<p>My vote for most irritating, from the original list…“absolutely”. It’s now the standard response to most statements or questions issued by someone higher up the command chain.</p>
<p>Also, “No offense but, (insert extremely offensive statement here)”.</p>
<p>My pet peeve is when someone says “I could care less”, when in fact they couldn’t care less.</p>
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<p>Guess you haven’t been away long enough, Binx.</p>
<p>LMNOP - you may have a point. Or maybe it just needed read closer.</p>
<p>And speaking of newscasters, what’s with that irritating “newsspeak” common to local newscasts where they never use the past tense when describing an occurrence. “A car slamming into a house this morning while residents slept…” instead of “A car slammed into a house…” I never hear network or cable newscasters do it, only the local stations.</p>
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<p>It may irritating, but it’s not incorrect. Killing one in ten was its original Latin meaning, but that has evolved in modern English to mean general destruction. Check any good dictionary. You’ll usually see the general destruction definition listed first.</p>
<p>There are many words that have evolved like this. “Virus” for example in Latin meant a poison, or more specifically a slimy liquid, but has evolved in modern English to mean either a specific kind of micro-organism, or more recently, a specific type of trouble-making computer program. Either of these usages is quite correct.</p>
<p>I apparently say, “So what you’re saying is…” a lot.</p>
<p>I just read this thread to my son – it is hilarious. </p>
<p>“as it were” – a completely meaningless phrase.</p>
<p>And if you’re from Southern California – the endless use of the word “like” as a replacement for the word “as.” Example: “The fight got really exciting, like he totally beat the crap out of the other guy.” </p>
<p>Then there’s “it’s all good” and “it’s been real.” Has it? As opposed to a delusion? </p>
<p>Another winner – “my bad.” When did “bad” become a noun? Moreover, what’s wrong with “I apologize” or “Pardon me”?</p>
<p>The word “gift,” used as a verb, irks me. (How and when did the verbs “give” and “gave” become politically incorrect?) I know that standard dictionaries establish “gift” as a transitive verb as well as a noun. I don’t care. Statements such as, “I gifted them with money,” annoy me beyond description.</p>
<p>Here’s my alphabetized Top Ten list (excluding the verb “gift,” which is off my annoyance scale):</p>
<p>1) “get in touch with (one’s) feelings” (self-absorption)</p>
<p>2) “get with the program” (coercion)</p>
<p>3) “give back to the community” (privatization)</p>
<p>4) “give it up for” (applaud)</p>
<p>5) “level the playing field” (reverse discrimination)</p>
<p>6) “on the same page” (conformity)</p>
<p>7) “passive learning” (teaching)</p>
<p>8) “service-learning” (slave labor)</p>
<p>9) “undocumented immigrants” (criminals)</p>
<p>10) “yuh” (used by perky-chirpy television news personalities–as in, “We’ll have that story and more comin’ up for yuh after the break!”–in their patronizing attempt to “bond” with us pea-brained, turnip truck-drivin’, beer-swillin’, Spam-eatin’, gum-chompin’, armpit-scratchin’, hayseed-spittin’ viewers)</p>
<p>Maybe I’m heartless, but I hate when people talking about a community “coming together.” It’s usually after a tragedy, and I’m not sure of a better way to describe it, but every time I hear that people are “coming together” to do x, y, or z, I shudder. So overused.</p>
<p>It also bugs me when its the day after a tragedy, and they already talk about people coming together to get “closure.” I’m sorry, but no one gets “closure” the day after a tragedy. It takes time!</p>
<p>And I can’t stand “awareness.” As in, “We’re raising money for AIDS/Breast Cancer/etc Awareness.” Is there anyone who is UNaware of AIDS, or Breast Cancer? I can see it for a rare disease, but otherwise I think it’s just a catchall when people want to make it sound like they’re doing something to make a difference, but they haven’t bothered to do any research to see what actually needs to be done. Raise money for a cure, but please… don’t say you’re doing it for “awareness.”</p>
<p>btp092, we have a poster on this forum with a username something like my$0.02 (don’t remember the exact form), who is very knowledgeable and helpful. The phrase hasn’t bothered me lately.</p>
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<p>I guess it’s a way of admitting that you are going to spend the money on publicity and not research.</p>
<p>“It also bugs me when its the day after a tragedy, and they already talk about people coming together to get “closure.” I’m sorry, but no one gets “closure” the day after a tragedy. It takes time!”</p>
<p>This actually affects my work life. I’m a psychotherapist and I’m shocked that people who are in the midst of a terrible loss actually have people in their lives who believe (no doubt in part thanks to the kind of scenario expressed above) that there is something wrong because they haven’t moved on after a few weeks – sometimes they believe it themselves. I’m astounded that we’ve become a society that expects closure and moving forward in a matter of weeks. So, yes, that sort of talk drives me nuts. I guess it’s because the newscasters have nothing new to report the next day so they wrap it up with closure. Ugh.</p>
<p>Re #86: No. Just no. I refuse to bend. One has to draw the line somewhere. ;)</p>
<p>Has anyone else noted that historians NEVER, but NEVER use the past tense anymore? Everything is described using the present tense, even if it happened 2,000 years ago! </p>
<p>It seems as if about 10 or 15 years ago a memo went out telling historians everywhere that historical events would seem more RELEVANT and HIP if they eschewed the past tense. Ugh! Or should I say, “About 15 years ago a memo goes out telling historians that historical events seem more relevant and hip if they eschew the past tense. So they all stop using it.”</p>
<p>When I came to the US I couldn’t get used to “I’m done”, “Are you done?”, “Done with your homework?”
To me “done” meant as in the roast is “done”, as in no longer rare (must be a Canadian thing).
So every time I’d hear “are you done?” I’d have a picture of the person being cooked.</p>
<p>I hate the word “closure”. I don’t know what it means. It seems it’s always other people who use this word, not those who are affected by a heartache which will always be present. Closure doesn’t exist, learning to cope does.</p>
<p>“In response to your question…” well, your responding so why say this?</p>
<p>Always hated “state of the art” and “cutting edge” too.</p>
<p>There, I’m done.</p>
<p>thanks Sequioa
My mom told me when I was very young “cakes are done people are finished”. I remind my son. My husband kinda rolls his eyes.
LA</p>
<p>The biggest one that gets me is “anything can happen” often used at sport events, but is widely used. Oh really? You mean Elvis(the real one) might appear at midfield? jimmy Hoffa might say “here I am!” No <em>anything</em> can’t happen- there are limits.</p>
<p>One that bugs me from the British top ten- “With all due respect”- this always means the person is going to disagree and doesn’t think much of you/your opinion/idea/statement. I see the respect due as none, why be condescending instead of just stating the opposing view? Most of the socially acceptable/polite phrases annoy me when one knows they are fillers and not genuine, literal statements.</p>
<p>Let’s add “take a decision”- Americans MAKE decisions, unlike my British influenced Indian H. I always have a mental image of picking from a selection of premade decisions as opposed to doing the thinking myself.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, it often means “We don’t want to hear about it anymore from you.”</p>
<p>I’d like to add a Northern Californianism: “hella.” Even worse than “hella” is “hecka.”</p>
<p>Also, I’m beginning to tire of the phrase “sustainability.” I read someone talking about the “sustainable use of space.” It was just code for “we’re running out of space in space.”</p>
<p>As if…</p>
<p>“Actually”</p>