# Expressions that you hate.



## Ingélou

This is a thread to sound off about some *awful cliché or buzzword* that seems to be ubiquitous - your objection based on linguistic grounds, or maybe because of the attitude it conveys.

I hate *'he didn't/ doesn't suffer fools gladly'*.

I hate it because it's often trotted out (on internet boards, or in newspaper obituaries) to justify rudeness. In particular, when some obnoxious character has been banned from a forum or departed in dudgeon (I am thinking of another site, not TC), their cronies use this phrase to pop on & lament their departure, even though the vast majority of the membership is breathing a huge sigh of relief.

I just think it's so arrogant. We are all of us 'fools' at some point in our lives, and surely it's kinder to suffer fools 'politely', even if not gladly. Besides, how can someone be sure that in a given situation he or she is not the fool?

I am quite often a fool, and so I suffer fools very gladly indeed. But I don't suffer the expression '*he doesn't suffer fools gladly*' gladly!


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## Dim7

"You either love or hate it!"

Almost never true.


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## Dr Johnson

My current linguistic bête noire is "going forward" used instead of "the future" or "from now on"

e.g. something like "we shall implement this _going forward_".

Aagh!


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## Richannes Wrahms

'is a no no'

It just sounds so stupid, like if they were underestimating your intellect.


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## Guest

Dr Johnson said:


> My current linguistic bête noire is "going forward" used instead of "the future" or "from now on"
> 
> e.g. something like "we shall implement this _going forward_".
> 
> Aagh!


When shall we touch base on this?


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## Dr Johnson

dogen said:


> When shall we *touch base* on this?


Aagh! 



Perhaps we could indulge in some blue sky thinking....


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

'Binge watch.' It sounds like a marketing ploy rather than real human behaviour. And whatever happened to the old idea of TV/Movie marathons? I like that description much better as it connotes a sense of great achievement after it's all over, rather than overindulgence that 'binge watch' seems to imply.


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## SeptimalTritone

"Be a man"
"Grow some balls"
"Man up"
"Creep"
"*****" (when referring to a person, almost always male of course)
"Wimp"
"Treat her with respect" (i.e. the woman is always right)
"Patriarchy"


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## Guest

The only one that actually caused me to rip out my office computer screen, take it outside, hurl it to the ground and smash into fragments with a rusty iron bar came in an email from our (latest) new American CEO. (Apologies at this point to Americans if this phrase is an OK thing with you). So this person, who I have never met, don't know, and never will, is apparently going to "reach out to me."
For the avoidance of any doubt, let me just say NO you are ******* NOT.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

SeptimalTritone said:


> "Be a man"
> "Grow some balls"
> "Man up"
> "Creep"
> "****" (when referring to a person, almost always male of course)
> "Wimp"
> "Treat her with respect" (i.e. the woman is always right)
> "Patriarchy"


Also 'you____like a girl'


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## Dr Johnson

Another one I dislike:

"Fit for purpose".


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

'One size fits all'


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## Abraham Lincoln

"Life gets better." "You are beautiful." "Stay strong." "Screw the haters." AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH.


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## Dim7

I don't think this happens very much in English, but in Finnish the word for "racism" is sometimes used for any kind of discrimination and in silly expressions like "age racism" lol.


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## Dr Johnson

Dim7 said:


> I don't think this happens very much in English, but in Finnish the word for *"racism" is sometimes used for any kind of discrimination *and in silly expressions like "age racism" lol.


It hasn't happened yet...


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## Balthazar

It is what it is.


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## Cosmos

"I could care less"

No, you *couldn't* care less.


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## elgar's ghost

I hate being called "buddy" or "fellah". Both also seem to be favourite terms used by the police when they can't appear to be bothered to ask a man's name when they question him about something.


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## Guest

Cosmos said:


> "I could care less"
> 
> No, you *couldn't* care less.


Actually I thought the could version was the American version, but you appear to be American and griping about it?


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## Cosmos

dogen said:


> Actually I thought the could version was the American version, but you appear to be American and griping about it?


As an American it's my God given right to have the freedom to disagree w/ the majority :lol:


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## isorhythm

"You do you"

I also hate "reach out" and "touch base" (and corporate-speak in general).


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## brotagonist

elgars ghost said:


> I hate being called "buddy" or "fellah". Both also seem to be favourite terms used by the police when they can't appear to be bothered to ask a man's name when they question him about something.


You must be some troublemaker, to get stopped for questioning so often :lol::devil:


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## brotagonist

I have loads of them, but my mind is blank before my 2 morning espressos and pot of tea 

One that comes to mind is 'disconnect', used as a noun. Disconnect is a verb. I think I have heard other verbs that have been used as nouns in the same way. Argh!


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## Chris

'My bad'

I've even seen it in TalkClassical.


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## MagneticGhost

'Sheeple'

We all follow others to a greater extent. I hate the implication that the person using it is an entirely independent being who isn't also following/believing something that they have read or been fed.


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## brotagonist

Honestly, though, I think that 'buddy' puts guys at ease. I use it all the time. It works!


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## elgar's ghost

brotagonist said:


> You must be some troublemaker, to get stopped for questioning so often :lol::devil:


Yes, I knew I was going to walk into that one. 

Watch any of these fly-on-the-wall police shows and the chances are that "buddy" and "fellah" are the only terms of address they will use to a bloke when they question him. They may THINK it's putting people at ease but from the Rozzers it sounds smug, just like when they used to say "chummy" (aaarrrggghhh!!!) back in the 80s. Obviously it's not so bad if used by a person out of genuine affection but sadly both terms have the scraping nails down a blackboard effect.


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## Dim7

"vis-à-vis"

Gratuitous French _par excellence_!


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## Guest

Dim7 said:


> _par excellence_


The French don't have a word for that.


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## Guest

Cosmos said:


> As an American it's my God given right to have the freedom to disagree w/ the majority :lol:


Really? I care a modicum.


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## Abraham Lincoln

Cosmos said:


> "I could care less"
> 
> No, you *couldn't* care less.


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## Flamme

Political correctness...''Love conquers all''...''Be a gentleman''...Ofcourse these phrases are in essence totally correct but nowadays have faded away and lost their meaning...Nobody appreciates anything nowadays, everythings/bodys frozen...


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## Morimur

(01) Farm-to-table

_Am I supposed to be impressed? Stop using it as a selling it point-it's played out and it's annoying._

(02) Sexy (as in-this is a sexy dish)

WTF? Why must society sexualize _everything_? When I am eating, the last thing on my mind is sex. Why the ***** would I want to sexualize food? Degenerates.

(03) My 'Brand'

Unless you own a fairly influential business/company, you don't have a brand-idiot. Some people are simply too delusional and egocentric.


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## Vaneyes

Three that immediately foul my atmosphere: Excuse me?; Whatever; No problem.


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## geralmar

Throw under the bus.


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## Abraham Lincoln

"Cutting feels so good I cut all the time and I can't stooop!!"


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## Vaneyes

Chris said:


> 'My bad'
> 
> I've even seen it in TalkClassical.


That's the 4th one, Chris. "Thanks for sharing."


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## Guest

Vaneyes said:


> Three that immediately foul my atmosphere: Excuse me?; Whatever; No problem.


I'm thinking there's a context where you find "excuse me" irritating?


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## Abraham Lincoln

dogen said:


> I'm thinking there's a context where you find "excuse me" irritating?


Like when it's used with an impolite tone of voice?


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## Vaneyes

isorhythm said:


> "You do you"
> 
> I also hate "reach out" and "touch base" (and corporate-speak in general).


Absolutely. "Join the conversation" is another of too many.


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## Vaneyes

dogen said:


> I'm thinking there's a context where you find "excuse me" irritating?


Yes, it's an idiot feigning incoherence with nasal twang.


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## Vaneyes

Morimur said:


> ....
> (03) My '*Brand*'
> 
> Unless you own a fairly influential business/company, you don't have a brand-idiot. Some people are simply too delusional and egocentric.


Yep, I'd like to *brand* the podners who constantly mention.


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## Vaneyes

Balthazar said:


> It is what it is.


'Cept when Bubba Clinton uses it.


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## Vaneyes

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Also 'you____like a girl'


"You go girl," though that seems to have appropriately died.


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## Vaneyes

Dr Johnson said:


> My current linguistic bête noire is "going forward" used instead of "the future" or "from now on"
> 
> e.g. something like "we shall implement this _going forward_".
> 
> Aagh!


And passive aggressive and all that crap.


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## brotagonist

When I say "thank you" and someone responds with "no worries" I often reply, "I don't make a habit of it!"


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## brotagonist

␢****-retentive


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## Dim7

These verbs are really cliché, I mean they are absurdly common:

be
come
go
do


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## brotagonist

"on the same page"


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## brotagonist

brotagonist said:


> ␢****-retentive


This space character (b with a slash through it) is one of the best things I learned in computer science


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## Strange Magic

Like, Y'know, beginning the answer to a question (usually on radio or TV) with "So...". Hate it.


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## Guest

Dim7 said:


> I don't think this happens very much in English, but in Finnish the word for "racism" is sometimes used for any kind of discrimination and in silly expressions like "age racism" lol.


I've heard the term "ageism."

I hate "Come with?" What ever happened to direct objects?


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## Guest

brotagonist said:


> When I say "thank you" and someone responds with "no worries" I often reply, "I don't make a habit of it!"


One time a waiter said "no problem" when I thanked him for a water refill. Here's our conversation:

Me: Thank you.
Waiter: No problem
Me: Well, that's good.
Waiter: What?
Me: I'm glad it wasn't a problem for you to refill my water.

He muttered something when he left--probably ended in "hole."


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## isorhythm

Related thing that's come up in this thread - it seems like the various Anglophone countries' languages are blending into each other a lot more in the last few years, probably because of the internet. Lots of Americans saying "no worries" and signing their emails "cheers" now, which never used to happen. The word "ginger" for "red-haired person" also entered American English at some point in the last few years, which I'm not crazy about because I am one.


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## geralmar

Think outside the box.


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## isorhythm

Vaneyes said:


> Absolutely. "Join the conversation" is another of too many.


"loop me in," "keep me in the loop"


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## Vaneyes

isorhythm said:


> Related thing that's come up in this thread - it seems like the various Anglophone countries' languages are blending into each other a lot more in the last few years, probably because of the internet. Lots of Americans saying "no worries" *and signing their emails "cheers" now, which never used to happen. *The word "ginger" for "red-haired person" also entered American English at some point in the last few years, which I'm not crazy about because I am one.


Being a UK traveler, I'll let that one slide, since I like its sincerity...or forgive, cheeriness. And for toasting, it's currently better than, Bottoms up, Down the hatch, Here's lookin' at yuh, Skol, Up yours, etc., etc.


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## brotagonist

isorhythm said:


> Related thing that's come up in this thread - it seems like the various Anglophone countries' languages are blending into each other a lot more in the last few years, probably because of the internet. Lots of Americans saying "no worries" and signing their emails "cheers" now, which never used to happen. The word "ginger" for "red-haired person" also entered American English at some point in the last few years, which I'm not crazy about because I am one.


I can't 'speak to that' :lol: How I hate that expression. 'Speak to' something... shouldn't it be 'speak about' something?

Anyway, I can't comment, but to add that those words don't seem odd to me in the given contexts, as a (well-read German-)Canadian. In fact, what I have noticed, since joining this forum, is that a lot of English expressions used here are nearly foreign or even gibberish to me  I really have to think about what they mean!


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## Vaneyes

Strange Magic said:


> Like, Y'know, beginning the answer to a question (usually on radio or TV) with "So...". Hate it.


"I'll tell yuh...."


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## brotagonist

Vaneyes said:


> Being a UK traveler, I'll let that one slide, since I like its sincerity...or forgive, cheeriness. And for toasting, it's currently better than, Bottoms up, Down the hatch, Here's lookin' at yuh, Skol, Up yours, etc., etc.


I'm rather fond of 'Skol'. A Swedish-Canadian friend told me that it means 'skull' (I really should look it up!). Apparently, marauding Vikings used to drink out of the skulls of their enemies. People don't realize what they're actually saying. I love it, when taken in that context! :devil:


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## Vaneyes

brotagonist said:


> I'm rather fond of 'Skol'. A Swedish-Canadian friend told me that it means 'skull' (I really should look it up!). *Apparently, marauding Vikings used to drink out of the skulls of their enemies.* People don't realize what they're actually saying. I love it, when taken in that context! :devil:


"My bad", I take it back. "Skol!"


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## Sloe

brotagonist said:


> I'm rather fond of 'Skol'. A Swedish-Canadian friend told me that it means 'skull' (I really should look it up!). Apparently, marauding Vikings used to drink out of the skulls of their enemies. People don't realize what they're actually saying. I love it, when taken in that context! :devil:


Skål means bowl. But the words are related to each other.


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## geralmar

Your call is important... .


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## Dr Johnson

isorhythm said:


> "loop me in," "keep me in the loop"


Heads up, as in "give me the heads up".


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## Strange Magic

I'll be (or, Let me be) perfectly frank with you: "That's a great question."


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## Kivimees

This is the kind of thread "you can really sink your teeth into".


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## GreenMamba

"That's like comparing apples and oranges."

So you are saying these two things aren't alike and shouldn't be compared, and the way you make this point is to compare both of them to fruit? The phrase destroys itself. 

"First World Problems"

Griping about having to listen to other people's "first world problems" is the ultimate first world problem.

BTW, sorry Ingelou, but I like "suffer fools gladly." Actually, I mostly just like the old-fashioned verb-noun-adverb word order.


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## GreenMamba

isorhythm said:


> Related thing that's come up in this thread - it seems like the various Anglophone countries' languages are blending into each other a lot more in the last few years, probably because of the internet. Lots of Americans saying "no worries" and signing their emails "cheers" now, which never used to happen. The word "ginger" for "red-haired person" also entered American English at some point in the last few years, which I'm not crazy about because I am one.


"******" is more common in the US than it used to be (both the word and the people themselves.)


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## Dim7

geralmar said:


> Think outside the box.


What wrong with that expression??


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## Ingélou

GreenMamba said:


> BTW, sorry Ingelou, but I like "suffer fools gladly." Actually, I mostly just like the old-fashioned verb-noun-adverb word order.


Oh well - *horses for courses*. 
This thread really seems *to have struck a nerve*!


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## Vaneyes

Strange Magic said:


> I'll be (or, Let me be) perfectly frank with you: "That's a great question."


"Let me be perfectly clear on this, I am not a crook."


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## Vaneyes

Dim7 said:


> What wrong with that "_Think outside the box" _expression??


For asking, you'll spend a night in the box.


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## Vaneyes

GreenMamba said:


> "That's like comparing apples and oranges."
> 
> So you are saying these two things aren't alike and shouldn't be compared, and the way you make this point is to compare both of them to fruit? The phrase destroys itself.
> 
> "First World Problems"
> 
> Griping about having to listen to other people's "first world problems" is the ultimate first world problem.
> 
> BTW, sorry Ingelou, but I like "suffer fools gladly." Actually, I mostly just like the old-fashioned verb-noun-adverb word order.


Or green apples and green bananas.


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## Vaneyes

Kivimees said:


> This is the kind of thread "you can really sink your teeth into".


And get a grip on it.


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## Strange Magic

To All of Us: Great Minds Think Alike! (Einstein's favorite expression---NOT!)


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## Vaneyes

Dr Johnson said:


> Heads up, as in "give me the heads up".


Pointing me in the right direction.


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## Bulldog

Public figures who say - "I apologize".


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## Vaneyes

geralmar said:


> Your call is important... .


"Let your people meet my people, and then we'll do lunch."


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## Vaneyes

Bulldog said:


> Public figures who say - "I apologize".


Public figures who say anything.


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## Vaneyes

"It's as good as done." Oh yeah, right, no problem.


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## Huilunsoittaja

"It is what it is"

Sometimes it's appropriate to say it, but it doesn't excuse whatever "it" is. If something is bad, sure _it is what it is_, but of _course _it is! Could _it _be something else? What it _isn't _what it is sometimes? 

"You do you" and "Be yourself"

An excuse to be your mean, selfish self without judgment, plain and simple.

And last but not least, THESE botherations on social media:










Quit telling me how to live my life in colorful, multi-quote quasi-_memes_, man/woman!! :scold:


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## Vaneyes

Huilunsoittaja said:


> ....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ....


"No problem" with 3, 6, 12. "Have a nice day."


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## Dim7

"Less is more"

I know many of you probably think it's a good expression. But I much prefer "If some is good, and more is better, then way too much is just about right."


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Here we go guys....brace yourself...this one is a big one.....

Okay how about I count down to it? More time to prepare, hide children etc. 

Ok.

No more stalling....here goes...

3......
2...............
1.................................
















'Pure and simple'


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## SeptimalTritone

SeptimalTritone said:


> "Be a man"
> "Grow some balls"
> "Man up"
> "Creep"
> "***" (when referring to a person, almost always male of course)
> "Wimp"
> "Treat her with respect" (i.e. the woman is always right)
> "Patriarchy"


To be fair, girls have it tough as well, but for different reasons. Examples:

"****" (sorry censor)
"Prude" (contradictory?)
"****"
"Hormonal"
"Femi-nazi"
"Leading him on" and/or "Tease"

I really wish society had a more positive view of both male and female sexuality, as well as some understanding of both their commonality and their differences...


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

SeptimalTritone said:


> To be fair, girls have it tough as well, but for different reasons. Examples:
> 
> "****" (sorry censor)
> "Prude" (contradictory?)
> "****"
> "Hormonal"
> "Femi-nazi"
> "Leading him on" and/or "Tease"
> 
> I really wish society had a more positive view of both male and female sexuality, as well as some understanding of both their commonality and their differences...


I agree, and I actually find it disturbing how many words there are that are female-derived insults. It really shows the worst of humanity today as it's something pretty much very common worldwide.


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## TxllxT

I hate..... well, I don't like the facial expressions of... now I'm looking for the right expression that circumvents saying it: 'officeholders', 'grandstanders', 'baby-kissers'....


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## brotagonist

step up to the plate
the elephant in the room

:lol:


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## Dim7

brotagonist said:


> the elephant in the room


hey that's a great expression.


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## brotagonist

Huilunsoittaja said:


> "You do you" and "Be yourself"
> 
> An excuse to be your mean, selfish self without judgment, plain and simple.


I've never heard 'you do you' 

My take on the other one:

'be yourself' is be who I say you are, just as 'live a little' is live how I say.


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## Dim7

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Here we go guys....brace yourself...this one is a big one.....
> 
> Okay how about I count down to it? More time to prepare, hide children etc.
> 
> Ok.
> 
> No more stalling....here goes...
> 
> 3......
> 2...............
> 1.................................
> 
> 'Pure and simple'


This was really the elephant in the room...


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## Huilunsoittaja

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> 'Pure and simple'


I said "plain and simple" earlier, will that condemn me too?


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## bharbeke

"Meh" is a word/expression that I really do not like. I prefer to say something is so-so, mediocre, or just okay instead.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Huilunsoittaja said:


> I said "plain and simple" earlier, will that condemn me too?


Do you like Boulez? If so, then you're fine.


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## brotagonist

That's a red flag :lol:


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## Celloman

I hate it when you're sitting around with a group of friends, just before the holidays, and you casually mention something to the effect of "some people get carried away with Christmas lights"...and then someone exclaims, as though they are _shocked_ that you had the audacity to be so bold, *"Don't be such a humbug!"*


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## Huilunsoittaja

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Do you like Boulez? If so, then you're fine.


......... maybe?


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Huilunsoittaja said:


> ......... maybe?


Boulez has conducted Scriabin and says he likes to listen to Tchaikovsky....so Russian music is not without merit. :devil:


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## Vaneyes

Celloman said:


> I hate it when you're sitting around with a group of friends, just before the holidays, and you casually mention something to the effect of "some people get carried away with Christmas lights"...and then someone exclaims, as though they are _shocked_ that you had the audacity to be so bold, *"Don't be such a humbug!"*


Or *"Grouch"* is often used, too. When blaspheming Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, any number of things.

Black Friday is organized by Satan, isn't it? *"Grouch."*


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## Richannes Wrahms

I've come to automatically hate books people quote for 'life lessons' (already an out of date conception of art overly fed by cheap symbolism). Art and Philosophy have already spent a lot of time 'dealing' (meaning convincing people that the author's opinion is worth something) with the trivial collective of human problems.

Examples:
I hate The Little Prince.
I hate Paulo Coelho and many other latin authors, some of them of actual worth, that people can't stop quoting.


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## Balthazar

Richannes Wrahms said:


> I hate The Little Prince.


Moi, je l'adore...

_"Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."_


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Richannes Wrahms said:


> I've come to automatically hate books people quote for 'life lessons' (already an out of date conception of art overly fed by cheap symbolism). Art and Philosophy have already spent a lot of time 'dealing' (meaning convincing people that the author's opinion is worth something) with the trivial collective of human problems.
> 
> Examples:
> I hate The Little Prince.
> I hate Paulo Coelho and many other latin authors, some of them of actual worth, that people can't stop quoting.


Booooooooo the Little Prince is WONDERFUL and my girlfriend and I both own many copies in multiple languages. Just cos.


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## Kivimees

bharbeke said:


> "Meh" is a word/expression that I really do not like. I prefer to say something is so-so, mediocre, or just okay instead.


Thank you for explaining what this means. Now that I know, I'll dislike it as well.


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## Dr Johnson

I loathe the misuse of the reflexive pronoun by e.g. estate agents: "Is it _yourself_ who's buying the house?"



Wrong, wrong, wrong.


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## Dim7

Dr Johnson said:


> I loathe the misuse of the reflexive pronoun by e.g. estate agents: "Is it _yourself_ who's buying the house?"
> 
> 
> 
> Wrong, wrong, wrong.


The English language doesn't make any sense to begin with so might as well fach it up some more. Moreover saying "yourself" has a different nuance from saying merely "you" in that context.


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## Dr Johnson

Dim7 said:


> The English language doesn't make any sense to begin with so might as well fach it up some more. Moreover saying "yourself" *has a different nuance f*rom saying merely "you" in that context.


The nuance means that the speaker doesn't understand the correct use of the reflexive pronoun.


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## Dim7

Grammar Nazism must be justified.


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## Dr Johnson

Dim7 said:


> Grammar Nazism must be justified.


No. It just needs to be enforced.


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## Ingélou

Dim7 said:


> The English language doesn't make any sense to begin with so might as well fach it up some more. Moreover saying "yourself" has a different nuance from saying merely "you" in that context.


Yes - it's the nuance of 'stage Irishman' - "Is it yourself who's buying the house?' - *yourself *in this sentence is totally unidiomatic.
It makes perfect sense to say, 'Is it you who's buying the house?'*, even without the stress on *you* which would occur in a spoken question.

Languages don't obey ineluctable rational rules, true - but it isn't true to say that 'anything goes'. The native speakers of the language variant of the time give us a sense of what's '_correct_' in the context (in the sense of _idiomatic, not affected_). 
:tiphat: I agree with Dr Johnson on this one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Might be better rephrased though: *You are the one who's buying the house - am I right?* or *You're buying the house for yourself?*

But not 'Is it yourself...' As in 'How's yourself this fine morning?' :lol:


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## quack

'You who' is far too akin to Yoohoo! Euphony trumps accuracy.


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## Dim7

Ingélou said:


> It makes perfect sense to say, 'Is it you who's buying the house?', even without the stress on *you* which would occur in a spoken question.


Of course.



> Languages don't obey ineluctable rational rules, true - but it isn't true to say that 'anything goes'. The native speakers of the language variant of the time give us a sense of what's correct in the context.


I assumed Dr Johnson was talking about native speakers using the expression, so apparently some native speakers find it correct. Maybe it's so rare that it's some kind weirdospeech at this moment, but IMO if an expression becomes common among native speakers, there should be some kind justification for opposing that trend and only proper justification I can think of is that the expression muddles the precision of the language.


----------



## Dr Johnson

I was talking about native speakers using the ghastly expression.

To save time, have a look at this.


----------



## Ukko

You are on to something there, _Dim_. Clarity is very important, nuance must be carefully considered before it it applied. Using the 'correct' word lessens the chance of unintended nuance. Anyway, before This distracting conversation I was about to say: My pet peeve is "You don't remember my name?!" The fine people whose names I don't remember are legion.


----------



## Ingélou

Dim7 said:


> Of course.
> 
> I assumed Dr Johnson was talking about native speakers using the expression, so apparently *some native speakers find it correct*. Maybe it's so rare that it's some kind weirdospeech at this moment, but IMO if an expression becomes common among native speakers, there should be some kind justification for opposing that trend and only proper justification I can think of is that the expression muddles the precision of the language.


But it hasn't become acceptable generally in the UK, let alone in UK educated standard English ...


----------



## Dr Johnson

Ingélou said:


> But it hasn't become acceptable generally, let alone in educated standard English ...


But I fear it will.

Nonetheless I shall rage against it and other excrescences which mangle the language until the waves pass over my head.

So there!

:lol:


----------



## Ingélou

Dr Johnson said:


> But I fear it will.
> 
> Nonetheless I shall rage against it and other excrescences which mangle the language until the waves pass over my head.
> 
> So there!
> 
> :lol:


:tiphat: That's the spirit! :lol:


----------



## sospiro

geralmar said:


> Your call is important... .


So important that I'll keep you hanging on for 20 minutes because this firm I work for is too greedy to employ more people and to use more telephone lines. Oh and you've dialled an 0875 number which means we get a %age of how much it's costing you.


----------



## Dr Johnson

This is all beginning to remind me of the excellent series on BBC2, Grumpy Old Men and Grumpy Old Women.

In some ways middle age is very liberating.


----------



## sospiro

Vaneyes said:


> "Let me be perfectly clear on this, I am not a crook."


Blimey, that takes me back. Tricky Dicky.


----------



## sospiro

*Gifting*

What is wrong with 'giving a present/gift'?


----------



## Dim7

sospiro said:


> *Gifting*
> 
> What is wrong with 'giving a present/gift'?


Never heard of that one, but it's a very efficient innovation methinks.


----------



## Vaneyes

sospiro said:


> *Gifting*
> 
> What is wrong with 'giving a present/gift'?


Re-gifting, even better.


----------



## Dr Johnson

Re-gifting reminds me of "pre-loved" instead of second-hand.

Eugh!!!


----------



## Vaneyes

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Booooooooo the Little Prince is WONDERFUL and my girlfriend and I both own many copies in multiple languages. *Just cos*.


Cousin to, "Just sayin'."


----------



## Cosmos

I reckon

every time someone says that I feel like I'm in a Twain novel


----------



## sospiro

*Bae*

The word BABE is just too long and too difficult to say ...


----------



## Cosmos

sospiro said:


> *Bae*
> 
> The word BABE is just too long and too difficult to say ...


To be fair, BAE is supposed to be an acronym for "before anyone else". Though that makes for some interesting grammar ["Going to the movies with my before anyone else"]


----------



## sospiro

Dr Johnson said:


> My current linguistic bête noire is "going forward" used instead of "the future" or "from now on"
> 
> e.g. something like "we shall implement this _going forward_".
> 
> Aagh!


I think of all of these hated words and phrases, this is the one which annoys me the most. Most of the others are just tired old clichés or made-up words/phrases.

Going forward means something else entirely and it does _not_ mean in the future!!!


----------



## sospiro

Cosmos said:


> To be fair, BAE is supposed to be an acronym for "before anyone else". Though that makes for some interesting grammar ["Going to the movies with my before everyone else"]


I like the Danish word.


----------



## Dr Johnson

BAE means BAE Systems (formerly British Aerospace).

Whatever it may mean in Danish.


----------



## Vaneyes

Cosmos said:


> To be fair, BAE is supposed to be an acronym for "before anyone else". Though that makes for some interesting grammar ["Going to the movies with my before anyone else"]


Bae's a successful South Korean professional golfer, who plays the PGA Tour. He recently reported for South Korean military duty, which will last 21 months.


----------



## Wood

I loathe any expression, indeed any collection of words, which are accompanied by air quotes.


----------



## sospiro

Wood said:


> I loathe any expression, indeed any collection of words, which are accompanied by air quotes.


You mean like this?










:scold:


----------



## Blancrocher

Before anyone says anything, I worry that I might be about to hear "I'm just spitballing here"--even though I'm not sure I've heard anyone say it outside of television. Disgusting and appalling expression.


----------



## SeptimalTritone

Dismantle the patriarchy!!!










Women were so oppressed in the past!!!










Men are so privileged!!!



















Men have no respect for women and treat them like objects!!!


----------



## Dim7

Cosmos said:


> I reckon
> 
> every time someone says that I feel like I'm in a Twain novel


----------



## hpowders

"Going forward" as in "We are maintaining our Syria strategy going forward."


----------



## Flamme

Pundits??? Everyone today is a pundit...


----------



## Dim7

Ukko said:


> You are on to something there, _Dim_. Clarity is very important, nuance must be carefully considered before it it applied. Using the 'correct' word lessens the chance of unintended nuance.


It's another effing Mitchell and Webb video, but this demonstrates the perils of using unorthodox grammar just to be fancy.


----------



## Vaneyes

Dr Johnson said:


> Re-gifting reminds me of "pre-loved" instead of second-hand.
> 
> Eugh!!!


Pre-owned, even certified pre-owned.


----------



## Pugg

The most annoying : people saying; Listen and learn, and then referring to a favourite singer/ conductor etc


----------



## sospiro

Dim7 said:


> It's another effing Mitchell and Webb video, but this demonstrates the perils of using unorthodox grammar just to be fancy.


Haha! That's brilliant.


----------



## Dim7

Speaking of incorrect pronoun use, the use of "you" as a _singular_ second person pronoun has been disturbingly common in recent years.


----------



## Dr Johnson

Dim7 said:


> Speaking of incorrect pronoun use, the use of "you" as a _singular_ second person pronoun has been disturbingly common in recent years.


Thou and thy pedantry!


----------



## Ingélou

Dim7 said:


> Speaking of incorrect pronoun use, the use of "you" as a _singular_ second person pronoun has been disturbingly common in recent years.


Um - nice joke but it doesn't quite work! 

*You* or its equivalent has *always* been used as a *singular* second person pronoun,along with its plural usage - the rules about *thou* and *ye* were similar to *tu* and *vous* in French. If you were talking to an equal or an inferior, use *thou* - if to a superior or a stranger, *ye*.

That doesn't cover all cases, though. The usage was nuanced - hence we still call God, a recognised superior *thou* - and *thou* (or tha / thee) still survives in some parts of Britain, e.g. in Derbyshire, where I spent some years.

I hope tha gets it now!


----------



## Ingélou

Dr Johnson said:


> Thou and thy pedantry!


He wasn't pedantic enough!


----------



## Dim7

Ingélou said:


> Um - nice joke but it doesn't quite work!
> 
> *You* or its equivalent has *always* been used as a *singular* second person pronoun,along with its plural usage - the rules about *thou* and *ye* were similar to *tu* and *vous* in French. If you were talking to an equal or an inferior, use *thou* - if to a superior or a stranger, *ye*.
> 
> That doesn't cover all cases, though. The usage was nuanced - hence we still call God, a recognised superior *thou* - and *thou* (or tha / thee) still survives in some parts of Britain, e.g. in Derbyshire, where I spent some years.
> 
> I hope tha gets it now!


I know that usage, but are you sure about "always"? It would seem likely to me that originally "you" was exclusively plural.


----------



## Kivimees

Dim7 said:


> I know that usage, but are you sure about "always"? I mean you'd think that originally "you" was exclusively plural.


If I understand correctly, "you" is like "Teie" in Estonian or "Te" in Finnish in that it is used for both plural and to show respect. English has largely lost its "Sina" and "Sinä" as Ingelou wrote a couple of posts back.


----------



## Dim7

Yeah, I get it, but what I meant that it would seem likely to me that originally "you" was exclusively plural, then at some point gained the another meaning of "respectful singular 2nd person pronoun" while thou being used for equals/inferiors/etc. , and then "you" replaced "thou" altogether.


----------



## Ingélou

Dim7 said:


> I know that usage, but are you sure about "always"? It would seem likely to me that originally "you" was exclusively plural.


Possibly not in Anglo-Saxon times - but since the era when early modern English began, yes. And after all, Anglo-Saxon was a different language. Middle English is also so different that most people in Britain today don't understand it without study. The change probably came in towards the end of the Middle Ages as it was there by the sixteenth century - but I'd have to google it.

So we're talking about *English*, in which 'you' has always had a singular usage based on respect, and then changed so it could be singular or plural with no special nuances.

Rather charmingly, the Anglo Saxons could use their pronouns *wit* and *git* (pronounced _yit_) meaning 'we two' and 'you two'. I wish we still had 'wit' for use between husband and wife - though actually, Taggart & I are not short of wit.


----------



## Figleaf

OK, it's a slogan rather than an expression, but nothing is more annoying than this:










Aaargh!!!


----------



## Ingélou

^^^ I agree - because if it was meant sincerely, it would be patronising or pat-on-the-back smug (we stoic Britons), and if it's meant slightly tongue-in-cheek, it's so smart-aleck.


----------



## Dim7

Ingélou said:


> Possibly not in Anglo-Saxon times - but since the era when early modern English began, yes. And after all, Anglo-Saxon was a different language. Middle English is also so different that most people in Britain today don't understand it without study. The change probably came in towards the end of the Middle Ages as it was there by the sixteenth century - but I'd have to google it.
> 
> So we're talking about *English*, in which 'you' has always had a singular usage based on respect, and then changed so it could be singular or plural with no special nuances.
> 
> Rather charmingly, the Anglo Saxons could use their pronouns *wit* and *git* (pronounced _yit_) meaning 'we two' and 'you two'. I wish we still had 'wit' for use between husband and wife - though actually, Taggart & I are not short of wit.


Fair enough - I'll accept that for my joke to work my post should have been written in Middle English at least....


----------



## Morimur

Abraham Lincoln said:


> "Cutting feels so good I cut all the time and I can't stooop!!"


I tried cutting myself when I was a teenager (spurred by a combination of idiocy and a miserable childhood) and I can't say it did much to relieve my emotional pain. Sure as hell left some physical scars though.


----------



## Jos

Figleaf said:


> OK, it's a slogan rather than an expression, but nothing is more annoying than this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Aaargh!!!


This one seems to be spreading on Europe mainland too, to my "aargh" as well.

Most expressions mentioned in this thread occur also outside the English speaking world, the horible jargon of middle-management. Thank goodness nobody takes them seriously, but annoying they are. Laugh at them in their faces and slowly repeat what they just said. It may not be good for career but who would want to enter "middle-management" anyways......


----------



## Crudblud

A little bit outside the general scope of this thread, but I really get annoyed by young people saying things that aren't funny on the internet and putting "ahaha" at the end of the post to indicate that it is supposed to be humorous. If this somehow spills over into every day conversation, it seems like eventually we'll just communicate by describing what we intend to say and not actually saying it: 

Friend 1: "Problem"
Friend 2: "Suggestion"
Friend 1: "Consideration"
Friend 3: "Alternative suggestion"
Friend 2: "Joke reflecting possible outcome of alternative suggestion"
All: "Laugh"

It would be a little bit like living in a Beckett play, come to think of it.


----------



## elgar's ghost

Ingélou said:


> Um - nice joke but it doesn't quite work!
> 
> *You* or its equivalent has *always* been used as a *singular* second person pronoun,along with its plural usage - the rules about *thou* and *ye* were similar to *tu* and *vous* in French. If you were talking to an equal or an inferior, use *thou* - if to a superior or a stranger, *ye*.
> 
> That doesn't cover all cases, though. The usage was nuanced - hence we still call God, a recognised superior *thou* - and *thou* (or tha / thee) still survives in some parts of Britain, e.g. in Derbyshire, where I spent some years.
> 
> I hope tha gets it now!


And just to compound the confusion isn't the 'y' in 'ye' is pronounced 'th' like the old Saxon letter _thorn_ (þ) which looked more like a 'y' as the centuries rolled on?


----------



## Ingélou

No, I don't think so. It's pronounced 'y' and spelt with another Anglo-Saxon letter, *yogh* -










In Scots, yogh survived as a z and explains why the pronunciation of Menzies is 'Mingies' and Dalziel is 'Deeyel'.  )

_Thou_ and _thee_ (or their equivalents in Anglo-Saxon) were originally spelt with *thorn* and had the same sound as in today's pronunciation of _thorn_.










But sometimes _eth_ was used - which also did for the 'th' sound in ra*th*er.










(I originally added lots of other info, but I even began to bore myself. Sorry.)


----------



## sospiro

Morimur said:


> I tried cutting myself when I was a teenager (spurred by a combination of idiocy and a miserable childhood) and I can't say it did much to relieve my emotional pain. Sure as hell left some physical scars though.




So sad. My brother used to self-harm and it broke my heart.


----------



## Dr Johnson

elgars ghost said:


> And just to compound the confusion isn't the 'y' in 'ye' is pronounced 'th' like the old Saxon letter _thorn_ (þ) which looked more like a 'y' as the centuries rolled on?


According to my Pocket Fowler, "ye" when used as a "pseudo-archaic form of the definite article _the_" does come from a word which began with "Þ".

Fowler doesn't go into the whole you/thou/ye business.


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

AAAARRRGGGHH. Self-harm isn't 'so sad'. It's just pointless and stupid and makes you look as if you're desperate for attention.

No offense intended. I just wanted to get that point across. x_x

I should probably also add that people glorifying self-harm and suicidal actions mAKE ME VERY ANGRY


----------



## Ingélou

Dr Johnson said:


> According to my Pocket Fowler, "ye" when used as a "pseudo-archaic form of the definite article _the_" does come from a word which began with "Þ".
> 
> Fowler doesn't go into the whole you/thou/ye business.


Well, yes - because 'ye' used like that comes from '*th*e'. But we were talking about Anglo-Saxon - not pseudo-archaisms; and about the second person pronoun, not the definite article!

(Which reminds me - thanks: spellings like Ye Olde Englishe Shoppe & Summer Fayre do get my goat. )

_Have a nice day_ - on this thread, oops, maybe not.

*Wassail*. :tiphat:


----------



## Ingélou

Also on my Ugh List, as being rude & flippant:

Whatever!

Whatever floats your boat.

That's _your_ take on it.

Right! (said in a particular very _knowing_ way)


----------



## sospiro

Ingélou said:


> Also on my Ugh List, as being rude & flippant:
> 
> Whatever!
> 
> Whatever floats your boat.
> 
> That's _your_ take on it.
> 
> Right! (said in a particular very _knowing_ way)


Indeed! Especially 'whatever' pronounced _wotevvah_.


----------



## TxllxT

Fence

fence

fence


----------



## Blancrocher

Often when I'm reading a polite and informative discussion of the historical significance and ontology of 4'33'', the phrase "jumping Jehosaphat" stops me in my tracks and I can read no further.


----------



## Ingélou

I'm waiting for someone to say how much they hate this fashionable trail at the end of one's remarks...

Guilty, m'lud - but it's so useful - it makes it sound as if I'm incredibly subtle and have lots of hidden insights up my sleeve...


----------



## geralmar

Have a nice day.


----------



## Blancrocher

geralmar said:


> Have a nice day.


I can't believe the forum censor lets that one through.


----------



## elgar's ghost

'Ciao' irks me as well. Great from an Italian but naff from a Brit.


----------



## sospiro

It annoys me when I go into a shop and a young assistant (I'm afraid it's invariably a young person) asks me if I'm alright, presumably meaning 'Can I help you?' I've started replying "Yes thank you. How are you?" and when they splutter something, I move away.


----------



## MrTortoise

Ingélou said:


> I'm waiting for someone to say how much they hate this fashionable trail at the end of one's remarks...
> 
> Guilty, m'lud - but it's so useful - it makes it sound as if I'm incredibly subtle and have lots of hidden insights up my sleeve...


You got me... Doh!


----------



## Guest

geralmar said:


> Have a nice day.


George Carlin hated a variation of that: "Have a nice one." His reply? "I already have a nice one; I want a longer one." I'm not certain he was talking about a day, though.


----------



## Tristan

I hate "the proof is in the pudding" because it's such a ridiculous corruption of the original phrase that doesn't really mean much in that form.


----------



## GreenMamba

Tristan said:


> I hate "the proof is in the pudding" because it's such a ridiculous corruption of the original phrase that doesn't really mean much in that form.


"Exception that proves the rule" is a similarly confused one. "Proof" means test in these instances. An exception to a rule doesn't actually support the rule.


----------



## Figleaf

Flamme said:


> Political correctness...''Love conquers all''...''Be a gentleman''...Ofcourse these phrases are in essence totally correct but nowadays have faded away and lost their meaning...* Nobody appreciates anything nowadays, everythings/bodys frozen...*


Is this what Russians mean when they say _отморозок_?


----------



## Lucifer Saudade

Figleaf said:


> Is this what Russians mean when they say _отморозок_?


It means "scoundrel" мороз means frost.


----------



## Celloman

Jos said:


> This one seems to be spreading on Europe mainland too, to my "aargh" as well.
> 
> Most expressions mentioned in this thread occur also outside the English speaking world, the horible jargon of middle-management. Thank goodness nobody takes them seriously, but annoying they are. Laugh at them in their faces and slowly repeat what they just said. It may not be good for career but who would want to enter "middle-management" anyways......


Might I submit a healthy alternative?


----------



## Woodduck

Figleaf said:


> OK, it's a slogan rather than an expression, but nothing is more annoying than this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Aaargh!!!


I'm so disillusioned. I thought that was a precise description of all you English people, and I've always aspired to be worthy of you.

Please don't tell me what you're really like.


----------



## Vaneyes

sospiro said:


> It annoys me when I go into a shop and a young assistant (I'm afraid it's invariably a young person) asks me if I'm alright, presumably meaning 'Can I help you?' I've started replying "Yes thank you. How are you?" and when they splutter something, I move away.


"How has your day been so far?"

"Enjoy the rest of your day."

Arrrrgghh!!!


----------



## Sloe

Figleaf said:


> OK, it's a slogan rather than an expression, but nothing is more annoying than this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Aaargh!!!


I never new were it comes from but I have felt uncomfortable seeing it now it makes me even more uncomfortable.


----------



## Guest

Woodduck said:


> I'm so disillusioned. I thought that was a precise description of all you English people, and I've always aspired to be worthy of you.
> 
> Please don't tell me what you're really like.


Fear not. We English are indeed always like this, but not so the Welsh, Scots or Northern Irish. They're all very hot-headed.


----------



## hpowders

I hate it when my SO and I go to a restaurant and this 18 year old server greets us with "And how are you kids doing tonight?"

I don't even freakin' remember when I was 18....or even if I ever was 18.


----------



## Guest

In restaurants when the waiter asks, "Are you still enjoying your meal?" I'm tempted to reply, "I never enjoyed it in the first place."


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

Figleaf said:


> OK, it's a slogan rather than an expression, but nothing is more annoying than this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Aaargh!!!


----------



## Gouldanian

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger...

Really? If you break your neck, are paralyzed and in a state of perpetual coma, are you really stronger?


----------



## sospiro

Figleaf said:


> OK, it's a slogan rather than an expression, but nothing is more annoying than this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Aaargh!!!





Sloe said:


> I never knew where it comes from but I have felt uncomfortable seeing it now it makes me even more uncomfortable.


It was a real poster issued by the British government when WWII started.

Wiki


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

Gouldanian said:


> What doesn't kill you makes you stronger...
> 
> Really? If you break your neck, are paralyzed and in a state of perpetual coma, are you really stronger?


----------



## Kivimees

I dislike when the expression "begs the question" is used to mean "raises the question" rather than to refer to a logical fallacy.

http://begthequestion.info/


----------



## Fortinbras Armstrong

I have an intense dislike of "true fact". If it isn't true, then it isn't a fact. This is a phrase produced by the Department of Redundancy Department, Tautology Division.

Another is "very unique". "Unique" means "one of a kind", so something is either unique or it is not. I will accept "almost" unique.


----------



## Vaneyes

How could I forget "very unique". That's a Top 10 teeth-gritter for me.

Another expression that "sends me up the wall"...

"We're pregnant."


----------



## Sloe

sospiro said:


> It was a real poster issued by the British government when WWII started.
> 
> Wiki


Yes it really says don´t mind there is a war going on.


----------



## Vaneyes

Sloe said:


> Yes it really says don´t mind there is a war going on.


No worse/better than, "If you liked WWII, you'll love Hogan's Heroes."


----------



## Fortinbras Armstrong

Vaneyes said:


> No worse/better than, "If you liked WWII, you'll love Hogan's Heroes."


My uncle was in an RAF bomber crew. He spent 1941-1945 in a German POW camp. He saw Hogan's Heroes as an insult.


----------



## Fortinbras Armstrong

By the way, I have a coffee mug with "Keep Calm and Carry On" on it. It's one of my favorites.


----------



## hpowders

Why do servers in a restaurant always seem to come over to my table, exclaiming, "How's everything taste?" when my mouth is always at maximum capacity stuffed with food? 

I HATE THAT!!!!


----------



## starthrower

Dude! Seems like a favorite of mostly the 30-40 year old crowd. Especially white guys.


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

"****"
"*****"
"************"
"****"
"**********"
"****"
"*****"
"******"


----------



## Vaneyes

Fortinbras Armstrong said:


> By the way, I have a coffee mug with "Keep Calm and Carry On" on it. It's one of my favorites.


Mine's, "World's Greatest Golfer", but we digress.


----------



## Vaneyes

Fortinbras Armstrong said:


> My uncle was in an RAF bomber crew. He spent 1941-1945 in a German POW camp. He saw Hogan's Heroes as an insult.


My Uncle Eddie was killed in a bombing mission.


----------



## Celloman

I hate the word "hate". It's just _so_ hateful. I have always nurtured a profound hatred for that word. I absolutely, positively hate it.


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

Celloman said:


> I hate the word "hate". It's just _so_ hateful. I have always nurtured a profound hatred for that word. I absolutely, positively hate it.


Loathe. Abhor. Dislike.


----------



## Haydn man

Management speak in general, I find hard to deal with e.g.
Blue sky thinking
Doing a piece of work on something
Having a discussion around a subject
Sense checking 
Scoping exercise 

Apologies if these have been mentioned already, but these sayings just grate with me


----------



## Guest

Celloman said:


> I hate the word "hate". It's just _so_ hateful. I have always nurtured a profound hatred for that word. I absolutely, positively hate it.


I hate it when people start a sentence with "I hate it when..."


----------



## Guest

I hate it when people used management-speak phrases because it shows such a lazy way of thinking and such a lack of originality. Why don't they try thinking outside the box?


----------



## trazom

-"I could care less" which made more sense in its original form "I could care less but don't see how."

-"To be fair," because what follows is often unfair and sometimes stupid. Well, except for when someone used it earlier in this thread, but that's an exception.

-A good response to anyone who actually uses the "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" line is "..or leaves you horribly crippled."


----------



## Ingélou

trazom said:


> -...
> -"To be fair," because what follows is often unfair and sometimes stupid. Well, except for when someone used it earlier in this thread, but that's an exception...


That reminds me of the preliminary remark 'With respect...' which usually means the exact opposite!


----------



## Dim7

Sometimes somebody has made such a statement that it wouldn't have even occurred to me to get offended - hadn't he prefaced it with "No offence, but..."


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

Dim7 said:


> Sometimes somebody has made such a statement that it wouldn't have even occurred to me to get offended - hadn't he prefaced it with "No offence, but..."


...I'm the champion of being guilty of this.


----------



## Vaneyes

"Yes and No", "It's neither here nor there", "Six of one, half dozen of the other". These of course gave birth to, the marvelous "Whatever".


----------



## Vaneyes

Ingélou said:


> That reminds me of the preliminary remark 'With respect...' which usually means the exact opposite!


"*My friend* would have you believe...."


----------



## Vaneyes

trazom said:


> -"I could care less" which made more sense in its original form "I could care less but don't see how."
> 
> -"To be fair," because what follows is often unfair and sometimes stupid. Well, except for when someone used it earlier in this thread, but that's an exception.
> 
> -A good response to anyone who actually uses the *"what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"* line is "..or leaves you horribly crippled."


Oh, damn, thanks...how could I have forgotten that one. "Ewwwwwww".


----------



## hpowders

On the wagon. Off the wagon. I could care less. I couldn't care less.


----------



## hpowders

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families."

Praying for the day I no longer have to hear this. Is a violence-free world too much to ask for?


----------



## Dr Johnson

There won't be much left we _can_ say at this rate.


----------



## Ingélou

Dr Johnson said:


> There won't be much left we _can_ say at this rate.


Aha! - *at this rate!* :devil:


----------



## Dr Johnson

I rest my case. 

No doubt someone will pipe up and say they dislike that too.


----------



## hpowders

Kick the can down the road.

Long story short.

Ripe old age.

Needless to say.

Better late than never.

Back in the day.

Last but not least.

Needless to say, I'm feeling a migraine coming on.


----------



## Dr Johnson

Back in the day. Yes I dislike that one. When did it start? Not back in the day, that's for sure.


----------



## hpowders

Dr Johnson said:


> Back in the day. Yes I dislike that one. When did it start? Not back in the day, that's for sure.


Only a couple of years ago. Almost as bad as a server saying to two 80 year old diners "Hey kids!! Want me to bring some bread?"


----------



## Dr Johnson

But where did it come from? A TV show? A film?


----------



## hpowders

Dr Johnson said:


> There won't be much left we _can_ say at this rate.


Yeah but there will always be music we can turn to instead.


----------



## hpowders

Dr Johnson said:


> But where did it come from? A TV show? A film?


I heard some news reporter using it a few years ago. Now it's all over the place. Maybe it originated from Hollywood.


----------



## Dr Johnson

hpowders said:


> I heard some news reporter using it a few years ago. Now it's all over the place. *Maybe it originated from Hollywood.*


Figures. .

(Wait for it :lol


----------



## Ingélou

Dr Johnson said:


> But where did it come from? A TV show? A film?


It just seems to have sprung up in America - I just read a site that tried to say it had been there a long time, but cited expressions like 'back in the days when men lived in caves' etc, which isn't the same.

Here's one link that I followed - don't know how accurate it is.
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Phrases-and-Sayings/Question941317.html

To a British ear, it sounds sort of slick - well, okay, to *my* ear! :lol:


----------



## hpowders

Dr Johnson said:


> Figures. .
> 
> (Wait for it :lol


"Back in the day" and "going forward". Both drive me nuts. The latter is my chief BS indicator.


----------



## Dim7

Can't really hate most of these expressions. Most of them.


----------



## Vaneyes

hpowders said:


> Kick the can down the road.
> 
> Long story short.
> 
> Ripe old age.
> 
> Needless to say.
> 
> Better late than never.
> 
> Back in the day.
> 
> Last but not least.
> 
> Needless to say, I'm feeling a migraine coming on.


*
"Good as gold" *been mentioned?


----------



## Blancrocher

"How you doing?" as the person walks by and gives no time to respond.


----------



## hpowders

"Politically correct". I hate this one most of all. Well no. "PC" is even worse.


----------



## hpowders

If you don't hate these hackneyed phrases, then you are part of the problem. :lol:


----------



## science

I believe it is cliche to oppose cliches, so I "embrace them uncritically."


----------



## Dim7

Blancrocher said:


> "How you doing?" as the person walks by and gives no time to respond.


Well this question I actually dislike, whether I've been given time to respond or not. Arguably it is worse when I've been given time to respond. If I'm not actually supposed to answer that, it is idiotic to make that question, if I'm supposed to answer that, well I don't want to tell anybody "how I'm doing".


----------



## Vaneyes

hpowders said:


> If you don't hate these hackneyed phrases, then you are part of the problem. :lol:


I do like some of Willie Shakespeare's, however. Such as, "All's well that ends well." Maybe it's time to end this thread?


----------



## Vaneyes

Blancrocher said:


> "How you doing?" as the person walks by and gives no time to respond.


Or maybe, "Hey, Buds!"


----------



## Ingélou

Vaneyes said:


> I do like some of Willie Shakespeare's, however. Such as, "All's well that ends well." Maybe it's time to end this thread?


*Fine by me!* ....  Oops!


----------



## Figleaf

science said:


> I believe it is cliche to oppose cliches, so I "embrace them uncritically."


Clichés are useful. They stop us having to reinvent the wheel!

One thing I do hate is reading, at the foot of emails, " Sent from my iPhone ". It may be automatically generated, but that doesn't make any less nauseatingly smug. Rather pathetically, I recently saw "Sent from my Hudl 2"- as in, "I may not be able to aspire to Apple products, I may only have the cheapest own brand supermarket tablet, but at least it's _this year's model._ In your face, Hudl 1 users!"

Sent from my battered Hudl 1, which will continue to be patched up for as long as second hand spare parts are available.


----------



## Figleaf

Dim7 said:


> Sometimes somebody has made such a statement that it wouldn't have even occurred to me to get offended - hadn't he prefaced it with "No offence, but..."


If it was "I'm not being rude, but..." then you can be sure that what follows will be off-the-scale offensive. The official, written alternative is "Polite Notice:..."


----------



## Vesteralen

I haven't read all sixteen pages of this, and it's not an expression, but rather a word - but I hate the word "surreal", especially as used by reality singing competition contestants and sports figures.


----------



## brotagonist

It always bugs me when people quote something and then say "quote, unquote" after the quotation, so you have no way of accurately knowing which part of what they said or are about to say is the actual qotation :lol:


----------



## Figleaf

brotagonist said:


> It always bugs me when people quote something and then say "quote, unquote" after the quotation, so you have no way of accurately knowing which part of what they said or are about to say is the actual qotation :lol:


That is why, _pace_ Wood, air quotes are a genius invention!

And gratuitous Latin is, _ipso facto_, annoying.


----------



## hpowders

"No offense, but you are banned." Which part is the hackneyed phrase?


----------



## Figleaf

hpowders said:


> "No offense, but you are banned." Which part is the hackneyed phrase?


The American English spelling of offence is bad enough...


----------



## Figleaf

Vesteralen said:


> I haven't read all sixteen pages of this, and it's not an expression, but rather a word - but I hate the word "surreal", especially as used by reality singing competition contestants and sports figures.


Agreed. I think the best use of "surreal" I've seen is in Carry On Matron, in which a male crook named Cyril infiltrates a hospital disguised as a female nurse named "Cyrille". Questioned about his alias' unusual name, he stammers "It's a surreal- it's a real name!" :lol:


----------



## Gouldanian

''Only fools don't change their mind''... I hate that expression!

I don't support rapists and I'll won't change my mind...

I don't support child abuse and I won't change my mind...

I don't support pushing old ladies down the stairs and I won't change my mind...

Seriously, what a horrible expression!


----------



## hpowders

Figleaf said:


> The American English spelling of offence is bad enough...


I'm quite surprised the British spelling of banned isn't "bahned". :lol:

P.S. No offense taken.


----------



## hpowders

Some more:

Barking up the wrong tree.

Biting off more than you can chew.

I'll call you. (Which of course NEVER happens!)

And the ultimate:

That is so cliché.


----------



## hpowders

"Surreal" used to be the exclusive property of the educated classes. Now that everyone seems to be using it, I am no longer interested.


----------



## Guest

Figleaf said:


> And gratuitous Latin is, _ipso facto_, annoying.


Ugh, yes and little bits of French is so passé.


----------



## Cosmos

hpowders said:


> And the ultimate:
> 
> That is so cliché.


What's so funny is that the phrase "that is so cliché" has become a cliché. Meta-cliché


----------



## Dr Johnson

dogen said:


> Ugh, yes and little bits of French is so passé.


_veramente!_

Oh, wait a minute...

Oh no, then the three dots that Ingélou hates.

It's a ruddy minefield.


----------



## hpowders

"Thought process".

You want to drive me nuts? Ask me if my thought process going forward involves kicking the can down the road.


----------



## Figleaf

Sometimes you get a nice new twist on a cliché that makes it sound fresh. Seen on the Guardian comments section just now: "It's all smoking mirrors!" Now _that's_ surreal!


----------



## Guest

Figleaf said:


> Sometimes you get a nice new twist on a cliché that makes it sound fresh. Seen on the Guardian comments section just now: "It's all smoking mirrors!" Now _that's_ surreal!


The best stuff on the Guardian is the comments!


----------



## Mahlerian

Figleaf said:


> Sometimes you get a nice new twist on a cliché that makes it sound fresh. Seen on the Guardian comments section just now: "It's all smoking mirrors!" Now _that's_ surreal!


I try to stay away from those waiting with baited breath, as I can't imagine it smells too pleasant.


----------



## Taggart

hpowders said:


> "Thought process".
> 
> You want to drive me nuts? Ask me if my thought process going forward involves kicking the can down the road.


Does your thought process going forward involves kicking the can down the road or, needless to say, do you feel a migraine coming on?


----------



## hpowders

Cosmos said:


> What's so funny is that the phrase "that is so cliché" has become a cliché. Meta-cliché


Yes. That's what I meant. 

Cliché and surreal used to be code words that indicated the user was college educated. Now everyone uses them, so I am no longer interested. Perhaps I am a touch elitist, but that's me.
They are no longer "show-off" words!! :lol:


----------



## hpowders

Some other phrases that annoy me:

Drives me up a wall.

Cautiously optimistic.

At first glance.

Be that as it may.

At the end of the day.

On thin ice.

The new normal. This is the absolute worst phrase of all time!! Whoever originated it should be shot!!


----------



## hpowders

Business TV stations seem to use the "new normal" phrase a lot to help explain where stock and bond prices are going and how investing strategies must change "going forward". A whole lot of BS.


----------



## GreenMamba

Hpowders, I think you have to consider the possibility that it's not the phrases, it's you.


----------



## Dim7

A bunch of hateful hate-filled haters aren't we.


----------



## Ingélou

That's good, isn't it? 

After all, we're simply living up to Dr Johnson's appreciative comment on his friend:

“Dean Bathurst was a man to my very heart’s content: he hated a fool, and he hated a rogue, and he hated a Whig; he was a very good hater.”


----------



## violadude

Ingélou said:


> This is a thread to sound off about some *awful cliché or buzzword* that seems to be ubiquitous - your objection based on linguistic grounds, or maybe because of the attitude it conveys.
> 
> I hate *'he didn't/ doesn't suffer fools gladly'*.
> 
> I hate it because it's often trotted out (on internet boards, or in newspaper obituaries) to justify rudeness. In particular, when some obnoxious character has been banned from a forum or departed in dudgeon (I am thinking of another site, not TC), their cronies use this phrase to pop on & lament their departure, even though the vast majority of the membership is breathing a huge sigh of relief.
> 
> I just think it's so arrogant. We are all of us 'fools' at some point in our lives, and surely it's kinder to suffer fools 'politely', even if not gladly. Besides, how can someone be sure that in a given situation he or she is not the fool?
> 
> I am quite often a fool, and so I suffer fools very gladly indeed. But I don't suffer the expression '*he doesn't suffer fools gladly*' gladly!


Wow, internet tough talk is a lot more sophisticated across the pond, huh?


----------



## Kivimees

Figleaf said:


> Sometimes you get a nice new twist on a cliché that makes it sound fresh. Seen on the Guardian comments section just now: "It's all smoking mirrors!" Now _that's_ surreal!


This reminds of "for all intensive purposes".


----------



## Ingélou

When I was at school, we went through lists of accepted similes for our eleven plus exam. Then when I was teacher-training in the early 70s, scorn was poured on this practice & we were encouraged to teach kids to come up with comparisons from their own imagination.

Once I started teaching, and read pupils' writings - an example about a pirate ship being 'the surge of the seas' sticks in my mind - I realised that you do have to make children aware of the traditional usages & even clichés, because:

a) if they don't know the cliché, how can they avoid it or improve on it?

b) the older usages are the thews of the language, and the newer ones at least give the flavour of the day.

I forgot this noble epiphany when I wrote the OP - but heck, these posts are such tremendous fun! :lol:

*It so has been worth it!*


----------



## Dr Johnson

Ingélou said:


> *It so has been worth it!*


Aaaaaghhh! 

:lol:


----------



## Wood

Vaneyes said:


> Mine's, "World's Greatest Golfer", but we digress.


My mug has 'Anne and Mark, Royal Wedding'. I should get a refund.

I hate 'my SO, DD' etc.

I also find it utterly despicable when global corporations try to define their work ethos by inventing a trite expression for their staff. Back in the eighties I worked for an international firm of accountants who told us: 'The difference is the people.'

We were auditors for God's sake, the most boring homogenised group on the planet!

My current company changes buzzwords so often that it is hard to keep up with them. One manager was chastised for not using enough of them in a presentation. Anything that comes out from Head Office or HR is nowadays pretty impenetrable but essentially meaningless.


----------



## Pugg

"_I LOVE THIS PIECE_" in every post


----------



## hpowders

Taggart said:


> Does your thought process going forward involves kicking the can down the road or, needless to say, do you feel a migraine coming on?


Uh.....not since I discovered I still have a few swigs of Jameson dancing around the bottom of the bottle.

Curiously refreshing!!


----------



## hpowders

GreenMamba said:


> Hpowders, I think you have to consider the possibility that it's not the phrases, it's you.


Just when I was about to submit my résumé for the position of TC Censor.

At first glance,
a decent chance.


----------



## Figleaf

Wood said:


> My mug has 'Anne and Mark, Royal Wedding'. I should get a refund.
> 
> I hate 'my SO, DD' etc.


We're a bunch of miserable old SO DDs on this thread, aren't we? :lol:


----------



## Dr Johnson

Yes, we are. 

It's one of the (few) joys of aging.


----------



## Guest

What's a DD? (just so I can hate it)


----------



## Fortinbras Armstrong

Haydn man said:


> Management speak in general, I find hard to deal with e.g.
> Blue sky thinking
> Doing a piece of work on something
> Having a discussion around a subject
> Sense checking
> Scoping exercise
> 
> Apologies if these have been mentioned already, but these sayings just grate with me


We should run those phrases up a flagpole and see who salutes.


----------



## Fortinbras Armstrong

dogen said:


> I hate it when people start a sentence with "I hate it when..."


Have you ever noticed that when people start a sentence with, "I hate to tell you this ...", they don't seem to actually hate it at all?


----------



## Fortinbras Armstrong

trazom said:


> -"To be fair," because what follows is often unfair and sometimes stupid. Well, except for when someone used it earlier in this thread, but that's an exception.


It can be used it a reasonable manner. For example, in a Catholic blog I sometimes post on, some years ago someone was damning Pope Benedict, a man whom I am no fan of whatsoever. This person brought up that he had been in the Hitler Youth and later the Luftwaffe to show that Benedict had been a Nazi.

I replied, "To be fair to him, he only joined the _Hitler Jugend_ because his parents might have been fined or even imprisoned if he had not; and he went into the Luftwaffe because he was conscripted. In neither case was he eager to join. Indeed, he deserted from the air force in early 1945."


----------



## Fortinbras Armstrong

Vaneyes said:


> "Yes and No", "It's neither here nor there", "Six of one, half dozen of the other". These of course gave birth to, the marvelous "Whatever".


One of my philosophy professors used to refer to Søren Kierkegaard's _Either/Or_ as "Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other".


----------



## Fortinbras Armstrong

Blancrocher said:


> "How you doing?" as the person walks by and gives no time to respond.


Let me tell you of the time I managed to get a telephone solicitor (no, not a lawyer, a salesman) to hang up on me. He called me and made the mistake of asking how I was. I replied, "Well, I had an excellent bowel movement this morning and the arthritis isn't too bad. But the voices in my head are getting harder to ignore and my psychiatrist is on holiday..." At that point, he hung up.


----------



## Fortinbras Armstrong

hpowders said:


> If you don't hate these hackneyed phrases, then you are part of the problem. :lol:


Old chemist's joke: If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.


----------



## Fortinbras Armstrong

dogen said:


> Ugh, yes and little bits of French is so passé.


à chacun son goût


----------



## Figleaf

dogen said:


> What's a DD? (just so I can hate it)


Aha, a man who has never been on Mumsnet! (You'd be amazed by how many lurk there. ) It stands for "Darling Daughter".


----------



## hpowders

Fortinbras Armstrong said:


> Old chemist's joke: If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.


Funny because I was a chemistry major. Loved precipitates and centrifuges.

Precipitates were never hackneyed.


----------



## hpowders

Ingélou said:


> When I was at school, we went through lists of accepted similes for our eleven plus exam. Then when I was teacher-training in the early 70s, scorn was poured on this practice & we were encouraged to teach kids to come up with comparisons from their own imagination.
> 
> Once I started teaching, and read pupils' writings - an example about a pirate ship being 'the surge of the seas' sticks in my mind - I realised that you do have to make children aware of the traditional usages & even clichés, because:
> 
> a) if they don't know the cliché, how can they avoid it or improve on it?
> 
> b) the older usages are the thews of the language, and the newer ones at least give the flavour of the day.
> 
> I forgot this noble epiphany when I wrote the OP - but heck, these posts are such tremendous fun! :lol:
> 
> *It so has been worth it!*


Yes. Teaching has been worth it. I received a very nice pension.


----------



## geralmar

I can't wrap my head around it.


----------



## Flamme

''Moderate opposition''...In Libya, Syria and elsewhere...When everyone else sees they are blood thirsty jihadies who only use mimic to suck up to western media and politicians.


----------



## Guest

Figleaf said:


> Aha, a man who has never been on Mumsnet! (You'd be amazed by how many lurk there. ) It stands for "Darling Daughter".


AAaagggh Aaaaaaggghhhh Aaggghhhh


----------



## Dedalus

I did not read through the whole thread, so forgive me if these have been mentioned before.. But I hate when people say "not to mention" and then just continue on EVERY TIME to mention the thing they said didn't need mentioning. Along those lines are "I don't mean to be rude, but" and then follow on to say something rude, every time.

Last one I can think of is just a saying people say the wrong way, which is "I could care less" which actually means you care at least a little. It should, of course, be "I couldn't care less".


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

dogen said:


> What's a DD? (just so I can hate it)


DD stands for "Destroyer". I don't see anything wrong with that though.


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

Continuing my naval history freak streak, I dislike it when people refer to their significant others as their "BB".


----------



## SeptimalTritone

dogen said:


> What's a DD? (just so I can hate it)





Figleaf said:


> Aha, a man who has never been on Mumsnet! (You'd be amazed by how many lurk there. ) It stands for "Darling Daughter".





Abraham Lincoln said:


> DD stands for "Destroyer". I don't see anything wrong with that though.


You guys are _all wrong_. It has something to do with clothing, specifically women's clothing.


----------



## Ingélou

Doctor of Divinity?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't like it when people call other people 'losers'. It is so callous & Pharisaical.


----------



## Figleaf

Ingélou said:


> Doctor of Divinity?
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> I don't like it when people call other people 'losers'. It is so callous & Pharisaical.


That's a good qualification to get after your MA. Lots of letters after your name. I don't know whether any seminaries display the sign 'You don't have to be MA DD to work here, but it helps'. Or you could do a DPhil and have 'MA DPhil' after your name, which is quite funny too.

I think loser is fine as a general term of abuse (if general terms of abuse can be said to be fine) but if it has the connotation of 'anyone less successful than me' then it's outrageously snobbish. I would never use it in that sense, and not only because there _isn't _anyone less successful than me!


----------



## Fortinbras Armstrong

Ingélou said:


> Doctor of Divinity?


Which brings to mind a musical excerpt:

Pray observe the magnanimity 
We display to lace and dimity!
Never was such opportunity
To get married with impunity!
But we give up the felicity
Of unbounded domesticity,
Though a doctor of divinity
Is located in this vicinity -- W S Gilbert, _The Pirates of Penzance_


----------



## Fortinbras Armstrong

Figleaf said:


> That's a good qualification to get after your MA. Lots of letters after your name. I don't know whether any seminaries display the sign 'You don't have to be MA DD to work here, but it helps'. Or you could do a DPhil and have 'MA DPhil' after your name, which is quite funny too!


Ah, an Oxford person. Having letters after your name is really only helpful in an academic setting. Or on a resume/CV.

Fortinbras Armstrong, BA, MA, MSc


----------



## Alydon

One of the most hateful and useless expressions still used is: "By and large." It doesn't mean a thing to most people who use it, but they still do. In fact it is a very complicated nautical term, as is the other irksome expression, "Swinging the lead."

My personal most ever hated phrase is: "You guys," which is used to a group of people of either gender when only a few years back it most definitely meant a male person, albeit originally was a slang word in itself. It is most infuriatingly used in restaurants by young waiters (male and female) to address couples and when addressed as such I usually reply that there is one guy and one girl instead. It is one of those phrases where the user believes they are being so hip and cutting edge but where in fact it is cringe making and makes me begin to hate the user fairly quickly.


----------



## Figleaf

Fortinbras Armstrong said:


> Ah, an Oxford person. Having letters after your name is really only helpful in an academic setting. Or on a resume/CV.
> 
> Fortinbras Armstrong, BA, MA, MSc


Yes I am, but I only got a 2:1, so if I'd wanted a doctorate I'd have to have gone to a dreaded redbrick, thus depriving myself of the coveted honorific of Mad Phil. 

It was quite funny when I got my MA Oxon, simply by posting off a form and enclosing a cheque for £10. My then boyfriend had an MA from Middlesex University* which he used to boast about constantly- he was a New Yorker, and seemed to believe that all British universities were equally prestigious. He was furious and indignant that the qualification which had cost him a year of his life and thousands of pounds had been bestowed on me for virtually nothing, and went off on a long rant about how the MA Oxon should be abolished, as Tony Bliar (BA, MA (Oxon)) was rumoured to have planned. Personally I think honorary degrees are a brilliant idea: I really _suffered_ for that poxy 2:1, and getting a small freebie at the end made me feel better about the whole experience! :lol:

* Though now when Americans hear the name Middlesex, they probably think of the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides. This makes my ex's predicament even funnier.


----------



## Figleaf

Alydon said:


> One of the most hateful and useless expressions still used is: "By and large." It doesn't mean a thing to most people who use it, but they still do. In fact it is a very complicated nautical term, as is the other irksome expression, "Swinging the lead."
> 
> My personal most ever hated phrase is: "You guys," which is used to a group of people of either gender when only a few years back it most definitely meant a male person, albeit originally was a slang word in itself. It is most infuriatingly used in restaurants by young waiters (male and female) to address couples and when addressed as such I usually reply that there is one guy and one girl instead. It is one of those phrases where the user believes they are being so hip and cutting edge but where in fact it is cringe making and makes me begin to hate the user fairly quickly.


Hmm. 'You guys" is a bit over familiar and silly, but in a restaurant setting it sure beats the forelock-tugging formality of 'Sir' and 'Madam'. I used to work in a restaurant (Brown's, in Oxford) which insisted on American style bowing and scraping subservience from its wait staff, whose meagre income came almost entirely from tips. Predictably, the customers this attracted were some of the rudest, most anger-filled individuals I've ever met anywhere, and the waiters used to take out their understandable frustration on their more junior colleagues (guess who?) wherever possible. When I didn't get offered a permanent job at the end of a week long probation period I was actually laughing with relief- to the obvious disappointment of my vile former colleagues, who were gathered around in gleeful anticipation of tearful histrionics and wretched pleas for clemency!

I really didn't know about 'by and large', which I I have been innocently using all this time. There are so many expressions taken from fields such as mathematics, science, engineering, and the military, of which my ignorance is total. I used to rely on my much thumbed old copy of Fowler's Modern English Usage to protect me from carelessly misusing these kinds of expressions, and I regret losing it. Newer editions have nothing to do with old Dr Fowler and none of his erudition or cantankerous humour, and probably couldn't tell the average person much that they don't already know.


----------



## GreenMamba

There are plenty of words and phrases that drift from specific, technical meaning to general use. Also, language has never been fully literal.


----------



## Alydon

Figleaf said:


> Hmm. 'You guys" is a bit over familiar and silly, but in a restaurant setting it sure beats the forelock-tugging formality of 'Sir' and 'Madam'. I used to work in a restaurant (Brown's, in Oxford) which insisted on American style bowing and scraping subservience from its wait staff, whose meagre income came almost entirely from tips. Predictably, the customers this attracted were some of the rudest, most anger-filled individuals I've ever met anywhere, and the waiters used to take out their understandable frustration on their more junior colleagues (guess who?) wherever possible. When I didn't get offered a permanent job at the end of a week long probation period I was actually laughing with relief- to the obvious disappointment of my vile former colleagues, who were gathered around in gleeful anticipation of tearful histrionics and wretched pleas for clemency!
> 
> I really didn't know about 'by and large', which I I have been innocently using all this time. There are so many expressions taken from fields such as mathematics, science, engineering, and the military, of which my ignorance is total. I used to rely on my much thumbed old copy of Fowler's Modern English Usage to protect me from carelessly misusing these kinds of expressions, and I regret losing it. Newer editions have nothing to do with old Dr Fowler and none of his erudition or cantankerous humour, and probably couldn't tell the average person much that they don't already know.


Good point and certainly find the too formal style in eateries also annoying - in fact that gives clever waiting staff the chance to be "ironic" without certain pompous clients realising they are being made fun of. I think people want some respect when they are met by staff in restaurants and some probably don't even notice my pet hated phrase. In fact there was a "guy" who worked as a waiter in a bistro in my home village and his constant response to any query was "No problem." In fact he used it so much that his nickname became, "No problem." About five years after he left the bistro I asked a couple what the new restaurant was like in the next town and they replied it was very good but a waiter had annoyed them by answering them all the time with "No problem," when the couple had kept saying there wasn't a problem with anything. Of course it was the very same waiter from the bistro and as far as I know he is still called "No problem" to this day by all who know him.


----------



## Figleaf

GreenMamba said:


> There are plenty of words and phrases that drift from specific, technical meaning to general use. Also, language has never been fully literal.


True, but sometimes the vaguer uses of an expression sit very incongruously with the original meaning, leaving the speaker potentially sounding foolish and ignorant, in an uneasy grey area between ineptly used metaphor and outright malapropism. Like when people use 'decimated' to mean 'completely wiped out'. That's why you have to know what a word or phrase literally means (just as I don't know the literal meaning of 'by and large') to avoid sounding stupid.


----------



## Guest

Figleaf said:


> a dreaded redbrick


Hey, some of us lower life forms went to one of those!

:devil:


----------



## Figleaf

dogen said:


> Hey, some of us lower life forms went to one of those!
> 
> :devil:


Yes, and if I had my time again I'd join you there. The only advantage of an Oxbridge education is the amusement of pretending to look down on people who don't have one. Especially the teachers at my old comprehensive who told me in no uncertain terms that I wasn't clever enough to go to any university, ever.


----------



## GreenMamba

Figleaf said:


> True, but sometimes the vaguer uses of an expression sit very incongruously with the original meaning, leaving the speaker potentially sounding foolish and ignorant, in an uneasy grey area between ineptly used metaphor and outright malapropism. Like when people use 'decimated' to mean 'completely wiped out'. That's why you have to know what a word or phrase literally means (just as I don't know the literal meaning of 'by and large') to avoid sounding stupid.


I think everyone knows what "by and large" means. I don't see how anyone looks stupid by not knowing its source. Same with decimated. Whatever its origins, it no longer means killing one out of ten.

Is there anyone who doesn't know that "How's it going?" is just another way of saying "hello"? Why get upset because it's used that way?


----------



## Ingélou

^^^ That's true - language changes. A lot of ink is spent on the difference between disinterested & uninterested, & the correct meaning of 'infer'. The truth is, the modern usages are taking over. But educated and/or older people can feel sad about it, because nuances are lost, and because sometimes newer usages seem uglier. 

This is meant to be a light-hearted thread, though, and I think we're all exaggerating our disdain for the loathed expressions just for the fun of it.

I never expected this thread to take off as it has. I think it shows that on Talk Classical a lot of us care about language as well as music, and moreover, we are sensitive to trends and finer shades in language much as many of us are in music.


----------



## Figleaf

No, I really do have loathing and disdain for people who say things like 'The scammers took every penny. Our bank account was completely decimated'. OK, in that hypothetical example I'd probably be a bit sympathetic, since the speaker might be too distressed to worry about using the language correctly.  But journalists who write things like "as she received the Oscar for Best Actress, the emotional Ms. X seemed to be overwhelmed by the *enormity* of her achievement'. Anyone who recognises the incorrect usage and claims to be unbothered by it clearly has a tin ear for language, and is likely to be suspected of inverted snobbery.


----------



## Guest

Ingélou said:


> I think it shows that on Talk Classical a lot of us care about language as well as music, and moreover, we are sensitive to trends and finer shades in language much as many of us are in music.


lulz and other abominations


----------



## Guest

and prolly lol 2...


----------



## GreenMamba

Ingélou said:


> ^^^ That's true - language changes. A lot of ink is spent on the difference between disinterested & uninterested, & the correct meaning of 'infer'. The truth is, the modern usages are taking over. But educated and/or older people can feel sad about it, because nuances are lost, and because sometimes newer usages seem uglier.


I dislike the misuse of "disinterested" as well. However, that's entirely different from complaining about not knowing what "by and large" literally means, or complaining about the waiter saying "no problem" to you. There have been several examples where people have claimed they hate/loathe/have disdain for people who don't use proper traditional English. This isn't sensitivity to language, it's anti-social crankiness.


----------



## brotagonist

I also dislike the censoring of expression, which is especially prevalent in Anglophone countries, it would seem to me. We are adults. Five year olds know worse words than I do  Why do words people use in everday speech have to be censored and bleeped? They have their place: that's why we use them. Those who are uncouth just don't know when and when not to use them—and most of us occasionally use them for effect or to be one of the guys.


----------



## Ingélou

dogen said:


> lulz and other abominations


I've certainly learned something from this thread.
Ah well - it was fun while it lasted...


----------



## Guest

Ingélou said:


> ...


Do you know how annoying that is!!!


----------



## Ilarion

I despise, detest and loathe the use of the word *HATE* - And yes, I myself have used it at times - For me it signifies a disbalance within those who use that word - And since I have used it, I too am sometimes in a state of disbalance. I regret the pain it causes the recipients because it is something I wish not to happen to me. Even a phenomenon or subject, or object that we read about or experience should be adjudicated with care Just a suggestion: Maybe the mods here on TC can change the title of this thread to e.g. *Expressions you despise, detest and loathe*.


----------



## Ingélou

dogen said:


> Do you know how annoying that is!!!


Yes! 

See #167, above:


Ingélou said:


> I'm waiting for someone to say how much they hate this fashionable trail at the end of one's remarks...
> 
> Guilty, m'lud - but it's so useful - it makes it sound as if I'm incredibly subtle and have lots of hidden insights up my sleeve...


----------



## Ingélou

Ilarion said:


> I despise, detest and loathe the use of the word *HATE* - And yes, I myself have used it at times - For me it signifies a disbalance within those who use that word - And since I have used it, I too am sometimes in a state of disbalance. I regret the pain it causes the recipients because it is something I wish not to happen to me. Even a phenomenon or subject, or object that we read about or experience should be adjudicated with care Just a suggestion: Maybe the mods here on TC can change the title of this thread to e.g. *Expressions you despise, detest and loathe*.


'Hate' is commonly used in a trivial context, as in 'I hate rice pudding'. 
This is, and was always meant to be, a light-hearted thread.

But it's strange - I posted this thread on a fiddle forum that I belong to, and got the same response. 
If words like 'hate' and 'bad' are censored, we would get into the realms of Newspeak, in my view.


----------



## Guest

Vaneyes said:


> How could I forget "very unique". That's a Top 10 teeth-gritter for me.
> Another expression that "sends me up the wall"...
> "*We're pregnant*."


Ah, the royal "We" ! Maggie Thatcher used it, too, when she said "We are a grandmother" !!


----------



## Jos

Figleaf said:


> Aha, a man who has never been on Mumsnet! (You'd be amazed by how many lurk there. ) It stands for "Darling Daughter".


Hmmm, not sure if I dare googling "mumsnet" combined with "DD"...


----------



## dzc4627

Thought terminating cliches like "That's just how it is!" or especially, this one is a biggie, "Everything happens for a reason." Like what the hell does that mean?!

Yeah sure, things occur because of past things. Right? I just can't wrap my head around why everyone finds comfort in saying that everything happens for a reason.

Good list of thought-terminating cliches:
http://jorgenmodin.net/index_html/wikpedias-now-deleted-page-on-thought-terminating-cliche


----------



## Guest

Well, I can see that this thread is clearly *an ongoing situation*, one that *quite literally *makes me split my sides guffawing (call that fargin' surgeon right now!).


----------



## Figleaf

Ingélou said:


> 'Hate' is commonly used in a trivial context, as in 'I hate rice pudding'.
> This is, and was always meant to be, a light-hearted thread.
> 
> But it's strange - I posted this thread on a fiddle forum that I belong to, and got the same response.
> If words like 'hate' and 'bad' are censored, we would get into the realms of Newspeak, in my view.


I was brought up to believe that you must never say that you Hate anything, because it is Rude. (Rudeness, intentional or otherwise, was rewarded with a pretty severe spanking, so you had to be very, very careful what you said.) However, under sufficient provocation, the forbidden word has a way of slipping out. One time when I was six or seven I had ballet lessons, but my parents wouldn't let me perform in the end of term show* because the scheduled finishing time was after my bedtime. (I genuinely believed witches would eat me if I didn't at least feign sleep after I was put to bed at 7pm, but I was willing to chance it on this one occasion. ) Anyway, the ballet teacher made me sit on the bench and ignored me totally for the whole of every lesson that term, purely because my mum wouldn't let me be in the show. My mortification was intense. After weeks of this, during which the ballet show was all the girls at school talked about, the show took place without me. The next day in the playground, my best friend crowed about how great it was, and how 'everyone' was there. Her most triumphal tone, however, was reserved for the great treat she had received after the show: not only was she allowed to stay up even later and watch the TV with her parents, but she had seen the comedian Tommy Cooper's sudden, shocking death, broadcast during a live performance. I don't know why watching a random celebrity die seemed like the coolest thing ever; perhaps it was the way she told it, and empathy obviously wasn't my strong suit then. I was livid with envy. Anyway. A short time later my great aunt came to tea. My parents were in awe of her: she was rather grand, notoriously tetchy, and enjoyed what was by the standards of our working class family a spectacularly glamorous and lucrative career as the head teacher of a junior school in Romford. My parents used to speculate feverishly about what her net worth must be (maybe half a million!) the huge size of her garden (at least an acre!) and the chances that she, being childless, would leave it all to us. As the Bright Child, I was presumed to be their golden ticket, and was pushed forwards to perform during her visits. The problem with this arrangement was that the list of things that were Rude and therefore unmentionable was long, arbitrary and unpredictable, which rendered me hopelessly tongue tied and awkward. Anyway, comfortably ensconced on our velour settee, drinking PG Tips from a proper cup with a saucer, the aunt, who was rather cultured and used to go to see ballets at Covent Garden, remembered that I had been having ballet lessons. (It is only now that I realise she had probably been paying for those lessons... _awkward_ indeed!)

'So, Charlotte-Jane! How do you like your ballet lessons?'

It was a kick in the stomach. Visions of that detested bench... Tommy Cooper... best friend staying up till nearly midnight... I couldn't help it. It just slipped out.

'I HATE BALLET! But I quite like tap.'

There was that ominous moment when you glimpse the tight lipped, temporarily thwarted fury of a parent who is determined to administer the beating of a lifetime, but must for the sake of politeness wait until the guests have departed. The subject was tactfully changed and I had that leaden, dread-filled anticipation of delayed punishment. Weirdly, I'm pretty sure that I never received that beating, which was probably the closest thing to a tacit admission by my parents that for once, I wasn't 100% in the wrong. I was, however, cold shouldered for the rest of the day and sent to my room because I had said that I Hated something, and to the one relative in whose presence my behaviour was expected to be even prissier than usual!

P.S. I also hate rice pudding! I have, like, a _goldmine_ of material for a future misery memoir right here.  Obviously I couldn't say I Hated it, so I had to convey my dislike of the stuff by just eating the glob of strawberry jam on top, then miserably watching the rest grow cold and congeal until it was finally taken away.

The trouble with banning the word hate is that the underlying emotion doesn't go away just because the word has become taboo. We may have to use it judiciously, but what a mealy mouthed bunch of hypocrites we would be if we could not, for the sake of some social scruple, give our normal and natural emotions their proper name!

* 15th April 1984 according to Wikipedia. I had just turned seven.


----------



## Dr Johnson

Figleaf said:


> The trouble with banning the word hate is that the underlying emotion doesn't go away just because the word has become taboo. We may have to use it judiciously, but what a mealy mouthed bunch of hypocrites we would be if we could not, for the sake of some social scruple, give our normal and natural emotions their proper name!


Hear, hear!


----------



## Figleaf

Jos said:


> Hmmm, not sure if I dare googling "mumsnet" combined with "DD"...


It is a mine of sometimes risqué but always useful and never gratuitous information. My male acquaintance, who shall be nameless, discovered the site by googling something like 'Can you make love in a tent?', the sort of everyday dilemma you can't very well ask your coworkers or family for help with, and Mumsnet happened to be the first result that popped up. I believe it was during this perusal of the site that my anonymous contact developed a dislike for the site's whimsical jargon, 'DD', 'DS', 'SO', etc. :lol:


----------



## Ilarion

Ingélou said:


> 'Hate' is commonly used in a trivial context, as in 'I hate rice pudding'.
> This is, and was always meant to be, a light-hearted thread.
> 
> But it's strange - I posted this thread on a fiddle forum that I belong to, and got the same response.
> If words like 'hate' and 'bad' are censored, we would get into the realms of Newspeak, in my view.


Ingelou,

Thank you for your comment - it is well received:tiphat: If I may add, to call something / someone bad is not synonymous with hating something / someone. I believe we all have be brave enough to call a spade a spade. The written word is a very powerful tool - We can engage in upbuilding discourse where everyone wins or we can destroy humanity by the power of the pen / keyboard. Ingelou, methinks you and I are pretty much on the same wavelength. If not, please feel free to PM me if I am wrong.


----------



## Ingélou

Ilarion said:


> Ingelou,
> 
> Thank you for your comment - it is well received:tiphat: If I may add, to call something / someone bad is not synonymous with hating something / someone. I believe we all have be brave enough to call a spade a spade. The written word is a very powerful tool - We can engage in upbuilding discourse where everyone wins or we can destroy humanity by the power of the pen / keyboard. Ingelou, methinks you and I are pretty much on the same wavelength. If not, please feel free to PM me if I am wrong.


Of course you are not wrong - you are the modern day equivalent of Chaucer's *verray, parfit, gentil knyght*. :tiphat:

Thanks for your courteous & magnanimous rejoinder.

Why I posted the thread - I think it was because I'd noticed that newspaper letter pages often brim with people noting some modern usage that amuses or riles them. The title was just the most direct way I could think of saying it. I grew up in the North of England, where people are direct & give honest reactions - something that occasionally gets us into trouble with the more urbane Southern English. No offence was meant by any of it.

Further, I believe two things about this darned thread:

a) Posters on TC do care, many of them/ us, about good English usage and/or

b) They like to spot the latest trend & mildly satirise it.

But I don't honestly think anyone here is meaning to be nasty.

Thanks to everyone for some fab posts. :tiphat:


----------



## Ilarion

Ingélou said:


> Of course you are not wrong - you are the modern day equivalent of Chaucer's *verray, parfit, gentil knyght*. :tiphat:
> 
> Thanks for your courteous & magnanimous rejoinder.
> 
> Why I posted the thread - I think it was because I'd noticed that newspaper letter pages often brim with people noting some modern usage that amuses or riles them. The title was just the most direct way I could think of saying it. I grew up in the North of England, where people are direct & give honest reactions - something that occasionally gets us into trouble with the more urbane Southern English. No offence was meant by any of it.
> 
> Further, I believe two things about this darned thread:
> 
> a) Posters on TC do care, many of them/ us, about good English usage and/or
> 
> b) They like to spot the latest trend & mildly satirise it.
> 
> But I don't honestly think anyone here is meaning to be nasty.
> 
> Thanks to everyone for some fab posts. :tiphat:


Dear gentleperson Ingelou,

You honor me greatly by including me and Chaucer in one sentence. Truth be told, I never had a mastery of the English Language - I just muddle along basically. Maybe I'm an old-fashioned persnickety curmudgeon but noting the discourse in National and International spheres, I become somewhat alarmed when I sense how easily written rhetoric spills over into showdowns of a most nasty sort. I fully believe that no one here on TC wants to be nasty and that all wish to strive for peace as opposed to some elected officials wanting war for Christmas.


----------



## Guest

I do _*hate*_ Millwall FC, but they don't care. 
Long live Aston Villa.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_one_likes_us,_we_don't_care


----------



## brotagonist

"wrap my head around something"

Grrrr.... :lol:


----------



## Alydon

TalkingHead said:


> I do _*hate*_ Millwall FC, but they don't care.
> Long live Aston Villa.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_one_likes_us,_we_don't_care


Imagine what it must be like to be a West Ham supporter then.


----------



## Vaneyes

brotagonist said:


> "*wrap my head around something*"
> 
> Grrrr.... :lol:


Guilty as charged...(and 3 dots for I.) in a reply to Pugg not long ago. I'll be putting myself in the box, to spend the night. :tiphat:


----------



## Vaneyes

Figleaf said:


> It is a mine of sometimes risqué but always useful and never gratuitous information. My male acquaintance, who shall be nameless, discovered the site by googling something like 'Can you make love in a tent?', the sort of everyday dilemma you can't very well ask your coworkers or family for help with, and Mumsnet happened to be the first result that popped up. I believe it was during this perusal of the site that my anonymous contact developed a dislike for the site's whimsical jargon, 'DD', 'DS', 'SO', etc. :lol:


No issues with tent, phone booth, elevator, closet, airline water closet, etc.

And SOS is not always the universal "Help!" symbol.


----------



## Vaneyes

Figleaf said:


> I was brought up to believe that you must never say that you Hate anything, because it is Rude. (Rudeness, intentional or otherwise, was rewarded with a pretty severe spanking, so you had to be very, very careful what you said.) However, under sufficient provocation, the forbidden word has a way of slipping out. One time when I was six or seven I had ballet lessons, but my parents wouldn't let me perform in the end of term show* because the scheduled finishing time was after my bedtime. (I genuinely believed witches would eat me if I didn't at least feign sleep after I was put to bed at 7pm, but I was willing to chance it on this one occasion. ) Anyway, the ballet teacher made me sit on the bench and ignored me totally for the whole of every lesson that term, purely because my mum wouldn't let me be in the show. My mortification was intense. After weeks of this, during which the ballet show was all the girls at school talked about, the show took place without me. The next day in the playground, my best friend crowed about how great it was, and how 'everyone' was there. Her most triumphal tone, however, was reserved for the great treat she had received after the show: not only was she allowed to stay up even later and watch the TV with her parents, but she had seen the comedian Tommy Cooper's sudden, shocking death, broadcast during a live performance. I don't know why watching a random celebrity die seemed like the coolest thing ever; perhaps it was the way she told it, and empathy obviously wasn't my strong suit then. I was livid with envy. Anyway. A short time later my great aunt came to tea. My parents were in awe of her: she was rather grand, notoriously tetchy, and enjoyed what was by the standards of our working class family a spectacularly glamorous and lucrative career as the head teacher of a junior school in Romford. My parents used to speculate feverishly about what her net worth must be (maybe half a million!) the huge size of her garden (at least an acre!) and the chances that she, being childless, would leave it all to us. As the Bright Child, I was presumed to be their golden ticket, and was pushed forwards to perform during her visits. The problem with this arrangement was that the list of things that were Rude and therefore unmentionable was long, arbitrary and unpredictable, which rendered me hopelessly tongue tied and awkward. Anyway, comfortably ensconced on our velour settee, drinking PG Tips from a proper cup with a saucer, the aunt, who was rather cultured and used to go to see ballets at Covent Garden, remembered that I had been having ballet lessons. (It is only now that I realise she had probably been paying for those lessons... _awkward_ indeed!)
> 
> 'So, Charlotte-Jane! How do you like your ballet lessons?'
> 
> It was a kick in the stomach. Visions of that detested bench... Tommy Cooper... best friend staying up till nearly midnight... I couldn't help it. It just slipped out.
> 
> 'I HATE BALLET! But I quite like tap.'
> 
> There was that ominous moment when you glimpse the tight lipped, temporarily thwarted fury of a parent who is determined to administer the beating of a lifetime, but must for the sake of politeness wait until the guests have departed. The subject was tactfully changed and I had that leaden, dread-filled anticipation of delayed punishment. Weirdly, I'm pretty sure that I never received that beating, which was probably the closest thing to a tacit admission by my parents that for once, I wasn't 100% in the wrong. I was, however, cold shouldered for the rest of the day and sent to my room because I had said that I Hated something, and to the one relative in whose presence my behaviour was expected to be even prissier than usual!
> 
> P.S. I also hate rice pudding! I have, like, a _goldmine_ of material for a future misery memoir right here.  Obviously I couldn't say I Hated it, so I had to convey my dislike of the stuff by just eating the glob of strawberry jam on top, then miserably watching the rest grow cold and congeal until it was finally taken away.
> 
> The trouble with banning the word hate is that the underlying emotion doesn't go away just because the word has become taboo. We may have to use it judiciously, but what a mealy mouthed bunch of hypocrites we would be if we could not, for the sake of some social scruple, give our normal and natural emotions their proper name!
> 
> * 15th April 1984 according to Wikipedia. I had just turned seven.


"That was a long post, m'am. License and registration, please."


----------



## Figleaf

Vaneyes said:


> "That was a long post, m'am. License and registration, please."


Well, you know how it is when you're sitting by the computer, waiting for an important email to come in. I don't expect anyone to actually _read_ my meanderings. 

It came- my house purchase completes just in time for Christmas.


----------



## Vaneyes

Figleaf said:


> Well, you know how it is when you're sitting by the computer, waiting for an important email to come in. I don't expect anyone to actually _read_ my meanderings.
> 
> It came- my house purchase completes just in time for Christmas.


All's well that ends well. Congrats.

"Warning this time, ma'm. Have a nice day."


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

Absurdly long chemical names i.e. the full name of titin.


----------



## geralmar

I told you so.

Chill.


----------



## Jos

"Sick" meaning "good". 
The hipster designers at my school used it for a while, it seems out of date already, thank goodness.


----------



## hpowders

When I was a secondary school chemistry teacher faced with a classroom of moronic caliber, I would water down the most abstract concepts to utter simplicity and when asking a basic question as a followup, would be met with complete silence.

"Anyone? Anyone?"

I coined this "phrase" a long time ago and I resent seeing it being used on television in comedy shows by teacher/actors without giving me proper acknowledgement.

It should now be banned from the English language.


----------



## Ingélou

hpowders said:


> When I was a secondary school chemistry teacher faced with a classroom of moronic caliber, I would water down the most abstract concepts to utter simplicity and when asking a basic question as a followup, would be met with complete silence.
> 
> "Anyone? Anyone?"
> 
> I coined this "phrase" a long time ago and I resent seeing it being used on television in comedy shows by teacher/actors without giving me proper acknowledgement.
> 
> It should now be banned from the English language.


Ah, that silence - I remember it well.

Our Latin teacher used to ask a question that was either so hard that we knew we'd feel silly attempting to answer it, or so easy that we knew we'd feel silly attempting to answer it.

Then after two minutes of utterly painful silence, she'd say, 'Come now, girls - come, come!' in a voice mid-way between coaxing and despairing.

That, of course, made it even more impossible for anyone to answer.

So in the end she'd answer the question herself with a sort of fake nonchalant jollity.

Eheu!


----------



## hpowders

Ingélou said:


> Ah, that silence - I remember it well.
> 
> Our Latin teacher used to ask a question that was either so hard that we knew we'd feel silly attempting to answer it, or so easy that we knew we'd feel silly attempting to answer it.
> 
> Then after two minutes of utterly painful silence, she'd say, 'Come now, girls - come, come!' in a voice mid-way between coaxing and despairing.
> 
> That, of course, made it even more impossible for anyone to answer.
> 
> So in the end she'd answer the question herself with a sort of fake nonchalant jollity.
> 
> Eheu!


In today's classrooms, the phrase "Come now girls-come, come!" might produce some quite different and unanticipated results.


----------



## Dr Johnson

Come, come, sir, surely you jest.

Well, perhaps not.


----------



## hpowders

Dr Johnson said:


> Come, come, sir, surely you jest.


I would if I could, but I can't so I won't.


----------



## hpowders

Let's finally abolish "How old are you?" I don't like the insinuation.

Let's replace it with "How many birthdays have you had?"


----------



## Ingélou

hpowders said:


> Let's finally abolish "How old are you?" I don't like the insinuation.
> 
> Let's replace it with "How many birthdays have you had?"


Reminds me of what my father used to say about a shock being in store for us - 'You'll think all your birthdays have come at once!' 
I suppose because of the tradition of giving people 'birthday bumps'.


----------



## Blancrocher

"The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 15 characters."


----------



## hpowders

Ingélou said:


> Reminds me of what my father used to say about a shock being in store for us - 'You'll think all your birthdays have come at once!'
> I suppose because of the tradition of giving people 'birthday bumps'.


When I was 17, I asked my dad what he wanted for his birthday and he replied "That's easy, son. Leave!!"

When my SO asks me yearly what I want for my birthday, my answer is always the same, "24 hours of peace and quiet."


----------



## Ilarion

hpowders said:


> Let's finally abolish "How old are you?" I don't like the insinuation.
> 
> Let's replace it with "How many birthdays have you had?"


Hows about *How many Summers are you*?


----------



## Dim7

Blancrocher said:


> "The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 15 characters."


I'm going to try that in real life. "Sorry, what you said was under 15 characters. Does not compute. Please be a bit more verbose so that I can understand you."


----------



## Ingélou

People usually say the opposite to me!


----------



## Ilarion

Now, if you want to be tricky a suggestion could be: How many full moons are you? :cheers:


----------



## Vaneyes

Re classroom frolics, there were many...for which I'll recall one in the 7th grade. Two boys in the back of the classroom were conversing a little too loudly at some length, when the teacher finally asked his usual question for such incidences, *"Perhaps you'd like to share it with us?"

*After a pause (maybe six dots, I.), one of the boys replied, "He farted, sir."


----------



## hpowders

Ilarion said:


> Hows about *How many Summers are you*?


A bit bland. It can use some "seasoning".


----------



## hpowders

Ilarion said:


> Now, if you want to be tricky a suggestion could be: How many full moons are you? :cheers:


Next time I'm in Transylvania, I will certainly be asking. Thanks!


----------



## Badinerie

There is a trend her in the UK to insert the expression 'Deh deh deh' into a sentence when it is that more could be added.
Usually with an accompanying hand gesture. Possibly used in place of "and the rest", "et al" or "ect ect". I really _dislike_ that. I think that people are going to talk they should use Words or just shut up!

Words and phrases the really annoy me even when they are used legitimately or mistakenly are...

1, "Racist" when applied to Humans. IE white race or black race. There is only one race of humans on earth, the Human race. Ask your local friendly Anthropologist!

2, Behoove. Its just an ugly word. Such phrases as "It Behoove's us" really grate on my nerves. The prefix Be implies an action performed. Befriended or Bedecked for example. If I say "I am behooved" does it mean I have hooves or been given hooves!? No...members of the Human race are not Ungulates! gah!

3, Spurious use of the word "Hate" when discussing trivial or insubstantial subjects. It should be saved special use!

Actually I better stop now...."Quit while I'm ahead" Ah! there's another one. If I quit while I'm ahead everyone else will stampede past and I wont be ahead anymore?


----------



## Ingélou

It behoves* me to say that I once had a Border Terrier & just hated his racist attitude to cats, rabbits, horses etc... :devil:

_*Never heard 'behooves' until you mentioned it - I think it's an American form..._


----------



## Badinerie

I have lived and worked all over the UK but I have never heard 'Behooves' used here. Behove is the correct spelling of course. Your use of racist in your post is appropriate, unlike the reprehensible behavior of the aforementioned canine! Robert Burns reference the the Haggis is questionable though.


----------



## Ingélou

Badinerie said:


> I have lived and worked all over the UK but I have never heard 'Behooves' used here. Behove is the correct spelling of course. Your use of racist in your post is appropriate, unlike the reprehensible behavior of the aforementioned canine! Robert Burns reference the the Haggis is questionable though.


:tiphat: Fair fa' thy honest, sonsie face for that!


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

Gender pronouns like "e", "ze", "co" and "rim". I find them obnoxious and confusing. Seriously, why can't we just stick with "he", "she", "they", etc? It would make things a lot less confusing.


----------



## bestellen

I want to hear which expressions bug the crap out of you.

Mine: "At the end of the day"
"I know right?"
"I need to take a breather"
"Over it"


----------



## Vaneyes

*"Chill out."* Which of course makes me angrier, and causes issuance of a stream of extra profanity toward the advisor.


----------



## brotagonist

The use of 'this' when 'a' is meant: I saw this chick.... You did? Which one? This one?


----------



## brotagonist

'off of'

Grrr...!


----------



## brotagonist

'me and my friend' instead of my friend and I...

I was raised knowing that 'der Esel nennt sich zuerst' (the jackass names himself first).


----------



## GreenMamba

brotagonist said:


> 'me and my friend' instead of my friend and I...


Incorrect use of the opposite sounds even worse, IMO.

"She took a picture of my friend and I."


----------



## Ingélou

In Latin, it's correct to put yourself first. Our Latin mistress told us that Cardinal Wolsey was not flavour of the month with Henry VIII when he wrote a letter to the pope saying 'Ego et meus rex'!

I apologise to anyone who hates *flavour of the month*.


----------



## GreenMamba

Ingélou said:


> In Latin, it's correct to put yourself first. Our Latin mistress told us that Cardinal Wolsey was not flavour of the month with Henry VIII when he wrote a letter to the pope saying 'Ego et meus rex'!
> 
> I apologise to anyone who hates *flavour of the month*.


Yeah, it really should be "flav*or *of the month."


----------



## brotagonist

I also dislike that restaurants no longer have the _soup du jour _(soup of the day), _pie à la mode_ (with a scoop of ice cream on top), _hamburger deluxe_ (with french fries), etc. Why has the use of these phrases that were once ubiquitous been discontinued?


----------



## Ilarion

Ingélou said:


> It behoves* me to say that I once had a Border Terrier & just hated his racist attitude to cats, rabbits, horses etc... :devil:
> 
> _*Never heard 'behooves' until you mentioned it - I think it's an American form..._


Dear Ingelou,

You have just reminded me of a true story about a famous Hungarian Mathematician named Paul Erdos(Erdos sounds like airdish).

Dr. Erdos was once invited for tea and crumpets by a female acquaintance. He notices her cat skulking around the apartment and he snorts: Fascist Cat! The woman was aghast and replied: My cat is not a Fascist! Dr. Erdos calmly replied: Tell that to the mouse...


----------



## Belowpar

Ilarion said:


> Dear Ingelou,
> 
> You have just reminded me of a true story about a famous Hungarian Mathematician named Paul Erdos(Erdos sounds like airdish).
> 
> Dr. Erdos was once invited for tea and crumpets by a female acquaintance. He notices her cat skulking around the apartment and he snorts: Fascist Cat! The woman was aghast and replied: My cat is not a Fascist! Dr. Erdos calmly replied: Tell that to the mouse...


Yep Mathematician's are hopeless at small talk. Bet he slept in his own bed that night!

(Sorry Ilarion you make a fine point. But to those of us raised on "Carry on" films, being invited round for "Tea and Crumpets" brings a smile. )


----------



## Taggart

Belowpar said:


> Yep Mathematician's are hopeless at small talk. Bet he slept in his own bed that night!
> 
> (Sorry Ilarion you make a fine point. But to those of us raised on "Carry on" films, being invited round for "Tea and Crumpets" brings a smile. )


Erdos was famous for being a vagabond and generally crashed with friends. He would typically show up at a colleague's doorstep and announce "my brain is open", staying long enough to collaborate on a few papers before moving on a few days later. In many cases, he would ask the current collaborator about whom to visit next. (Wiki)


----------



## Blancrocher

Belowpar said:


> Yep Mathematician's are hopeless at small talk. Bet he slept in his own bed that night!


Taggart's qualification notwithstanding, I find it interesting that there is a biography of Erdos entitled "The Man Who Loved Only Numbers."

http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Loved...TF8&qid=1449842979&sr=8-1&keywords=paul+erdos


----------



## Taggart

Blancrocher said:


> Taggart's qualification notwithstanding, I find it interesting that there is a biography of Erdos entitled "The Man Who Loved Only Numbers."
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Loved...TF8&qid=1449842979&sr=8-1&keywords=paul+erdos


Great, I've just ordered it from the library. He even has a number named after him - the Erdos number!


----------



## Guest

brotagonist said:


> 'me and my friend' instead of my friend and I...


I ended a first date very early when she used a "Me and..." construction at least twice in 15 minutes! Fortunately, the woman I eventually married has good grammar.


----------



## Kivimees

brotagonist said:


> 'me and my friend' instead of my friend and I...
> 
> I was raised knowing that 'der Esel nennt sich zuerst' (the jackass names himself first).


Okay, but what kind of song is "Bobby McGee and I"?


----------



## Dr Johnson

Kivimees said:


> Okay, but what kind of song is "Bobby McGee and I"?


And where would we be without "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo"?


----------



## GreenMamba

Kivimees said:


> Okay, but what kind of song is "Bobby McGee and I"?


But the lyrics are "...good enough for me and mah Bobby McGee," which is correct.


----------



## Ingélou

Kivimees said:


> Okay, but what kind of song is "Bobby McGee and I"?


:lol: Brilliant!

_However_, the line _is_ 'good enough for me and Bobby McGee' - where _me_ is the accusative; technically it would work as 'good enough for Bobby McGee and me', but it lacks oomph. 

PS - Green Mamba, you got there first! :tiphat:

Great minds, et cetera...
(i.e. 'Great minds think alike, but the slightly less great mind thinks alike more slowly.')


----------



## Kivimees

GreenMamba said:


> But the lyrics are "...good enough for me and mah Bobby McGee," which is correct.


Touche! :tiphat:


----------



## Flamme

Kontrapunctus said:


> I ended a first date very early when she used a "Me and..." construction at least twice in 15 minutes! Fortunately, the woman I eventually married has good grammar.


But isnt it a bit harsh...Must be there were some other negative points as well.


----------



## Guest

Flamme said:


> But isnt it a bit harsh...Must be there were some other negative points as well.


I am an exacting little bugger. Plus, she didn't like the Schnittke Cello Sonata I played on a CD en route to the restaurant--she was a cellist.


----------



## Dim7

****ed up names for guitar chords when capos are used. Gm doesn't become Em just because there's a capo on the third fret


----------



## Guest

Kontrapunctus said:


> Plus, she didn't like the Schnittke Cello Sonata I played on a CD en route to the restaurant--she was a cellist.


You're kidding, what a bitch.


----------



## Guest

dogen said:


> You're kidding, what a bitch.


Yeah, and the next day she emailed me to say that I was "too dark" and didn't want to see me again. WTF? I like some dark music and it makes me a bad person? I took the high road and didn't say that her grammar nearly made me choke on my steak.


----------



## GreenMamba

Kontrapunctus said:


> Yeah, and the next day she emailed me to say that I was "too dark" and didn't want to see me again. WTF? I like some dark music and it makes me a bad person? I took the high road and didn't say that her grammar nearly made me choke on my steak.


Did she say you were a bad person? Maybe she didn't think you were a good fit for her.

Btw, Dogen was being sarcastic.


----------



## Guest

GreenMamba said:


> Did she say you were a bad person? Maybe she didn't think you were a good fit for her.
> 
> Btw, Dogen was being sarcastic.


No, not in so many words, but she said something to the effect that it/I scared her. Her loss.

I don't know Dogen's listening tastes, so it's hard to tell!


----------



## millionrainbows

GreenMamba said:


> But the lyrics are "...good enough for me and mah Bobby McGee," which is correct.


"Feelin' good was good enough for you...
Good enough for you and Mr. Magoo..."

No prob-ola~


----------



## Mahlerian

Dim7 said:


> ****ed up names for guitar chords when capos are used. Gm doesn't become Em just because there's a capo on the third fret


Do you have problems with notation for transposing instruments, by any chance?


----------



## Dim7

Mahlerian said:


> Do you have problems with notation for transposing instruments, by any chance?


Erm, that's a bit different... maybe...


----------



## Mahlerian

Dim7 said:


> Erm, that's a bit different... maybe...











Well, if you read this normally, it looks like

G minor - Eb major - G minor 6/4 - D minor

But since horns are an instrument in F, it sounds a fifth lower, as

C minor - Ab major - C minor 6/4 - G minor


----------



## millionrainbows

Don't forget, guitar music is written an octave higher as well.


----------



## Dr Johnson

millionrainbows said:


> Don't forget, guitar music is written an octave higher as well.


That's still way better than a transposing instrument like the tenor sax.


----------



## Ingélou

Kontrapunctus said:


> I ended a first date very early when she used a "Me and..." construction at least twice in 15 minutes! Fortunately, the woman I eventually married has good grammar.


Have I got the cartoon for you!


----------



## Richannes Wrahms

Which reminds me of the, I assume, now infamous:

To Whom It May Concern


----------



## Guest

I'm not going to read through 27 pages to see whether I am being repetitious. 

One expression that I truly hate is when people say "irregardless." The word is, in and of itself, a double negative. Many people use it when they really mean to say "regardless," and treat the two as synonymous - or worse, think that "irregardless" is the word to use.


----------



## geralmar

I was just watching the Republican candidates debate and one of them insisted that the U.S. have a military "second to none." Doesn't that really mean "less than nothing"?


----------



## Lyricus

Dr Johnson said:


> And where would we be without "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo"?


You and me, me and you...so happy together!


----------



## trazom

GreenMamba said:


> Incorrect use of the opposite sounds even worse, *IMO.
> *
> "She took a picture of my friend and I."


There's another one...IMO.


----------



## Pugg

There will be _never_ one be better then..........(fill in your own choice.)

So pretentious


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

Better *than*, not better then


----------



## Flamme

Kontrapunctus said:


> Yeah, and the next day she emailed me to say that I was "too dark" and didn't want to see me again. WTF? I like some dark music and it makes me a bad person? I took the high road and didn't say that her grammar nearly made me choke on my steak.


Dude, if i know anything, one thing i realised about ''the girls'' Is that they dont like anything ''DARK''. except dark chocolate or coffee maybe!!! In conversations with them about almost anything you have to be light, carefree, ludacris...Even if you re dying! Its strange but even laughing like crazy could have get you somewhere...Shnittke? Nah...


----------



## Kivimees

Abraham Lincoln said:


> Better *than*, not better then


Then let's throw in 'have', not 'of':
should of, could of, might of....


----------



## Blancrocher

I'm somewhat annoyed by "birds of a feather flock together" and "opposites attract."


----------



## Flamme

But its mostly true...At least the first saying


----------



## Dr Johnson

Flamme said:


> But its mostly true...At least the first saying


And often the second.


----------



## Ingélou

Flamme said:


> Dude, *if i know anything*, one thing *i *realised about ''the girls'' Is that they dont like anything ''DARK''. except dark chocolate or coffee maybe!!! In conversations with them about almost anything you have to be light, carefree, ludacris...Even if you re dying! Its strange but even laughing like crazy could have get you somewhere...Shnittke? Nah...


But what if you don't... ? :devil:


----------



## MagneticGhost

Kivimees said:


> Then let's throw in 'have', not 'of':
> should of, could of, might of....


AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!
That's not an expression it's just plain wrong wrong wrong. Yet now so ubiquitous. It's a rarity now to see 'could have' or 'could've'. It's always 'could of' and it drives me round the twist.

.


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

MagneticGhost said:


> AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!
> That's not an expression it's just plain wrong wrong wrong. Yet now so ubiquitous. It's a rarity now to see 'could have' or 'could've'. It's always 'could of' and it drives me round the twist.
> 
> .


As a Grammar Nazi this post makes me feel less alone :'P


----------



## Lyricus

Abraham Lincoln said:


> As a Grammar Nazi this post makes me feel less alone :'P


I would imagine that the overlap between classical music aficionados and sticklers for grammar is considerable.


----------



## Kivimees

MagneticGhost said:


> AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!
> That's not an expression it's just plain wrong wrong wrong. Yet now so ubiquitous. It's a rarity now to see 'could have' or 'could've'. It's always 'could of' and it drives me round the twist.
> 
> .


The first time I encountered this, I was completely dumbfounded. I spent the longest time asking myself, 'What on earth does this mean?' I finally turned to a native English speaker who explained it to me - after a similar reaction to yours. :lol:


----------



## Richannes Wrahms

We can always blame English spelling for being utter nonsense.


----------



## Dim7

Richannes Wrahms said:


> We can always blame English spelling for being utter nonsense.


*This.* Another expression that probably annoys somebody.


----------



## Ingélou

Richannes Wrahms said:


> We can always blame English spelling for being utter nonsense.


Not in that instance - *could've* is not only correct, but it's closer to the way the phrase is pronounced than 'could of'.

Actually, I disagree in any case. English spelling is *not* "utter nonsense".

(It does have spelling rules, and the way words are spelled is a link to their derivation from Anglo-Saxon, French or Latin. It would be harder for people to appreciate Shakespeare if they had only learned a simplified spelling. Different spellings for words that are pronounced the same help to clarify meaning - e.g. it's and its, their and they're.
Plus, people going on about 'gh' in words like 'night, fought' & saying that the letters are silent or useless forget that in Scots, the letters are pronounced, as is the letter *r* in words like pa*r*k, da*r*k and so on; *wh* is pronounced differently to *w*. The best English in Britain is spoken at Inverness, so it's said.)

But live & let live! :tiphat:


----------



## elgar's ghost

I have to agree with Richard Wrahms when seeing it from an English perspective - we use 'dead' or 'silent' letters a lot and also many of our different pronunciations of certain letter combinations don't really make much sense. But I would still bet that the basic structure of English is more easily grasped than that of many other languages.


----------



## Blancrocher

Throw your hands in the air and wave em like you just don't care


----------



## Richannes Wrahms

ðii oða[SUP]e[/SUP] [SUB]a[/SUB]opʃ[SUB]n[/SUB] I aksep[SUP]t[/SUP] ii[SUB]s[/SUB] frriid[SUB]m[/SUB] ov spealiŋ, in oaðe[SUB]a[/SUB] [SUB]d[/SUB]tu promout[SUP]h[/SUP] mi[SUB]o[/SUB]utua[SUP]e[/SUP]l ink[SUB]h[/SUB]omprrihe[SUB]a[/SUB]nʃ[SUB]n[/SUB].


----------



## Dim7

Richannes Wrahms said:


> ðii oða[SUP]e[/SUP] [SUB]a[/SUB]opʃ[SUB]n[/SUB] I aksep[SUP]t[/SUP] ii[SUB]s[/SUB] frriid[SUB]m[/SUB] ov spealiŋ, in oaðe[SUB]a[/SUB] [SUB]d[/SUB]tu promout[SUP]h[/SUP] mi[SUB]o[/SUB]utua[SUP]e[/SUP]l ink[SUB]h[/SUB]omprrihe[SUB]a[/SUB]nʃ[SUB]n[/SUB].


"The other option I accept is freedom of spelling, in order to promote mutual incomprehension."

"Mutual incomprehension", appropriately I guess, left me confused for a while. Mutual ink comprehension? Mutual link comprehension?


----------



## Richannes Wrahms

Dim7 said:


> "The other option I accept is freedom of spelling, in order to promote mutual incomprehension."
> 
> "Mutual incomprehension", appropriately I guess, left me confused for a while. Mutual ink comprehension? Mutual link comprehension?


Correct! I retained spaces as word dividers. Here subscript and superscript often indicate a kind of grace note but it can be a gradual change or slightly modify the sound before or after it. I was imagining an authoritative old person with a high pitched voice saying it. I wonder if it approximates some known accent.


----------



## Dim7

Abraham Lincoln said:


> As a Grammar Nazi this post makes me feel less alone :'P


From now on, I'm going to be a grammar Bolshevik rather than a grammar Nazi. I'm going to force everyone to accept my unorthodox (but more logical and consistent than standard English, i.e. all irregular verbs are made regular) version of English grammar.


----------



## Ingélou

Dim7 said:


> _From now on_, I'm going to be a grammar Bolshevik rather than a grammar Nazi. I'm going to force everyone to accept my unorthodox (but more logical and consistent than standard English, i.e. all irregular verbs are made regular) version of English grammar.


*"From now on"* - so presumably from the *n* in _on_ - or with a little leeway, from the comma - onwards?
But you *didn't*!


----------



## Guest

Lyricus said:


> I would imagine that the overlap between classical music aficionados and sticklers for grammar is considerable.


I'm not so sure: I see many posts with these errors: it's/its, to/too, then/than, you're/your, there/their, less/fewer, father/further, anxious/eager, etc. Some may be attributed to non-native English speakers/writers, but not all of them.


----------



## Art Rock

"Guilty pleasure".

Yuck. Just like what you like and don't feel guilty about it.


----------



## Triplets

Chris said:


> 'My bad'
> 
> I've even seen it in TalkClassical.


I like that phrase. It's a succinct way of acknowledging you are in error without getting all weepy about it


----------



## Blancrocher

Art Rock said:


> "Guilty pleasure".
> 
> Yuck. Just like what you like and don't feel guilty about it.


I appreciate the sentiment...though be aware that that attitude might result in divorce in many cases.


----------



## GreenMamba

Kontrapunctus said:


> I'm not so sure: I see many posts with these errors: it's/its, to/too, then/than, you're/your, there/their, less/fewer, *father/further*, anxious/eager, etc. Some may be attributed to non-native English speakers/writers, but not all of them.


Conflating father with further? Wow, that's way off. 

I also see a lot of "Brahm's symphonies" here, i.e., putting the possessive apostrophe inside a name.

But as you say, there are a lot of non-native English writers here. And a lot of sloppy typists who don't adequately proofread (myself included).


----------



## Guest

GreenMamba said:


> Conflating father with further? Wow, that's way off.
> 
> I also see a lot of "Brahm's symphonies" here, i.e., putting the possessive apostrophe inside a name.
> 
> But as you say, there are a lot of non-native English writers here. And a lot of sloppy typists who don't adequately proofread (myself included).


I'm clearly guilty of the latter...should be FARTHER and further, but I imagine most people figured that was the case. It's amazing how readily our brains can fill in missing/wrong letters.


----------



## Woodduck

Issues. I "have issues." A problem is an "issue." A dilemma is an "issue." A disagreement is an "issue." An illness is a "health issue." A leaky faucet is a "plumbing issue." Getting laid off from your job is an "employment issue." Having your pants fall down when you get up to give a valedictory address is a "wardrobe issue."

Yeccchhh!

I have issues with all issues which are not issues.


----------



## Guest

A "near miss"--that sounds as if the two planes or whatever actually hit--they _nearly_ missed! A "near hit" would suggest they did miss.


----------



## Vaneyes

Noticed "shout out" on another thread.


----------



## Vaneyes




----------



## Avey

Woodduck said:


> Issues. I "have issues." A problem is an "issue." A dilemma is an "issue." A disagreement is an "issue." An illness is a "health issue." A leaky faucet is a "plumbing issue." Getting laid off from your job is an "employment issue." Having your pants fall down when you get up to give a valedictory address is a "wardrobe issue."...


Well, I have a *problem* with all of our gripes. Bunch of prescriptivist highbrows.

But I also just discovered this thread, and I am admittedly pleased.


----------



## Sloe

GreenMamba said:


> I also see a lot of "Brahm's symphonies" here, i.e., putting the possessive apostrophe inside a name.


I really hate all this use of apostrophes that is why I limit the use of contractions I just don´t know how to use them. The only word I use contractions for is not if I would write we´re or something like that I would not know what I am saying.


----------



## Guest

No matter how many times it gets said I still hate it when people call me a ****wit.


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

dogen said:


> No matter how many times it gets said I still hate it when people call me a ****wit.


Dimwit?

Don't you mean Dim7?


----------



## Richannes Wrahms

Any kind of joke that relies on mispronunciation of a name.


----------



## mstar

LOL, ALOL, OMG, and YOLO are cringe-worthy, especially when spoken aloud.

Ginormous is not a word. It is either gigantic or enormous. Same with guesstimate - it is either a guess or an estimate. Next we'll have hypotheconjectures! It's like combining a zebra and a donkey to get a zedonk. It's just not natural. 

Then again, there is quantum physics, so I guess anything can happen.


----------



## Rhombic

In Spanish (at least European Spanish) you get the expression "Más vale malo conocido que bueno por conocer", that is "It's better [to stick with] a known bad [situation/person/whatever] than [to try] a good one yet to know".

Now, after the general elections in Spain, I actually heard a few people saying this while going outside. Just hilariously shocking. But the expression might have some truth somewhere in it, in a few cases...

...unlike...

... this other Spanish one!! "La excepción que confirma la regla", lit. "the exception that proves [i.e. confirms the validity of] the rule". Just NO! Just NO! What on Earth? Oh my God, whenever I hear this (thank God it's not too often), I would love to walk towards whoever said this and talk about people cheating on their husbands/wives or maths or physics or... i could go on and on.
If anything, an exception shows the failure of a set rule, at most, unless it's a really general "ad hoc"-ish rule for languages - in this case, it would not bee too much of a problem... but it would certainly not prove it!
In fact, one could set a rule that only affects one case and, however blatantly stupid it is, you say that the fact that that particular case does not follow it proves its validity. Of course.


----------



## Dim7

Richannes Wrahms said:


> 'is a no no'
> 
> It just sounds so stupid, like if they were underestimating your intellect.


----------



## Mahlerian

Rhombic said:


> In Spanish (at least European Spanish) you get the expression "Más vale malo conocido que bueno por conocer", that is "It's better [to stick with] a known bad [situation/person/whatever] than [to try] a good one yet to know".
> 
> Now, after the general elections in Spain, I actually heard a few people saying this while going outside. Just hilariously shocking. But the expression might have some truth somewhere in it, in a few cases...
> 
> ...unlike...
> 
> ... this other Spanish one!! "La excepción que confirma la regla", lit. "the exception that proves [i.e. confirms the validity of] the rule". Just NO! Just NO! What on Earth? Oh my God, whenever I hear this (thank God it's not too often), I would love to walk towards whoever said this and talk about people cheating on their husbands/wives or maths or physics or... i could go on and on.
> If anything, an exception shows the failure of a set rule, at most, unless it's a really general "ad hoc"-ish rule for languages - in this case, it would not bee too much of a problem... but it would certainly not prove it!
> In fact, one could set a rule that only affects one case and, however blatantly stupid it is, you say that the fact that that particular case does not follow it proves its validity. Of course.


These are both familiar expressions in English, as

"Better the devil you know than the devil you don't."

and

"The exception that proves the rule."


----------



## Guest

When people type "G-d" instead of god. Will you give me a break?


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

Dim7 said:


>


*pets the scared kitty* There, there...


----------



## Ingélou

Victor Redseal said:


> When people type "G-d" instead of god. Will you give me a break?


Interesting...

I can't say it annoys _me_ to see G-d written instead of God, because it is a Jewish custom based on the respectful practice of missing vowels out of the Hebrew name of God.

However, it might annoy me if it was used in a sentence like _Mars was the Roman G-d of War_ instead of _Mars was the Roman god of war_. Or conversely, if lower-case g were to be used in a sentence like 'In god we trust'. In these cases, it would blur the useful distinction between _god_ as the English common noun used for describing any deity and _*G*od_ as the proper name of the Judaeo-Christian god.

A modern trend, maybe. I do notice that a lot of forum members spell their names with lower case letters - I presume that initial capital letters are dying out in this context because it's quicker to skip them when typing on computers.

Got to keep up standards, y'know!
Personally, I blame that e. e. cummings chap.


----------



## Richannes Wrahms

Many common words relating to olfaction are detestable.


----------



## kartikeys

Say yes to life

Misinterpreted to mean say yes to everything. Including all that makes you miserable.


----------



## Flamme

mstar said:


> LOL, ALOL, OMG, and YOLO are cringe-worthy, especially when spoken aloud.
> 
> Ginormous is not a word. It is either gigantic or enormous. Same with guesstimate - it is either a guess or an estimate. Next we'll have hypotheconjectures! It's like combining a zebra and a donkey to get a zedonk. It's just not natural.
> 
> Then again, there is quantum physics, so I guess anything can happen.


LOL thanks, really made my...Night!:lol::lol::lol::tiphat:


----------



## Bellinilover

I hate the word "needs" as in a sentence like, "These are our needs for this week" (said by my boss when he wants people to volunteer to work overtime). In my experience, people who use the word this way are usually trying to take advantage of you. I just associate it with entitlement. 

I also hate the expression "warm fuzzies," because it sounds like a sarcastic way of saying "sympathy" or "treating people nicely."


----------



## Bellinilover

mstar said:


> LOL, ALOL, OMG, and YOLO are cringe-worthy, especially when spoken aloud.
> 
> Ginormous is not a word. It is either gigantic or enormous. Same with guesstimate - it is either a guess or an estimate. Next we'll have hypotheconjectures! It's like combining a zebra and a donkey to get a zedonk. It's just not natural.
> 
> Then again, there is quantum physics, so I guess anything can happen.


Or "conversate" for "converse." That one actually made me angry the few times I heard it.


----------



## Dim7

"old fart"

Totally unnecessarily makes you think about flatulence.


----------



## Dim7

Bellinilover said:


> Or "conversate" for "converse." That one actually made me angry the few times I heard it.


In principle I think there's nothing wrong with that expression. It is very logically formed from "conversation" and the meaning is totally clear. It's backformed but so are a lot of other English expressions. The problem is probably more with the people who use it rather than the expession itself.


----------



## EdwardBast

Rhombic said:


> ... this other Spanish one!! "La excepción que confirma la regla", lit. "the exception that proves [i.e. confirms the validity of] the rule". Just NO! Just NO! What on Earth? Oh my God, whenever I hear this (thank God it's not too often), I would love to walk towards whoever said this and talk about people cheating on their husbands/wives or maths or physics or... i could go on and on.
> If anything, an exception shows the failure of a set rule, at most, unless it's a really general "ad hoc"-ish rule for languages - in this case, it would not bee too much of a problem... but it would certainly not prove it!
> In fact, one could set a rule that only affects one case and, however blatantly stupid it is, you say that the fact that that particular case does not follow it proves its validity. Of course.


Proves in this context does not mean "establishes the validity of," which is the first definition listed in most dictionaries. Farther down the list, the fourth definition in my dictionary, is "tests," as in "tests the efficacy of." A related expression is "proving ground," meaning a facility where materials, products, etc., are put to the test to discover the limits of their strength or endurance. Thus, the expression "the exception that proves the rule" means the exception that is a test of or challenges its validity, not the one that establishes it.


----------



## isorhythm

I always thought "the exception that proves the rule" means that the exception is marked by some very unusual condition, which does indeed reinforce the validity of the rule under more usual conditions.

I.e., if the only time rule X is broken is under rare conditions Y and Z, then rule X must be a pretty good rule in general.


----------



## sospiro

Richannes Wrahms said:


> Any kind of joke that relies on mispronunciation of a name.


Presumably a Spoonerism is OK?


----------



## Vaneyes

A proclamation that, *Life is Good.* Yes, until YOU are brought to your knees by a gut-wrenching tragedy. *LOL*


----------



## EdwardBast

isorhythm said:


> I always thought "the exception that proves the rule" means that the exception is marked by some very unusual condition, which does indeed reinforce the validity of the rule under more usual conditions.
> 
> I.e., if the only time rule X is broken is under rare conditions Y and Z, then rule X must be a pretty good rule in general.


Well yes, that could be a good interpretation even under the definition I gave! You just have to inflect it a certain way.


----------



## Guest

"I have an ask." What happened to "favor" or "request"?


----------



## Guest

Kontrapunctus said:


> "I have an ask." What happened to "favor" or "request"?


That's a big ask.


----------



## Bellinilover

I'm getting fed up with the current habit of saying "sorry" before one gives an opinion -- as in, "Sorry, but her voice isn't right for that role." Forget the "sorry"; just give the opinion. I also dislike the similar "no offense."


----------



## Belowpar

Bellinilover said:


> I'm getting fed up her voice isn't right for that role.


I edited your post in line with your intentions. :tiphat:

I'm not apologising.


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

"child prodigy"

That phrase reeks of all my rage, agony, and crushed hopes.


----------



## Gaspard de la Nuit

Victor Redseal said:


> When people type "G-d" instead of god. Will you give me a break?


They might just be observant Jews...I believe they aren't allowed to write the name of god or something.


----------



## geralmar

In high school and college I hated written exam questions that included the instruction "compare and contrast." I once asked a teacher what that meant and she mumbled something equally incomprehensible.


----------



## Wood

I hate it when people  at seeing an expression that they hate before dismissing the offender as an idiot, particularly when the somewhat marginal grammatical oversight can be the result of mere carele ssness or English being a 2nd language or dsylexia etc.


----------



## Wood

Dim7 said:


> "old fart"
> 
> Totally unnecessarily makes you think about flatulence.


I find farts quite funny, so I don't mind being reminded about them.


----------



## SeptimalTritone

Abraham Lincoln said:


> "child prodigy"
> 
> That phrase reeks of all my rage, agony, and crushed hopes.


Most people I know at top universities are not, in any sense of the word, child prodigies.

In fact, on average, I'd say the non-prodigies in my friend circle have been slightly more successful than the prodigy types.

Of course, that doesn't mean "don't study hard at a young age". Quite the contrary. But remember that passion, discipline, and creativity is more important than freak talent. I know people with more freak talent who are less successful than me, and I know people with less freak talent who are more successful than me.

In university and graduate school, contributing to your field in a meaningful way with good publications is much more a) respected b) worthwhile to humanity, than being a child prodigy.


----------



## Wood

Sporting expressions that I hate:

Cricket: Five for
Football: Pen
Rugby Union: Scrum time


----------



## hpowders

"At the end of the day". 

I believe Cam Newton used this phrase multiple times in his post-superbowl evaluation of his team's loss.

It is a completely meaningless phrase. At the end of the day....it is simply "night".


----------



## Jeffrey Smith

"a couple of...."
"two or three".

The imprecision of these phrases is aggravated by usage, so that " I will be back in a couple of minutes" means "I will return in five to fifty five minutes" and "can I borrow a couple of bucks for a few days" means "can I borrow twenty dollars untl I get paid next week?"


----------



## Pugg

I don't hate, but don't like patronizing people.
Nobody is perfect and if you think you are, even gods made mistakes


----------



## Kivimees

Jeffrey Smith said:


> The imprecision of these phrases is aggravated by usage, so that " I will be back in a couple of minutes" means "I will return in five to fifty five minutes" and "can I borrow a couple of bucks for a few days" means "can I borrow twenty dollars untl I get paid next week?"


But I think the usage is strategic:

"Can I borrow a couple of bucks for a few days?" "Well, okay."

vs.

"Can I borrow twenty dollars until I get paid next week?" "No way!"


----------



## SiegendesLicht

Wood said:


> I hate it when people  at seeing an expression that they hate before dismissing the offender as an idiot, particularly when the somewhat marginal grammatical oversight can be the result of mere carele ssness or English being a 2nd language or dsylexia etc.


Sometimes it can be attributed to people for whom English is a second language and who try so hard to learn the "natural" conversational English of native speakers that they end up picking up all the native speaker expressions people hate.

Some of my personal English pet peeves:

"Choice" - when used in a sense that everything that happens to you in life is somehow by your own choosing. You work at a grocery store instead of being a CEO - it is a _choice_.

"Otherize" - a nasty PC neologism. Every person that is not yourself, is an "other", deal with it.

"It's the 21st century/in the 21st century" - with the implication that 21st century people are somehow different to those in the all previous centuries.


----------



## Wood

SiegendesLicht said:


> Sometimes it can be attributed to people for whom English is a second language and who try so hard to learn the "natural" conversational English of native speakers that they end up picking up all the native speaker expressions people hate.


I've found it difficult to assist a non-native speaker who wishes to have clarification of a particular expression. What is correct or theoretically best practice isn't always appropriate in conversation, and it can be hard to get this nuance across.


----------



## Dim7

SiegendesLicht said:


> "Otherize" - a nasty PC neologism. Every person that is not yourself, is an "other", deal with it.


I think it's a valid term when talking about ingroup/outgroup dynamics.



SiegendesLicht said:


> "It's the 21st century/in the 21st century" - with the implication that 21st century people are somehow different to those in the all previous centuries.


I agree that this is a stupid non-argument to use when arguing for any form of "progressive" values, whether I personally agree with those values or not.


----------



## Ingélou

Wood said:


> I've found it difficult to assist a non-native speaker who wishes to have clarification of a particular expression. *What is correct or theoretically best practice isn't always appropriate in conversation, and it can be hard to get this nuance across.*


This can be difficult even with native speakers, as I found when tackling the oral tasks with my GCSE English Retake Class at the Sixth Form College. I remember once pointing out that a swear word wasn't appropriate to the situation.

'There are different registers and you aren't using the appropriate one. This is a formal context. After all, you wouldn't say that to the Queen at a Royal Garden Party, would you?'

'*I *would,' he replied.


----------



## brotagonist

^ That's a _slippery slope_ to go down


----------



## Kieran

I'm sure it's been mentioned already, but the expression _sound as a pound _makes no cents in today's Euro market...


----------



## elgar's ghost

^
^

I guess that rules out 'not the full shilling' or 'bent as a 9-bob note' as well. :lol:


----------



## brotagonist

^ ^ With the same meaning, I think, is the German expression (er/sie hat) nicht alle Tassen im Schrank (he/she doesn't have all his/her cups in the cupboard). I like to point out that some have cups in the cupboard and others have them on the table :tiphat:


----------



## Ingélou

I hate chirpy expressions for goodbye. See ya - toodle pip - ta ta for now. :wave:


----------



## Bellinilover

The currently popular habit of using the word "literally" incorrectly: "I was literally beside myself with fear." I especially hate it when older people who should know better do this. It comes across like a desperate attempt to sound young.


----------



## Kieran

Bellinilover said:


> The currently popular habit of using the word "literally" incorrectly: "I was literally beside myself with fear." I especially hate it when older people who should know better do this. It comes across like a desperate attempt to sound young.


I literally was gonna say the same thing! :lol:


----------



## Dim7

If you find me using any of the expressions mentioned in this thread please don't be annoyed, I'm only using them _ironically_.


----------



## hpowders

Ingélou said:


> I hate chirpy expressions for goodbye. See ya - toodle pip - ta ta for now. :wave:


Nobody else in Tampa has been heard by me to say any of those. I do say "See ya!" In Brooklyn, where I come from, "See ya!" is popular.

Ahhh!!! Brooklyn! Where the birds chirp cheerfully and many cars are stolen.


----------



## Wood

I received a work email today with the following expressions:

'To get in gear for this year's survey and to focus on driving improvement...

_*Did action plans drive any real shifts?*_

This fresh perspective and approach will continue to provide us with insights around how well we are living our Values

In 2015 we continued to embed the significant refresh made in 2014

We need our verbatim comments to work harder for us

While the comments are useful and insightful to line managers we want to be able to translate them into action and progress beyond intact teams.'

There were pages of this sort of thing.

I don't hate these expressions, they gave Figleaf and myself a chuckle. However, I don't know what they want me to do.  Who knows what they are talking about.


----------



## Guest

Wood said:


> I received a work email today with the following expressions:
> 
> 'To get in gear for this year's survey and to focus on driving improvement...
> 
> _*Did action plans drive any real shifts?*_
> 
> This fresh perspective and approach will continue to provide us with insights around how well we are living our Values
> 
> In 2015 we continued to embed the significant refresh made in 2014
> 
> We need our verbatim comments to work harder for us
> 
> While the comments are useful and insightful to line managers we want to be able to translate them into action and progress beyond intact teams.'
> 
> There were pages of this sort of thing.
> 
> I don't hate these expressions, they gave Figleaf and myself a chuckle. However, I don't know what they want me to do.  Who knows what they are talking about.


Well, we either work for the same company or else this kind of meaninglessbollocks is universal. I fear it is the latter. On a more positive note the worst offenders were our American owners; now we've been bought by a British firm the flow of sewage has reduced considerably. Thankfully I no longer have a CEO in another continent who is going to "reach out to me."


----------



## Wood

dogen said:


> Well, we either work for the same company or else this kind of meaninglessbollocks is universal. I fear it is the latter. On a more positive note the worst offenders were our American owners; now we've been bought by a British firm the flow of sewage has reduced considerably. Thankfully I no longer have a CEO in another continent who is going to "reach out to me."


He must have long arms...


----------



## Jeffrey Smith

dogen said:


> Well, we either work for the same company or else this kind of meaninglessbollocks is universal. I fear it is the latter. On a more positive note the worst offenders were our American owners; now we've been bought by a British firm the flow of sewage has reduced considerably. Thankfully I no longer have a CEO in another continent who is going to "reach out to me."


I assume you live in the UK...in which case you don't know the truly annoying aspect of " reach out to...": it reminds me of the AT&T commercials which used the slogan "reach out and touch someone".

In Yank journalism it has become the preferred gobbledygook phrase for "unsuccessfully tried to contact" and variations thereof, for no discernible reason.


----------



## SiegendesLicht

SiegendesLicht said:


> Some of my personal English pet peeves:
> 
> "Choice" - when used in a sense that everything that happens to you in life is somehow by your own choosing. You work at a grocery store instead of being a CEO - it is a _choice_.


I saw an even more idiotic one today. If you go mountain climbing or snowboarding and die in an avalanche, your death was your own _choice_, since you had decided to go to the mountains in the first place. Gotta love American forums...


----------



## Kieran

SiegendesLicht said:


> I saw an even more idiotic one today. If you go mountain climbing or snowboarding and die in an avalanche, your death was your own _choice_, since you had decided to go to the mountains in the first place. Gotta love American forums...


Yeah, "choice" in these terms is a bugbear with me too. It's tied up with some modern esoteric thought, I suppose, that suggests that somehow you chose how to end your life when a shark snuck up behind and ate you...


----------



## elgar's ghost

I remember this beauty from some years ago:

_'Suggest that we realign certain statistical/financial database parameters in order to obtain an alternative overview'._

Sounds like bending the figures to me.


----------



## Ingélou

SiegendesLicht said:


> I saw an even more idiotic one today. If you go mountain climbing or snowboarding and die in an avalanche, your death was your own _choice_, since you had decided to go to the mountains in the first place. Gotta love American forums...


That reminds me of my grandfather's saying when it was pointed out that something - for example, driving or flying - might be dangerous: 'If you stay in bed, the ceiling might fall on you.'

Presumably that would would be *your own choice* too...


----------



## Dim7

Bach pronounced with a k-sound rather than a voiceless velar fricative. I'm also not a fan of "Bach / back" puns based on this pronunciation.


----------



## SiegendesLicht

Dim7 said:


> Bach pronounced with a k-sound rather than a voiceless velar fricative. I'm also not a fan of "bach / back" puns based on this pronunciation.


There is a song written by the Swedish heavy metal band _Sabaton_ called "The Rise of Evil" where the line "The Reich will rise..." is repeated a great many times (no, they are not pro-Nazi). Except that they always pronounce the word "Reich" as "Reik". Very irritating. I mean, if you are going to record a song and tour the world with it using that word, you could at least get it right.


----------



## Sloe

SiegendesLicht said:


> There is a song written by the Swedish heavy metal band _Sabaton_ called "The Rise of Evil" where the line "The Reich will rise..." is repeated a great many times (no, they are not pro-Nazi). Except that they always pronounce the word "Reich" as "Reik". Very irritating. I mean, if you are going to record a song and tour the world with it using that word, you could at least get it right.


If they sing in English they should sing "The realm will rise".


----------



## Ingélou

*The Telegraph* published its 5000th edition today. A special spread provides extracts from interesting news items & letters over the years - and the account of a debate in 1964 on the *Split Infinitive* between Bertrand Russell & others including T. S. Eliot deserves *to be carefully read* (!) by everyone who enjoys this sort of linguistic nit-picking. (*I *do!)

http://s.telegraph.co.uk/graphics/projects/Telegraph-letters-Editor-anniversary/index.html
(Click on _T. S. Eliot versus Bertrand Russell_)

Talk about *Odium Theologicum*! :lol:


----------



## TurnaboutVox

In the UK I think it was during the Blair administration that I first saw this idea that what people needed was 'choice'. In fact in the organisation in which I work it began to be common to cut services but rebadge what was left as offering 'consumer choices'. I began to see it then as a pernicious attempt to shift responsibility for the provision of important services from the state to the individual.

Only yesterday I had an email from the NHS asking me to rate my experience at an outpatient clinic appointment for a serious medical condition and - I swear this is true - to say whether I'd recommend it to my friends and family! As if I had 'chosen' to be ill and spend my morning in a clinic, when I could equally have chosen to see a film, drink coffee or go for a swim.


----------



## Taggart

TurnaboutVox said:


> Only yesterday I had an email from the NHS asking me to rate my experience at an outpatient clinic appointment for a serious medical condition and - I swear this is true - to say whether I'd recommend it to my friends and family! As if I had 'chosen' to be ill and spend my morning in a clinic, when I could equally have chosen to see a film, drink coffee or go for a swim.


Having been involved in the government's idea of "quality control" i am aware of the idiocy of this sort of survey. If it were used for any serious improvement - pleasant waiting areas, friendly staff, genuine communication about delays, action on delays and so forth - then it might be useful. As it is, it is merely a box ticking exercise to show "customer approval".


----------



## TurnaboutVox

^^^ Thanks, Ingélou. This deserves to be quoted in full, I think:



> Sir - I quote below a legal opinion on the subject of split infinitives.
> 
> Mary, having shot in dozens
> Sisters, Aunts and Second Cousins,
> Told the judge with eager zest,
> "I hope to soon bump off the rest."
> Reaching for his black cap, he
> Cried, "Ye Gods, what infamy!
> The liquidations I'd forgive
> But not that split infinitive."


----------



## Dr Johnson

Ingélou said:


> *The Telegraph* published its 5000th edition today. A special spread provides extracts from interesting news items & letters over the years - and the account of a debate in 1964 on the *Split Infinitive* between Bertrand Russell & others including T. S. Eliot deserves *to be carefully read* (!) by everyone who enjoys this sort of linguistic nit-picking. (*I *do!)
> 
> http://s.telegraph.co.uk/graphics/projects/Telegraph-letters-Editor-anniversary/index.html
> (Click on _T. S. Eliot versus Bertrand Russell_)
> 
> Talk about *Odium Theologicum*! :lol:


One correspondent is so austere as to describe Fowler as "lenient".

I'm surprised that didn't lead to at least one letter of demur.


----------



## Guest

It's not exactly an expression, but I hate hearing or reading "there's" when referring to a plural subject, such as "There's many good pianists." It should be "There're many good pianists," or better yet, drop the contraction! Sadly, this number agreement error seems to be acceptable today.


----------



## Mahlerian

Kontrapunctus said:


> It's not exactly an expression, but I hate hearing or reading "there's" when referring to a plural subject, such as "There's many good pianists." It should be "There're many good pianists," or better yet, drop the contraction! Sadly, this number agreement error seems to be acceptable today.


But there's lots of people who do it! Who's they to listen to you?


----------



## Pugg

The subjective meaning:_ This is the ultimate performance and will never be surpassed_.

We can never be sure, can we, as our time on this planet is limited


----------



## Jeffrey Smith

TurnaboutVox said:


> In the UK I think it was during the Blair administration that I first saw this idea that what people needed was 'choice'. In fact in the organisation in which I work it began to be common to cut services but rebadge what was left as offering 'consumer choices'. I began to see it then as a pernicious attempt to shift responsibility for the provision of important services from the state to the individual.
> 
> Only yesterday I had an email from the NHS asking me to rate my experience at an outpatient clinic appointment for a serious medical condition and - I swear this is true - to say whether I'd recommend it to my friends and family! As if I had 'chosen' to be ill and spend my morning in a clinic, when I could equally have chosen to see a film, drink coffee or go for a swim.


A number of years ago I was hospitalized for three days, being admitted through the emergency room. My health insurer refused to pay with the excuse that my admission was not pre-authorized by them: as if I should have called two days before or something like that. The actual problem turned out to be the failure to file the correct form by the hospital.


----------



## geralmar

It's election season in the U.S. and I keep hearing this said in interviews:

"... in the future at some point in time."


----------



## Guest

geralmar said:


> It's election season in the U.S. and I keep hearing this said in interviews:
> 
> "... in the future at some point in time."


That's right up there with "past history."


----------



## Blancrocher

"Don't hate the player, hate the game." Nobody who says this really hates the game, imo.


----------



## geralmar

Writers who don't know the difference between "compliment" and "complement."


----------



## Figleaf

geralmar said:


> Writers who don't know the difference between "compliment" and "complement."


I hate the fact that I feel compelled to check it each time just to make absolutely sure that I have the right one!


----------



## Wood

Some hated expressions never catch on, thankfully.

From an edition of Sounds in 1979, a tiny single paragraph review of Jethro Tull's new 'Stormwatch' album has this little gem which has been burnt into my brain for nearly 40 years:

'The music has the subtlety of a mountain goat's t#rd floating down the mentholated fjord of life.'


----------



## Dr Johnson

Figleaf said:


> I hate the fact that I feel compelled to check it each time just to make absolutely sure that I have the right one!


Here is a mnemonic to help us all remember the difference.


----------



## Figleaf

Wood said:


> Some hated expressions never catch on, thankfully.
> 
> From an edition of Sounds in 1979, a tiny single paragraph review of Jethro Tull's new 'Stormwatch' album has this little gem which has been burnt into my brain for nearly 40 years:
> 
> 'The music has the subtlety of a mountain goat's t#rd, floating down the mentholated fjord of life.'


Isn't it funny how we can remember and quote rude dismissals of our favourite musicians, even years later! At least that one is amusing.



Dr Johnson said:


> Here is a mnemonic to help us all remember the difference.


Beethoven overtures, Klemperer?


----------



## Dr Johnson

Figleaf said:


> Isn't it funny how we can remember and quote rude dismissals of our favourite musicians, even years later! At least that one is amusing.
> 
> *Beethoven overtures, Klemperer?*


A senior moment. Sorry.

Try this: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/compliment-versus-complement


----------



## Figleaf

Dr Johnson said:


> A senior moment. Sorry.
> 
> Try this: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/compliment-versus-complement


I thought that Klemperer photo was a highbrow version of Rickrolling. 

That mnemonic reminds me of the time I went around saying 'privil*E*ge' to myself after getting it wrong in a school spelling test, the first and only time I ever made a mistake of that kind, and saw my results go down to 99%, the most infuriating score of all.


----------



## Dr Johnson

Figleaf said:


> I thought that Klemperer photo was a *highbrow version of Rickrolling*.
> 
> That mnemonic reminds me of the time I went around saying 'privil*E*ge' to myself after getting it wrong in a school spelling test, the first and only time I ever made a mistake of that kind, and saw my results go down to 99%, the most infuriating score of all.


 I would never indulge in R**krolling, even a highbrow variant.

The mnemonic is a bit twee but I think I will remember it.


----------



## Ingélou

Some mnemonics are lovely - like the way to remember how many humps a Bactrian camel has, as against a Dromedary: just lay the initial capitals on their sides!


----------



## geralmar

A problem likely limited to the U.S. (and maybe Canada): the failure to distinguish between "grizzly" and "grisly." I'm greatly annoyed each time I read about a highly improbable "grizzly murder" in the Detroit area.


----------



## elgar's ghost

geralmar said:


> A problem likely limited to the U.S. (and maybe Canada): the failure to distinguish between "grizzly" and "grisly." I'm greatly annoyed each time I read about a highly improbable "grizzly murder" in the Detroit area.


You never know - haven't wild bears been known to infiltrate urban districts up there?


----------



## Figleaf

elgars ghost said:


> You never know - haven't wild bears been known to infiltrate urban districts up there?


There was a news story from Russia about hungry bears digging up corpses in cemeteries- now that's grisly and grizzly, even if nobody was murdered!

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/26/russia-bears-eat-corpses-graveyards


----------



## Balthazar

geralmar said:


> Writers who don't know the difference between "compliment" and "complement."


Also, "loathe" and "loath."

It's not so difficult -- they're two different parts of speech.


----------



## Figleaf

Balthazar said:


> Also, "loathe" and "loath."
> 
> It's not so difficult -- they're two different parts of speech.


I had to look that up, but you're right. I've never noticed 'loath', but it does look like a misspelling of 'loathe', when it really is a variant spelling of 'loth'. Grammarist.com says 'Loth is a variant of loath and serves no purpose of its own. It is most common in U.K. English, though even U.K. writers prefer loath by a significant margin.' I would have assumed 'loth' was commoner since it was the only spelling I knew of, but then it is a slightly archaic sounding word in any spelling, and maybe falling out of usage.

You learn something new every day here! :tiphat:


----------



## Balthazar

Figleaf said:


> I had to look that up, but you're right. I've never noticed 'loath', but it does look like a misspelling of 'loathe', when it really is a variant spelling of 'loth'. Grammarist.com says 'Loth is a variant of loath and serves no purpose of its own. It is most common in U.K. English, though even U.K. writers prefer loath by a significant margin.' I would have assumed 'loth' was commoner since it was the only spelling I knew of, but then it is a slightly archaic sounding word in any spelling, and maybe falling out of usage.
> 
> You learn something new every day here! :tiphat:


Right -- I learned it as "loth," but "loath" seems to be the more popular variant these days.


----------



## GreenMamba

Balthazar said:


> Also, "loathe" and "loath."
> 
> It's not so difficult -- they're two different parts of speech.


They aren't even homophones. Of course, online, you see all kinds of confusion about pairs like "advice-advise" and "dribble-drivel."

We seem to have given up on "founder" vs. "flounder."


----------



## geralmar

I was disappointed to learn that "squash" can also mean "quash." So a rebellion can be squashed as well as quashed. (A bug, however, can only be squashed.)


----------



## Figleaf

GreenMamba said:


> They aren't even homophones. Of course, online, you see all kinds of confusion about pairs like "advice-advise" and "dribble-drivel."
> 
> We seem to have given up on "founder" vs. "flounder."


Surely loathe/loath/loth are homophones? How would you pronounce them?


----------



## Dr Johnson

Loathe is pronounced thus,

Loth/loath thus.

(Click on the speaker symbol).


----------



## Figleaf

Dr Johnson said:


> Loathe is pronounced thus,
> 
> Loth/loath thus.
> 
> (Click on the speaker symbol).


Thanks Dr J, I didn't know that was how you say 'loth'. Must be one of those words I've only read and written, as opposed to spoken and heard. (I certainly hope I haven't spoken it, as I would have been pronouncing it wrong! )


----------



## Dr Johnson

It's hardly common in every day speech. Perhaps, for that reason, you were _loth_ to use it!

Ha ha ha ha!

(I'll get my coat).


----------



## Figleaf

Dr Johnson said:


> It's hardly common in every day speech. Perhaps, for that reason, you were _loth_ to use it!
> 
> Ha ha ha ha!
> 
> (I'll get my coat).


We could ask Mr Magle, this site's flounder, for his opinion, but he might think we were just fishing for compl*i*ments.

Race ya to the coat rack...


----------



## Wood

I don't recall coming across 'loth' before. Strange spelling. Antiquated or redundant perhaps.


----------



## Dr Johnson

Chambers has "loth" as an alternative to "loath".

Fowler is having none of it:

"*Loath*... is spelt _loath_, not _loth_."


----------



## Figleaf

Dr Johnson said:


> Chambers has "loth" as an alternative to "loath".
> 
> Fowler is having none of it:
> 
> "*Loath*... is spelt _loath_, not _loth_."


New Fowler or original, gloriously witty Dr Fowler? I seem to have lost my copy of the 'real' 'Fowler's Modern English Usage'. When I came across one of the modern editions which owes little to the original author, I chose to leave it severely alone (to quote one of Dr Fowler's bugbears which seems to have died out now.)


----------



## Dr Johnson

Alas, it is "new" Fowler: Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage, first published 1999.

And it's in _paperback_. 

Coat time again...


----------



## Figleaf

^ That's rubbish, that is. Might as well ask Pauline Fowler.


----------



## Dr Johnson

She's dead.


----------



## Wood

Figleaf said:


> ^ That's rubbish, that is. Might as well ask Pauline Fowler.


That picture looks like it is a few years old, but it has a noticeable product placement. I smell more BBC corruption.


----------



## Figleaf

Wood said:


> That picture looks like it is a few years old, but it has a noticeable product placement. I smell more BBC corruption.


Yes, we were so innocent in those days and never noticed such things. Wendy Richard was a lovely lady, very friendly and chatty when I met her, around the time that photo was taken. My junior school friend and I were the first members of the public to be allowed to see the Albert Square outdoor sets, and we had lunch with 'Pete Beale' (can't remember the actor's name, but he was excellent company). I remember the actor Michael Cashman, who played an 'out' gay character (radical for those days!) roaring with laughter when I presented my autograph book, which bore the embarrassing legend 'Autographs of the Rich and Famous'! I notice that he is now Lord Cashman, a Labour peer- I hope he's still as unstuffy and fun as he was on that day in the mid 80s.


----------



## geralmar

Newspaper reporters who confuse "trooper" with "trouper." More than once I've read about a sick baby or a longsuffering spouse being "a real trooper."


----------



## Pugg

"For obvious reasons ", used by people who think they know it all


----------



## TurnaboutVox

Dr Johnson said:


> Chambers has "loth" as an alternative to "loath".
> 
> Fowler is having none of it:
> 
> "*Loath*... is spelt _loath_, not _loth_."


But Chambers is the only dictionary trusted by all good Scots!

And besides:



> It contains many more dialectal, archaic, unconventional and eccentric words than its rivals, and is noted for its occasional wryly humorous definitions. Examples of such definitions include those for éclair ("a cake, long in shape but short in duration") and middle-aged ("between youth and old age, variously reckoned to suit the reckoner"). These jocular definitions were removed by the publisher in the 1970s, but many of them were reinstated in 1983 because of the affection in which they were held by readers.
> 
> Wikipedia


----------



## Dr Johnson

TurnaboutVox said:


> *But Chambers is the only dictionary trusted by all good Scots!*
> 
> And besides:


And by crossword setters and solvers.

Fear not, "new" Fowler has been dismissed with masterly disdain by Figleaf. We can ignore it with impunity.


----------



## Op.123

Hmmm, It does slightly annoy me and slightly amuse me when my nan says a few things xD

The diabetus (diabetes)
Ossie (aussie / australia)
Lamb bean (lamb and beans)


----------



## motoboy

"It is what it it."
That's what ineffectual sportshirt-wearing middle manager types say when they can't be bothered to do their job. Or what basic bros say when they have to keep moving their mouths but have nothing to actually say.


----------



## Bellinilover

Okay, this isn't a _phrase_, but I'm getting sick of hearing about how so-and-so "butchered" a song, aria, role, etc.


----------



## Bellinilover

Another one -- I hate the use of the words "costume drama" to describe a drama set in another era. The term strikes me as derisive.


----------



## Wood

TurnaboutVox said:


> But Chambers is the only dictionary trusted by all good Scots!
> 
> And besides:


For the first time in maybe 20 years I went to pick up my Chambers to see if my edition contained these humorous definitions, only to find, there it was, gone.

I still have my OED, but who has snuffled awa' my Chambers?


----------



## Dr Johnson

To lose a dictionary is bad enough. To lose one's Chambers is a tragedy.


----------



## Sloe

*Lay it on the mailbox.*
If I am going to send away a letter I will lay it inside the mailbox.


----------



## Guest

Just seen on a menu that a meal is "fully loaded." No, I think you'll find that's a ******* washing machine.


----------



## Ingélou

I just went on to one of my fiddle forums & read a post (by an American) that talked about him _'not seriously *jonesing*'_ to learn something. I just googled it & found it means *'desperately wanting/craving'* and could be based on *Jones Alley, in Manhattan, associated with drug addicts*.

I am not sure whether I hate the expression or not.  It has an *interesting *taste, like elderflower champagne, which I can never make my mind up about.

American TC Members (or Brits) - is *jonesing* part of your idiolect?


----------



## TurnaboutVox

I would have guessed that "Jonesing" might mean doing something a bit pretentious or aspirational, as in "trying to keep up with the Joneses".

Buying a car you can't really afford and leaving it on display outside your house, perhaps.

I've not seen it used as you have used it above.


----------



## Guest

Funny that. When I read the beginning of your post Ingélou I imagined it meant "keeping up with the Joneses" and not wanting to make the effort to do so, ,in other words the expression (that I know) has been co-opted to mean "can't be bothered to make an effort".


----------



## Guest

I see that TV has necked me at the post.


----------



## Jeffrey Smith

Ingélou said:


> I just went on to one of my fiddle forums & read a post (by an American) that talked about him _'not seriously *jonesing*'_ to learn something. I just googled it & found it means *'desperately wanting/craving'* and could be based on *Jones Alley, in Manhattan, associated with drug addicts*.
> 
> I am not sure whether I hate the expression or not.  It has an *interesting *taste, like elderflower champagne, which I can never make my mind up about.
> 
> American TC Members (or Brits) - is *jonesing* part of your idiolect?


Never use it myself, but know it. Usually hear or see it used with a sexual connotation, indicating physical desire, or (in the case of non human targets) suggesting a semblance of gonad based desire.


----------



## Jeffrey Smith

dogen said:


> Just seen on a menu that a meal is "fully loaded." No, I think you'll find that's a ******* washing machine.


Or those two great icons of America, muscle cars and guns.


----------



## Guest

^ Ah, I see it, now! "Jones" can be taking as a derivative of "cojones" which is of course the Spanish slang for testicles. So when one says one can't be seriously 'jonesing' to learn something we would in UK slang probably say something along the lines of not being "bolloxed" to learn. 
I shall be curious to see if this old English dialect word will be removed by the software or removed for offending our dear old Auntie Moderator K.


----------



## Guest

Ingélou said:


> I just went on to one of my fiddle forums & read a post (by an American) that talked about him _'not seriously *jonesing*'_ to learn something. I just googled it & found it means *'desperately wanting/craving'* and could be based on *Jones Alley, in Manhattan, associated with drug addicts*.
> 
> I am not sure whether I hate the expression or not.  It has an *interesting *taste, like elderflower champagne, which I can never make my mind up about.
> 
> American TC Members (or Brits) - is *jonesing* part of your idiolect?


It's the Welsh equivalent of dogging.


----------



## Wood

Ingelou, I bet a pound to a penny that you wish you hadn't started this one!


----------



## Dr Johnson

"Jonesing" is not in Chambers.


----------



## GreenMamba

"I'm looking for Mr. Jones" = I need a heroin fix. I'm pretty sure that's the origin. They needed a euphemism.

Then it evolved. This song (1972) still makes reference to the junkie connotation.
And then Cheech and Chong did Basketball Jones as a parody of it.


----------



## Ingélou

Wood said:


> Ingelou, I bet a pound to a penny that you wish you hadn't started this one!


You are right! 
But as far as craving sex etc goes - I actually saw it used in the context of not seriously 'jonesing' to play a Paganini Caprice on the violin. 
TH & TV - I too, as a Brit, assumed at first that it meant 'keeping up with the Joneses'.


----------



## Harmonie

I can't really give any reasoning as to why, but I've never liked the expression "state of the art". It just... rubs me in the wrong way.

Also, I actually just realized this one: When ads advertise TVs/3D movies/etc. as "eye-popping". How in the world could that have ever come to be a positive expression?


----------



## Ingélou

Harmonie said:


> I can't really give any reasoning as to why, but I've never liked the expression "state of the art". It just... rubs me in the wrong way...


I agree - but I love the irony of how it's found its way into the general vocabulary just as it's started to sound so passé. .


----------



## Figleaf

Dr Johnson said:


> To lose a dictionary is bad enough. To lose one's Chambers is a tragedy.


I always mean to invest in a proper dictionary. I only have Webster's, as recommended by Bing and Bob ('Like Webster's dictionary, we're Morocco bound!')


----------



## Ingélou

Chambers is *fab* - we're crossword & scrabble fanatics & all those extra Scottish dialect words or northern forms of the standard English word are so useful, as well as being chock-full of character. 

We are actually on our second copy because we wore the first one out. I didn't know about the joke definitions and assumed they weren't in ours - but I just looked up _éclair_ & _middle age_, and they *are*.

You've made my day, Turnabout Vox - thank you, thank you, thank you! :tiphat:


----------



## hpowders

I could care less.

I couldn't care less.

Off the wagon.

On the wagon.

Back in the day.

Cut to the chase.

Needless to say.


----------



## Bellinilover

"Based off of" as a replacement for "based on."


----------



## hpowders

At the end of the day....

Going forward.....

Post like you mean it....

Scratch the last one.


----------



## EdwardBast

Ingélou said:


> You are right!
> But as far as craving sex etc goes - I actually saw it used in the context of not seriously 'jonesing' to play a Paganini Caprice on the violin.
> TH & TV - I too, as a Brit, assumed at first that it meant 'keeping up with the Joneses'.


The expression began with heroin addicts in need of a fix, as you noted above. It was later generalized to other cravings.


----------



## EdwardBast

Harmonie said:


> I can't really give any reasoning as to why, but I've never liked the expression "state of the art". It just... rubs me in the wrong way.


How about the closely related "state of play," meaning up on current moves, feints, tactics, and strategies in some sort of zero sum competition?


----------



## hpowders

I must say, watching Cable News, if I hear one more "moving forward"; another "at the end of the day"; I will cancel my subscription. 
Why pay for this cruel form of punishment?


----------



## Guest

I HATE it when someone uses "mmkay?" in a post! My instant visceral response is "SHOVE YOUR MMKAY UP YOUR FAT ***, YOU ****!" But, generally, I cease responding to the idiot.


----------



## arpeggio

a + b = c - d


----------



## geralmar

Ripoff (Rip-off)

I first encounterd it during the "Black Power" movement of the 1960s. For personal reasons I loathe the word and refuse to acknowledge or use it.


----------



## Xaltotun

"Don't hate the player, hate the game"

That's such a cheap and disgusting way of escaping blame, a sort of modern "the Devil made me do it!". Also, as a free human being I reserve my right to put no limits whatsoever to my justified and righteous hatred!


----------



## Guest

On this site, it would have to be "Who/what is the best [pianist, conductor, performance, etc.]?" The "best" of anything is far too subjective. "Who/what is your _favorite_...?" would be more answerable.


----------



## Richannes Wrahms

Recently: Pot, meaning the drug.

I'm getting increasingly annoyed by (specially indoor) gardening being associated with growing drugs. I particularly blame legalization and google for this.


----------



## Pugg

Kontrapunctus said:


> On this site, it would have to be "Who/what is the best [pianist, conductor, performance, etc.]?" The "best" of anything is far too subjective. "Who/what is your _favorite_...?" would be more answerable.


Finally, someone who feels the same, not that I am that bothered , but some are almost bully's .
The worst thing is: they know it :devil:


----------



## Stavrogin

Ingélou said:


> I just went on to one of my fiddle forums & read a post (by an American) that talked about him _'not seriously *jonesing*'_ to learn something. I just googled it & found it means *'desperately wanting/craving'* and could be based on *Jones Alley, in Manhattan, associated with drug addicts*.
> 
> I am not sure whether I hate the expression or not.  It has an *interesting *taste, like elderflower champagne, which I can never make my mind up about.
> 
> American TC Members (or Brits) - is *jonesing* part of your idiolect?


Well thanks for this post.
I've always loved a Silver Mt Zion's song called "Movie (never made)".
In one of the verses the lyrics are:

_Spinning like crazy
Shoshana was *jonesing*
The towers had fallen
And the wind called out
My grandfather's name
_

And I had no idea what that meant (well, last time I wondered about this must have been some years ago, since Google wouldn't help me at that time).

Now that I think about it, there was another term in that song that I was puzzled about.

_I know that you're doing
And I know I'm unwell
And together we *sashay*
Through variations of hell
_

But now Google is my friend so I just got what that means too.

You gotta love modern technologies!
Oh and I love those expressions, both of them.

Here's the video if anyone's interested.


----------



## Ingélou

^^^ 'Sashay' is quite an old expression, though - we use it in Anglo-American Dancing - unless it has some *modern* meaning that I wot not of! 

PS It's very easy to read or imply perverse meanings in anything. I remember how my sister & I tricked my little brother into thinking that *Mendelism* was an utterly obscene & unmentionable (but mysterious) sexual practice. 
Then, when we'd got him convinced, we dropped it casually into conversation when my mother was in the room and got Little Bro blushing furiously & trying to shush us. :devil:


----------



## Stavrogin

^ I think I should mention that I am Italian, so "sashay" and "jonesing" are only two of _*many*_ English expressions which I find myself wondering about


----------



## Bellinilover

The words "of color" to refer to someone who's not Caucasian. At the risk of sounding insensitive, I think this is an inane term. I'm of Italian descent, which makes me Caucasian. I have the typical Mediterranean, olive skin tone. I'm a good deal darker than, say, my friend Bethany, who's English and has ivory skin. So can I call myself a woman "of color"? IMO, people should just stop with this particular phrase.


----------



## hpowders

Ingélou said:


> ^^^ 'Sashay' is quite an old expression, though - we use it in Anglo-American Dancing - unless it has some *modern* meaning that I wot not of!
> 
> PS It's very easy to read or imply perverse meanings in anything. I remember how my sister & I tricked my little brother into thinking that *Mendelism* was an utterly obscene & unmentionable (but mysterious) sexual practice.
> Then, when we'd got him convinced, we dropped it casually into conversation when my mother was in the room and got Little Bro blushing furiously & trying to shush us. :devil:


I used to sashay into a room until I could no longer do it convincingly.


----------



## geralmar

geralmar said:


> A problem likely limited to the U.S. (and maybe Canada): the failure to distinguish between "grizzly" and "grisly." I'm greatly annoyed each time I read about a highly improbable "grizzly murder" in the Detroit area.


I apologize for resurrecting my own post, but I found the following paragraph in the book, A Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin, by Scott Andrew Selby, Berkley Books (2014):

"Braun then contacted the local police to report his grizzly discovery. When the uniformed officers arrived, they briefly considered the possibility of suicide, given that Mrs. Ditter was found dead on the very day that the government was to take away her children and that they saw no signs of defensive wounds on her body." (p. 71)

I'm used to the mistake in a newspaper or magazine which has a tight deadline; but I don't expect it from a book publisher which I presume has proofreaders.


----------



## Jeffrey Smith

geralmar said:


> I apologize for resurrecting my own post, but I found the following paragraph in the book, A Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin, by Scott Andrew Selby, Berkley Books (2014):
> 
> "Braun then contacted the local police to report his grizzly discovery. When the uniformed officers arrived, they briefly considered the possibility of suicide, given that Mrs. Ditter was found dead on the very day that the government was to take away her children and that they saw no signs of defensive wounds on her body." (p. 71)
> 
> I'm used to the mistake in a newspaper or magazine which has a tight deadline; but I don't expect it from a book publisher which I presume has proofreaders.


I once started reading a book on a recent historical topic. I put it down on page 10 when I encountered a sailing ship tacting to port.

And then there was a highly reputable author writing on medieval Rome. A reference to the Castel Sant"Angelo noted that it eventually became the setting of Verdi's opera Tosca. (That was the hardback. When I saw the paperback, I found they had fixed the error.)

Little errors are a danger signal to me. If I find the author messed up on something I know about, I start to wonder if he messed up on the stuff I know little about.


----------



## hpowders

"To be perfectly honest".

I just read this off a TC post. More wasted words.


----------



## Ingélou

hpowders said:


> "To be perfectly honest".
> 
> I just read this off a TC post. More wasted words.


I see your point - but in everyday life language does need a *certain* amount of redundancy, otherwise it's not very easy to read or listen to. Who'd want a whole concerto of staccato pizzicato?

Why not think of us more prolix types as *sacrificing ourselves* so that your pithiness can shine out in all its *rare* glory! :tiphat:


----------



## hpowders

I see no reason why folks can't get directly to the point. No need to bloviate.


----------



## Jeffrey Smith

hpowders said:


> "To be perfectly honest".
> 
> I just read this off a TC post. More wasted words.


There are occasions where one should be imperfectly honest, vaguely specific, and imprecisely accurate. Funerals, weddings, job interviews, etc.


----------



## Guest

hpowders said:


> I see no reason why folks can't get directly to the point. No need to bloviate.


Yes, and one should eschew obfuscation, too.


----------



## EdwardBast

hpowders said:


> "To be perfectly honest".
> 
> I just read this off a TC post. More wasted words.


Those are only wasted words if one takes them at face value. Whenever I hear them, I prepare myself for impending deceit.


----------



## Pugg

EdwardBast said:


> Those are only wasted words if one takes them at face value. Whenever I hear them, I prepare myself for impending deceit.


Amen to this :tiphat:


----------



## Kieran

It irritates me when people say "kushty."

I don't know why, but it does...


----------



## Chris

'Peeps' for People is beyond hideous.


----------



## EdwardBast

Brexit and Grexit! Have you heard these idiotic coinages? Makes me want to strangle the speaker every time. Die, Die, DIE!!!


----------



## hpowders

Not to interrupt ( just before interrupting).

With all due respect (just before verbally pummeling an opponent).

This brand of English would have been unrecognizable to my 4-fathers.


----------



## Pugg

"I can't even describe " ..........................and the blabbing, on and on and on and on. :devil:


----------



## Figleaf

EdwardBast said:


> Brexit and Grexit! Have you heard these idiotic coinages? Makes me want to strangle the speaker every time. Die, Die, DIE!!!


Well folks, if you don't want to hear the word 'Brexit' in every news bulletin, remember to vote 'Remain' in June.

^ That was a party political broadcast by the 'Let Figleaf Live in France' Party.


----------



## Ingélou

:tiphat:
Wishing you joy in France;  um - I am not all _that _sold on 'folks' for 'folk'...


----------



## Figleaf

Ingélou said:


> Vive la France! :tiphat:
> _But oh dear - I am not sold on 'folks' for 'folk'. _


Sorry about that, it's probably another Americanism that's crept in! Let's continue to blame them for the deterioration on the language, anyway. 

Re France, shall I show you _folk_ what I found in the bottom of my wardrobe? It's a huge tricolore flag, wrapped in a trashy French newspaper from 1972:









I choose to see this as a good omen! :lol:


----------



## hpowders

Sorry kind folks, but "folks" sounds natural to me.


----------



## Ingélou

hpowders said:


> Sorry kind folks, but "folks" sounds natural to me.


Perhaps you like sheeps and mices then, too?


----------



## hpowders

Ingélou said:


> Perhaps you like sheeps and mices then, too?


No. We don't say sheeps and mices, but "Hi, folks"! is as natural as breathing.

Must be an "Americanism".


----------



## Chris

I've got things to do so if you'll excuse me I'll make a Chrexit


----------



## Ingélou

Chris said:


> I've got things to do so if you'll excuse me I'll make a Chrexit


 Bon mot! :tiphat:

For my part, I've been trying to make an Ingélexit from this site for months, but I just can't manage it.
You are all too compelling... :tiphat:


----------



## SiegendesLicht

Bellinilover said:


> The words "of color" to refer to someone who's not *Caucasian*. At the risk of sounding insensitive, I think this is an inane term. I'm of Italian descent, which makes me *Caucasian*. I have the typical Mediterranean, olive skin tone. I'm a good deal darker than, say, my friend Bethany, who's English and has ivory skin. So can I call myself a woman "of color"? IMO, people should just stop with this particular phrase.


"Caucasian" when it refers to white people. The word "Caucasians" means very specific ethnicities, the peoples that inhabit the Caucasus: Georgians, Turkmens, Azerbaijanis etc. But of course this is the euphemism to avoid saying "white" for some reason.


----------



## hpowders

"Caucasian" seems to make certain insecure white folk(s) feel better, I guess.

As for myself, I simply prefer " Caucasian American of East European extraction".


----------



## EdwardBast

Figleaf said:


> Sorry about that, it's probably another Americanism that's crept in! Let's continue to blame them for the deterioration on the language, anyway.


I always thought it was a Porky Piggism, as in: "Ba-dee-a ba-dee-a ba-dee-a, that's all folks!"


----------



## hpowders

Not so much an expression, but I cannot stand when world leaders give a mutual press conference and they use each other's first names to recognize each other. Do that in private! I want to hear these guys refer to each other as "President Obama" and "Prime Minister Cameron"; not "Barack" or "David" as I heard in today's press conference across the pond.

So if the Queen was there, would Obama refer to her as "Liz"?

Come on world leaders! Show some dignity to the high offices you hold!!


----------



## Dim7

hpowders said:


> Not so much an expression, but I cannot stand when world leaders give a mutual press conference and they use each other's first names to recognize each other. Do that in private! I want to hear these guys refer to each other as "President Obama" and "Prime Minister Cameron"; not "Barack" or "David" as I heard in today's press conference across the pond.
> 
> So if the Queen was there, would Obama refer to her as "Liz"?
> 
> Come on world leaders! Show some dignity to the high offices you hold!!


Will have to keep that in mind in case I become a world leader, Grand Mega Poster Hpowders.


----------



## geralmar

hpowders said:


> Not so much an expression, but I cannot stand when world leaders give a mutual press conference and they use each other's first names to recognize each other. Do that in private! I want to hear these guys refer to each other as "President Obama" and "Prime Minister Cameron"; not "Barack" or "David" as I heard in today's press conference across the pond.
> 
> So if the Queen was there, would Obama refer to her as "Liz"?
> 
> Come on world leaders! Show some dignity to the high offices you hold!!


Oh, I don't know. I kind of like it when Donald Trump routinely calls Ted Cruz "Lying Ted" and Hillary Clinton "Crooked Hillary."

Edit: Sorry; I shouldn't have injected politics into this thread. Actually, I am profoundly embarrassed for my country.


----------



## Pugg

geralmar said:


> Oh, I don't know. I kind of like it when Donald Trump routinely calls Ted Cruz "Lying Ted" and Hillary Clinton "Crooked Hillary."


And how would you you describe him?
Apart from the ridiculous blonde hair and stupid remarks?


----------



## Dim7

Dim7 said:


> Bach pronounced with a k-sound rather than a voiceless velar fricative. I'm also not a fan of "Bach / back" puns based on this pronunciation.


This guy seems to be at least trying to pronounce foreign words/names correctly.

Borderline offtopic, but I wanted an excuse to post this video.


----------



## Pugg

Dim7 said:


> This guy seems to be at least trying to pronounce foreign words/names correctly.
> 
> Borderline offtopic, but I wanted an excuse to post this video.


is this some bad gay movie?


----------



## znapschatz

Pugg said:


> is this some bad gay movie?


Don't know about the gay, but we can agree about the bad part.


----------



## Vaneyes

This one's picking up steam. "No worry." It's usually the response to a thank-you in a retail store. These a-holes never seem to thank me for supporting their job.


----------



## Pugg

Why are you on this forum is you don't like (insert name) 
The most offending post I've ever see and would like to say: who are you to criticise?


----------



## SiegendesLicht

When you are reading a laymen's scientific debate on the origins of man and see "rel" for religion and "evo" for evolution, you know the English language is devolving back towards the animal grunts. Ah yes, and "convo" for conversation. 

Frankly, it is depressing. I have invested years into learning "proper" English, that would enable me to read Charles Dickens and Jane Austin, and with some effort even Shakespeare. And now it seems that within my lifetime this language will go the way of the dinosaur.


----------



## Guest

SiegendesLicht said:


> I have invested years into learning "proper" English, that would enable me to read Charles Dickens and Jane Austin, and with some effort even Shakespeare.
> .


It's not just the years, it's the paying attention! 

Jane Austen.

:tiphat:


----------



## Richannes Wrahms

I tht Eng ws lrdy a vry d-evolved lang.


----------



## Dim7

thnk w hv lrd fnd t tht vwls r frckng slss.


----------



## Guest

Leakage in Containment 5. Leakage in Containment 5.


----------



## Taggart

dogen said:


> Leakage in Containment 5. Leakage in Containment 5.


Sounds like Edge of Darkness.


----------



## Mahlerian

Dim7 said:


> thnk w hv lrd fnd t tht vwls r frckng slss.


Th r nt slss f y wnt t cmmnct sl.


----------



## Guest

Taggart said:


> Sounds like Edge of Darkness.


Sounds interesting; I can't say I've seen it.


----------



## Meyerbeer Smith

"myself", when people mean "me"


----------



## Ingélou

SimonTemplar said:


> "myself", when people mean "me"


Same here: I also hate it when people say things like 'He left it to my brother *and I*' thinking it's correct, presumably because of all the times they started a sentence 'My brother and me' and were told off.


----------



## GreenMamba

Ingélou said:


> Same here: I also hate it when people say things like 'He left it to my brother *and I*' thinking it's correct, presumably because of all the times they started a sentence 'My brother and me' and were told off.


An example of trying to hard, often done with "whom" ("Whom did you say was visiting?"). I think this is less defensible than the opposite, more demotic mistakes ("You were visited by who?").


----------



## Dim7

Mahlerian said:


> Th r nt slss f y wnt t cmmnct sl.


Nt tr. W hv mngd t cmmnct qt sl n r vwllss thrd n Tlk Nnsns. Hwvrfylsrmvthspcscmmnctngbcmssgnfcntlmrdffclt.


----------



## TurnaboutVox

Dim7 said:


> Nt tr. W hv mngd t cmmnct qt sl n r vwllss thrd in Tlk Nnsns. Hwvrfylsrmvthspcscmmnctngbcmssgnfcntlmrdffclt.


Alert! Leakage from Talk Nonsense! lrt! Lkg frm tlk nsns! lrt!Lkgfrmtlknsns! Hlp!


----------



## Ingélou

TurnaboutVox said:


> Alert! Leakage from Talk Nonsense! lrt! Lkg frm tlk nsns! lrt!Lkgfrmtlknsns! Hlp!


The thread is called 'Expressions that you hate'...


----------



## UnauthorizedRosin

This one's a bit odd, but I dislike the expression "keep your eyes peeled." It sounds as though you're asking me to physically remove the outer layer of my eye with a sharp object. It sounds gross. Does it mean to keep them open? Then a simple "keep your eyes open" should be used instead.


----------



## Ingélou

I agree - like 'keep your eyes skinned'. A lot of these phrases sound ugly & violent, but they've become idioms and the original impact seems to have become blunted.


----------



## Dim7

Ingélou said:


> The thread is called 'Expressions that you hate'...


Not directly releveant to the topic, but my vowelless post was a response to this:



Richannes Wrahms said:


> I tht Eng ws lrdy a vry d-evolved lang.


Which in turn was a response to this post:



SiegendesLicht said:


> When you are reading a laymen's scientific debate on the origins of man and see "rel" for religion and "evo" for evolution, you know the English language is devolving back towards the animal grunts. Ah yes, and "convo" for conversation.
> 
> Frankly, it is depressing. I have invested years into learning "proper" English, that would enable me to read Charles Dickens and Jane Austin, and with some effort even Shakespeare. And now it seems that within my lifetime this language will go the way of the dinosaur.


----------



## Ingélou

Dim7 said:


> Not directly releveant to the topic, but my vowelless post was a response to this:
> 
> Which in turn was a response to this post:


Thanks, Dim7 - I realised that. But later posts...?


----------



## Ingélou

UnauthorizedRosin said:


> This one's a bit odd, but I dislike the expression "keep your eyes peeled." It sounds as though you're asking me to physically remove the outer layer of my eye with a sharp object. It sounds gross. Does it mean to keep them open? Then a simple "keep your eyes open" should be used instead.





Ingélou said:


> I agree - like 'keep your eyes skinned'. A lot of these phrases sound ugly & violent, but they've become idioms and the original impact seems to have become blunted.


It's possibly a good thing that we've forgotten the origin of verbs like 'to spreadeagle'! 

As well as painful expressions, there are a lot of uncouth ones, like (in Britain) _to open your mouth and let your belly rumble_ which means to speak unnecessarily or vacuously.


----------



## TurnaboutVox

TurnaboutVox said:


> Alert! Leakage from Talk Nonsense! lrt! Lkg frm tlk nsns! lrt!Lkgfrmtlknsns! Hlp!





Ingélou said:


> The thread is called 'Expressions that you hate'...





Ingélou said:


> Thanks, Dim7 - I realised that. But later posts...?


Apologies, Ingélou, I didn't intend to derail the thread, just to make a feeble joke about the fact that the thread could be derailed by the 'language leakage' from Dim7's social group.


----------



## Guest

GreenMamba said:


> An example of trying to hard, often done with "whom" ("Whom did you say was visiting?"). I think this is less defensible than the opposite, more demotic mistakes ("You were visited by who?").


Come on, it's only one letter.

The same as "to" instead of "too."

That really Gets My Goat. :tiphat:


----------



## Figleaf

SiegendesLicht said:


> When you are reading a laymen's scientific debate on the origins of man and see "rel" for religion and "evo" for evolution, you know the English language is devolving back towards the animal grunts. Ah yes, and "convo" for conversation.
> 
> Frankly, it is depressing. I have invested years into learning "proper" English, that would enable me to read Charles Dickens and Jane Austin, and with some effort even Shakespeare. And now it seems that within my lifetime this language will go the way of the dinosaur.


'Convo' is Australian, isn't it? They seem to like shortening words in ways that sound silly to the British ear. It's very annoying when Australianisms like 'uni' for university catch on over here, usually among people who have trouble with words of more than two syllables. When you hear someone say 'I'm going to uni!' you know they probably shouldn't be.


----------



## Ingélou

Figleaf said:


> 'Convo' is Australian, isn't it? They seem to like shortening words in ways that sound silly to the British ear. It's very annoying when Australianisms like 'uni' for university catch on over here, usually among people who have trouble with words of more than two syllables. When you hear someone say 'I'm going to uni!' you know they probably shouldn't be.


Oops!  Guilty, m'lud!

I don't naturally use the word 'uni', but it's so tempting when I'm trying to produce a concise post. Also, it was well-established in Scotland by the 1970s when I met & married Taggart, which is where I learned it. The Scots also have _that way_ with words - for example, 'hypie' and 'dreechie' as twin abbreviations for the word 'hypochondriac'. Diminutives are part of their humour - a sort of 'cutting down to size'.

But anyway, I shall comfort myself that 'uni' is preferable to the smug upper-class English word 'Varsity'!


----------



## znapschatz

UnauthorizedRosin said:


> This one's a bit odd, but I dislike the expression "keep your eyes peeled." It sounds as though you're asking me to physically remove the outer layer of my eye with a sharp object. It sounds gross. Does it mean to keep them open? Then a simple "keep your eyes open" should be used instead.





Ingélou said:


> I agree - like 'keep your eyes skinned'. A lot of these phrases sound ugly & violent, but they've become idioms and the original impact seems to have become blunted.


This crudeness actually has a purpose. An image of peeled or skinned eyes is bizarre enough to have more of a visceral impact on a person's mind than the more bland "keep your eyes open" or "keep looking." Even after overuse has trivialized its ugliness, the mind still finds it effective. During a need for serious surveillance, every little bit helps.


----------



## Figleaf

Ingélou said:


> Oops!  Guilty, m'lud!
> 
> I don't naturally use the word 'uni', but it's so tempting when I'm trying to produce a concise post. Also, it was well-established in Scotland by the 1970s when I met & married Taggart, which is where I learned it. The Scots also have _that way_ with words - for example, 'hypie' and 'dreechie' as twin abbreviations for the word 'hypochondriac'. Diminutives are part of their humour - a sort of 'cutting down to size'.
> 
> But anyway, I shall comfort myself that 'uni' is preferable to the smug upper-class English word 'Varsity'!


Haha, I think 'uni' isn't so bad in writing, like 'Xmas' for Christmas- it just sounds daft when people say it aloud. The Scottish use of '-ie' diminutives is a good point. Wood has gone totally native and says 'Copie' instead of Co-op and 'Wee toppie' for top up (of a drink).  I never heard anyone say they were going to 'varsity', but if you were going to say it you would have to get completely in character as Bertie Wooster first, with striped blazer and straw boater! I do remember being scolded for saying 'Cherwell' instead of 'CHAAARwell' and told that Christ Church should be referred to as 'the Hice', i.e. 'the House' pronounced as if impersonating Kirstie Allsop. I stuck stubbornly to pronouncing things as an ordinary plebeian would: better non-U than that level of pretentiousness! :lol:


----------



## Dr Johnson

Ingélou said:


> Oops!  Guilty, m'lud!
> 
> I don't naturally use the word 'uni', but it's so tempting when I'm trying to produce a concise post. Also, it was well-established in Scotland by the 1970s when I met & married Taggart, which is where I learned it. The Scots also have _that way_ with words - for example, 'hypie' and 'dreechie' as twin abbreviations for the word 'hypochondriac'. Diminutives are part of their humour - a sort of 'cutting down to size'.
> 
> But anyway, I shall comfort myself that 'uni' is preferable to the *smug upper-class English word 'Varsity'!*


Have you ever (in your lifetime) heard anybody use the word "varsity" in other than a humourous or ironic sense? I certainly haven't.


----------



## GreenMamba

dogen said:


> Come on, it's only one letter.
> 
> The same as "to" instead of "too."
> 
> That really Gets My Goat. :tiphat:


"To" vs. "too" is understandable as they are homophones. People mistype those all the thyme.


----------



## Mahlerian

GreenMamba said:


> "To" vs. "too" is understandable as they are homophones. People mistype those all the thyme.


I sea what you did their.


----------



## Dr Johnson

There is an excellent T-shirt which sorts out these (to/too, there/their) muddles.

I will only put a link to the image because the concepts are expressed in a direct manner. 

http://www.shotdeadinthehead.com/grammar-t-shirt.html


----------



## Dr Johnson

Figleaf said:


> Haha, I think 'uni' isn't so bad in writing, like 'Xmas' for Christmas- it just sounds daft when people say it aloud. The Scottish use of '-ie' diminutives is a good point. Wood has gone totally native and says 'Copie' instead of Co-op and 'Wee toppie' for top up (of a drink).  I never heard anyone say they were going to 'varsity', but if you were going to say it you would have to get completely in character as Bertie Wooster first, with striped blazer and straw boater! I do remember being scolded for saying 'Cherwell' instead of 'CHAAARwell' and told that *Christ Church should be referred to as 'the Hice', i.e. 'the House'* pronounced as if impersonating Kirstie Allsop. I stuck stubbornly to pronouncing things as an ordinary plebeian would: better non-U than that level of pretentiousness! :lol:


I sometimes wonder if we went to the same Oxford; often a whole week would pass without anyone expecting me to even think about Christ Church, let alone its nickname. 

But to be serious, I have often wondered where the (I think early 19th century) pronunciation of _house_ as "hice" or _join_ as "jine" came from. As a result of your post I was moved to search the internet and found this plausible explanation:

http://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-200770,00.html

(perhaps your tormentor re the "house" was from Northern Ireland :lol


----------



## SiegendesLicht

Figleaf said:


> 'Convo' is Australian, isn't it? They seem to like shortening words in ways that sound silly to the British ear. It's very annoying when Australianisms like 'uni' for university catch on over here, usually among people who have trouble with words of more than two syllables. *When you hear someone say 'I'm going to uni!' you know they probably shouldn't be. *


There is just a possibility they might be German exchange students  "Uni" is short for "Universität" in that language too.


----------



## Ingélou

Dr Johnson said:


> Have you ever (in your lifetime) heard anybody use the word "varsity" in other than a humourous or ironic sense? I certainly haven't.


It was used seriously in the title of some of the university societies and activities when I was *at uni* in Durham (which was always trying to copy Oxbridge). 

(PS - *humorous*?)


----------



## Figleaf

Dr Johnson said:


> I sometimes wonder if we went to the same Oxford; often a whole week would pass without anyone expecting me to even think about Christ Church, let alone its nickname.
> 
> But to be serious, I have often wondered where the (I think early 19th century) pronunciation of _house_ as "hice" or _join_ as "jine" came from. As a result of your post I was moved to search the internet and found this plausible explanation:
> 
> http://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-200770,00.html
> 
> (perhaps your tormentor re the "house" was from Northern Ireland :lol


I think your generation (?) of students (Wood's too) possibly felt more secure in their career prospects than mine did. In my day there were certainly a lot of working class kids who seemed to think it was important to try to 'pass' as some upper middle class type whose family had been sending kids to Oxbridge for generations, even though it wouldn't actually fool anyone because everyone knew what school you had been to and thus what your place in the pecking order was.

When were you at Oxford? If in the 80s, it might have been a good move to pick up some Northern Irish pronunciation: you could have landed a cushy job at the BBC providing the dubbed voices of Sinn Fein spokesmen.


----------



## Figleaf

SiegendesLicht said:


> There is just a possibility they might be German exchange students  "Uni" is short for "Universität" in that language too.


I'm pretty sure the only times I heard 'uni' before the millennium were on 'Neighbours' and 'Home And Away' (Australian daytime soaps hugely popular in the 90s) as well as from one person I dated in sixth form who had spent time in Australia. I didn't hear any Germans say it, which is not to say that they never did of course.


----------



## TurnaboutVox

Dr Johnson said:


> Have you ever (in your lifetime) heard anybody use the word "varsity" in other than a humourous or ironic sense? I certainly haven't.





Ingélou said:


> Oops!  Guilty, m'lud!
> 
> I don't naturally use the word 'uni', but it's so tempting when I'm trying to produce a concise post. Also, it was well-established in Scotland by the 1970s when I met & married Taggart, which is where I learned it. The Scots also have _that way_ with words - for example, 'hypie' and 'dreechie' as twin abbreviations for the word 'hypochondriac'. Diminutives are part of their humour - a sort of 'cutting down to size'.
> 
> But anyway, I shall comfort myself that 'uni' is preferable to the smug upper-class English word 'Varsity'!


"Uni" was in common usage at Aberdeen University in the early 1980's and at Glasgow 'Uni' (as it was often called by students) in the late 80's.

"Varsity" was the term my paternal grandmother used for University, and, given her aspirational views, was probably a borrowing from upper class usage in her young life in the 20s and 30s. She didn't use it ironically or in humour, but nor do I think she was alone amongst her generation in using it.

She herself was from a working class Scots background.


----------



## Taggart

The one place where you will commonly see Varsity is the Varsity Match which dates from 1872. The cricketing fixture dating from 1827 is referred to as the University Match.


----------



## Dr Johnson

Taggart said:


> The one place where you will commonly see Varsity is the Varsity Match which dates from 1872. The cricketing fixture dating from 1827 is referred to as the University Match.


A fair point. 

When I made my rash response to Ingélou (post 638) I had not considered the example of The Varsity Match nor the societies at Durham (perhaps also named in the 19th century?) which included the peccant word. Nor did I call to mind the Varsity Bookshop, the Varsity Tea Rooms, Varsity Taxis, the Varsity Massage Parlour or the Varisty Bide a Wee Pets Home, businesses which either did, do, or surely ought to exist.

I intemperately pressed ahead with my notion that after about 1930 (and even then one would think that the word was beginning to fall into desuetude) nobody would say something like "I'm going up to the Varsity soon" or "I've just come down from the Varsity, what ho!" without being conscious that they were using an archaism.

The Varsity Match (having been given its name right in the middle of the period when the word was used without any such baggage) is simply the recognised term for a sporting event which it would be affected and awkward to call anything else.

I was also unaware of the idiolect of Turnabout's grandmother.


----------



## Dr Johnson

Ingélou said:


> It was used seriously in the title of some of the university societies and activities when I was *at uni* in Durham (which was always trying to copy Oxbridge).
> 
> (PS - *humorous*?)




Doh! I have fallen victim to Skitt's Law. 



:lol:


----------



## John T

"Next week's historic meeting" ... ugh ...


----------



## Ingélou

Dr Johnson said:


> [/U]
> 
> Doh! I have fallen victim to Skitt's Law.
> 
> 
> 
> :lol:


 I'm so glad to learn about Skitt's Law - O felix culpa! :tiphat:

(PS - I'll be very nervous posting on this thread from now on, though...)


----------



## Dr Johnson

Ingélou said:


> I'm so glad to learn about Skitt's Law - O felix culpa! :tiphat:
> 
> (*PS - I'll be very nervous posting on this thread from now on, though...)*




Don't be. Everyone falls victim to Skitt's Law at some time or other.

It won't stop me inveighing against _could of_ instead of _could have_! :lol:


----------



## Pugg

John T said:


> "Next week's historic meeting" ... ugh ...


Do you_ have_ to go?


----------



## John T

Pugg said:


> Do you_ have_ to go?


It's historic, so I've already been and gone.


----------



## Pugg

John T said:


> It's historic, so I've already been and gone.


So....was as it bas as you thought it would be?


----------



## John T

Pugg said:


> So....was as it bas as you thought it would be?


I won't know until next week.


----------



## Bellinilover

"Hot mess." There are no words to express how much I hate that one.


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

Bellinilover said:


> "Hot mess." There are no words to express how much I hate that one.


Sounds like what you'd use to describe Franz Liszt.


----------



## Bellinilover

Abraham Lincoln said:


> Sounds like what you'd use to describe Franz Liszt.


:lol: Here he is:


----------



## Ingélou

Bellinilover said:


> "Hot mess." There are no words to express how much I hate that one.


This thread is educational for me - I didn't know this expression & if it's come to the UK, not in *my* circle!
http://time.com/46267/hot-mess-history-amy-schumer/
And now, having read all about it, I couldn't agree more, Bellinilover! :tiphat:


----------



## Art Rock

"Statistics" when used by posters who have clearly no clue what it means.


----------



## Pugg

"I intend to stay away from topic's I don't like / interested in" used posters with only one interest in their own holy grail.


----------



## Ingélou

Pugg said:


> "I intend to stay away from topic's I don't like / interested in" used posters with only one interest in their own holy grail.


It's a fairly natural behaviour - but yes, why *announce* it?


----------



## Pugg

Ingélou said:


> It's a fairly natural behaviour - but yes, why *announce* it?


Precisely :tiphat:


----------



## geralmar

There was a time when I was in college when everything was a "syndrome." It made my classmates sound highly intellectual and sophisticated; but I suspected very few could actually define the word. "Syndrome" was also omnipresent in the media for awhile. I still suspect every nonacademic use of the word. I imagine there are other words which make the speaker seem more educated than probably warranted.


----------



## Figleaf

geralmar said:


> There was a time when I was in college when everything was a "syndrome." It made my classmates sound highly intellectual and sophisticated; but I suspected very few could actually define the word. "Syndrome" was also omnipresent in the media for awhile. I still suspect every nonacademic use of the word. I imagine there are other words which make the speaker seem more educated than probably warranted.


Hopefully the nerdy villain of 'The Incredibles' has killed off that voguish misuse of his name. (Love that movie...)


----------



## Dim7

I once said "I'm so ****ing sorry" (I was not being sarcastic). In retrospect it may not have been the most ideal way to apologize.


----------



## Vaneyes




----------



## Pugg

Vaneyes said:


>


Does this means that nobody may ever love you?


----------



## Guest

So why do I even start a sentence with this word?

And, like, do I actually mean something is similar but not identical, or do I, like, not have the ability to, like, construct a sentence, without, like inserting a like somewhere? 

So this is my so like last so word on the so like matter, like this needs pointing so out. So. And like.


----------



## Vaneyes

Pugg said:


> Does this means that nobody may ever love you?


That probably deserves a, "Whatever."


----------



## Dan Ante

I shudder when I hear *"and we will grow the business"* yeh and fertilise it with BS


----------



## Guest

Dan Ante said:


> I shudder when I hear *"and we will grow the business"* yeh and fertilise it with BS


Business BS probably warrants its own thread! There's plenty of low hanging fruit we could touch base with. Ggggrrrrrrrrrrrr...


----------



## Pugg

Vaneyes said:


> That probably deserves a, "Whatever."


Whatever........


----------



## geralmar

"Assassinate" used in a nonpolitical context. I'm tired of reading and hearing that John Lennon was "assassinated." He was murdered.


----------



## Art Rock

The same with "execute" in terrorist acts. They do not execute their hostages, they kill them.


----------



## GreenMamba

Art Rock said:


> The same with "execute" in terrorist acts. They do not execute their hostages, they kill them.


There's a difference. You can kill someone in self-defense, but not execute them. Kill is actually more neutral.


----------



## Varick

Wood said:


> I loathe any expression, indeed any collection of words, which are accompanied by air quotes.


Like "laser" or "ozone layer" (I wonder how many people will get the reference).



hpowders said:


> "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families."
> 
> Praying for the day I no longer have to hear this. Is a violence-free world too much to ask for?


Yes!



Gouldanian said:


> I don't support pushing old ladies down the stairs and I won't change my mind...


Really? Who doesn't support that?



Ilarion said:


> I despise, detest and loathe the use of the word *HATE* - And yes, I myself have used it at times - For me it signifies a disbalance within those who use that word - And since I have used it, I too am sometimes in a state of disbalance. I regret the pain it causes the recipients because it is something I wish not to happen to me. Even a phenomenon or subject, or object that we read about or experience should be adjudicated with care Just a suggestion: Maybe the mods here on TC can change the title of this thread to e.g. *Expressions you despise, detest and loathe*.


I believe the word "hate" is a very necessary word. When used in a serious (not superfluous) manner, it shows a real and sometimes necessary emotion. I hate evil, I hate those who do evil acts over and over. I hate the North Korean regime. As far as I am concerned, if you do not "hate" those things (amongst others) I think it shows very negatively of one's moral compass (or lack thereof). This notion of not wanting to use or hear the word "hate" is indicative of a trend I see in western culture of wanting to live in a fantasy world where nothing is "hateful." Sorry, but that's not the world we live in. I think it healthy to "hate" certain things. If we do not "hate" certain things, I find *that* to be an imbalance, especially of one's moral code and ability for critical thinking.

V


----------



## Guest

Lately, I've been hearing "He graduated college [or high school]" even on the news. What happened to "from", as in "He graduated _from_ college." Prepositions people--use them!


----------



## Guest

Kontrapunctus said:


> Lately, I've been hearing "He graduated college [or high school]" even on the news. What happened to "from", as in "He graduated _from_ college." Prepositions people--use them!


Hey, in this olde worlde no-one graduates from school or college. People graduate from university.


----------



## GreenMamba

Traditionally, it was "she was graduated from college." This was the original meaning of graduate. You don't graduate, the school does. As always, if we can survive the dropping of "was," we'll survive the dropping of "from."

It reminds me of "people were evacuated from the building." No, the building was evacuated of people.


----------



## Vaneyes

Pugg said:


> Whatever........


"Perfect."


----------



## agoukass

I strongly dislike it when people misuse "literally."


----------



## Dim7

agoukass said:


> I strongly dislike it when people misuse "literally."


----------



## sospiro

agoukass said:


> I strongly dislike it when people misuse "literally."


And me!


----------



## Xenakiboy

sospiro said:


> And me!


It's literally driving me literally insane


----------



## Guest

I'm like whatever.


----------



## Ingélou

I'm, like, *so* whatever...


----------



## Radames

What about when people say " I could care less"? When they really mean “I couldn’t care less.”


----------



## Guest

Radames said:


> What about when people say " I could care less"? When they really mean "I couldn't care less."


Well, it's possible that they have a tiny bit of care left...


----------



## Balthazar

Just sayin'...


----------



## SiegendesLicht

Varick said:


> I believe the word "hate" is a very necessary word. When used in a serious (not superfluous) manner, it shows a real and sometimes necessary emotion. I hate evil, I hate those who do evil acts over and over. I hate the North Korean regime. As far as I am concerned, if you do not "hate" those things (amongst others) I think it shows very negatively of one's moral compass (or lack thereof). This notion of not wanting to use or hear the word "hate" is indicative of a trend I see in western culture of wanting to live in a fantasy world where nothing is "hateful." Sorry, but that's not the world we live in. I think it healthy to "hate" certain things. If we do not "hate" certain things, I find *that* to be an imbalance, especially of one's moral code and ability for critical thinking.
> 
> V


You make a good point. However, I would suggest sticking to hating things that impact your own life in some way, not things that are far away and irrelevant to you. At the danger of moving into political off-topic, here's why: a while ago, during the Bush administration, someone in that administration (I think it was Condoleezza Rice) called this country of mine, Belarus, "the last dictatorship of Europe". It would probably be safe to assume that if at some point the US military ran out of targets in the Middle East (which will hardly happen any time soon), we would become the target for the next military campaign. And you, together with millions of others, would be saying: "I hate the government of Belarus because it is a dictatorship". Whereas you most likely don't know very much about Belarus or how we live here, you would only be repeating what someone in your own government had said. Do you see what I'm saying?


----------



## Vronsky

Repeating "you know" in every single sentence.


----------



## Vaneyes

"Make America great again."

"Hello (little) people."

"We love you all."

"You're beautiful."


----------



## Guest

"Definitive performance."


----------



## Dan Ante

Vronsky said:


> Repeating "you know" in every single sentence.


I er um ..........you know..........agree.


----------



## EdwardBast

SiegendesLicht said:


> You make a good point. However, I would suggest sticking to hating things that impact your own life in some way, not things that are far away and irrelevant to you. At the danger of moving into political off-topic, here's why: a while ago, during the Bush administration, someone in that administration (I think it was Condoleezza Rice) called this country of mine, Belarus, "the last dictatorship of Europe". It would probably be safe to assume that if at some point the US military ran out of targets in the Middle East (which will hardly happen any time soon), we would become the target for the next military campaign. And you, together with millions of others, would be saying: "I hate the government of Belarus because it is a dictatorship". Whereas you most likely don't know very much about Belarus or how we live here, you would only be repeating what someone in your own government had said. Do you see what I'm saying?


The U.S. has propped up dictatorships all over the planet, so being one does not necessarily put ones country in danger of invasion. Sitting somewhere near our oil trough on the other hand … 

"Begging the question" which is used correctly about 2% of the time.


----------



## Marinera

Hubby
Yummy

Sexy - what a cheap word, superficial sounding and fake somehow, devalues anything it describes, brings to mind all the unbound silicone loveliness on the planet and the cause for it.. nauseating really

Hot - or even longer typed version 'Hawt' - really overdone
Babe, or Baby- to an adult
When someone asks rethorical question and ends it with 'Right?' and so it goes for another 10 rethorical questions with the same ending..

Brainstorming
Think out of the box
^
I used to dislike them very much, very annoying phrases, more ubiquitous than the swear words, i'm no longer in contact with the crowd that liked them so much though.


----------



## Vaneyes

Marinera said:


> Hubby
> Yummy
> 
> Sexy - what a cheap word, superficial sounding and fake somehow, devalues anything it describes, brings to mind all the unbound silicone loveliness on the planet and the cause for it.. nauseating really
> 
> Hot - or even longer typed version 'Hawt' - really overdone
> Babe, or Baby- to an adult
> When someone asks rethorical question and ends it with 'Right?' and so it goes for another 10 rethorical questions with the same ending..
> 
> Brainstorming
> Think out of the box
> ^
> I used to dislike them very much, very annoying phrases, more ubiquitous than the swear words,* i'm no longer in contact with the crowd that liked them so much though.*


*Good on you.* *Life's too short.*


----------



## Marinera

Vaneyes said:


> *Good on you.* *Life's too short.*


How did you know? That's exactly what I thought.


----------



## EdwardBast

Vaneyes said:


> *Good on you.* *Life's too short.*


Are you listing more annoying expressions or responding to the quotation?  "Good on you" puts me in mind of an impending dry-cleaning bill. Sorry …


----------



## Pugg

Vronsky said:


> Repeating "you know" in every single sentence.


I am always annoyed by this, because................ I don't know. 
Sport people making a habit of this.


----------



## Marinera

EdwardBast said:


> Are you listing more annoying expressions or responding to the quotation?  "Good on you" puts me in mind of an impending dry-cleaning bill. Sorry …


Oh, aren't they insidious semantic things, are they? If you can't beat them join them


----------



## Pugg

Marinera said:


> Oh, aren't they insidious semantic things, are they? If you can't beat them join them


Doesn't always helps, specially on the internet.


----------



## elgar's ghost

If either a work colleague or friend ever says to me 'Let's do this' (a line usually barked out by a camouflage-trousered knucklehead or the token sassy hot chick in far too many shouty-shooty movies) I might just forget what a gentleman I can be.


----------



## Blancrocher

elgars ghost said:


> If either a work colleague or friend ever says to me 'Let's do this' (a line usually barked out by a camouflage-trousered knucklehead or the token sassy hot chick in far too many shouty-shooty movies) I might just forget what a gentleman I can be.


Same here. It also bothers me how seldom I hear my favorite expression, which is usually much more applicable to the given situation: "This can wait."


----------



## Kivimees

There is an expression in Estonian I hate, 'ühe sõnaga' (my translation, 'in a word'). The idea is that the person uttering this expression is going to give you a short and concise opinion. In reality, hearing this expression means you can look forward to a 20-minute rant.


----------



## Pugg

Kivimees said:


> There is an expression in Estonian I hate, 'ühe sõnaga' (my translation, 'in a word'). The idea is that the person uttering this expression is going to give you a short and concise opinion. In reality, hearing this expression means you can look forward to a 20-minute rant.


Something like: to cut a long story short?


----------



## Kivimees

Pugg said:


> Something like: to cut a long story short?


Well, to make a long story short, yes.


----------



## motoboy

"Put it this way:..." rather than "Let me put it this way:..."

"Unbelievable"

"A whole nother thing"

"Are we having fun yet?"

"Howdy howdy howdy!"

After hearing that I play the cornet, someone ALWAYS mistakes that for clarinet. Not really an expression, but a real boot to the berries. 

"One time in band camp..." I never saw the movie, but I hear it every other time someone learns that I'm a musician that doesn't play guitar, bass or drums.


----------



## Bellinilover

I have an odd dislike for the word "chivalrous," usually used today to describe a man being polite to a woman. It hearkens back to the Middle Ages, and to me it sounds stuck in that period; I think of a knight in shining armor on a white horse, or something. Why can't people just say "courteous" or "polite" or even "gentlemanly."

And now for my least favorite expression of all time. I absolutely cannot stand the phrase "animal beauty," often used to describe a woman who has dark hair and relatively dark skin. (It's also sometimes used to describe someone who isn't "conventionally beautiful," whatever that means.) I know it's meant to be complimentary, but as someone who has blackish hair, brown eyes, and olive skin I've always thought it sounds condescending, even bigoted -- as though any beauty that's not "blond" or "fair" is like that of an "animal." I just hate how it sounds.


----------



## geralmar

I actually once told a client, "I'm afeared that.... ."


----------



## Bellinilover

geralmar said:


> I actually once told a client, "I'm afeared that.... ."


:lol: Sounds like Huckleberry Finn.


----------



## Dim7

I don't hate it, rather I love it because it offers a great opportunity to be a smartass and feel superior to someone, but an unintentionally funny expression is "x times less", i.e. "weighs two times less". That would be a negative weight.....


----------



## Kivimees

Dim7 said:


> I don't hate it, rather I love it because it offers a great opportunity to be a smartass and feel superior to someone, but an unintentionally funny expression is "x times less", i.e. "weighs two times less". That would be a negative weight.....


True enough, but this really how we express ourselves (correctly) in Estonian: 'two times less' means 'half as much'. How about Finnish?


----------



## Dim7

Kivimees said:


> True enough, but this really how we express ourselves (correctly) in Estonian: 'two times less' means 'half as much'. How about Finnish?


Well I'm pretty sure that in any language 99% of the time that is what is actually meant. But you'd think that also whatever the language the expression would make a mathematician cringe (unless in the very rare case that "two times less" is actually what is meant).


----------



## Kivimees

Dim7 said:


> Well I'm pretty sure that in any language 99% of the time that is what is actually meant. But you'd think that also whatever the language the expression would make a mathematician cringe (unless in the very rare case that "two times less" is actually what is meant).


What about double-negatives? Do it in Estonian and it simply becomes emphatically negative.


----------



## Dim7

Kivimees said:


> What about double-negatives? Do it in Estonian and it simply becomes emphatically negative.


I can't actually think of a situation where in Finnish anyone would use a double-negative, correctly or incorrectly.....


----------



## Mahlerian

Dim7 said:


> I can't actually think of a situation where in Finnish anyone would use a double-negative, correctly or incorrectly.....


Don't tell me you guys can't use double negatives!


----------



## Kivimees

Mahlerian said:


> Don't tell me you guys can't use double negatives!


Don't tell me you guys can't use NO double negatives.

(Fixed)


----------



## Ingélou

Kivimees said:


> What about double-negatives? Do it in Estonian and it simply becomes emphatically negative.


This used to be the same in Old English/ Anglo-Saxon, the root of English - the negative forms were piled on and it made no difference, unless to make it more emphatically negative.

Then some grammarians applied Latin rules to the English language so that a double negative became a positive. So now the situation is that if you use a double negative, it is regarded as incorrect and marks you as an uneducated speaker.

As in the following anecdote, told me by my primary school teacher:

He had been away with a school party at a summer camp, and second helpings were being offered. A boy said, 'I don't want no pudding', which technically meant he wanted pudding (since he didn't want to take the *no-pudding* option).

My teacher decided to show the boy what the correct form was. He said, 'I don't want *any* pudding!'

To which the boy rejoined: 'Then, sir, don't 'ave none!'


----------



## Guest

Reminds me of a favourite scene of mine>>>


----------



## Pugg

dogen said:


> Reminds me of a favourite scene of mine>>>


In about 50 years from now this film be still a "classic"


----------



## Xenakiboy

The phrase "running out of time" just came to mind, I don't 'hate' it but the more you think about it, the stranger it gets...


----------



## Vronsky

Steven Pinker speaks here a little bit about double-negatives and he has interesting example for it.


----------



## Richannes Wrahms

'elbow grease' 

yuck


----------



## geralmar

"Ethnic cleansing"

I prefer "civilian slaughter."


----------



## Vaneyes

"Good to go."

"You're golden."


----------



## Tristan

I'm starting to hate people using "beaucoup" to mean "a lot of" in English, with expressions like "beaucoup bucks". Not to mention they usually pronounce "boo-koo", which isn't right at all.


----------



## EricABQ

"Thoughts and prayers."


----------



## Guest

"There's been another mass shooting..."


----------



## Avey

EricABQ said:


> "Thoughts and prayers."


It is an empty, banal phrase. Lending nothing to the alleged sentiment.


----------



## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

Solutioning. Seems to me business managers with no real value keep inventing new words to make them sound smarter. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=solutioning


----------



## geralmar

"Thoughts and Prayers"



Avey said:


> It is an empty, banal phrase. Lending nothing to the alleged sentiment.


Yes, but it's convenient excuse and cover for doing nothing: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families."


----------



## Tristan

geralmar said:


> "Thoughts and Prayers"
> 
> Yes, but it's a convenient excuse for doing nothing.


I agree it's not the best phrase, but what else are people supposed to say? There's not a lot a person _can_ do when these tragedies strike.


----------



## GreenMamba

Tristan said:


> I agree it's not the best phrase, but what else are people supposed to say? There's not a lot a person _can_ do when these tragedies strike.


Good point. It also would be conspicuous in its absence. If a politician gives a speech but doesn't extend "thoughts and prayers," then people wonder what he's trying to get at.


----------



## Figleaf

GreenMamba said:


> Good point. It also would be conspicuous in its absence. If a politician gives a speech but doesn't extend "thoughts and prayers," then people wonder what he's trying to get at.


He's admitting that he doesn't pray, and is thus a wicked unbeliever. Pitchforks at the ready!


----------



## Ingélou

'Thoughts and prayers.'

As Tristan points out, what else would one say?

It would only irk me if I felt that it was insincere. 
But when something bad happens to my friends, I do tell them that they're in my thoughts and prayers - because they _are_. 
So why should I assume that somebody else is being hypocritical?


----------



## GreenMamba

Although it might be nice if they occasionally said "prayers and thoughts" just to break out of the cliché.


----------



## Dan Ante

*"Its a no Brainer"* which to me means stupid yet has come to mean the opposite???


----------



## Mahlerian

Dan Ante said:


> *"Its a no Brainer"* which to me means stupid yet has come to mean the opposite???


Well, it means something is so obvious as to not require any thought.


----------



## Dan Ante

Mahlerian said:


> Well, it means something is so obvious as to not require any thought.


Yes I know what is meant when it is used, it just seem a better term would be as you mentioned 'obvious' if we hear that a sex offender has been settled next to a primary school by the rehabilitation dept then that would be a no brainer I.e. a person/persons with no brains had made a stupid decision. It is just a saying which is annoying to me when I hear it.


----------



## Figleaf

Ingélou said:


> 'Thoughts and prayers.'
> 
> As Tristan points out, what else would one say?
> 
> It would only irk me if I felt that it was insincere.
> But when something bad happens to my friends, I do tell them that they're in my thoughts and prayers - because they _are_.
> *So why should I assume that somebody else is being hypocritical?*


Because it's _usually_ said, under public pressure, by prominent people about other people, unknown to them personally, who have suffered some great misfortune. Since it's not really credible that a busy person such as a cabinet minister spends a great deal of time pondering the misfortunes of random strangers (especially, I'm tempted to add, when the government in question seems to see a large swathe of its own country's population as expendable) the suspicion of insincerity is rather hard to avoid.


----------



## Ingélou

I'm not sure. Even a busy person is a person, and surely one doesn't have to know someone personally in order to feel upset about something bad that has happened? 

'Ask not for whom the bell tolls: it tolls for thee...' and all that.

But maybe I'm just more naive than you are.


----------



## Ingélou

I hate it when something has annoyed someone and they say, 'That gets right up my nose.'
Oh, so uncouth...


----------



## Bellinilover

The ultimate non-apology, "I'm sorry you feel that way."


----------



## Figleaf

Ingélou said:


> I'm not sure. Even a busy person is a person, and surely one doesn't have to know someone personally in order to feel upset about something bad that has happened?
> 
> 'Ask not for whom the bell tolls: it tolls for thee...' and all that.
> 
> But maybe I'm just more naive than you are.


That's a good point. Awareness of one's own mortality and all that. And I'm sure you're not naïve !


----------



## GreenMamba

EricABQ said:


> "Thoughts and prayers."


I defended the phrase above, but will recommend this game:

http://www.thoughtsandprayersthegame.com/


----------



## BaritoneAssoluto

"*****/er"

And the stupid slogan of "World Star!" Every time I see something nefarious being brewed or happening.


----------



## ArtMusic

I dislike arguments starting with some pragmatic observation and leading directly to ".... it pretty much proves my point that ...." . Well I often don't think it proves anything but it just sounds good.


----------



## Xenakiboy

The term "Atonal" bugs me a little :scold:


----------



## Dan Ante

You have more friends on face book than you think


----------



## Pugg

ArtMusic said:


> I dislike arguments starting with some pragmatic observation and leading directly to ".... it pretty much proves my point that ...." . Well I often don't think it proves anything but it just sounds good.


Hallelujah to this:tiphat:


----------



## Pat Fairlea

ArtMusic said:


> I dislike arguments starting with some pragmatic observation and leading directly to ".... it pretty much proves my point that ...." . Well I often don't think it proves anything but it just sounds good.


Spleen-venting moment: I really dislike arguments that are prefaced by "Speaking as a mother (or Methodist or drummer or nurse etc)....". It nearly always signifies that what follows will be an opinion unsupported by any evidence and not really validated by the status claim. Speaking as a straight white male depressive, I think this is just WRONG!

Thank you. I feel better for that.


----------



## John T

Pat Fairlea said:


> Spleen-venting moment: I really dislike arguments that are prefaced by "Speaking as a mother (or Methodist or drummer or nurse etc)....". It nearly always signifies that what follows will be an opinion unsupported by any evidence and not really validated by the status claim. Speaking as a straight white male depressive, I think this is just WRONG!
> 
> Thank you. I feel better for that.


(Sorry about this) One that sticks in my mind is: "So-and-so, you're a Yorkshireman, what do _you_ think?" ... when the subject has nothing whatsoever to do with Yorkshire.


----------



## Ingélou

John T said:


> (Sorry about this) One that sticks in my mind is: "So-and-so, you're a Yorkshireman, what do _you_ think?" ... when the subject has nothing whatsoever to do with Yorkshire.


Maybe it's because they know they'll get a straight answer from a Yorkshireman? In Yorkshire, we don't just call a spade a spade, we call it 'a bl**dy trowel'...


----------



## Pat Fairlea

Ingélou said:


> Maybe it's because they know they'll get a straight answer from a Yorkshireman? In Yorkshire, we don't just call a spade a spade, we call it 'a bl**dy trowel'...


Aye. Unless it's a shovel.


----------



## ArtMusic

Another one that I dislike is when someone disagrees with you and starts by saying: "Yes but if everyone here also did that, then ..." It's spurious because not "everyone here" will ever do that.


----------



## Bellinilover

Pat Fairlea said:


> Spleen-venting moment: I really dislike arguments that are prefaced by "Speaking as a mother (or Methodist or drummer or nurse etc)....". It nearly always signifies that what follows will be an opinion unsupported by any evidence and not really validated by the status claim. Speaking as a straight white male depressive, I think this is just WRONG!
> 
> Thank you. I feel better for that.


I don't mind the one you quote, but an opener I do hate is "I'm not racist, but..." Every time I've heard this used in real life, the statement that has followed has been racist or, at least, ignorant/insensitive.


----------



## Pugg

" We have to be honest with each other" , as if one has all wisdom in mind.
( amateur psychology )


----------



## ArtMusic

"It goes without saying that ...." 

That saying drives me mad.


----------



## John T

Pat Fairlea said:


> Aye. Unless it's a shovel.


By 'eck ...I never thought o' that ... ee bah gum ...:tiphat:


----------



## John T

Ingélou said:


> Maybe it's because they know they'll get a straight answer from a Yorkshireman? In Yorkshire, we don't just call a spade a spade, we call it 'a bl**dy trowel'...


From any soap opera: "...and what's _that_ supposed to mean???"


----------



## John T

(Post deleted - by me)


----------



## EdwardBast

ArtMusic said:


> Another one that I dislike is when someone disagrees with you and starts by saying: "Yes but if everyone here also did that, then ..." It's spurious because not "everyone here" will ever do that.


No, it is not spurious. If a child asks: "Why is it so bad to throw this paper on the ground, it's so small no one will notice?" the right answer is: "Because if everyone did it we would be living in a garbage dump." Whether everyone will ever do it is irrelevant. This is among the most basic principles of any rational civilization!


----------



## John T

Dr Johnson said:


> Aagh!
> 
> 
> 
> Perhaps we could indulge in some blue sky thinking....


Well, I hear what you're saying ...


----------



## Pat Fairlea

Bellinilover said:


> I don't mind the one you quote, but an opener I do hate is "I'm not racist, but..." Every time I've heard this used in real life, the statement that has followed has been racist or, at least, ignorant/insensitive.


Yes, I fully agree with you.


----------



## ArtMusic

EdwardBast said:


> No, it is not spurious. If a child asks: "Why is it so bad to throw this paper on the ground, it's so small no one will notice?" the right answer is: "Because if everyone did it we would be living in a garbage dump." Whether everyone will ever do it is irrelevant. This is among the most basic principles of any rational civilization!


I was referring to discussions with adults. Pure and simple.


----------



## Bellinilover

Any statement that uses "gay" as an insult, like "That's so gay."


----------



## Guest

Bellinilover said:


> Any statement that uses "gay" as an insult, like "That's so gay."


Students could be suspended at my school for saying it. We work hard to create a loving and tolerant atmosphere.


----------



## Xenakiboy

"classical is just like metal but without electric guitars"


Metalheads that believe they need an excuse to like a piece of classical music because they've succumbed to those stereotypes about classical.


----------



## violadude

I hate when parents give "because I said so" as a reason for their kids not to do something. That's just lazy.


----------



## Richannes Wrahms

violadude said:


> when parents give "because I said so" as a reason for their kids not to do something


just another tool for the promotion of 'normality' mediocrity


----------



## Richannes Wrahms

This emoji:


----------



## EdwardBast

ArtMusic said:


> I was referring to discussions with adults. Pure and simple.


I used the example of a child because the principle is so damned obvious only children should need to hear it - like once at the age of five.


----------



## Guest

While not any specific phrase, I hate the trend of putting periods between single words for emphasis. It. Is. Extremely. Annoying.


----------



## Ingélou

I hate 'trendy swearing'. At present political messages and laments are whizzing round British Facebook pages, but the originators all seem to think that their strong feelings and/or cogent points can only be communicated by liberal use of f*c*, f*cking and sh**.

For this reader, 'of a certain age', it spoils their case.
*Cool effing & blinding* is such a fashion cliché that it doesn't promote the idea that the poster is thinking for him/herself.


----------



## violadude

In general, I cringe whenever people repeat month old memes as if they're still funny, especially if they weren't funny to begin with (I'm looking at you "Damn Daniel")


----------



## Dim7

violadude said:


> In general, I cringe whenever people repeat month old memes as if they're still funny, especially if they weren't funny to begin with (I'm looking at you "Damn Daniel")


You must have hard time on the internet, many memes last years....


----------



## Mahlerian

violadude said:


> In general, I cringe whenever people repeat month old memes as if they're still funny, especially if they weren't funny to begin with (I'm looking at you "Damn Daniel")


All your base are.....

....oh wait, you were saying you _didn't_ like them.


----------



## Bellinilover

"Achingly beautiful" (or "achingly gorgeous"). For some reason I can't stand that one.

When fellow Americans add "yes" to the end of a question: "You're going home now, yes?" It's like they're trying very hard to sound "Continental."


----------



## Ingélou

Bellinilover said:


> "Achingly beautiful" (or "achingly gorgeous"). For some reason I can't stand that one.
> 
> When fellow Americans add "yes" to the end of a question: "You're going home now, yes?" It's like they're trying very hard to sound "Continental."


'Heart-stoppingly beautiful' is of the same sort...


----------



## SiegendesLicht

^I will have to remember to never use these expressions around you


----------



## Pugg

Moves me to tears


----------



## SiegendesLicht

^But what if it really does?


----------



## Pugg

Get a bit more outdoors.


----------



## Morimur

"It's just everything."


----------



## Dim7

Pugg said:


> Get a bit more outdoors.


I too hate that expression.


----------



## Torkelburger

I hate when people use the word "interesting" when giving their opinion on a work of art (especially something of mine, haha). It's a cowardly way of masking their true feelings towards the work. Just say you don't like it or it is not your cup of tea (and hopefully explain why). Saying "interesting" makes you seem ignorant to the fact you sound ambivalent, and that you don't even realize you're not fooling anyone that you think it stinks.


----------



## Lyricus

Torkelburger said:


> I hate when people use the word "interesting" when giving their opinion on a work of art (especially something of mine, haha). It's a cowardly way of masking their true feelings towards the work. Just say you don't like it or it is not your cup of tea (and hopefully explain why). Saying "interesting" makes you seem ignorant to the fact you sound ambivalent, and that you don't even realize you're not fooling anyone that you think it stinks.


https://www.themuse.com/advice/this-word-has-zero-meaningyet-you-probably-already-used-it-today

The problem with banning "interesting" is that quite a few people jump at the opportunity to be offended whenever someone dislikes something of theirs (or something that they hold dear). Just look at how ferocious people get here when they say they dislike Beethoven or Schoenberg. Interesting, in this new common parlance, straddles the line between "there's creative work put into this" and "It's not immediately speaking to me."


----------



## Guest

It's not really an expression, but this "phrase" does tend to chill my heart:
_Please find enclosed your tax declaration form_.


----------



## Mahlerian

Lyricus said:


> https://www.themuse.com/advice/this-word-has-zero-meaningyet-you-probably-already-used-it-today
> 
> The problem with banning "interesting" is that quite a few people jump at the opportunity to be offended whenever someone dislikes something of theirs (or something that they hold dear). Just look at how ferocious people get here when they say they dislike Beethoven or Schoenberg. Interesting, in this new common parlance, straddles the line between "there's creative work put into this" and "It's not immediately speaking to me."


I don't think most here care if anyone dislikes Schoenberg. It's so common as to be expected as the norm. It's when people spout nonsense and falsehoods about him that I and others try to correct them.


----------



## Guest

Torkelburger said:


> I hate when people use the word "interesting" when giving their opinion on a work of art (especially something of mine, haha). It's a cowardly way of masking their true feelings towards the work. Just say you don't like it or it is not your cup of tea (and hopefully explain why). Saying "interesting" makes you seem ignorant to the fact you sound ambivalent, and that you don't even realize you're not fooling anyone that you think it stinks.


I'm guilty of using the term "interesting" to mean: "this [work/exercise/sketch] at first hearing/sight has elements that warrant 
further perusal; I may modify that position later." I can't really say that I "hate" the misuse of the word, though it certainly irritates me. The overuse (and therefore weakening) of the word "awesome" is a similar case in point.


----------



## GreenMamba

TalkingHead said:


> I'm guilty of using the term "interesting" to mean: "this [work/exercise/sketch] at first hearing/sight has elements that warrant
> further perusal; I may modify that position later." I can't really say that I "hate" the misuse of the word, though it certainly irritates me. The overuse (and therefore weakening) of the word "awesome" is a similar case in point.


That's more or less how I use it. "Not sure yet if I like it, but at least it isn't boring."


----------



## Marinera

Torkelburger said:


> I hate when people use the word "interesting" when giving their opinion on a work of art (especially something of mine, haha). It's a cowardly way of masking their true feelings towards the work. Just say you don't like it or it is not your cup of tea (and hopefully explain why). Saying "interesting" makes you seem ignorant to the fact you sound ambivalent, and that you don't even realize you're not fooling anyone that you think it stinks.


In this context I use the word 'interesting' solo and with an inflection that it leaves nobody in doubt what I think. In another time it would've been said with the sniff and a look through a lorgnette, I imagine. That's only when someone or something annoys me.


----------



## Bellinilover

"Hunker down." If one more person says that we have to "just hunker down until this heat wave ends," I'm going to scream.


----------



## Guest

"Pokeman Go" is now at the top of the list.


----------



## Dim7

Kontrapunctus said:


> "Pokeman Go" is now at the top of the list.


Misspelling of "Pokemon" is dreadful indeed...


----------



## Scopitone

"Reach Out"

As in "can you *reach out* to Bob and get his details before the the meeting?"

Nails on a chalkboard for me. It's the sort of corporate buzzphrase used by a super annoying guy I used to work with. Because 
of him, I'll never know whether I would have been okay with the phrase.


----------



## Guest

Dim7 said:


> Misspelling of "Pokemon" is dreadful indeed...


See? I hate it so much I don't even care!


----------



## Bulldog

My wife saying " would you like to take my mom to the bank today?". Of course, I'll take her but "like" has nothing to do with it.


----------



## geralmar

Level playing field.

Every U.S. politician wants one.


----------



## Pugg

I don't care about the rules, I am not obey to any rule .
( that's when people sign the agreement first)


----------



## Merl

A couple of pet hate expressions 
'Playing on the front foot' (ridiculous football expression)
'Giving it 110%' (even more ridiculous crap that chavs say)
'It's not rocket science' (boring)

Oh, and people who misuse the word 'literally' and literally use it literally every few words, literally. Grrrrrr!!!!


----------



## geralmar

Ticking time bomb.

I doubt they tick now anyway.


----------



## Ingélou

Merl said:


> A couple of pet hate expressions
> 'Playing on the front foot' (ridiculous football expression)
> 'Giving it 110%' (even more ridiculous crap that chavs say)
> 'It's not rocket science' (boring)
> 
> Oh, and people who misuse the word 'literally' and literally use it literally every few words, literally. Grrrrrr!!!!


I was with you until you said 'chavs'. Now, *that's* an expression that I hate - to me it sounds so sneering. 

'Literally' *is* annoying - and its repetition. But what I find tends to happen is that once someone uses a word like that, it keeps popping up in their conversation as if their brain is enjoying sliding it in. I find the same thing with myself - if someone makes a point, and I answer 'exactly' or 'absolutely' then that will be my continued response, even as I hate myself for saying it. The person I'm talking to probably goes away and posts on some language thread that they hate people who respond 'exactly' to everything that is said to them - it sounds so patronising.


----------



## Merl

Also Glenn Hoddle and other footballers talking in mixed tense sentences. Drives me nuts..


----------



## Dim7

I honestly find referring to ships and other inanimate objects as "she" a bit creepy.


----------



## Abraham Lincoln

Dim7 said:


> I honestly find referring to ships and other inanimate objects as "she" a bit creepy.


This is why Kantai Collection was made.










Cool warship ladies.


----------



## Ingélou

Dim7 said:


> I honestly find referring to ships and other inanimate objects as "she" a bit creepy.


Oh, I quite like it - in another life, I must have been a stately sailing ship.


----------



## motoboy

My new pet peeve has arisen letely, it seems. I hear it all the time during interviews on NPR and it is sneaking into the American lexicon: Beginning the answer to every question with "So..." It drives me crazy. What a passive way to start a statement! Maybe I am getting too grumpy in my middle-age dotage.


----------



## Guest

I don't like being called "boss." The other day, the shoe salesman asked, "How do they feel, boss?" Yesterday, the haircutter asked, "Is that short enough, boss?" I wanted to say, "If I _were_ your boss, I'd fire you."


----------



## motoboy

Kontrapunctus said:


> I don't like being called "boss." The other day, the shoe salesman asked, "How do they feel, boss?" Yesterday, the haircutter asked, "Is that short enough, boss?" I wanted to say, "If I _were_ your boss, I'd fire you."


Down South it's "Wild Man" when they don't know your name but wish to dirisively kiss your butt


----------



## Bellinilover

I wonder if I'm the only one who hates the word "meds," as in phrases like, "Did you take your meds [medicine] today?" There's no logical reason why I should hate it -- I just do.


----------



## Potiphera

Old English saying, 'Bob's your Uncle' ! 

Another saying I hate is. Cut off your nose to spite your face.


----------



## motoboy

Bellinilover said:


> I wonder if I'm the only one who hates the word "meds," as in phrases like, "Did you take your meds [medicine] today?" There's no logical reason why I should hate it -- I just do.


I don't like "scrips" either.


----------



## geralmar

Execute

I know it also means "to carry out or give force to"; but when I read about the " execution " of a policy or law, I have to do a quick mental recalculation to understand what is really meant.


----------



## Scopitone

geralmar said:


> Execute
> 
> I know it also means "to carry out or give force to"; but when I read about the " execution " of a policy or law, I have to do a quick mental recalculation to understand what is really meant.


"Executive Branch"


----------



## SiegendesLicht

"Primitive" as related to all generations of people who lived before this exact day. Sometimes I encounter it in relation to ancient civilizations or to the Middle Ages. But just now I have come upon an instance of it being used in relation to the 19th century right here on this board  Really? The time that has produced some of the greatest thinkers and artists was _primitive_?


----------



## Woodduck

motoboy said:


> My new pet peeve has arisen letely, it seems. I hear it all the time during interviews on NPR and it is sneaking into the American lexicon: *Beginning the answer to every question with "So..."* *It drives me crazy*. What a passive way to start a statement! Maybe I am getting too grumpy in my middle-age dotage.


It can be worse. I've heard "Yeah, so..." a number of times lately.

"Jason, to what extent do you and your colleagues believe that habitat loss is responsible for the reduced numbers of monarch butterflies in the northwest in recent years?"

"Yeah, so..."

The respondents in all cases sounded young. The young do many annoying things.


----------



## Ingélou

Woodduck said:


> It can be worse. I've heard "Yeah, so..." a number of times lately.
> 
> "Jason, to what extent do you and your colleagues believe that habitat loss is responsible for the reduced numbers of monarch butterflies in the norhwest in recent years?"
> 
> "Yeah, so..."
> 
> The respondents in all cases sounded young. The young do many annoying things.


Chiefly, it's so annoying that they're young & I'm old!


----------



## Guest

I'm not a fan of beginning a sentence with "I mean" before you explain something! And sometimes an explanation doesn't even follow! I mean, that just doesn't make sense.


----------



## techniquest

Starting a sentence or an answer with the word 'Basically' (around these parts, almost exclusively a female trait).
Staring or ending a sentence with the word 'Boom' (around these parts, almost exclusively a male trait).
People who say 'pacific' when they mean 'specific'.


----------



## Pugg

Kontrapunctus said:


> I'm not a fan of beginning a sentence with "I mean" before you explain something! And sometimes an explanation doesn't even follow! I mean, that just doesn't make sense.


Sportsman having a way of using this, just like "You know"
No, I don't know, what's in their head so ex-plane .


----------



## Levanda

I had no pleasure to answer a question "Where I came from", why some people give little more time to ask, not straight away. Oh and another question "Will you go back to your country", no I am happy to stay in UK.


----------



## Bellinilover

motoboy said:


> My new pet peeve has arisen letely, it seems. I hear it all the time during interviews on NPR and it is sneaking into the American lexicon: Beginning the answer to every question with "So..." It drives me crazy. What a passive way to start a statement! Maybe I am getting too grumpy in my middle-age dotage.


It does get tiresome, though I admit I do it myself. The one I really dislike, though, is the use of "see" to begin a point, as in "See, this is what I think." It sounds almost pushy, IMO.


----------



## Bellinilover

motoboy said:


> I don't like "scrips" either.


That must be British English for "prescription"? Somehow, that sounds better to me than "meds."


----------



## Woodduck

I want to puke when a person being interviewed flatters the interviewer by saying, chirpily, "That's a _really good_ question!"
_
Interviewer:_ "Miss Flutterby, is apple cider vinegar effective for removing bird droppings from plastic flamingo lawn ornaments, and can this be done while the poop is still wet?"

_Miss Flutterby:_ "That's a _really good_ question!"

I'm still waiting to hear an interviewer respond with "Yeah, yeah, just give me a really good answer."


----------



## geralmar

"Problematic."

I've noticed its increasing use in news reports to preface discussion of any disastrous political policy. ("Results have been problematic"). I believe " failure" is now a taboo word in journalism.


----------



## Merl

"They are playing on the front foot". Grrrrrr!!!!!!


----------



## hpowders

He really DOUBLED DOWN on that one! (ugh!!) Please leave that one at the blackjack table.

Let's consider this legislation MOVING FORWARD. (Where else are we going?)


----------



## Pat Fairlea

Merl said:


> "They are playing on the front foot". Grrrrrr!!!!!!


Ah no, that's a legitimate cricket term for a batsman positively attacking the bowling rather than playing back defensively. 
The one that sets my remaining teeth on edge is the mis-use of 'The plates are shifting'. This harmless nautical expression is used to mean 'tectonic plates' when the original meaning was that the sea was getting a bit rough so the ship was rolling and plates were sliding around on the galley table. Hence 'the plates are shifting' to mean the going is getting (figuratively) rough. And nothing to do with plate tectonics, continental drift or Alfred Wegener!


----------



## millionrainbows

I don't like "no problem" as a response to praise.

"Butt naked" is a degraded form of the original "buck naked." I can't stand it. The original "buck" is so much better.


----------



## millionrainbows

I don't like it when "my driver's license" is referred to in the plural, because of the way it sounds rather than the way it's spelled.

"I don't have my driver's license on me; I left them at home."


----------



## elgar's ghost

'Bruv'.


----------



## Bellinilover

"I know, right?"
"Ya think?"

I can't stand either of those.


----------



## Guest

"Here's the thing." Somehow it manages to sound both vague and authoritatively definitive! (Usually, a pseudo-intellectual/know-it-all uses it.)


----------



## millionrainbows

I can't stand when people say, "Put both hands on the car!"

I hate "You have the right to remain silent." What kind of a "right" is that?


----------



## millionrainbows

I hate that "valley-girl" derived speech inflection that some girls use (even broadcasters) when they soften words in the back of their throat. It's hard to explain, but you'll know it when you hear it.


----------



## Bellinilover

This is the last one I'm going to post. I really dislike "brothers and sisters," as in a sentence like, "We should love our non-Christian brothers and sisters." I'm a Christian (a pretty liberal one) who thinks the phrase has become trite "Christian-ese" and that a number of people who use it don't _actually_ think the individuals they're describing are their "brothers and sisters"; for them it's nothing more than verbiage. Even when it's said sincerely I dislike it and much prefer "neighbors," since it's less of a stretch to think of this or that group as your _neighbors_. "Brothers and sisters" just sounds too treacly or far-fetched to me.


----------



## Guest

millionrainbows said:


> I hate "You have the right to remain silent." What kind of a "right" is that?


Just how often have you heard it?


----------



## Ingélou

millionrainbows said:


> I hate "You have the right to remain silent." What kind of a "right" is that?


A rather important right, in my opinion. 
But you're entitled to yours, which certainly provokes thought. :tiphat:


----------



## Judith

I don't know if these counts as expressions but I hate swearing and foul language. There is no need for it!!


----------



## Ingélou

Judith said:


> I don't know if these counts as expressions but I hate swearing and foul language. There is no need for it!!


I agree. Apparently swearing is *cool* but protesting against swearing is not. 
It has got so that unless someone uses the F-word, people don't think they really mean what they're saying. But using swear words means that the speaker is less precise and presumably it doesn't exercise the Little Grey Language Cells.

It's going to be very curious in the Old People's Homes of the future! 

_'Pass me the effing teapot, will you. I'd like another s*dding cup!'
'Get it your effing self. I need to go take a p*ss!'_


----------



## Dim7

I'm not a fan of using "satire" as a synonym for "parody" or even just "comedy". Satire should by definition be trying to criticize whatever it is parodying or trying to make a serious point with humor.


----------



## Bellinilover

Judith said:


> I don't know if these counts as expressions but I hate swearing and foul language. There is no need for it!!


What I don't like is the "casual" kind of swearing Ingelou seems to be describing. I think swearing/foul language have their place, and that place is in angry or "heat of the moment" situations. Non-angry swearing, as in "That was d--n good" (or "f--ing great") sounds unrefined and stupid to me.


----------



## Guest

Bellinilover said:


> What I don't like is the "casual" kind of swearing Ingelou seems to be describing. I think swearing/foul language have their place, and that place is in angry or "heat of the moment" situations. Non-angry swearing, as in "That was d--n good" (or "f--ing great") sounds unrefined and stupid to me.


I agree. From my 26 years of teaching teenagers, it became obvious that the "f-word" was just another adjective/participle! I don't think I ever heard it used as a verb on campus. Many kids are unaware that they are even saying so much...or at all. I used to show the movie _Stand by Me_ to my 10th graders since it has several connections to _The Catcher in the Rye._ Nearly every year, someone would ask why it was R-rated, and when I explained mostly due to language, at least one student would reply, "Oh, I didn't notice it"!

By the way, if you search for "Perhaps the one of the most interesting and most colorful words in the English today is the word ****," you'll find a hilarious YouTube video and a text version from MIT!!


----------



## Merl

I dislike nearly everything that silly Canadian foreign correspondent, on BBC news, says. It's not actually the words she uses but the horrific accent she has. If I hear that annoying sod say "Seeeeeeyriaaa" (instead of Syria) one more time I may put a contract out on her.


----------



## Ingélou

Merl said:


> I dislike nearly everything that silly Canadian foreign correspondent, on BBC news, says. It's not actually the words she uses but the horrific accent she has. If I hear that annoying sod say "Seeeeeeyriaaa" (instead of Syria) one more time I may put a contract out on her.


... seems a trifle harsh...!


----------



## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

Merl said:


> I dislike nearly everything that silly Canadian foreign correspondent, on BBC news, says. It's not actually the words she uses but the horrific accent she has. If I hear that annoying sod say "Seeeeeeyriaaa" (instead of Syria) one more time I may put a contract out on her.


Accents are now expressions


----------



## Andolink

There's an annoying epidemic going on right now amongst the highly "educated" class of journalists and talking head "experts" of ending many or most statements with "right?..." and immediately continuing on. 

These commentators seem to need constant reinforcement from their listeners that what they're saying makes sense. They don't seem to realize that this habitual rhetorical "right?..." undermines the very authority these people claim as social critics and commentators and just makes them sound very inellectually weak.


----------



## geralmar

Not a hate, but I am almost always puzzled by a reference to "skies". To my knowledge there is on!y one sky.


----------



## Pugg

I "hate" all the vile expressions made on this forum, courtesy coast nothing.


----------



## Ingélou

geralmar said:


> Not a hate, but I am almost always puzzled by a reference to "skies". To my knowledge there is on!y one sky.


A nice thought!  I can see where 'skies' comes from - same as 'lands', looks different if you move along - but you've definitely made me think.

Plurals are odd things. I remember teaching Nature Study to a class of eight-year-olds and said something like 'The bee has two pairs of wings' and they were puzzled: 'But Miss, there's more than one bee!'


----------



## Richannes Wrahms

millionrainbows said:


> I can't stand when people say, "Put both hands on the car!"
> 
> I hate "You have the right to remain silent." What kind of a "right" is that?


It's their way of being ironic.


----------



## Dedalus

millionrainbows said:


> I hate "You have the right to remain silent." What kind of a "right" is that?


Isn't that basically the right to not incriminate yourself from the 5th amendment? Seems like a nice right to me.


----------



## geralmar

Climate change

I thought nothing about the term until someone on the radio pointed out it is a weaselly euphemism to avoid the bluntly accurate "global warming." It is a political term that concedes the problems of a warming earth without necessarily admitting the cause of the problems. It is a convenient dodge for U.S. politicians willing to build seawalls along the coasts (to mitigate "climate change") but not willing to confront the human agency behind the rising oceans ("global warming").

I apologize for the cliché, but "climate change" allows politicians to address the symptoms, not the disease.


----------



## KenOC

Just noticed it today, in a headline, though we see it often: "The officer had nonlife-threatening injuries." This would seem to mean that the officer's nonlife is threatened. On the other hand, two hyphens might seem excessive. There must be a better way to say this!


----------



## geralmar

KenOC said:


> Just noticed it today, in a headline, though we see it often: "The officer had nonlife-threatening injuries." This would seem to mean that the officer's nonlife is threatened. On the other hand, two hyphens might seem excessive. There must be a better way to say this!


Your post prompted a little research. Apparently "non-life-threatening" is the proper spelling. You are absolutely correct that "nonlife-threatening" is nonsensical. But why not just write, "The officer is recovering from his injuries"?


----------



## KenOC

geralmar said:


> Your post prompted a little research. Apparently "non-life-threatening" is the proper spelling. You are absolutely correct that "nonlife-threatening" is nonsensical. But why not just write, "The officer is recovering from his injuries"?


Or, as Fearless Fosdick used to say while looking down at bullet holes big enough to drive a Minicooper through, "Don't worry, merely a superficial wound."


----------



## geralmar

KenOC said:


> Or, as Fearless Fosdick used to say while looking down at bullet holes big enough to drive a Minicooper through, "Don't worry, merely a superficial wound."


" Fearless Fosdick".... Ah, yes; Al Capp. Escorted off the University of Alabama campus: The white Bill Cosby.


----------



## Totenfeier

geralmar said:


> Climate change
> 
> I thought nothing about the term until someone on the radio pointed out it is a weaselly euphemism to avoid the bluntly accurate "global warming." It is a political term that concedes the problems of a warming earth without necessarily admitting the cause of the problems. It is a convenient dodge for U.S. politicians willing to build seawalls along the coasts (to mitigate "climate change") but not willing to confront the human agency behind the rising oceans ("global warming").
> 
> I apologize for the cliché, but "climate change" allows politicians to address the symptoms, not the disease.


I seem to recall, perhaps incorrectly, hearing this after the last couple of monster winters ("polar vortex") dumped many, many inches of snow on the Eastern Seaboard, especially Washington, and all the deniers began to chortle about "Hey, how many inches of global warming ya got?" It seemed to me that that was when we began to hear less about "global warming" and more about "climate change," which includes the idea of different kinds of violent weather as symptomatic.

My own contribution is a phrase I'm still ambivalent about: someone doing something "on accident." I assume that this is some sort of semi-conscious attempt to create parallelism with "on purpose," which has some logic to it - but I'm so used to "by accident" that it sounds muzzy to me. Then that leads me down the rat hole of "if I do something _by accident,_, would I not do something _with purpose_ instead of _on purpose_?" I suppose I'll just have to put it in the same loony bin as outerwear/underwear instead of outerwear/innerwear or overwear/underwear. Yep: English is goofy.


----------



## KenOC

“Hillary Clinton’s Supporters, Once Certain of Victory, Now Racked by Doubt”

OK, I’m stumped by this one. Should it be “racked” or “wracked"?


----------



## Guest

KenOC said:


> "Hillary Clinton's Supporters, Once Certain of Victory, Now Racked by Doubt"
> 
> OK, I'm stumped by this one. Should it be "racked" or "wracked"?


I vote for "wracked."


----------



## EddieRUKiddingVarese

Kontrapunctus said:


> I vote for "wracked."


Disagree, think they need stretching a bit................... that'll bring the true out! 
Did inhale or not and other such questions....


----------



## geralmar

Friendly fire

Nothing friendly about it.


----------



## geralmar

U.S. Department of Defense

Was U.S. Department of War until 1947/49.


----------



## Meyerbeer Smith

"impact" for "a/effect"

"passing" for "death"

"will potentially" for "could", "might" or "may"

"assist" for "help"

"differentiated in superiority" for "better than"

"experience" - "Did you enjoy your root canal experience?"

The abuse of the passive voice


----------



## Bellinilover

Kontrapunctus said:


> I agree. From my 26 years of teaching teenagers, it became obvious that the "f-word" was just another adjective/participle! I don't think I ever heard it used as a verb on campus. Many kids are unaware that they are even saying so much...or at all. I used to show the movie _Stand by Me_ to my 10th graders since it has several connections to _The Catcher in the Rye._ Nearly every year, someone would ask why it was R-rated, and when I explained mostly due to language, at least one student would reply, "Oh, I didn't notice it"!
> 
> By the way, if you search for "Perhaps the one of the most interesting and most colorful words in the English today is the word ****," you'll find a hilarious YouTube video and a text version from MIT!!


The other night I watched a video of a 20-something reporter interviewing one of my favorite actors about one of my favorite movies -- a movie that is by now something of a classic. This reporter had just seen the movie in question for the first time, and he described it to the actor as "f--ing amazing." You have no idea how moronic that sounded in the context.


----------



## Pugg

Bellinilover said:


> The other night I watched a video of a 20-something reporter interviewing one of my favorite actors about one of my favorite movies -- a movie that is by now something of a classic. This reporter had just seen the movie in question for the first time, and he described it to the actor as "f--ing amazing." You have no idea how moronic that sounded in the context.


Happens all the time, I find Joan Sutherland also amazing , alas never seen the woman on stage.


----------



## hpowders

About six months ago, I observed that our Federal Reserve chairperson in her Q&A sessions with reporters, always began her answers with "so". Now, on American cable news, many of the pundits are also beginning their answers to queries with "so". Seems to be a new contagion.

So, when does this ever end?

So obnoxious!


----------



## Flamme

Language is so contaminated all over...Every1 2day opts for an instant, fast and easy solutions, even me :lol:


----------



## hpowders

People are like parrots. Sorry to insult the parrots. I promise to make it up to you.


----------



## Pugg

I do hate self chosen supremacy and sanctimoniously ever more then words.


----------



## Flamme

TV show Imposters on Investigation Discovery reminded me of expression *TURN TRICKS*, on the street!!! Cmon, i would never, in a million years, relate that to selling ones body...


----------



## geralmar

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

"Let's give ourselves a pretentious name then give each other awards then maybe the public will take us seriously."


----------



## geralmar

"gonna"

It's not a word but I keep seeing it in English subtitles in movies. I'm watching "Silent Hill" (in English) right now, and twice so far the subtitles say "gonna" when the actress clearly enunciates "going to".

Edit: I'm not too keen on "gotta," either.

... And "wanna". This movie is full of them.


----------



## Sloe

Before Common Era

Is it so horrible to say Christ that you have to invent an own expression.


----------



## Balthazar

Sloe said:


> Before Common Era
> 
> Is it so horrible to say Christ that you have to invent an own expression.


I just use the Buddhist calendar.

2560 is going to be a great year!


----------



## SiegendesLicht

Sloe said:


> Before Common Era
> 
> Is it so horrible to say Christ that you have to invent an own expression.


Until very recently I have only seen this one in old Soviet-era Russian books. Could Americans have borrowed that word from the communists?


----------



## Ingélou

BCE and CE are common enough in the academic world. I suppose it's to inject a neutral tone into historical discussion. When I did distance study for AS Religious Studies in the 1990s, I came across these terms & got used to using them - though I do prefer BC and AD. Apart from anything else, it facilitates the old rueful joke when your legs grow stiff - 'suffering from *Anno Domini*, I'm afraid...'


----------



## Sloe

SiegendesLicht said:


> Until very recently I have only seen this one in old Soviet-era Russian books. Could Americans have borrowed that word from the communists?


Lots of scholars are marxists in one or another way.


----------



## Dim7

Sloe said:


> Before Common Era
> 
> Is it so horrible to say Christ that you have to invent an own expression.


Is it so horrible that some people prefer to say "Before Common Era" over "Before Christ" that you have to post that expression in "Expressions that you hate"?


----------



## Bettina

Certain types of grammatical errors get on my nerves. I especially dislike "between you and I" and "different than." Misplaced apostrophes bug me as well. 

I wish that I didn't have these pet peeves. It would be nice if I could take a chill pill that would stop me from being so pedantic!


----------



## hpowders

Bettina said:


> Certain types of grammatical errors get on my nerves. I especially dislike "between you and I" and "different than." Misplaced apostrophes bug me as well.
> 
> I wish that I didn't have these pet peeves. It would be nice if I could take a chill pill that would stop me from being so pedantic!


Oh me too! Between you and I is a killer. When I was dating, anyone speaking like that never saw me again.


----------



## hpowders

"Moving forward".

What an empty BS phrase. Are we ever "moving backward"? 

Completely unnecessary.


----------



## geralmar

"Enhanced interrogation"

Torture.


----------



## Ingélou

geralmar said:


> "Enhanced interrogation"
> 
> Torture.


I've never heard that expression before - but it's horrible.  I hate it too.


----------



## Sloe

Dim7 said:


> Is it so horrible that some people prefer to say "Before Common Era" over "Before Christ" that you have to post that expression in "Expressions that you hate"?


Yes it is especially since we all know what it is based and why common era? In the Muslim world it is certainly not common era.


----------



## Guest

"Have a nice one." It doesn't bother me that much, but George Carlin hated it. He liked to reply, "I have already have a nice one. I just want a longer one." Oh, it's sooo tempting!


----------



## Jos

^
I only got aquainted with George Carlin recently. Amazing guy. I guess he's done tons of these quotable oneliners.

In a similar vain; when my son and his skateboard friends come to the house and are being all cool dudes, asking "yo, what's up?", I always reply: "my *****". Nice to see them feeling awkward :lol:


Edit: Ah, the language nanny is at full steam. Supose you all know what part of the male anatomy is obscured by asterisks.


----------



## Nate Miller

describing something as a "hack" when it is clearly just a bit of advice....for example.. "life hacks" and that sort of stuff.

to me, since I write software for a living, a "hack" is something that takes some technical knowledge. We used to have to try and get a weakly implemented buffer to push our instruction codes onto the stack and then figure a slick way to get those bytes to the command interpreter. that took some real understanding.

the fact that cigarette ash helps get peanut butter out of a sweater, is NOT a hack!


----------



## Sloe

hpowders said:


> Oh me too! Between you and I is a killer. When I was dating, anyone speaking like that never saw me again.


I have only dated foreign girls in my life so I can´t afford dismiss a girl because of language mistakes and that have nothing to do with their personality.
But there can be some strange misunderstandings and it is good to speak clearly with them.


----------



## hpowders

Sloe said:


> I have only dated foreign girls in my life so I can´t afford dismiss a girl because of language mistakes and that have nothing to do with their personality.
> But there can be some strange misunderstandings and it is good to speak clearly with them.


Yes. I try to speak very _Sloe_-ly to them.


----------



## Totenfeier

Here's a new one I hear a great deal too much: when I say "Excuse me," or apologize for something minor, such as fumbling for a cash card in my wallet or change in my pocket in a store line, the other person will respond with "You're fine!" 

Why, yes, I am. Would you like to have dinner sometime?


----------



## Pugg

Totenfeier said:


> Here's a new one I hear a great deal too much: when I say "Excuse me," or apologize for something minor, such as fumbling for a cash card in my wallet or change in my pocket in a store line, the other person will respond with "You're fine!"
> 
> Why, yes, I am. Would you like to have dinner sometime?


Did you get the answer you are hoping for?


----------



## Totenfeier

Pugg said:


> Did you get the answer you are hoping for?


Ah, the only person who really thinks I'm fine is Mrs. T (the feeling is mutual).


----------



## Dim7

I'm not a fan of "Without further ado". It's totally unnecessary "ado" itself. And of course because it sounds incomplete on its own, it has to be followed by something like "...let's begin with the [topic]!"


----------



## TxllxT

Totenfeier said:


> Ah, the only person who really thinks I'm fine is Mrs. T (the feeling is mutual).


Sorry, my first thought reading "Mrs. T." was somebody else.


----------



## hpowders

"Post deleted". I hate that!


----------



## motoboy

"Each and every"

"Reach out to" to indicate sending an email or making a phone call.

"A whole nother"


----------



## motoboy

Has anyone covered "mission statement," "leveraging core competencies," or "synergy?"


----------



## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

4'33'' ..........


----------



## Poodle

Hater be bullying me


----------



## Ingélou

I hate over-jolly expressions, especially of the duplicative variety: okey-dokey, hunky-dory, easy-peasy, toodle-pip...


----------



## Pugg

Ingélou said:


> I hate over-jolly expressions, especially of the duplicative variety: okey-dokey, hunky-dory, easy-peasy, toodle-pip...


This made my day already, and it start just yet.:clap:


----------



## MadMusicist

Using negative words to describe positive things in a "cool" way. Eg. "That's sick!"


----------



## Pugg

Loud mouths windbags who criticising others, just saying.


----------



## MarkMcD

I hate all the complaining English living here in Spain. It makes me angry when I hear so many of them talking more loudly and slowly to shop assistants and waiters and such, in English because they're too lazy to learn the language. Then they complain that people don't speak English in the doctors or the town hall or the important places they have to go to sort out various matters. Of course they don't speak English, they're Spanish living in Spain, you're the one who should spend a little time to learn the language of the country YOU elected to live in.


----------



## Ingélou

I agree. My brother married a Spanish woman & lived in Spain for years. Although he failed his Latin & French O-levels in the 1960s, he made a successful effort to learn written & spoken Spanish, and when he was working in Hong Kong in the 1980s, he took lessons in Mandarin Chinese* - not that he got anywhere much, but at least it showed the right attitude.

_(*Yes - I know that Cantonese is the language spoken in Hong Kong. But Mandarin is a much respected tongue.)_


----------



## Headphone Hermit

"We strive to make our school the best and the children the best they can be"

I know that they mean well, but ..... are many of us 'the best that we can be'?

(I certainly am nowhere near 'the best' that *I* could be!  )


----------



## geralmar

From the new U.S. administration:

"Alternative facts"

Lies.


----------



## pcnog11

Any expression that Trump makes "....believe me, I know....."


----------



## pcnog11

geralmar said:


> From the new U.S. administration:
> 
> "Alternative facts"
> 
> Lies.


This expression will be popular for the next 4 years!


----------



## Becca

Is <someone> a genius?
<someone> is a proven, great <something>


----------



## Dan Ante

We need to have the conversation!


----------



## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

There is a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.

Wait. I actually like this expression ..


----------



## Dim7

Ingélou said:


> I hate over-jolly expressions, especially of the duplicative variety: okey-dokey, hunky-dory, easy-peasy, toodle-pip...


----------



## Guest

geralmar said:


> From the new U.S. administration:
> 
> "Alternative facts"
> 
> Lies.


A huge +1. We have got to rid our language of this contradiction in terms. It's straight out of Orwell's _1984_.


----------



## geralmar

"Graphic novel"

Comic book.


----------



## Totenfeier

pcnog11 said:


> This expression will be popular for the next 4 years!


The word you're looking for is _infamous_ for the next 4 years.

(or, even, "iniquitous and vile," maybe.)


----------



## Vaneyes

"Fake News" "Fake 45" "So-called judge" "So-called president"


----------



## Varick

Ingélou said:


> I hate it when something has annoyed someone and they say, 'That gets right up my nose.'
> Oh, so uncouth...


I've never heard that. I usually say, "That really puts frost on my @$$"



violadude said:


> I hate when parents give "because I said so" as a reason for their kids not to do something. That's just lazy.


I have to defend this. There are certain things one can not explain to a child because perhaps the reason is too complicated or long to explain and/or the child is too young to comprehend the big picture.

Ex:

8 year old Child: "But why can't I stay over Tom's house?"

Parent: "Because Tom's parents are irresponsible and do drugs. They instill no discipline or rules in Tom and it's a very poor environment for any child. Anything goes in that household. We don't want you to be exposed to this kind of atmosphere because you are too young to comprehend the long term ramifications of being in that kind of environment. If they are drinking or smoking or taking drugs while you are there and something bad happens we can't be sure they will, or even know how to, do the right thing."

So, yeah...[] that doesn't quite work. "Because I said so" is a completely valid and appropriate response.



Dim7 said:


> I honestly find referring to ships and other inanimate objects as "she" a bit creepy.


That tradition began as an honor and a symbol of good luck. I still like the tradition.



Judith said:


> I don't know if these counts as expressions but I hate swearing and foul language. There is no need for it!!


Sometimes, a swear word in just the right place or time is the best for effect. Other times it's almost unavoidable. I mean, if you're hammering a nail and miss, accidentally smashing your hand with the hammer and yell out, "Gosh Darnit!!!!!!!!" Well, what can I say? You have much more self control than I ever will.



MarkMcD said:


> I hate all the complaining English living here in Spain. It makes me angry when I hear so many of them talking more loudly and slowly to shop assistants and waiters and such, in English because they're too lazy to learn the language. Then they complain that people don't speak English in the doctors or the town hall or the important places they have to go to sort out various matters. Of course they don't speak English, they're Spanish living in Spain, you're the one who should spend a little time to learn the language of the country YOU elected to live in.


English? Wow, I always thought that was an exclusive "Ugly American" phenomenon. Not a fan of that mentality. Unfortunately here in the USA, more and more immigrants are expecting us to adapt their language rather than them learning English, and there seems to be more and more foolish Americans who for reasons I can not fathom, think that's OK.

The one that drives me crazy is the response "What happened?" when I state or ask something. The young ones seem to embrace this one.

Ex: Walking up to the counter of a coffee shop:

Me: "May I please have a large Coffee to go?"

Clerk (or Barista): "What happened?"

Me: [Pausing because I'm completely perplexed by the question due to it's utter incoherency to the situation] "Uhmmm let's see... I woke up this morning, got dressed, ate a yogurt, brushed my teeth, got into my car, drove here, came up to the counter and asked for a large coffee."

Clerk: [Blinking with a completely baffled look on their face because they have no idea why I just said all that, further demonstrating their complete lack of self-awareness and looking at me like* I'M* the one making no sense].

V


----------



## geralmar

"Prior to".

Pretentious variation of " before ".


----------



## Dan Ante

Judith said:


> I don't know if these counts as expressions but I hate swearing and foul language. There is no need for it!!


Agree, at golf I decided to substitute the word "Knickers" it was hard at first but then just seemed natural, at the end of year function I was awarded.... you got it .. a skimpy pair of red knickers which I took home for the wife, she refused to wear them.


----------



## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

.. and what not.


----------



## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

geralmar said:


> "Prior to".
> 
> Pretentious variation of " before ".


Let me guess - you also hate subsequent to?


----------



## SiegendesLicht

Dim7 said:


> I honestly find referring to ships and other inanimate objects as "she" a bit creepy.





Varick said:


> That tradition began as an honor and a symbol of good luck. I still like the tradition.


I like it too. I insist on calling our new grand concert hall in Hamburg a "she" as well. Some inanimate objects just about have a soul of their own.


----------



## Pat Fairlea

Dan Ante said:


> Agree, at golf I decided to substitute the word "Knickers" it was hard at first but then just seemed natural, at the end of year function I was awarded.... you got it .. a skimpy pair of red knickers which I took home for the wife, she refused to wear them.


Swearing seems so pointless and unimaginative. Try letting off steam in another language. There's a really useful website that introduces swearing in Welsh:
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/fun-stuff/21-ways-swear-welsh-much-9557813

I'm a fan of 'Dim gwerth rhech dafad' meself.


----------



## Taggart

Pat Fairlea said:


> Swearing seems so pointless and unimaginative. Try letting off steam in another language. There's a really useful website that introduces swearing in Welsh:
> http://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/fun-stuff/21-ways-swear-welsh-much-9557813
> 
> I'm a fan of 'Dim gwerth rhech dafad' meself.


The joys of the internet. My mother's family came from a Gaeltacht area and when she went to visit them, she was taught some _interesting _ways to say hello. When she tried it at home, she had a good skelping for being rude.


----------



## Ingélou

Pat Fairlea said:


> Swearing seems so pointless and unimaginative. Try letting off steam in another language. There's a really useful website that introduces swearing in Welsh:
> http://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/fun-stuff/21-ways-swear-welsh-much-9557813
> 
> I'm a fan of 'Dim gwerth rhech dafad' meself.


But take care. I always remember a Welsh friend telling me about the time she fell off her bike trying to avoid someone stepping off the pavement. She swore blue blazes, thinking she was safe in England - but this was Liverpool, and the man she was swearing at one of the numerous Welsh who live in that city.


----------



## SiegendesLicht

An afterthought as to the idea of assigning gender to inanimate objects: in some languages, such as German and Russian, every single noun has to have a gender (including loanwords from English), and thus plenty of inanimate objects are a "he" or a "she". I really wonder how exactly this phenomenon started, back in deep antiquity.


----------



## Ingélou

SiegendesLicht said:


> An afterthought as to the idea of assigning gender to inanimate objects: in some languages, such as German and Russian, every single noun has to have a gender (including loanwords from English), and thus plenty of inanimate objects are a "he" or a "she". I really wonder how exactly this phenomenon started, back in deep antiquity.


It *is* odd, isn't it!


----------



## Taggart

SiegendesLicht said:


> An afterthought as to the idea of assigning gender to inanimate objects: in some languages, such as German and Russian, every single noun has to have a gender (including loanwords from English), and thus plenty of inanimate objects are a "he" or a "she". I really wonder how exactly this phenomenon started, back in deep antiquity.


Even more interesting for the Germans is the way a frau (feminine) turns into fraulein (neuter) and mäde (feminine) turns intio mädchen (neuter). Grammatical gender is crazy.


----------



## SiegendesLicht

^ It can also be quite confusing. In Russian the fork and the spoon are feminine, and the knife is masculine. In German, the spoon is masculine, the fork is feminine and the knife is neuter. But it would be wrong to say I hate it. It's just something one has to live with. Not good and not bad - just different.

Concerning Taggart's examples: -lein and -chen are diminutive suffixes that automatically make every word they are attached to neuter, without exceptions. The word "Mädchen" originates from the word "Magd" - maidservant, except that with the passage of time it came to mean a girl in general. In modern German it is still "das Mädchen", but then the corresponding pronoun is "sie" - she, and not "es" - it, like it used to be - a further complication. 

I really like this stuff


----------



## Lyricus

SiegendesLicht said:


> An afterthought as to the idea of assigning gender to inanimate objects: in some languages, such as German and Russian, every single noun has to have a gender (including loanwords from English), and thus plenty of inanimate objects are a "he" or a "she". I really wonder how exactly this phenomenon started, back in deep antiquity.


Grammatical gender was originally divorced of actual gender connotation. In fact, if you go back far enough in the Indo-European (aka Indogermanische Ursprache) history, you'll find two genders: animate and inanimate. Men and women both were under the animate gender (living beings). Only after the feminine form was formed and the distinction between masculine and feminine (in animate objects) arose did the role of sexual gender enter the picture.


----------



## Vaneyes

Re recent SNL skit, "My Bad" even in mocking scenario, is bad.


----------



## hpowders

"At the end of the day"

"Moving forward"

Meaningless bloviatings that add nothing regarding information or debate.


----------



## Pat Fairlea

hpowders said:


> "At the end of the day"
> 
> "Moving forward"
> 
> Meaningless bloviatings that add nothing regarding information or debate.


Moving forward on a daily basis?


----------



## Ingélou

hpowders said:


> "At the end of the day"
> 
> "Moving forward"
> 
> Meaningless bloviatings that add nothing regarding information or debate.


I know what you mean - but ordinary communication with ordinary people (especially those who, like me, are getting on a bit) does require a certain amount of redundancy. Imagine that someone spoke nothing but condensed sense without any waste words - the level of concentration required in his or her listeners would be superhuman!

Having said that, I remember my college lecturer fulminating (c1970 AD) about an American astronaut who apparently said that he had 'an adequate supply of consumables' rather than 'enough to eat'.


----------



## geralmar

"The definition of 'insanity' is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result".

More accurately the definition of "prayer."


----------



## Pugg

" In the good old days all used to be better."


----------



## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

geralmar said:


> "The definition of 'insanity' is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result".
> 
> More accurately the definition of "prayer."


People who say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results have not looked up the definition of insanity in a dictionary.


----------



## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

Using "effing" in place of that four letter word that starts with "f". "Effing" isn't even a word. Plus we know what word you wanted really to use so saying "effing" does not make it any less obscene.


----------



## hpowders

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> Using "effing" in place of that four letter word that starts with "f". "Effing" isn't even a word. Plus we know what word you wanted really to use so saying "effing" does not make it any less obscene.


What is "effing"? Is it like pledging for a fraternity? Explain further. Is it an adjective? Use it in a sentence, moving forward.


----------



## Bettina

hpowders said:


> What is "effing"? Explain further. Is it an adjective? Use it in a sentence, moving forward.


Effing is a technical term in music theory.  It refers to a modulation to F major. Example: "Bach's Prelude starts in C Major. Effing the tonal center, the next phrase moves to the subdominant."


----------



## hpowders

Bettina said:


> Effing is a technical term in music theory.  It refers to a modulation to F major. Example: "Bach's Prelude starts in C Major. Effing the tonal center, the next phrase moves to the subdominant."


I realize that you know it!! I just wanted to see if HE knew it!!

According to my HS counselor, I've been subdominant most of my four years there.

The most incredible mod-ulation is that of those who engineer the change in status of active poster to banned one, yet they do it sooooo smoothly; just like Schubert!


----------



## Guest

Any post on this site that contains the word "best" (e.g. "What is the best version of...?") Just stop it, stop it now! "Best" is way too subjective. Replace it with "your favorite" so it is a question that one can reasonably answer.


----------



## hpowders

Kontrapunctus said:


> Any post on this site that contains the word "best" (e.g. "What is the best version of...?") Just stop it, stop it now! "Best" is way too subjective. Replace it with "your favorite" so it is a question that one can reasonably answer.


Great recommendation. You're the best!!! :tiphat:


----------



## Jacred

A personal pet peeve:

Anyone who tells me to improve my "pronounciation" of something. It's _pronunciation_, dammit.


----------



## Blancrocher

Bit of a digression: even when I know I'm spelling a word right, I tend not to use it if my spell-check software gives it the red underline. It's probably a moral failing on my part.


----------



## Dim7

Jacred said:


> A personal pet peeve:
> 
> Anyone who tells me to improve my "pronounciation" of something. It's _pronunciation_, dammit.


Pronounciation obviously makes more sense though. If the root word is pronounce.


----------



## Totenfeier

Blancrocher said:


> Bit of a digression: even when I know I'm spelling a word right, I tend not to use it if my spell-check software gives it the red underline. It's probably a moral failing on my part.


I have cursed, damned, and blasted the feature which changes British spelling to American _*when I specifically wanted British spelling the first time for my own damn reasons, thank you very, very MUCH YOU STUPID PIECE OF F...*_


----------



## EdwardBast

Blancrocher said:


> Bit of a digression: even when I know I'm spelling a word right, I tend not to use it if my spell-check software gives it the red underline. It's probably a moral failing on my part.


Definitively a mortal flailing.


----------



## Ingélou

Totenfeier said:


> I have cursed, damned, and blasted the feature which changes British spelling to American _*when I specifically wanted British spelling the first time for my own damn reasons, thank you very, very MUCH YOU STUPID PIECE OF F...*_


Please write off now for your complimentary gift of bell, book and candle!


----------



## geralmar

"Biweekly"

Is it twice a week or once every two weeks? I'm really annoyed when I get an offer for a biweekly newsletter.

Same with "bimonthly" and "biannually."


----------



## Ingélou

geralmar said:


> "Biweekly"
> 
> Is it twice a week or once every two weeks? I'm really annoyed when I get an offer for a biweekly newsletter.
> 
> Same with "bimonthly" and "biannually."


I didn't know this, but it must indeed be maddening - I just googled the term & yep, it's ambiguous. Why can't people just use 'fortnightly' & 'twice-weekly'?


----------



## Art Rock

Blancrocher said:


> Bit of a digression: even when I know I'm spelling a word right, I tend not to use it if my spell-check software gives it the red underline. It's probably a moral failing on my part.


Most spell-checkers give you the option to add words that they consider wrongly spelled (and you don't) to their dictionary. Presto, red underline gone.


----------



## Ingélou

I used to love it sometimes when Computer suggested its own 'correct' version of the word or expression in red underline. My favourite was when I was writing one of my unpublished novels. 

I wrote: 'He seized Dennis by the lapels.'

Computer suggested: 'The lapels seized Dennis.'


----------



## Bettina

Ingélou said:


> I used to love it sometimes when Computer suggested its own 'correct' version of the word or expression in red underline. My favourite was when I was writing one of my unpublished novels.
> 
> I wrote: 'He seized Dennis by the lapels.'
> 
> Computer suggested: 'The lapels seized Dennis.'


This sentence (yours, not the computer's) has piqued my curiosity about your novel. Who seized Dennis, and why? All of this sounds intriguing...I wish that the novel were published!


----------



## Ingélou

Bettina said:


> This sentence (yours, not the computer's) has piqued my curiosity about your novel. Who seized Dennis, and why? All of this sounds intriguing...I wish that the novel were published!


Thanks - so do I!


----------



## hpowders

Many times I'm typing a TC post consisting of what I consider to be mainstream words, only to come back to the post a bit later and I find some different words...."crust" instead of "trust", etc; The spell-check feature edits my posts! I want to turn it off, but the "boarder" who shares my flat insists that I leave the spell-check on.

Who programs these things?

Yet, when I type _"at the end of the day_", THAT gets left alone!!! The hell I live in!


----------



## Meyerbeer Smith

"Disinterest" (for "uninterest~").

"Impact".


----------



## Totenfeier

SimonTemplar said:


> "Disinterest" (for "uninterest~").
> 
> "Impact".


"disinterested" (for "uninterested"): *FIRE!! KILL IT WITH FIRE!!! THE FIRE OF A THOUSAND SUNS!!!!*


----------



## Vaneyes

United Airlines CEO said they're *reaching out* to the overbooked gentleman who was dragged from one of their airplanes.

As I'm sure the man's attorney is *reaching out* to them.


----------



## Bettina

I dislike the word problematize. The whole concept behind the word is ridiculous - why would we ever want to cause _more _problems? Yet, I constantly hear people saying "we need to problematize such-and-such an issue" (maybe I'm just hanging out in the wrong circles...:lol


----------



## Pugg

Vaneyes said:


> United Airlines CEO said they're *reaching out* to the overbooked gentleman who was dragged from one of their airplanes.
> 
> As I'm sure the man's attorney is *reaching out* to them.


And rightfully so.


----------



## Guest

Vaneyes said:


> United Airlines CEO said they're *reaching out* to the overbooked gentleman who was dragged from one of their airplanes.
> 
> As I'm sure the man's attorney is *reaching out* to them.


I think United's security goons reached out a little too much...


----------



## Belowpar

Kontrapunctus said:


> I think United's security goons reached out a little too much...


Don't know why I feel compeleld to point this out. The goons were not employed by United, they were employed by the airport.

United shoud never have let so many on the plane, but it could have happenned to any Co that operates that policy as the goons would have been the same.

Carry on, carry on...


----------



## EddieRUKiddingVarese

"Whats the point of......................" I hate that


----------



## Art Rock

"Overhyped" or "overrated" for music you don't like. It is insulting to the people who do like it.


----------



## Pat Fairlea

My inner nerd (or geek?) goes doolally when scientific terms that have a precise meaning are press-ganged into everyday speech to mean something imprecise. 

For example: "The White House is currently the epicenter of intrigue". Apart from the mis-spelling of 'epicentre', the White House is not the point on the Earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake. Yet. But we live in hope. 

Or: "Duty is written into the DNA of the British Royal Family". Codswallop. Many things, some of them recessive and weird, may be written into the Windsor-Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family's DNA, but 'duty' is something learned during life, not coded by genes. 

And (though I may be over-sensitive in this instance): "Mammoth sale now on!". I have been to many such events and have yet to see a single mammoth offered for sale.


----------



## Ingélou

Pat Fairlea said:


> My inner nerd (or geek?) goes doolally when scientific terms that have a precise meaning are press-ganged into everyday speech to mean something imprecise.
> 
> For example: "The White House is currently the epicenter of intrigue". Apart from the mis-spelling of 'epicentre', the White House is not the point on the Earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake. Yet. But we live in hope.
> 
> Or: "Duty is written into the DNA of the British Royal Family". Codswallop. Many things, some of them recessive and weird, may be written into the Windsor-Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family's DNA, but 'duty' is something learned during life, not coded by genes.
> 
> And (though I may be over-sensitive in this instance): "Mammoth sale now on!". I have been to many such events and have yet to see a single mammoth offered for sale.


So you're against the use of scientific words in metaphors and figurative language? 
Your blood boils - well, of course it doesn't actually...


----------



## Bettina

Pat Fairlea said:


> My inner nerd (or geek?) goes doolally when scientific terms that have a precise meaning are press-ganged into everyday speech to mean something imprecise.
> 
> For example: "The White House is currently the epicenter of intrigue". Apart from the mis-spelling of 'epicentre', the White House is not the point on the Earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake. Yet. But we live in hope.
> 
> Or: "Duty is written into the DNA of the British Royal Family". Codswallop. Many things, some of them recessive and weird, may be written into the Windsor-Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family's DNA, but 'duty' is something learned during life, not coded by genes.
> 
> And (though I may be over-sensitive in this instance): "Mammoth sale now on!". I have been to many such events and have yet to see a single mammoth offered for sale.


Yes! My inner nerd/geek/dork/dweeb hates that sort of thing too. For example, the misuse of decimate bugs me. The word decimate technically refers to a 10% decrease, not to the destruction of an entire group! It also bothers me when people use "ambivalent" to mean "indifferent." I get so annoyed sometimes that I feel like avoiding words altogether and just immersing myself in music (although then I find myself being irritated by parallel fifths...:lol


----------



## Totenfeier

"But we live in hope" wins the Internet for today.


----------



## pierrot

_A tour de force._ Reading this I can only imagine the artist on a bike pedaling through beautiful French scenery.


----------



## Pat Fairlea

Ingélou said:


> So you're against the use of scientific words in metaphors and figurative language?
> Your blood boils - well, of course it doesn't actually...


Yes! Exactly! My blood figuratively boils and it gets right up my nose. Which, of course, it doesn't.

More seriously, English has a famously huge vocabulary so surely folks can find useful words and phrases to express themselves without misusing a technical vocabulary?

And yes, Bettina, the misuse of 'decimated' is an abomination!


----------



## Bulldog

I hate when somebody says "Everyone is talking about….. It's such a total lie.


----------



## Bettina

pierrot said:


> _A tour de force._ Reading this I can only imagine the artist on a bike pedaling through beautiful French scenery.


Yes, that expression certainly can be annoying! It's even worse when someone pronounces it in a thoroughly American way "too-er duh fo-errss." When I say it, at least I make some attempt to use a guttural French R-sound (which probably makes me sound like a pretentious dweeb, but oh well...) :lol:


----------



## Totenfeier

"in your wheelhouse" for one's area(s) of interest or expertise.


----------



## Pugg

Bulldog said:


> I hate when somebody says "Everyone is talking about….. It's such a total lie.


Or worse: the critics saying so and so.


----------



## Totenfeier

Pugg said:


> Or worse: the critics saying so and so.


Yes; I'm supposed to feel uninformed, out of the loop, and a philistine to boot unless I slavishly fall into line.


----------



## Pat Fairlea

If students used the phrase "Many people think...." or something like it in an essay, I would write "Many? Name six of them" in the margin. Ha! 

And when I retired early, nobody wept.....


----------



## Jacred

Pat Fairlea said:


> If students used the phrase "Many people think...." or something like it in an essay, I would write "Many? Name six of them" in the margin. Ha!
> 
> And when I retired early, nobody wept.....


Weasel words are a huge problem.  Almost as bad as text messaging syntax popping up in essays.

I never liked peer-editing...


----------



## Dim7

I recently heard this:

"I'm against unnecessary wars."

Well that's an interesting viewpoint! I for one support unnecessary wars and oppose all the necessary ones.


----------



## Totenfeier

Reminds me of when, during a big snowstorm in Washington, D.C., all "nonessential government workers" are allowed to stay home.

"Nonessential government workers" is a phrase that can provide one with hours of amusement.


----------



## Bettina

Speaking of redundant expressions such as the ones mentioned above, I'm a bit annoyed by the term "human voice" especially when used in reference to vocal music. It's so incredibly _obvious _that the voice is human!! Who's ever heard of an opera written for soprano cat and tenor dog?


----------



## Ingélou

Bettina said:


> Speaking of redundant expressions such as the ones mentioned above, I'm a bit annoyed by the term "human voice" especially when used in reference to vocal music. It's so incredibly _obvious _that the voice is human!! Who's ever heard of an opera written for soprano cat and tenor dog?


I agree - but hey, you've given me a wonderful idea!


----------



## hpowders

Bettina said:


> Speaking of redundant expressions such as the ones mentioned above, I'm a bit annoyed by the term "human voice" especially when used in reference to vocal music. It's so incredibly _obvious _that the voice is human!! Who's ever heard of an opera written for soprano cat and tenor dog?


Be careful what you wish for. Eddie may find one.


----------



## TxllxT

soprano cat






tenor dog


----------



## Guest

Two expressions calculated to have me reaching for the bucket are:

"_cultural enrichment_"
"_celebrating diversity_"

How I despise propaganda.


----------



## millionrainbows

I hate the expression "You have received an infraction at TalkClassical." :lol:


----------



## millionrainbows

Bettina said:


> Speaking of redundant expressions such as the ones mentioned above, I'm a bit annoyed by the term "human voice" especially when used in reference to vocal music. It's so incredibly _obvious _that the voice is human!! Who's ever heard of an opera written for soprano cat and tenor dog?


It could be a simulated human voice, like the Star Trek computer. :lol:


----------



## Pugg

*It's not my fault, always someone else's.
*

Well grow a pair and look in the mirror I say.


----------



## Taggart

millionrainbows said:


> It could be a simulated human voice, like the Star Trek computer. :lol:


That's no way to talk about Majel Barrett!


----------



## TxllxT

The verb "to hate" has become so cliché nowadays...


----------



## Ingélou

TxllxT said:


> The verb "to hate" has become so cliché nowadays...


:tiphat: 
I don't agree about the word - it's one of those basic to the language that have always been there & always will. Little Victorian girls 'hated' rice pudding, just as I 'adore' it. 
As for the thread title - it's meant to be joky hyperbole.

But I agree that hatred itself is unfortunately becoming more respectable in today's world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
_PS - Quite a few posters have protested about the use of the word 'hate' in the thread title. I'm wondering - are there areas of America and Europe where people are brought up to think that there's something wrong with using the word about mundane topics?

In the North of England, we didn't mince matters - though I admit, my mother made me feel that it was rude to use the word 'lie' and that I ought to say 'fib' instead.

But now that I'm grown up, that just seems mealy-mouthed.

If there are those whose culture prohibits use of the word 'hate' in ordinary life,I can only say that I'm sorry that I didn't realise it. _


----------



## geralmar

"Now a Major Motion Picture."

As opposed to a minor motion picture?


----------



## Ralphus

"I don't do..." for something someone doesn't like.

"I don't do Bruckner."


----------



## Ingélou

Gosh - 1000 posts! (Well done, Ralphus! :tiphat

It just shows how language & word usage get the passions going!

Thank you, everyone!


----------



## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

"None other than", especially when followed by Andre Rieu on my local classical music station. Just say the name, for Pete's sake (ah, what a guy, that Pete), who else could it be?


----------



## laurie

"Haters gonna hate"

I hate that!!


----------



## hpowders

"At the end of the day".

Completely meaningless, wasted words.

And yet I hear that at least 10 times a day from senators, congressmen, etc; on cable news.


----------



## Jacred

laurie said:


> "Haters gonna hate"
> 
> I hate that!!


"Haters gonna hate" = "I don't agree with your critical point of view but I'm not going to defend myself because I'm obviously right; ergo, you must be some narrow-minded jerk"


----------



## hpowders

Jacred said:


> "Haters gonna hate" = "I don't agree with your critical point of view but I'm not going to defend myself because I'm obviously right; ergo, you must be some narrow-minded jerk"


At the end of the day, we are all doomed.


----------



## Pugg

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> "None other than", especially when followed by Andre Rieu on my local classical music station. Just say the name, for Pete's sake (ah, what a guy, that Pete), who else could it be?


Good one this...................


----------



## Pat Fairlea

And with a General Election pending in the smouldering wreckage of the UK, don't forget:
"Let me be clear...", meaning "What follows is a bare-faced lie"
"What the public are asking is..." meaning "Here's a prepared answer to the question I wish you had asked"
"We had mixed fortunes at the polls..." meaning "We were slaughtered"

All of those, and more, coming soon to media near you. On a daily basis.


----------



## Taggart

hpowders said:


> At the end of the day, we are all doomed.


----------



## millionrainbows

"Haters gonna hate" as if we were supposed to love everybody. :lol:


----------



## Bellinilover

hpowders said:


> "At the end of the day".
> 
> Completely meaningless, wasted words.
> 
> And yet I hear that at least 10 times a day from senators, congressmen, etc; on cable news.


I laughed when I read this, because there's a song in LES MISERABLES with this very title! Now I've got it going through my head...:lol:


----------



## geralmar

"disposition matrix"

The secret list of assassination targets maintained by the U.S. President.


----------



## Ingélou

geralmar said:


> "disposition matrix"
> 
> The secret list of assassination targets maintained by the U.S. President.


!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


----------



## geralmar

hpowders said:


> At the end of the day, we are all doomed.


"In the long run we are all dead".

-- John Maynard Keynes


----------



## SiegendesLicht

Ingélou said:


> !
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Not just  but also 

I get to use the latter smiley a lot these days


----------



## Bettina

This is a SUPER nerdy pet peeve of mine:lol:, but it irritates me when people say that Dvořák was from Czechoslovakia. That country didn't exist back then and it doesn't even exist now - it only existed from 1918-1993. He should be described as being from Bohemia (the name for his nation back then) or the Czech Republic (our name for the country now). Yet time after time, I come across program notes (and sometimes even academic sources) that refer to him as a "Czechoslovakian" composer.


----------



## hpowders

Much easier to spell Bohemian too. I Czeched it out in the dictionary.


----------



## Ingélou

Speaking for myself, I'm British - but a little Bohemian too... 
_(Pass the dangly earrings.)_


----------



## Bettina

Ingélou said:


> Speaking for myself, I'm British - but a little Bohemian too...
> _(Pass the dangly earrings.)_


I'm somewhat Bohemian as well! In spirit, though not in nationality.


----------



## Jacred

And you're complaining? I know people who have no clue where Bohemia was even located.

Yeah, I need better friends in life...


----------



## JeffD

I hate "no problem" and "no worries" as substitutes for "your welcome". 

"Here is your bourbon and soda."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Huh what?

I am sure it is habit and doesn't mean anything, but its a bad habit nonetheless. IMO


----------



## OldFashionedGirl

As a person whose english is not her first language, I got bad habits as a result of improper teaching. I have to unlearn a lot of things.

Some expression I don't like:
The over-use of the words: like, yeah, baby and cool.
Hey, yo! What's up, bro?


----------



## AfterHours

JeffD said:


> I hate "no problem" and "no worries" as substitutes for "your welcome".
> 
> "Here is your bourbon and soda."
> 
> "Thank you."
> 
> "No problem."
> 
> Huh what?
> 
> I am sure it is habit and doesn't mean anything, but its a bad habit nonetheless. IMO


It can be overused for sure, but it simply means that the person didn't consider that there was effort (or a "problem") involved in serving you/meeting your request, as in, they didn't mind it at all, and ... (depending on your tip!) would gladly do so again!


----------



## AfterHours

Jacred said:


> And you're complaining? I know people who have no clue where Bohemia was even located.
> 
> Yeah, I need better friends in life...


I know! I think there's even a song about it! Isn't it somewhere in Bohemian RhapCity?


----------



## Totenfeier

JeffD said:


> I hate "no problem" and "no worries" as substitutes for "your welcome".
> 
> "Here is your bourbon and soda."
> 
> "Thank you."
> 
> "No problem."
> 
> Huh what?
> 
> I am sure it is habit and doesn't mean anything, but its a bad habit nonetheless. IMO


I wonder if English is unconsciously adopting (and translating) "de nada" from Spanish?


----------



## geralmar

"action figure"

Doll. (Boys don't play with dolls.)


----------



## Sloe

Bettina said:


> This is a SUPER nerdy pet peeve of mine:lol:, but it irritates me when people say that Dvořák was from Czechoslovakia. That country didn't exist back then and it doesn't even exist now - it only existed from 1918-1993. He should be described as being from Bohemia (the name for his nation back then) or the Czech Republic (our name for the country now). Yet time after time, I come across program notes (and sometimes even academic sources) that refer to him as a "Czechoslovakian" composer.


I prefer to call him Austrian.


----------



## geralmar

"Innocent women and children"

I have yet to read of a threat to guilty women and children.


----------



## Tallisman

'let's touch base' - extremely middle class and cringe-inducing

'brainstorm' - just one of those ****ing awful corporate buzzwords. Not quite as bad as 'idea shower', though.

'guesstimate' - AAAAAAAARRRGGGGGHHHHHH


----------



## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

"Honey, I'm home". Especially when I'm in the middle of listening to music.


----------



## geralmar

"Senseless violence"

As opposed to sensible violence?


----------



## Strange Magic

geralmar said:


> "Senseless violence"
> 
> As opposed to sensible violence?


I may be repeating a previous mention of these loathed terms, but when I am the Tsar, the words "incredible" and "unbelievable" as now-standard descriptors of the perfectly ordinary, will be expunged from the language. Use of these words in public will result in an act of sensible violence. Our current POTUS is a prime offender; otherwise he is an incredible human being--quite literally.


----------



## Annied

"I'm not going to lie" is my pet hate of the moment. I always want to ask "Does that mean that you usually lie?"


----------



## Totenfeier

Annied said:


> "I'm not going to lie" is my pet hate of the moment. I always want to ask "Does that mean that you usually lie?"


It's a hyperbole, an emphatic way of communicating that "I'm not going to sugarcoat what I'm about to say with the usual hypocritical social niceties."


----------



## Annied

Totenfeier said:


> It's a hyperbole, an emphatic way of communicating that "I'm not going to sugarcoat what I'm about to say with the usual hypocritical social niceties."


Or it's simply an irritating habit a lot of people have picked up.


----------



## Kivimees

"I hear you."

When I first heard this (in the USA), I thought I was being scolded for talking too loudly, so I reduced the volume. A couple of minutes later, again "I hear you."


----------



## Guest

"Know what I'm sayin'?" Yes, anyone over the age of 3 probably would based on the verbal abilities of people who use that expression.


----------



## Kivimees

Kontrapunctus said:


> "Know what I'm sayin'?" Yes, anyone over the age of 3 probably would based on the verbal abilities of people who use that expression.


It would be a interesting thought experiment to imagine what would happen if you answered, "No".


----------



## Ingélou

I can't remember if someone's already mentioned 'Tell me about it!' When this first came in, it puzzled me, because people say it when you just *have* told them about it.

I also hate the patronising way people say 'bless!' about a child/old person/silly admission.


----------



## hpowders

Happens on TC frequently: "No disrespect intended"......just before I am about to be pummled, castigated, castrated, placed on ignore list and reported to the moderators.....why? Because I dislike Schubert.


----------



## Kivimees

hpowders said:


> Happens on TC frequently: "No disrespect intended"......just before I am about to be pummled, castigated, castrated, placed on ignore list and reported to the moderators.....why? Because I dislike Schubert.


Certainly the castration part is a bit over the top.


----------



## hpowders

"Moving forward".... 

Do we really need this sort of clarification? Aren't we always moving forward, whether we wish to or not....monthly gazes in my mirror can attest to the inevitible result of always moving forward.


----------



## hpowders

Kivimees said:


> Certainly the castration part is a bit over the top.


I hear you.


----------



## Kivimees

hpowders said:


> "Moving forward"....
> 
> Do we really need this sort of clarification? Aren't we always moving forward, whether we wish to or not....monthly gazes in my mirror can attest to the inevitible result of always moving forward.


Sadly I can attest that some of my students are succeeding in not "moving forward".


----------



## hpowders

Ingélou said:


> I can't remember if someone's already mentioned 'Tell me about it!' When this first came in, it puzzled me, because people say it when you just *have* told them about it.
> 
> I also hate the patronising way people say 'bless!' about a child/old person/silly admission.


Tell me about it!!! I hear you!!! Hopefully, moving forward, it will all be fixed by the end of the day.


----------



## hpowders

Kivimees said:


> Sadly I can attest that some of my students are succeeding in not "moving forward".


I forgot about that. I taught and sadly, you are correct.


----------



## Dr Johnson

I object to the use of words underlined in the context presented:

*"You now need to sign in to watch and listen to things on BBC iPlayer and iPlayer Radio. And the same goes for some other parts of the BBC. This is so we can make the BBC more relevant and personal to you."
*

(From the BBC website explaining why it is necessary to register and sign in before using the iPlayer)

As I pointed out to them in an email, I don't need it to be more "personal" and, if it wasn't "relevant", why would I be accessing it in the first place?

I wouldn't mind if they were honest and simply said that they wanted to check that I had a TV licence.


----------



## Ingélou

hpowders said:


> Tell me about it!!! I hear you!!! Hopefully, moving forward, it will all be fixed by the end of the day.


Bless! 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


----------



## Kivimees

Dr Johnson said:


> I object to the use of words underlined in the context presented:
> 
> *"You now need to sign in to watch and listen to things on BBC iPlayer and iPlayer Radio. And the same goes for some other parts of the BBC. This is so we can make the BBC more relevant and personal to you."
> *
> 
> (From the BBC website explaining why it is necessary to register and sign in before using the iPlayer)
> 
> As I pointed out to them in an email, I don't need it to be more "personal" and, if it wasn't "relevant", why would I be accessing it in the first place?
> 
> I wouldn't mind if they were honest and simply said that they wanted to check that I had a TV licence.


Dear Dr Johnson,

Thank you for your email. We hear you.

Regards,

BBC


----------



## Dr Johnson

Kivimees said:


> Dear Dr Johnson,
> 
> Thank you for your email. We hear you.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> BBC


Their reply was almost as banal but more verbose.


----------



## Kivimees

Dr Johnson said:


> Their reply was almost as banal but more verbose.


I'm a get-to-the-point guy. Maybe the BBC's customer service department is hiring.


----------



## Dr Johnson

Kivimees said:


> I'm a get-to-the-point guy. Maybe the BBC's customer service department is hiring.


Not in their present mood.


----------



## Kivimees

After my long absence, I think I'm beginning to "find my feet" again here on TC.


----------



## hpowders

Ingélou said:


> Bless!
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Heh! Heh! Thank you!! :tiphat:


----------



## hpowders

Kivimees said:


> After my long absence, I think I'm beginning to "find my feet" again here on TC.


For a more thrilling experience, post on the main forum. Bring band-aids, Tylenol and a large bottle of Beefeaters.

If you do, and someone answers your post with "No disrespect, but...."

RUN!!!!!


----------



## hpowders

Kivimees said:


> After my long absence, I think I'm beginning to "find my feet" again here on TC.


Amazing that you have assimilated so quickly.


----------



## Dr Johnson

Way to go, Kivimees!


----------



## Kivimees

hpowders said:


> Amazing that you have assimilated so quickly.


The real test will be how long it takes me to capitulate.


----------



## hpowders

Kivimees said:


> The real test will be how long it takes me to capitulate.


Just tell 'em, "es ist genug" and they will never invite you Bach.


----------



## Strange Magic

This whole thread is simply incredible; unbelievable!


----------



## Totenfeier

Annied said:


> Or it's simply an irritating habit a lot of people have picked up.


And yes - that too.


----------



## hpowders

Strange Magic said:


> This whole thread is simply incredible; unbelievable!


It does have its own unique vibe, sort of a rather strange kind of 
magic, that I find to be curiously refreshing!


----------



## Kivimees

Strange Magic said:


> This whole thread is simply incredible; unbelievable!


Tell me about it.


----------



## Brahmsian Colors

"No good deed goes unpunished." and, one word----"awesome"


----------



## TxllxT

MSM, Irma, Harvey, IS, 'Je suis ....'


----------



## JeffD

"Piece of pie".

I mean, "Easy as cake"

I mean...


----------



## JeffD

AfterHours said:


> but it simply means that the person didn't consider that there was effort (or a "problem") involved in serving you/meeting your request, as in, they didn't mind it at all,


Which, in itself is kind of weird, sort of like "don't worry, I did not exert any special effort for you". I mean, would it not be more complimentary that someone was willing to exert effort on your behalf.

"Your welcome" has more of the feeling of "serving you was worth while, and I would gladly do it again"

Maybe I am thinking too much. Time for coffee.


----------



## geralmar

"Found missing"

If someone is found (or discovered); how can that person be "missing"?


----------



## Granate

"Thank you for voicing an opinion no one asked you for"


----------



## Lyricus

JeffD said:


> I hate "no problem" and "no worries" as substitutes for "your welcome".
> 
> "Here is your bourbon and soda."
> 
> "Thank you."
> 
> "No problem."
> 
> Huh what?


*You're welcome.

I actually like the onset of these phrases, as they convey the fact that whatever was thanked took little time or effort to accomplish. If my wife calls home and asks me to take out the butter for her, do I really need a full "You're welcome" after she thanks me for something that was trivial to accomplish? It's an easy "No problem" or "Any time." Instead, "you're welcome" has that entitled attitude about it, as if every little, sociable thing for someone else is beneath you, but you'll accomplish it for them anyway.

Honestly, though, as a whole English uses too many meaningless "polite words," Japanese even more so.



Totenfeier said:


> I wonder if English is unconsciously adopting (and translating) "de nada" from Spanish?


"It was nothing!" has been around for a long time. There's also "de rien" in French.


----------



## hpowders

"Intending no disrespect,".........

Always precedes extreme disrespect by way of trashing one's post in an ungentlemanly way.

When I read those three words, I read no further and close the post.


----------



## Ingélou

hpowders said:


> "Intending no disrespect,".........
> 
> Always precedes extreme disrespect by way of trashing one's post in an ungentlemanly way.
> 
> When I read those three words, *I read no further and close the post*.


Preternatural self-control! :tiphat:


----------



## hpowders

Ingélou said:


> Preternatural self-control! :tiphat:


I simply have an aversion to painful criticism. :lol:


----------



## Merl

I loathe it when something bad happens in a suburban area. The inevitable middle-aged woman will be interviewed on camera and will say these 2 things........ 

"I'm shocked / devastated. / appalled." (*delete where applicable) 
"This is a quiet area. Nothing like this ever happens here."


----------



## Guest

"Take a knee." First of all, it makes no sense grammatically, and secondly, I'm sick of hearing of hearing it on a daily basis, especially in view of all of the far more serious problems in the world.


----------



## Strange Magic

This may have been mentioned, but I am being driven insane by the current addiction to the adjective _incredible_. The problem is that we are today yearning for signs of the credible, the believable, in the behavior and utterances of the bizarre group of non-credible sycophants surrounding the mutant-in-chief today. Mike Pence is fond, as is his god, of reminding us how "incredible" the job everyone is doing all through the new administration. Incredible indeed.

Here's a sample plucked from today's BBC website:

"Last week, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders assured reporters that Donald Trump was an "incredible advocate" of constitutional free-press protections. This week, the president is contemplating - just wondering! - whether a broadcaster could be forced off the airwaves because he doesn't approve of its news coverage."


----------



## Omicron9

"At this point in time."


----------



## hpowders

"At the end of the day"; "Moving forward" and of course, spicing up a response with a well-placed "you know". "Yup" instead of "Yes" doesn't do it for me either.

Also, starting a response to a query with, "So.......

In sum, not only "expressions" that irk me.


----------



## Animal the Drummer

"It's about", other than when discussing a piece of writing of some sort. A story/novel/poem/report is "about" something. Trying to sell me a used car isn't.

"Yeah, no" signifying agreement. Don't those who say it realise how ludicrous it sounds?

"Passionate" instead of "enthusiastic". If Kate Beckinsale walked in on me now wearing only a bright smile, the former might well apply. It doesn't when I'm looking for someone reputable to replace the doors on my kitchen cupboards.


----------



## Ingélou

I hate expressions that have to do with noses:

'You really get up my nose!'

'Keep your big nose out of this.'

'Keep your nose clean.'

'May the bird of paradise fly up your nose.'

They all sound so rude - or *painful*!


----------



## Dr Johnson

Ingélou said:


> 'May the bird of paradise fly up your nose.'


Have you made this one up?


----------



## Ingélou

Dr Johnson said:


> Have you made this one up?


It's a song - popularised in the UK by Val Doonican on his TV show.


----------



## Dr Johnson

Ingélou said:


> It's a song - popularised in the UK by Val Doonican on his TV show.


I can't imagine how I missed that.

But now it's caught up with me.


----------



## elgar's ghost

Cutsie-cutsie terms for hybrid dogs such as Cockapoo and Labradoodle. Yeeuch...


----------



## Kivimees

Ingélou said:


> I hate expressions that have to do with noses:
> 
> 'You really get up my nose!'
> 
> 'Keep your big nose out of this.'
> 
> 'Keep your nose clean.'
> 
> 'May the bird of paradise fly up your nose.'
> 
> They all sound so rude - or *painful*!


How could you omit "Keep your nose to the grindstone"?


----------



## Joe B

Ingélou said:


> I hate expressions that have to do with noses:
> 
> 'You really get up my nose!'
> 
> 'Keep your big nose out of this.'
> 
> 'Keep your nose clean.'
> 
> 'May the bird of paradise fly up your nose.'
> 
> They all sound so rude - or *painful*!





Kivimees said:


> How could you omit "Keep your nose to the grindstone"?


Indeed! It's as plain as the nose on your face!


----------



## LezLee

Innocent victims - can there be a guilty victim?
Safe haven - can a haven be unsafe?
Unnecessary deaths - when is a death necessary?


----------



## LezLee

A new thread topic has reminded me of another pet hate:

X number of things you should do, visit, hear etc. *before you die! *
Anyone spot the anomaly here?


----------



## elgar's ghost

LezLee said:


> A new thread topic has reminded me of another pet hate:
> 
> X number of things you should do, visit, hear etc. *before you die! *
> Anyone spot the anomaly here?


Reminds me of a quote attributed to Groucho Marx when a fan went up to the aged comedian and said that he/she wanted Groucho's autograph 'before you die'. 'Better now than later', deadpanned the great man.


----------



## Pat Fairlea

elgars ghost said:


> Reminds me of a quote attributed to Groucho Marx when a fan went up to the aged comedian and said that he/she wanted Groucho's autograph 'before you die'. 'Better now than later', deadpanned the great man.


Along the same lines, when I'm asked "Have you lived here all your life?", I generally reply "Not yet".


----------



## eugeneonagain

'You are the product.'

It has a decent meaning behind it, but it's become one of those passed around, off-the-peg phrases for people to feign a deep understanding of the modern world.


----------



## LezLee

eugeneonagain said:


> 'You are the product.'
> 
> It has a decent meaning behind it, but it's become one of those passed around, off-the-peg phrases for people to feign a deep understanding of the modern world.


This is similar to the fairly recent one about 'owning' something, not a physical item but seemingly, taking responsibility for something (?)


----------



## Dim7

I am not a fan of YouTubers calling the demonetization (removal of ad revenue) of their videos "censorship". Am I being censored by Talk Classical if I don't get paid for my posts?

Whether the demonetization is in any particular case somehow otherwise objectionable is a separate issue but letting somebody to upload videos to your site is basically the opposite of censorship even if you don't get paid for it.


----------



## Guest

LezLee said:


> This is similar to the fairly recent one about 'owning' something, not a physical item but seemingly, taking responsibility for something (?)


You absolutely nailed that. In fact, you probably smashed it.


----------



## IamTim

I hate the expression "Moving forward". I hear it in virtually every meeting I am forced to attend... and a few I am not forced to attend as well


----------



## Guest

IamTim said:


> I hate the expression "Moving forward". I hear it in virtually every meeting I am forced to attend... and a few I am not forced to attend as well


There's a lot of it about. It's all that imagineering going on.


----------



## Dim7

dogen said:


> There's a lot of it about.
> 
> https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/23/from-inboxing-to-thought-showers-how-business-********-took-over


The language nanny doesn't like your link.


----------



## Guest

Dim7 said:


> The language nanny doesn't like your link.


Indeed (naughty Guardian), it doesn't even exist when I click on it, so I've culled it.


----------



## Taggart

dogen said:


> Indeed (naughty Guardian), it doesn't even exist when I click on it, so I've culled it.


Use tiny URL to convert it to something more family friendly - https://tinyurl.com/ybjdstkf - albeit less readable.


----------



## Guest

It seems that when you are being told how to navigate through two or three pages on a website, you are going on a journey:

eg I am taking a journey from 'Expressions that you hate' to 'The State of Britain' group.

Nuts.


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## Guest

Taggart said:


> Use tiny URL to convert it to something more family friendly - https://tinyurl.com/ybjdstkf - albeit less readable.


Even though I found the page via Amazon, when I clicked on the link on my post I got a message saying the page you have requested does not exist. It doesn't matter, it was just an article looking into the history of what is known as business, er, rubbish.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

You have recieved an Infraction


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## Guest

Deleted post........not worth the effort.


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## IamTim

dogen said:


> There's a lot of it about. It's all that imagineering going on.


Imagineering.....I KNEW I should have gone to work for Disney World when I had the chance


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