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

No very good entries since tbh soz folx

I hate the word "the", do we really need it

Ilx specific one but “thanking you”. It adds 3 unnecessary characters for the sake of doge-esque flare or something.

― Evan, Thursday, February 25, 2021 9:35 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Some British people actually say that though

― kinder, Thursday, February 25, 2021 9:42 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is classic wee old woman in a shop patter when you pay for your morning roll and newspaper

Also annoyed by the misuse of 'campus'

What's weird to me is that the latin word 'campus' was ever chosen to represent the vicinity of a college or university. In latin it usually referred to a military encampment, although its oldest meaning was more like 'a relatively flat area of ground', which also happens to be the type of spot where you'd want to place a military encampment.

For "jab" let's just substitute "prick."

by all means, let's go Dutch!

(don’t think my lack of enthusiasm came across very well here)

"learns" is so unnecessary

It's February 2021 and a colleague just used this in an email: "Awesome-Sauce!"

That’s good not bad imo, especially in a professional context.

"amazeballs" is even worse

I was re-watching Kim's Convenience and it struck me how much you all must despise Shannon from that show

"cool cool cool"

"hustle and bustle"

especially in listings for apartments, spelled "hussle and bussle"

I just deleted this sentence from a report I've been asked to edit: "There are though a number of ways of structuring that body though and our ‘starter for ten’ approach will need further consideration."

I want to feel glee about deleting it but mostly I'm just annoyed it was even in there to begin with

My GF works for a big tech giant and says "Let's park that outside" is in common parlance these days.

"There are though a number of ways of structuring that body though and our ‘starter for ten’ approach will need further consideration."

OK, this sends what I thought was just a slightly twee conversational catchphrase into very strange territory. What the hell is that meant to mean? I suspect it wouldn't help much if I knew what kind of body we were talking about.

I think it translates as: "There are a lot of ways the landowners involved in this project can structure a partnership. Our report offers some options to consider."

"quote-unquote" followed by the thing you want to quote, which is by now outside of the quote marks and thus not quoted. Happy to see an example of this upthread!

that logic doesn't make any sense, quote-unquote is used the same way "said" is, at the beginning of the utterance that is its referent. this, for example, is not what we do in English:

The other day John said I'm going to the store said.

...although some languages probably do exactly that.

(object is probably a better term to use than referent there)

Inspired by reading this: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/mar/01/us-soccer-removes-seth-jahn-speech

“I’m sure I’m going to ruffle some feathers with what I’m about to say, especially given the athletes council that I’m on, but given the evolution of our quote-unquote, progressive culture where everything offends everybody" blah blah blah

He'd have been better off waggling his fingers in the air and affecting a sneer as he said it. Maybe he did that anyway, to be fair to the lad.

yes, it's often employed by jerks, it's just not syntactically problematic for an English utterance

"house" as a verb

even worse: housed/unhoused

I worked in housing for several years i mean i dunno what to tell ya the job is housing ppl

Jungle Brothers to thread.

I've had it up to here with the word 'to'.

yeah, not sure what the issue is with "housed"?

to house is not a home

I worked in housing for several years i mean i dunno what to tell ya the job is housing ppl

― Marry and Neghim (darraghmac), Thursday, March 11, 2021 11:59 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

<3

to house is not a home

even worse: housed/unhoused

― groovemaaan, Thursday, March 11, 2021 3:56 AM (four hours ago)

unhoused is often a more accurate term to refer to "homeless people" -- as what they actually lack is a physical structure designed for long-term residential habitation (i.e. housing) as opposed to a fixed area where they have friends, family, accounts and community services that bind them to that area (i.e. home).

An interesting difference between US and UK English is that the UK has the term 'rough sleepers' to describe homeless people who are actually sleeping on the streets, rather than the wider group of homeless people who are couch-surfing etc. As I understand it, there's no simple way of referring to rough sleepers in American English.

I think the American custom is to refer to "rough sleepers" as "homeless", as well as people who sleep in cars, whereas the couch-surfing people have "housing instability"

"Housing instability" is quite a euphemism!

There's also 'street homeless', which includes all the rough sleepers plus people who "routinely find themselves on the streets during the day with nowhere to go at night. Some will end up sleeping
outside, or in a derelict or other building not designed for human habitation, perhaps for long periods. Others will sleep at a friend’s for a very short time, or stay in a hostel, night-shelter or squat, or spend nights in prison or hospital."
https://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/48458/Factsheet_Street_Homelessness_Aug_2006.pdf

One of the flats I lived in Glasgow had housing instability, that was down to subsidence though.

"House" as a verb is almost a different word, it's pronounced differently... a bit like "read" (present) and "read" (past tense).

Hows that

"Any more for any more?"

80s prog band Twelfth Night prominently used that phrase in one song so I have a soft spot for it.

"I just want to cover off some key points"

TH you gotta stop or I’ll never make it through a meeting again

"no recipe" recipes is some bullshit I keep seeing amongst my spam email. I'm capable and confident enough to a bit of improv in my kitchen - but even if you are making it up as you go along - It's always a FUCKING RECIPE!

“It’s _____’s world now, we’re just living in it.”

what if, as i increasingly suspect, it's snrub's world

i mean the browns are sort of good now

"aged like milk"

get a new simile

impactful

probably because it is "newish" and it is everywhere and it is usually used in a douchey context