As far as “trite” phrases:
“Our thoughts and prayers are with you.”
I have no problem with people praying for or thinking of others. But that phrase is so overused, sounds so canned, it often comes off as not completely sincere. Or at minimum, not very personal or said with much thought. But I would never call someone out on that. Again, consider the intent.
A few I’ve noticed my kids using- my phone is blowing up, meaning they are getting a lot of text messages
My S likes to say “it’s legit” meaning something is really good that is happening in his life
I only have a few friends who use the phrase “bless your heart” and they are from a different area of the country.
Going south in my area means you’re headed to Los Angeles. My pet peeve is people who tell me they are going up to LA. No you’re not your going down to LA. Drives me nuts.
My Mom used to say " why are you crying, I’ll give you something to cry about"
I hear a lot " someone isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed"
. “What are you waiting for you’re no spring chicken.”
why are you crying, I’ll give you something to cry about"
One of the Series of Unfortunate Events books had an explanation that I always loved abou how this expression makes no sense, because obviously you already have something to cry about.
It’s a way of saying they are crying over nothing.
My late mom used to say, “Step on it!”. If she wanted a car up ahead to go faster, she would say, “Step on it, Buster!” I imagine that this referred to stepping on the gas pedal, but if she wanted me to hurry up she would say it as well. Anyone else heard this phrase?
I know what it means, I just don’t like it, partly because it sounds so aggressive. I’ve also only heard it used in cases where the cryer has a very good reason to be upset, so that contributes to my impression.
(And as someone who used to have a lot of difficulty holding back tears after answering a question wrong in class, I have a lot of sympathy for those who cry over nothing. It’s embarrassing enough without being scolded.)
My high school band director used to say “Katie bar the door!” We all love that and talk about it to this day- almost 50 years later!
Step on it was used a lot in my early years.
I use “step on it” all the time when I’m dealing with my slower-than-molasses S.
My father used to say “excuse my French” when he was quoting someone who had used a curse word.
^I’ve never heard that one (Katie bar the door) before! For anyone else who has to google it, it means “take caution.”
That’s not how we used it. We send it as an exclamation of excitement or sort of a battle cry.
Love ‘Step on it!’ and use it for my pokey H.
I helped someone today and she said, “Bless your heart!” It felt good. B-)
I say “goodbye” in Mandarin and my loved ones appear and are ready to go. That and some food dishes are about all the mandarin I can manage.
To say something was happening quickly, we said “in a Jiffy” or “Lickety split”.
“Grinning like a mule eating briars” - showing all your teeth and the gums, too.
I have a very bad habit of using the expressions “okey dokey artichokey” and “Jeez Louise!”
Makes me think of “see ya later alligator.” I really liked that in kindergarten.
Yeah, that’s why it is a bad habit now!
When I want my H or kids to speed it up I say “chop chop”. I also use and hear “Andale muchachos”.
My S had a professor who told us regarding S “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink”.
Like is simply a verbal pause, the equivalent of um or uh. I probably don’t go sixty seconds in conversation without using it.
Dude is kind of gender neutral but kind of not, and replaces guy in most usages.
Totally is basically the same thing as the figurative version of literally.
Hella means you have a lot of something or a high degree on a scale.
Sup or wassup replaces what’s up. Nobody really uses the real version.
Kicking it means hanging out.
Killer means cool.
Three guesses as to which state I’m from, and the first two don’t count.
Both of those are very common parlance for me.