The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #93709   Message #2118858
Posted By: SharonA
04-Aug-07 - 03:26 AM
Thread Name: what phrases do you hate?
Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
"Don't you think that [insert speaker's bloviated opinion here]???" The implication, of course, is that anyone who disagrees with the speaker must be a drooling idjit and/or the spawn of the devil.

"The problem is, is that [insert problem here]" and similar "is, is" phrases. There is no need for the second "is"!!! Only slightly less annoying is "What the problem is, is that [insert problem here]", which is closer to being grammatically correct but has yet another unnecessary word ("what" as well as the second "is").

One that was in vogue some years ago, when personal computers were newer, is "interfacing", which was used for any sort of person-to-person communication... as in "Let's interface for lunch."

Sports metaphors in a business office setting, especially mixed metaphors. I remember a job review I had once, where the department head told me I needed to "step up to the plate and run with the ball." When I asked her (yes, her) for clarification with regard to my job description and responsibilities, she said nothing except to repeat the baseball-football metaphor, which rendered it even more meaningless than it had been when she said it the first time. I was left to imagine a baseball hitter catching the baseball barehanded as it was thrown over the plate at 100 mph, and running the bases with the ball in his broken hand... and to wonder how such a maneuver would have been scored.