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

ooh and medical doctors imagining that their knowledge and training makes their opinion scientific, or that they are scientists. Some doctors are of course, but not because of their medical degree.

"Nasally" instead of "nasal". I started hearing this around 10 years ago or so and I have even seen it in a textbook at this point.

xps I really need to get over myself

no you're right, they're wrong

The Grapes of Wrathfulness

"inflection point" instead of "turning point"

just encountered 'evolvement'

Like that pokemon had max evolvement?

disenvolvument

swedish cars: what's inside

the new normal

A newer normal

Bill de Blasio’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week

"mercury set to soar"

"too good not to share", accompanying a supposedly hilarious/incisive meme

extra hate if it's followed by a crying with laughter emoji.

"Karen"

rest assured, "Karen" will soon pass away to the land of forgotten memes.

Shovel-ready

haven't heard that one since ARRA

"The 27 Club"

"Whack a mole". Not entirely because of Boris Johnson, only 99% because of Boris Johnson.

'straight-sized' people/bodies/clothing

'theatre makers'

prefer "dreamers of dreams"

Prefer "server"

read the room

yeah. aiui, 'read the room' originated among stand-up comedians whose sole interest in reading the room was to figure out how to entertain that night's audience and elicit laughs. it implicitly describes a relationship where roles are very divergent and highly imbalanced, where the person speaking must supplicate their audience for a favorable response.

I've definitely heard it used at work where "Don't rock the boat" would have been the phrase better suited to the somewhat cowardly message.

i thought it was more of a courtesy / social self-preservation thing. like if your partner's boss invites you over for a cocktail party you should probably read the room before broaching certain topics / making certain jokes.

"read the room" makes sense for anyone who is addressing a room -- a teacher, a public speaker, a person leading a meeting
it's a useful phrase and does not belong to comedians

I spoke of the origin of the phrase, not its present usage, which can mean altering your manner or tone to better suit the makeup of your audience (e.g. third graders vs. parents of third graders), but it seems to be morphing into a demand to alter the substance of what you are saying or to stop speaking altogether based solely on whether people approve of it.

citation needed

i prefer "know your audience"

"Don't grow a pair"

From ilx:

in other "failing to read the room" news:

(headline:) Nancy Pelosi Not On Board With Impeaching Brett Kavanaugh “That would not be my plan.”

― sleeve, Tuesday, October 2, 2018 1:34 PM (one year ago)

where Pelosi said what she meant to say, clearly and understandably, but the substance failed to meet sleeve's approval. sleeve expected his comment to be understood as a call from him for Pelosi to think and say the opposite.

this seems adequate to establish that the useage exists.

no

i'm pretty sure what sleeve means is that pelosi, in her capacity as (a) leader of the democratic party, had failed to take in to account the overwhelming sentiment that going after kavanaugh was the preferred move, that she was out of touch with the thinking of most democrats and was therefore failing to use her role as speaker to express this, hence a failure to read the room, which to me sounds like a perfectly okay use of the expression ?

iow, he thought Pelosi, by reading the room, would have concluded the room wanted something other than her considered conclusion about the best way to proceed. she was not out of touch with who her audience was, but out of touch with their desired response from her. sounds like what I said.

what you said is that her statement didn't specifically meet one individual's approval !

she was not out of touch with who her audience was, but out of touch with their desired response from her.

so she didn't fail to read the room, she actually read the room really well and then proceeded to say something that upset the majority of the people in the room ? what is the distinction you're trying to make ? how can you be in touch with your audience if you don't know what your audience wants from you ?

Be Morton Downey Jr?

how can you be in touch with your audience if you don't know what your audience wants from you ?

if you read carefully, I did not say she did not know what her audience wanted from her. I'm pretty sure she knew what would have pleased a fair number of them (viz. all those who thought as sleeve did), but she was not willing to give it to them.

This is a good ILX argument.

But a weird thread for it to be in

Yeah, like, read the room guys

it will be cool to go through these threads after quarantine has made everyone finally, fully insane and be able to trace its progress

“during this time”

overuse of referring to people as 'individuals'

dividuals

Makes me think of awkward police officers making stilted appeals for information.