what phrases do you hate?

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Firecat
Date: 22 Aug 06 - 12:25 PM

I hate "At the end of the day". Well, obviously it's then otherwise you wouldn't be going on about it!!

Add to that "When all is said and done" and "In the fullness of time" and I want to punch out the pretentious smegger saying it!

Another one that gets me is "Are you over 18?". OK, I only look about 16, but I wouldn't be trying to do something for over 18s only if I wasn't!!

And relax...

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Aug 06 - 01:12 PM

In the fullness of time, Firecat, when all is said and done, this matter of people questioning your age will no longer be a problem.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Aug 06 - 02:25 PM

Every year, Lake Superior State University publishes a list of Banished Words (click for the current year's list). Follow links to previous years' lists. You can also submit your own words for consideration.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: GUEST,prisoner in a cubicle
Date: 22 Aug 06 - 04:25 PM

I've just been told to reach out to so-and-so to set up a meeting. He's over a hundred miles away. Can't I just phone him instead?

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Crystal
Date: 23 Aug 06 - 07:15 AM

Firecat You might be a nice moral person who wouldn't DREAM of ever violating the law, but lots of 16 year olds would! Actually I'm always being told I look too young, but the only times I've ever been ID'd (buying alcohol) was on my 21st and 22nd birthdays Ho-hum.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 23 Aug 06 - 07:24 AM

>>>
Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Little Hawk - PM
Date: 10 Aug 06 - 12:31 PM

"Guaranteed to get right up my fucking nose" and "Chiao, babes!".<<<

yes but can we at least let Eddy Izzard still say Ciao with a fake italian accent?

BTW I hate "it's all good"
NO IT IS NOT!

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 23 Aug 06 - 07:56 AM

"learning curve". Can't understand this one! What is this curve? Learning, I would have thought, developes in stages, going up, hopefully, but now and again hitting a plateau.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 23 Aug 06 - 08:04 AM

Yes, but time and space ARE curved! There are actually no straight lines anywhere. Straight lines are an illusion. ;-)

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: melodeonboy
Date: 23 Aug 06 - 12:52 PM

Yes, Jim Dixon, this "solutions" business really gets on my tits. In Sittingbourne (Kent) post office, envelopes are now called "mailing solutions". And what about "employment solutions" (meaning "jobs")?

Private Eye magazine runs a regular column on the subject.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Bert
Date: 23 Aug 06 - 02:01 PM

Straight lines are an illusion... Gawd Hawks, that, coming from a man who is the nearest thing to a straight line that I've ever seen.

*BIG GRIN*

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Bill D
Date: 23 Aug 06 - 03:14 PM

" Straight lines are an illusion. ;-)"

not so! A circle is 'a round straight line with a hole in the middle'!

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: GUEST,Buck
Date: 23 Aug 06 - 11:15 PM

Press 1 for English

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Bert
Date: 24 Aug 06 - 01:44 AM

LOL Bill.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Bert
Date: 24 Aug 06 - 01:55 AM

Oh! I forgot, Bill knows all about round straight lines from those bowls and vases he turns.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 05:46 AM

Presenters on television who say 'I'll see you tomorrow' - no, they won't, even if I tune in to the programme next day they will only see the camera operators.

The man doing the lottery draw who says 'Good luck everybody. I hope your numbers come up.' - Imagine all the disappointed punters if one week they all chose the same numbers and those numbers came up!

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: ossonflags
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 06:11 AM

The latest bit of jargon in singarounds that seems to have crept in - or have I not been listening for a few years - " This is an A leval/degree leval/ chorus, Oh............... and being called "Squire"

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: freda underhill
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 09:48 AM

"you should.."

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: leeneia
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 04:20 PM

It's not a phrase, but I'm really tired of the word "surreal." Does it mean anything? At one time, it was a useful word for dealing with the strange art of Salvador Dali, but that was a long time ago.

I once heard a woman describe the kid who zipped around on a motorcycle in the movie "Local Hero" as surreal. All I could think of in reply was "Ummm."

-----------
It's dying out, fortunately, but I always disliked it when people used "anal" to mean "precise or perfectionistic." It was another way people had of arming themselves with the jargon of psychology when they were not qualified psychologists. Other examples:

paranoid = more nervous than I am
narcissistic = cares more about clothing and appearance than I do
nymphomaniac = has more sex than I do
over-emotional = makes me tense

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: leeneia
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 04:23 PM

Jim Dixon, thanks for the link to the Lake Superior State site. Since I don't watch TV, I hadn't heard some of the phrases, but the students were sure right about "breaking news."

Where is Lake Superior State? I was curious about it, but the home page was taking too long to load.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 05:33 PM

At work I hate any phrases that include the words 'proactive' and 'team' or 'teamwork'. When employers, these days, insist on employing insanely ambitious, talentless, little oicks with inflated egos, who would boil their own grannies down for soap if they thought that it would advance their careers, I maintain that effective teamwork is more or less impossible!

I also hate the phrase "can I get ...?" as in "can I get a pizza/cheeseburger/doughnut etc." Actually, this is probably perfectly acceptable usage in Chicago or Los Angeles but it sounds sort of annoying and pretentious when uttered by some spotty youth in Manchester (UK). I know that this is very petty and probably sounds a bit anti-American (sorry guys!) but it really grates with me!

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: terrier
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 06:55 PM

The two fearsome phrases shouted by the landlord of the local Hostelry:
TIME PLEASE GENTLEMAN   and   DRINK UP NOW.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: 282RA
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 07:18 PM

That's my story and I'm stickin to it.

Some jerk made a country song out of it. That's how you know it's a fucking retarded phrase--some ass goes and makes a country song out of it.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: ossonflags
Date: 27 Aug 06 - 03:58 AM

Think team Think team

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: leeneia
Date: 27 Aug 06 - 11:11 AM

The idea of teamwork originated in games, where nothing real is being done or won. In a game, if a player makes a sacrifice and his team wins, then the player is still a winner.

In business, the person who makes the sacrifice is usually just branded a schlemiel.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: ossonflags
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 04:14 AM

I found out the other dsy that we now call "Notice Boards" "Information Islands"

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: GUEST,solo
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 07:49 AM

In a game, if you make a mistake and the team loses, they all hate you. Same in business. I am self-employed, and in games I play as an individual, not in a team. If I make a mistake I have only myself to answer to.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 10:27 AM

........when some dimwit landlord/lady shouts 'Can you startfinishingnow!'

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 01:32 PM

heres a song from the Copper family of Rottingdean, Sussex
(I f.....ing know where they come from)

this is song I haven't sung for about five years, so I may forget some bits
(yeh, like the words and the tune)

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 01:38 PM

"maundering winsomely, he fetched the ambrosia"

I just detest it when people say that. Specially on stage. And most of all, at folk festivals.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Donuel
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 02:47 PM

good write

national security

national interest

globalization

there is no such thing as the American ruling class.

Subject: RE: WHAT ABBREVIATIONS do you hate?
From: Donuel
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 02:53 PM

TSA (tough shit asshole)

NSA (no such agency)

CIA   -(_)=(_)-

DIA

NIE

HHRS

NORA

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: emjay
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 03:14 PM

Damn. this is so much fun!

"Give it up for" when the crowd is supposed to applaud for someone.

How about someone saying such and such an athlete gives "110 percent." Where does he get that extra 10 percent and does anyone ever really give 100 percent?

And one that seems to have faded out now, when you want a little sympathy and someone says, "That sounds like a personal problem to me." Ok, so that's what it is.

And any statement that begins, "Thankfully," which I almost used to introduce the preceding paragraph. It is so easy to use some of these, even the ones I dislike the most.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 04:03 PM

we're doing it for the craic....
(means - we're all pissed, you're not getting paid, if you walk away without doing a turn - you really are a mean piece of shit!)

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: GUEST,joe_f
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 09:20 PM

price tag

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 10:35 PM

The "new hire". ("Hire" is supposed to be a verb, not a noun.)

"Do you want fries with that?"

"Are youse ready?" ("Youse" is a term used by people who don't know that the word "you" does not have a plural form, but some people get so used to it that they even start using it for the singular! The people who use it around here unwittingly expose their class by so doing...that is to say, they are probably from the next level just above the common garden slug.)

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Peace
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 10:49 PM

"I seen it."

That one drives me apeshit.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 10:57 PM

You gotta stay clear of Shane, man...

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Sorcha
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 11:00 PM

Ya know what I mean?
Like, been there, done that.
Ya with me here?
So, what are you trying to say?
Are we on the same page here?
At this point in time....
Came/come on board for joining


'Verbing' of nouns...such as impacting, facilitating etc.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 11:13 PM

What with all the verbing of nouns and nouning of verbs, we may be on our way to a whole new form of language: Newspeak.

Here's another thing that has been happening. Take a formerly simple, straightforward way of saying something and add further complications to it for emphasis:

Huge becomes "humungous".

Gigantic becomes "ginormous".

This becomes "this here".

That becomes "that there".

Disoriented becomes "disorientated".

Underestimate becomes "misunderestimate".

Regardless becomes "irregardless".

"Listen!" becomes "Listen up!"

"Wait!" becomes "Wait up!"

What in the hell do either of those last two require the addition of the word "up" for in order to be understood????? But you hear it in every movie now...

"Awright, men, LISTEN UP!"   

No, shut up... I am willing to listen, but I am not willing to listen up.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Aug 07 - 11:20 PM

Oh, here's another beauty:

Guess becomes "guesstimate"!

George Bush is an expert at Newspeak. Just listen (up?) to him.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: JennyO
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 02:52 AM

I've noticed a new one creeping in lately - saying "What do you think to this?" instead of "What do you think of this?"

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 03:03 AM

"Clubbing" - so called "night clubs" are no more than discos!!

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: SharonA
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 03:26 AM

"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.

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: GUEST,Desdemona
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 08:54 AM

"Don't sweat the small stuff."

This ubiquitous platitude really irks me, especially since it's generally uttered by some fatuous nitwit who often goes on to point out that "it's all small stuff." In which case, why not just go back to bed and stop boring everyone else?!

~D

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Alice
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 12:26 PM

"I'm the decider." GW Bush

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Alice
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 12:27 PM

"That's what it's all about, people!!!"
Ty Pennington, repeated about 20 times each
episode of Extreme Home Makeover

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: saulgoldie
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 12:35 PM

Has anyone said "x times MORE than?" What folks really mean is "x times AS MANY as." "X times MORE THAN" is X times the original plus the original. This doesn't mean that much when the number is 100 or some other very large number. But when the original is, say 4, than the difference is between 4 times as many as, which equals 4, and four times MORE THAN, which equals 5. That is a 20% difference. One cannot be sure what the speaker or writer actually meant.

I recognize and don't care that the language is evolving. Evolution is one thing. But some things are just plain stupid or sloppy. Orientate, irregardless, nukular, AARRGGHHH!!!

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 01:23 PM

Hey, folks? Listen up! Don't disunderempower me by misunderestimating me when I guesstimate, because at the end of the day I always give it 110 per cent, know what I mean? Can we run that one up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes? And who's gonna take the ball and run with it? I don't want to see anyone drop the ball! Do you capiche? Do you hear what I'm sayin'? Now I have to go spend some quality time with my significant other. We're gonna do lunch. It'll be a power lunch. Chill, brother. It's all good. (evil grin...)

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 04:07 PM

saulgoldie -

Since you brought up one of my favorite gripes. . .

As you said, 4 times more than is 5 times as much.

There's also the flip side: "10 times smaller than. . ."

Sorry, but once it's one time smaller, it's gone.

With either of these, you never know whether the speaker (or the writer) realizes that (s)he's an idiot, so you have to guess.

Unfortunately, this idiotic construction has been propogated in "public speaking," "media," "debate," "salemanship" and numerous other fields taught by degenerate wannabe (and failing) pseudo-literati on the falsity that "you have to use the emphatic construction and strong words" to be persuasive.

The only thing it persuades me of is:

1. The person using the term is mathematically illiterate, and hence NOTHING THEY SAY CAN BE BELIEVED, or

2. The person using the term is a liar, hoping you'll believe inflated, exaggerated lies, and NOTHING THEY SAY CAN BE BELIEVED, or

3. The person using the term doesn't know the actual comparison intended, and NOTHING THEY SAY CAN BE BELIEVED.

4. The person using the term gave up, goes along with the crowd, has NO OPINIONS of his/her own, and hence NOTHING THEY SAY CAN BE BELIEVED.

Funny how all the possibilities end the same way.

What is astonishing is that this usage crops up quite frequently even in scientific and technical journals where authors, and ESPECIALLY editors, are expected to know the difference, and apparently DON'T.

John

Subject: RE: what phrases do you hate?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Aug 07 - 04:16 PM

Yeah? Look, John, don't conflate the issue. (whatever the hell "conflate" means...I can't find it in the dictionary, but people seem to keep using it these days when they mean "confuse".)

They also keep saying "infer" when they mean "imply".

If we lived nearer to one another, we could interface at the local coffee shop, spend some quality time together, and arrive at a meeting of hearts and minds over this.