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

To myself.

The interim CEO where I work uses the phrase “many ways to skin a cat” and it did not go over well. He already kinda sucks.

used not uses

I got fired from an ad agency admin job once because I had strong objections to one of the directors saying ‘okay, it’s cocks-on-blocks time’ whenever a big decision loomed.

lol, someone working in advertising once told me about a senior figure at their work who would constantly say things like 'I like it, but does it get me HARD?' Ad men still out here living their lives like a one-note Fast Show sketch.

holy shit

what a thread for ilxor comebacks

altho tbf

fast show concept was actually one note sketch characters

CEOs, execs, well paid ppl churning out that bollocks = laugh away

Lower paid people doing it = show some awareness.

I dare say that all of us have had lower paying jobs in our lives, if not now.

Speak for yourself I make eight figures

The first three are zero but what are details

xp - dammit man! you plant a straight line and then hog it for yourself! I was all set to post: how many of those are zeroes placed at the beginning?

Lol

ha I almost searched for this thread earlier so I could add "cool beans" but then I didn't.

― (✿◠‿◠) (ENBB), Friday, August 31, 2012 5:49 AM (eleven years ago)

"A girl I had a huge crush on used to say "Cool beans!" I momentarily fell out of love with her each time.
― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, September 13, 2005 5:33 PM (6 years ago)"

HA!

― (✿◠‿◠) (ENBB), Friday, August 31, 2012 5:50 AM (eleven years ago)

I don't like the way "skinny" means "with skimmed milk" now. Makes my skin crawl to hear it.

This may just be me turning into an "old man yells at cloud" prescriptivist, but quirk used as a verb synonymous with smirk really irritates me, because I think half of the fantasy books I've been reading over the past few years seem to be running that usage into the ground.

Can you post an example? I’m having a hard time imagining that

I don't like the way "skinny" means "with skimmed milk" now. Makes my skin crawl to hear it.

I worked at a Starbucks briefly after college and during that time corporate told employees to say 'skinny' instead of 'skim'. Hated it.

Viv squinted hard at him and thought he’d outlast her, but then his mouth quirked at the corner.

Nothing tastes as good as skimmy feels

I dunno but I don’t feel I often read the word “sadly,” deployed in good faith. I feel like “sadly,” is usually written with a vindictive tone. You’re not sad.

That use of 'quirk' is the author saying "gee, I'm such a cutie, aren't I?" Your annoyance is understandable, because it's not really cute enough to outlast the third date.

Sadly, Donald Trump is still alive today.

I can't recall ever encountering "quirk" used like that before, but Merriam-Webster includes it as a standard definition and dates its back to the 19th century.

Lol I was just begging to be proven wrong etymologically! I’ve been seeing it a lot more in fantasy books published maybe after 2010 or so, I wonder if there’s an identifiable patient zero I can blame.

yeah it seems rare enough (afaict) that I wouldn't be surprised if there was a single popularizer!

It was one of the handful of phrases that notoriously recurred dozens of times in 50 shades

ah ha / oh no

That usage of quirk is so annoying. But etymologically it makes sense, "quirky" is the not-straight, the slightly off, the irregular.

Tell all the truth but tell it quirk

i'm pretending that this talk about quirk being a synonym for smirk never happened

genderquirk

"You just proved these signs work."

No I didn't, leave me alone.

i'm pretending that this talk about quirk being a synonym for smirk never happened

― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, March 26, 2024 2:09 PM (fifty-four minutes ago)

oh I should have said that that's not quite right. It's that "quirk" as a verb means "to curve or twist" (so you can quirk your mouth into a smirk)

It's really annoying when somebody uses "quirk" as a name.

https://i.postimg.cc/br04vMZC/quirk.jpg

Hilariously, one of the bibles of descriptive English grammar (A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language) is referred to by many as "the quirk book" because one of the authors is Randolph Quirk!

Fine for eyebrows, pushing it for mouths, hesitate to even imagine for anything else

Man, my dick sure is quirking today

Lol

His mouth twerked at the corner

Something that drives me berserk when I'm editing fiction manuscripts is what I call "disembodied parts action" like "His eyes rolled" or "Her fists clenched." Also, I don't know which YA writer pioneered the verb "huff", as in, "'I can't believe it!' she huffed," but that person should be set on fire.

and huffed on

that person should be set on fire

well you don't need to get so huffy about it

Gettin huffy on my Huffy

The Amador Club, formerly Wingtip, a haberdashery with a barber shop and wine cave that was geared toward wealthy Silicon Valley and FiDi finance workers, plans to offer seasonal oysters and caviar bumps alongside craft cocktails...

what's the consensus on 'caviar bumps'?

Oh, and this new spot is members only

i think it's shoving fish eggs up your nose

using a key that only members have

I've had caviar a couple times and just don't see the appeal

well you obviously weren't pushing it up into your nose, the way the rich and connected do

aiui a 'caviar bump' refers to a serving of caviar washed down with well-iced champagne. the existence of such a thing is outside my personal experience, but the rumors of it have reached me.

I did somehow go to a party in a big house where they had caviar, which I (accidentally) dropped on the floor and rubbed it into the carpet. I then got another and nobody noticed. I remember that but no idea where it was or how I got there. anyway it was shit

British people pronouncing Gen Z as Gen Zee.