"Use other words please."

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Thank fuck nobody uses "(x) is worth the price of admission" any more.

― dave q, Sunday, 25 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Spot on Dave, that one's always irritated the fuck out of me as well.

― Robin Carmody, Sunday, 25 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

High school journalism, featuring "Beg, borrow, or steal" "Run, don't walk" "I want my eight bucks back" and "classic" or worse, "perrenial classic" for a group's first album or something. In fact, perrenial classic for anything!

― 1 1 2 3 5, Sunday, 25 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Does anyone remember a Chinese cooking expert (=chef) from early 80s? His apron said "wok, don't fry" . Yes, I know...

― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 25 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

four months pass...

"Bland"

Heh: this just reminded me one of the original OBSCURE STRATEGIES requires you to eat a Red Chili pepper and tape yr mouth shut, then work — write, record, whatevah — in this state.

― mark s, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The idea of putting Flea in my mouth and then taping it shut is morally repugnant.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Rockcritics.com's Top Five Lists has a huge-ass page of these. I recall submitting "zeitgeist", "(blank)-hop" and the phrase "call it [insert smarmy portmanteau genre/analogy here]" (i.e. "call it 'wonktronica'") among others.

― Nate Patrin, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nate you are right

― mark s, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

post-dadrock

― geeta, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

'atmospheric'

― dleone, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

sqwonk
damn, things go out of date fast these days

― Paul, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm clearly trying to avoid "clearly". And "obviously". And "stuff". And stacatto half-sentences.

― fritz, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

what i'd give to never read the phrase "balls-out" rock or of any band needing to "grow nuts"

― , Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

balls-out twee!!

― mark s, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

balls out twee jihad!!

(gently hug their balls, etc. i'm so sorry.)

― jess, Friday, 19 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

two weeks pass...

"promiscuous"

― Graham, Tuesday, 7 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

When I write copy I tend to use "tipped" quite a lot. Sometimes with "hotly" preceding it, sometimes on it's own.

I'll agree with whomever described "glacial" as a keeper. Except when you're describing artists from Iceland. I believe I may be guilty of this as well.

Confessions (i.e. more words that I tend to overuse): decidedly, melange, myriad, ornate and, erm (urp!) rawk

It's amazing I still find work..

― Mark, Tuesday, 7 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The "incestious" Chicago scene. (It's not as colorful as that.)

― Curt, Tuesday, 7 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ahem....nor as "incestuous".

― Curt, Tuesday, 7 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one month passes...

The word "experimental" has been causing me much consternation recently. How do the experiments run? "What do you suppose will happen if I blow on this saxamaphone, like, real real hard? For, like, ages?" "Uh, dunno"

What are the control conditions?

― Tim, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

control conditions = huey lewis and the news

― mark s, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I would describe my own form of experimental ahem music as just messing about. If I did this in a lab I'd be asking for trouble. Therefore, Tim is quite right.

― jel --, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm guilty of overusing "seminal" and "angular."

― j.lu, Monday, 24 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Took to the stage, took to the decks = yuck

It's like [something crap], but on drugs!

And most awful of all is any piece containing 'hey kids!' or similar. Don't patronise your readers.

― Anna, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

'Chin-stroking' to describe anything difficult/'experimental'! etc.

― Andrew L, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"(gasp!)"

― DeRayMi, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ha, Tim, that's fucking hilarious about "experimental"! I say "amazing" too much, I know, and Mark, "stunning" doesn't bother me for its falsity (can you really determine this anyway?) as much as it does for its vagueness - it does no work in a review besides passing a "this-is-good" judgment.

― Clarke B., Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Engaging."

― DeRayMi, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"also and "sound" and "and".

― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

If i hear some bespectacled dweeb with a goatee refer to any...ANY...album as a Tour de Force one more time, I'm gonna nut up and start murdering musicologists! GodDAMN I hate that! Its a stale clichéd cop-out generic one-size fits all handwaving filling column inches and paid by the word pretentious prolix pseudo-profound look-I'm-now-Baudelaire-because-I-used-a-word-in-French-does-this-beret- make-my-ass-look-big piece of crap and it never EVER NEEDS TO BE USED EVER AGAIN! And I know that some people who write for Allmusic are out there, so just remember...you have been warned.

― Lord Custos III, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

[Custos is yanked from his seat and the men in white coats give him his tranqs]

― Lord Custos III, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

how do you feel abt "tour de france" then? *runs away*

― mark s, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Indeed."

― Arthur, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Calling an album a "Tour de France" would be cool...one time. But if they put in every freaking review for the next 20 years it will become as annoying as an uncle who changes a subject in conversation by saying "...anywho..."

― Lord Custos III, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"[x] reclaiming [his/her/their] crown as [genre's] best [lyricist/crafter-of-melodies/guitarist/sneezer]"

― Ess Kay, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think some german dudes already did call an album that, custos.

― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah. Kraftwerk, right?
But thats not what I meant. I meant a reviewer referring to an album as "a Tour de Fran^H^H^H^H Force."
...Anywho...

― Lord Custos III, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I find "'nuff said" completely unbearable.

― Patrick, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

- The "-esque" suffix drives me crazy, overused.

- "of [their/that] ilk" always reeks of smugness at the very least, but is also usually part of some larger, idiotic rant.

- I have an instinctive mistrust of any review that uses the phrase "cutting edge" in its praise of a band.

― Joe, Wednesday, 26 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

yet one more joke crushed against the brutal shoals of ILM literalism.

― Sterling Clover, Thursday, 27 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

U&K: establishment of canon for best sneezer per genre.

― Tim, Thursday, 27 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"effective" - at either boring me to distraction or resembling mutant giraffosaurs: tell me which one, U cockfarmer!!

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 27 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Worst word ever = '*that'?

As in "Here on the G2 women's page we'd almost forgotten Liz Hurley - a far cry from the days when she caused an, ahem, flutter with *that* dress".

In fact that sentence is a compendium of crimes.

― *that* pinefox, Thursday, 27 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"pseudo-" -- because YOU Mr. Critic can see THROUGH the FACADE, right?!?

― Clarke B., Thursday, 27 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Re: '*that'

Didn't I say this on the "the whole [xXx] thing" thread. Also, add '*so', of the same American brandage.

― david h(owie), Thursday, 27 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I find "'nuff said" completely unbearable.
Thank You. I second that motion. It hated it whenever it came out Stan Lee's mouth and hated even more whenever Lester Bangs would repeat it.
And whats worse, Bangs never had the audacity to end his reviews with "Excelsior, True Believers! Make Mine the Monkees!"

― Lord Custos III, Thursday, 27 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

three weeks pass...

Canon

― Indieholic Anonymous, Tuesday, 23 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Eponymous"

EXCEPT when used by people unaware of the word's meaning. I seem to remember Jo Whiley would always use this to describe someone's first album

― chewshabadoo, Tuesday, 23 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

ha ha & once i heard this kid describe nirvana/kurt cobain as "prolific" & he obv thought it meant approx. "seminal", i adopted that for a while it was so great.

btw can someone tell me what things i use too much? there must be tons of annoying ones but of course one only really notices that shit when it's someone else doing it.

― unknown or illegal user, Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Underrated.

― Colin Meeder, Wednesday, 24 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Skipping 583 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

i get that npc comes from toxic message board culture and furthermore from video games which have nothing of value to offer to anyone, but 'people who just follow along' is a real phenomenon that deserves some kind of shorthand that isn't too derisive i guess. 'default people', 'mainstreamers', something like that. 'sheeple' if you will.

― shaking babies (map), Tuesday, 19 May 2026 23:06 (four weeks ago)

I will have to ask my daughter about the decision between NPC and bot.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 20 May 2026 00:08 (four weeks ago)

That went terribly, now I'm even more confused.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 20 May 2026 00:30 (four weeks ago)

coronate/coronated evidently continues to give me sub-editor's histamine prickle lol: you can just say crown/crowned and lose literally nothing meaningwise (and gain style-wise imo)

for the fussy of mind "coronation" in the sense of the official ceremony of the crowning of a king (or by extension i guess the official ceremony of the inauguration of a president ect ect) is fine, bcz a latinate term for some all-channels fancy performative* event completely with parchment scrolls and big stamped seals is perhaps helpfully distinctive

"coronation vs contest" is iffy by these pernickety standards but does have a certain rhetorical-alliterative energy so i'll allow it (not that "crowning vs content" doesnt)

*note correct usage austin fans!!

― mark s, Thursday, 21 May 2026 13:06 (four weeks ago)

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