jazztalkers 4lyfe

― Moussa- ppl gon die (darraghmac), Wednesday, 12 December 2018 20:31 (two days ago) Permalink

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