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 4729 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Choreography has always been a lodestar for Ms. Letissier

oh god it's happening to me too

― princess of hell (BradNelson), Wednesday, 12 September 2018 17:21 (one week ago) Permalink

Conversely, you also run into writing that strains painfully to avoid cliche and to express simple ideas in unusual gimmicky ways and it can be a mess.

― mick signals, Wednesday, September 12, 2018 11:52 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is annoying but they are lodestar in comparison

― flappy bird, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 17:37 (one week ago) Permalink

anus champ

― Rabbit Control (Latham Green), Wednesday, 12 September 2018 18:12 (one week ago) Permalink

LoadStar, the floppy-disk-based magazine for Commodore 64 users, has always been a ... a touchstone for me.

― mick signals, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 19:01 (one week ago) Permalink

xp that was the exact article that led me to mention it actually

― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Wednesday, 12 September 2018 19:09 (one week ago) Permalink

lol i figured it might've been

― princess of hell (BradNelson), Wednesday, 12 September 2018 19:15 (one week ago) Permalink

I'm still waiting to see which Democratic candidate will turn out to be our Lode Runner for Atari 800, Commodore 64, and Apple II systems with at least 64k RAM

― com rad erry red flag (f. hazel), Wednesday, 12 September 2018 19:30 (one week ago) Permalink

Avoid clichés by isolating, quarantining, and thoroughly fumigating them.

― jmm, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 19:31 (one week ago) Permalink

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dm6vZTJXcAA_W-H.jpg:small

― mookieproof, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 19:39 (one week ago) Permalink

― andrew m., Wednesday, 12 September 2018 20:36 (one week ago) Permalink

I really want to start responding to 'morning' with a hearty 'well-observed'.

― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 14 September 2018 12:26 (one week ago) Permalink

"Hello!"
"Oh, how very original."

― got the scuba tube blowin' like a snork (Doctor Casino), Friday, 14 September 2018 12:43 (one week ago) Permalink

Posts that start 'This is huge' followed by some revelation the author is certain will DEFINITELY lead to Trump's impeachment/Brexit being cancelled/whatever

― Steve Reich In The Afternoon (Against The 80s), Friday, 14 September 2018 12:46 (one week ago) Permalink

'I'm so sorry for your loss.'
'I'm so sorry for your addiction to clichés. My deepest sympathies!'

― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 14 September 2018 12:51 (one week ago) Permalink

(I swear I'm not That Guy. I was properly socialized. Relatively properly, anyway.)

― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 14 September 2018 12:54 (one week ago) Permalink

i mean

that is the essential soul of what is good and necessary about cliché, that phrase

it insulates from all of the agonies of misunderstanding of intent or delivery that can arise in just about any phrased or unphrased human interaction and delivers the absolutest clarity and intent, in the most widely recognised formula available, to people least able at that time to process much of anything except perhaps a presence and the delivery of such a phrase.

you would have to have many things wrong with you to not understand implicitly the utility of such a phrase for the circumstances imo

― NAGL usa (darraghmac), Friday, 14 September 2018 13:48 (one week ago) Permalink

Yeah, ordinarily I appreciate people who avoid formulaic speech, and who can come up with something a trifle more daring at a party than "what do you do?".

But at my mom's funeral two years ago, I found I was not craving variety and creativity in what people said; if someone said something formulaic I found I was relieved and pleased.

― know-it-some (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 14 September 2018 13:57 (one week ago) Permalink

I fear that my horribly-formed 'joke' may have provoked the very agony of which deems speaks.

― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 14 September 2018 14:00 (one week ago) Permalink

I was bantering with Doc C, do u see

― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 14 September 2018 14:01 (one week ago) Permalink

i got it, OL!

but glad it inadvertently prompted dmac and YMP, who articulated something important and an experience i've shared.

― got the scuba tube blowin' like a snork (Doctor Casino), Friday, 14 September 2018 14:02 (one week ago) Permalink

if you ever find yourself thinking "how can i condole with somebody in an original and non-cliched way?" then you should strongly consider fucking yourself for eternity

― every day there's a whining choad (Noodle Vague), Friday, 14 September 2018 14:04 (one week ago) Permalink

And really, my initial post wasn't exactly fueled by the shit being annoyed out of me. It was more the experience of hearing a word over and over until it sounds like random phonemes disconnected from context and meaning. I'd heard and said 'morning' like twelve times within a five-minute stretch and thought 'huh, humans r weird'.

― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 14 September 2018 14:05 (one week ago) Permalink

"convo" for conversation

― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Friday, 14 September 2018 14:18 (one week ago) Permalink

Good mourning!

― mick signals, Friday, 14 September 2018 14:30 (one week ago) Permalink

oh i am the sincere person missing puns

what a turnup

― NAGL usa (darraghmac), Friday, 14 September 2018 14:48 (one week ago) Permalink

Was gonna say, thought ol' treesh had gotten your login info for a sec.

― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 14 September 2018 14:49 (one week ago) Permalink

I appreciated your impassioned riposte, nonetheless.

― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 14 September 2018 14:50 (one week ago) Permalink

Unless you're literally talking about extraction into a liquid, don't say "infuse."

So this is bad:

In a flat world, infused with the complexities of contracting over information, off-the-shelf contracts and standardized legal reasoning and approaches don’t cut it. What’s needed are creative ways to manage strategic relationships. https://t.co/LJ3leh1szb
— Gillian Hadfield (@ghadfield) June 19, 2018

This is fine though:

This shampoo and conditioner is literally infused with love: https://t.co/sUnAt19g76 pic.twitter.com/473mYSVx8X
— InStyle (@InStyle) June 18, 2016

― mick signals, Friday, 14 September 2018 15:02 (one week ago) Permalink

The bigger problem with tweet #1 imo is that it is word barf.

― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 14 September 2018 15:09 (one week ago) Permalink

In a flat world, barf is critical to proactively steer our dynamic word logistic advantages.

― mick signals, Friday, 14 September 2018 15:16 (one week ago) Permalink

in a flat world, apparently fields need to be leveled, despite being flat

― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Friday, 14 September 2018 15:17 (one week ago) Permalink

It requires a means of responding to the very unevenness—the nonflatness—that has persisted, even been exacerbated, in the wake of the ways in which the global platform has rearranged work and resources.

― mick signals, Friday, 14 September 2018 15:22 (one week ago) Permalink

Regardless of the world's shape or what it's been infused with, I feel like it would be difficult to cut anything using only contracts or reasoning. That's not how cutting things works.

― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 14 September 2018 15:31 (one week ago) Permalink

For the 21st century, we need virtual contracts literally infused with titanium that can selectively cut the DNA of the blockchain.

― mick signals, Friday, 14 September 2018 15:37 (one week ago) Permalink

I think we need to respond to low-hanging fruit both proactively and reactively, while answering the mail and not drinking our own bathwater. That's the long pole in the tent that will help us avoid the sharks in the water.

― know-it-some (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 14 September 2018 15:40 (one week ago) Permalink

When our bathwater is literally infused with low-hanging fruit, we need aggressive contracts to manage the sharks that drink it.

― mick signals, Friday, 14 September 2018 15:45 (one week ago) Permalink

Pooh-pooh them all you like, I think mixed metaphors are quite delicious.

― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 14 September 2018 15:50 (one week ago) Permalink

are they epic bacon awesomesauce?

― flappy bird, Friday, 14 September 2018 16:34 (one week ago) Permalink

Careful, we don't want Mr. Fieri's attorneys filing any copyright infringement suits.

― I Don't Have Any Ears, I Am Positive (Old Lunch), Friday, 14 September 2018 16:56 (one week ago) Permalink

i think about ___ a lot

― https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcZZlQ4Tmrc (Karl Malone), Friday, 14 September 2018 23:07 (one week ago) Permalink

'Have you actually?' or 'did you actually?' is the one that winds me up the most at the moment. It's impossible to say without sounding as dense as a neutron star.

― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Saturday, 15 September 2018 08:34 (one week ago) Permalink

"Name a better (whatever variety of thing it is). We'll wait." <---this is a social media account manager's lame attempt at being sassy, and has never been anything else

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 22 September 2018 18:05 (three days ago) Permalink

“love too” has run its course I feel

― flappy bird, Saturday, 22 September 2018 22:52 (three days ago) Permalink

“feature, not a bug”

― omar little, Saturday, 22 September 2018 22:54 (three days ago) Permalink

"love too"? what is this usage?

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Saturday, 22 September 2018 22:56 (three days ago) Permalink

posts in which a reprehensible / stupid action is endorsed, as in "love too undermine sexually assaulted women to endorse my SC nominee" (usually "too" or "2").
I kind of like them.

― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Saturday, 22 September 2018 23:00 (three days ago) Permalink

wow i am totally unfamiliar with this but it sounds awful

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Sunday, 23 September 2018 00:12 (two days ago) Permalink

Today I caught myself starting a conversation with “you know how people like chips?”

― He said captain, I said wot (FlopsyDuck), Sunday, 23 September 2018 00:18 (two days ago) Permalink

xp nah it was one of those ones that was funny for a bit and then reached critical mass and will probably be on greeting cards next year

― flappy bird, Sunday, 23 September 2018 06:52 (two days ago) Permalink

sorry LL I should have clarified that it's used in a satirical / arch manner, i.e. what kind of moron could endorse this view

― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Sunday, 23 September 2018 08:43 (two days ago) Permalink

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