Words, usages, and phrases that annoy the shit out of you...

Four Words: Use Other Words Please
"Use other words please."
Commonly used phrases that inexplicably bug you
Most irritating cliche/phrase/expression
"Taking Things to a Whole `Nother Level!"
words that annoy
Words that should earn the author a slap
PROVERBIAL and other tip offs to poor writing

-- caitlin (wpsal...) (webmail), December 23rd, 2003. (caitlin)

Oh yes, yes yes. I second that one. And the people who say it, say it over and over.

I also have a horror of people who write prolifically in all caps.

This is true.

But, this is a topic that should be dealt with routinely and harshly... the only way we can correct the language and suppress it's organic growth is by exposing and banning every new usage as it occurs... Isn't that what the French do?

Also: 'fridge,' girls who refer to each other as 'girl,' proactive...i'll be back when i think of more....

'poetic justice'. Used by the lazy to describe all 'justice' the speaker approves of, instead of a particular type. The adjective is rendered meaningless.

Agree re 'bird' for woman/girl, and lament its threatened return. Stinks of 'I'm being un-PC, where's my medal?'. Also the C-person uses it, which kinda ends the argument.

Wait, huh? Fridge is the thing you put food in, whats wrong with it?

I'm picturing him saying things such as "Would you like me to remove another beverage from the refrigerator for you, whilst we watch some association football?"

As used to describe a footballer running into a streak of good form

When used in phrases like "a raft of policies" or "a raft of new measures" - why?!?!??!!?

Or a colon.

COINKY-DINK, "guestimate," and any time someone ends an interrogative sentence with "at," as in "Where's my keys at?" or "Where's your head at?"

"hating on"

"Action" used as a verb. (Especially with regards to some annoying little thing I had already been doing.) "Can you please action this?" Actually, no I can't. Action is a noun. If you would like me to DO it, then just ask. Argh.

Especially when coming from the same irritating marketing bods who last week asked me to "manage the relationship" with one of our suppliers. Fuck. Right. Off.

A term of address directed at Turkish shopkeepers by 13 year old boys and directed by Turkish shopkeepers at everyone else. The most annoying ever.

DON'T MADAM ME, YOU LITTLE...!!! OK, according to Watching The English, this means that they have socio-status assessed me as middle class or higher. But it irritates me because it makes me feel old.

'Whilst'

"AARRGGHHH!!! I certainly hope it will be taking off longer than that - we're flying to London!"

"No can do"

'If I can just ask you to power off your machine'.

What's wrong with switch off?

The word "proverbial" when overused or when not referencing a proverb but an idiom or cliche. (Correct: "Let's not count our proverbial chickens just yet." Incorrect: "I'm having a proverbial bad hair day.")

Redundancy in general.

Word inflation (i.e. "efficacious" for "effective" or "efficient").

Add that to my list, please.

I hate that, too. I usually tend to say "colloquial" instead, if it fits.

What sends me apoplectic is THEY'RE NOT SAYING 1999 WHAT!!?!?!!

"This beautiful sofa, only eight four nine."

*ragu (as in the spaghetti sauce. I HATE SPAGHETTI!!)

*tabernacle

*salve

*moist

am throwing up in wastebasket now.

AGH! I hate that, too! And The Rapture used it in "Echoes" (the song). It's "converse" you dolts!

(1) People who append "thing" at the end of every sentence. For example, "Are you going to the party thing tonight?" Why add "thing"? My friend theorizes that it's a camp phenomenon, signifying a cooler-than-thou disinterest in the event. It's still unnecessary. Can't you just say, "Are you going to the party tonight?"

(2) When someone announces that they're 'all about [fill in]." What the fuck does that mean?

(3) "Impact" as a verb. IT'S A NOUN! Use "AFFECT"!!!

"Job done"

"Bish bash bosh"

ugh, i hate that too.

i don't like "whilst" either although i suspect it may be more "right" in britain than over here -- i dunno though, it sounds like something that would be said by a preening five-year-old girl who wants to impress mum by being all properlike.

STOP TRYING TO BE COOL WITH VEGETABLES

yep, did you know that toronto has the EXACT SAME CLIMATE as ellesmere island?

Don’t even get me started on how Ebonics should simply be accepted in schools and not corrected by educators as a politically correct cultural acceptance.

Do you think I feel strongly about this topic? You bet. However, I find myself hypocritical since I use shortcuts in emails and on these posts often; however I would not think of doing it in a business email or conversationally. I'll stand down from my soap-box now.

this doesn't bother me, but it's a little obnoxious when people linger on the "ccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhh" sound at the end.

whatknot

'whatnot'

There's actually a certain economy to "Can I help who's next?" that makes sense, I think, given the circumstances in which it's usually used. Plus, it allows you to put the stress on the next, since it's at the end, so that if the addressee isn't really paying attention, they'll at least hear "blah blah blah blah NEXT?"

every day is a struggle for survival. < /puts hand to forehead and faints>

Also, the word "manchild" makes me uncomfortable.

I've never heard this, but I kind of despise "brain fart."

the stressed-"NEXT" part makes sense, it's just the "can i help who's" that makes me tear my hair out.

This is great if the next person in line happens to be Pete Townshend.

You used "thing"!

cooler-than-thou disinterest in the event

A *lot* of people get this wrong. To be disinterested is not to be uninterested. It's to have a lack of stock in the outcome (ie, "Jack, not a taxpayer himself, remains politically disinterested is this issue."). This does not mean that Jack is uninterested in the issue, but just that he has nothing to gain or lose from it.

Then, you're implying that you do care, if not just a little.

especially since it's an adjective of "ridicule," which i've never seen ANYONE spell "redicule."

i like "if you'll allow" better.

i will also echo the "rediculous" hatred and submit "definately" and all related butcherings of D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y, PEOPLE, for the love of...

1. Seeing "could of" or "should of" or "would of"
2. "The hell with..." - this can't be right. It must be "to hell with...", but I've seen the former version in print so many times I'm starting to wonder. But even if "the hell with..." is somehow correct, I still despise it with all my soul.

here here! (sic)

Geoffrey Nunberg in The Atlantic:

Unbiased and impartial will not do the work that disinterested used to be reserved for. But there is no point making a fuss about this change, because it was forgone that disinterested would lose its older sense once interested lost the sense of "having a stake in," which we retain only in the fixed phrase interested party. Even if disinterested had survived intact, therefore, it would eventually have become one of those curious asymmetric negatives like untoward and disgrace, whose senses are not recoverable as the sum of their parts. Invoking the second criterion, we should be prepared to admit that the fight on behalf of disinterested is a "lost cause," as Trilling described it. This may be an occasion for regret, but indignation would be out of place. Isaac Asimov writes, "I'm very proud of knowing the distinction, and insist on it, correcting others freely." The fact that being familiar with a distinction can be a cause for self-congratulation is, however, reason to eliminate it from the canons of standard usage, which should not be repositories of grammatical arcane.

Also, "That being said," and all variations of it. IF YOU WEREN'T RIGHT OR DIDN'T MEAN THE FIRST BIT WHY DID YOU EVEN SAY IT YOU ASSHOLE?

I should get a job

Language witched up by human resource departments (ew) however, deserves its own special place in the fiery hereafter. I recently got an email at work that proudly held forth on our NEW AND IMPROVED orientation program for new employees...except, instead of boring old "orientation", they're launching the new term "on-boarding". As in, getting someone ON BOARD. If you sat within 20 feet of me you'd have heard teeth grinding, I tells ya.

i take "that being said" to be an introduction to a follow-up statement, or a proviso. i appreciate the inverted-pyramid-style organization of thought here: lay down the most relevant information first, then start to put your own spin on things.

i'm sort of curious about the very english thing of diminutizing (infantilizing?) common nouns. "butty" and "sarnie" and "appie" and "footie" (although "footie" usually refers to aussie rules football, right?) and (to name a few where the diminutizations don't come with any shift in literal meaning) watching "telly," paying the "lecky" bill, getting a new "brolly" as a "pressie," etc.

i know i'm posting this on an "annoys the shit out of you" thread, but i have no problem with any of it!

-- caitlin oh no (caitx...), August 19th, 2005.

Well, actually, there's some truth to that. But it wasn't college kids repeating this meme, it was journalists. It was like "NOW THAT SOMETHING BAD HAS HAPPENED, CAN WE EVER NOT TAKE EVERYTHING TO BE SOMBER AND SERIOUS AGAIN???" Of course we can you sanctimonious fucks!

By the way...re words what annoy...the shit...out of...

------->"meme"

matos, once again i say YOU'RE A DOLL.

(i like "meme" too.)

i don't think american english does it so relentlessly though.

This is what I'm wondering. Trend? Fad? Archetype? Cultural development? Idea?

I do concede that maybe, just maybe, this is a case of a new word engendering new thoughts. A meme meme. If you will. As it were.

and any variations of same.

"Values Voter" (as if people vote on anything else)

why? why not American Security, U.S. Security, of just plain Security.

What are the cultural ramifications of this antiquated, underused, in the contxt of this country, phrase being given new life.

Homelands are where people come from, they are not the new, shiny America. But homelands are often under siege, is this why it must be Homeland Security, so we will realize the great importance of the endeavor. If it way US Security, would we not feel so comforted, protected.

That's exactly what the Homeland Security dept. is.

in other news...

http://www.whitehouse.gov/homeland/images/300-HSAS-Chart.jpg

That's why Ebonics proponents wanted the state to provide more funding to teach these students English just like it funds ESL programs for kids who speak only Spanish.

there should definitely be a hyphen in between, otherwise it looks like "unabomber." (heh heh.)

I mean, this is just a pet peeve of mine -- the fact that the whole thing was interpreted as some attempt to not teach kids standard English, to be "tolerant" and just say they speak a different language and that's fine. Whereas the actual root of the program was to acknowledge that they did need to be taught standard English, just as much as someone who doesn't speak any kind of English at all.

I hate that, too. I usually tend to say "colloquial" instead, if it fits.

If you're a geek among geeks, you can get away with 'canonical' - generally meaning 'definitive' - in that context.

I have never heard the word 'appie' in my life. Are we sure that the original poster is English?

1. Seeing "could of" or "should of" or "would of"

Bizarrely, this brings on the rage in me like nothing else on this thread. I shouldn't be mad, because 99% of the time, it's like Draw/Drawer, it's just someone who's never seen the word/phrase in print.

Based on this thread, we are all guilty of follies and should be slain.

Yes.

When someone says "Unamerican" it sounds like they mean corrupt, debased, without values.

Socialist, with compassion for their fellow humans, lacking true faith in the free market, internationalist....

Though you're right, unaustralian is just fucking funny.

In general, Americanisms perpetrated by British people are always annoying - I've heard people say "on the weekend" instead of "at the weekend" for instance.

"Negative... It did not go in. Just affected on the surface." ?

nah....

Haha that's horrible! Maybe you should reply with something like "Sure, I'll letter you when I've computered the data so we can recruitment the people needed"?

(Scary thought: within too long that may not seem as ridiculous as it does now)

nah....

Nah (times google)

The main problem with business writing isn't neologism - it's a kind of stiff, flowless formality. People come into business, think "hmm this is serious writing, when was the last time I did serious writing, oh yes..." and so everything is written in the passive-voice style of a GCSE science project.

Meanwhile back vaguely on topic, comics PR continually uses the phrase "bring their A game", eg. Todd Retch promises to bring his A game to his run on LADY JUGS. I assume it's born out of a deep-seated worry comics creators have about being bad at sports (this is also why Chris Claremont wrote 10,000 boring softball scenes in the X-Men).

how about 'twirl'? does that bother anyone? surely it's an amalgm of twist and swirl?

"... EVER SINCE 9/11."

whew. i'm relieved that that one in particular isn't common usage.

Someone from work once got into a snit with a woman from Iran at a dinner party, because apparently my colleague likes to pronounce it "eye-ran" as opposed to "ear-ahn" and she objected to having the difference pointed out to her. That has got to be one of the smallest-minded things I've ever heard. Made me want to say: You do realize that she's FROM THERE, right?

Obviously if there is anyone with an actual physical addiction to chocolate i have nothing but sympathy for them

What's ignorant about it? We're speaking English not Arabic here or else every time I said Paris, for instance, i'd be pronouncing it Par-ee.

OTM. I can't stand people who say KRAHFT-VAIRK and BYERK.

From the Onion: "I'm Like a Chocoholic, But For Alcohol"

i say "krahft - verk," cuz that's how it's pronounced, and cuz i HATE the americanized dumbing-down of it ("creeeeeyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaft - work" with a nasal short "a"). i say "byork," one syllable, rhymes with "new york." can't stand it when people pronounce it as "beeeee - york." why is the "byuh" sound so difficult? i get annoyed when people say "kuh - nish" instead of "knish" as well.

n/a, language is fluid, but that doesn't excuse people from being dumb.

I just feel like this is a little silly. Like when someone's speaking English and they say the word "Guatemala" but they do the guttaral 'g'/hard 't' "correct" pronunciation, it seems way more affected than just speaking with an American accent (oh no, Americans with American accents!).

"Muslim" is a word in the English langauge, yes, it was originally from Arabic but it's now an English word - like Kayak or something... and you don't pronounce that with an Inuit accent

So why don't you pronounce Bjork like it's pronounced, too? (Rhymes with "work.")

xpost, first of all, it's not "dumbing it down," that's what I'm trying to say. Secondly, what's gained is not having to overanalyze and correct how people naturally speak and just letting them communicate, which is what language is for in the first place.

So why don't you pronounce Bjork like it's pronounced, too? (Rhymes with "work.")

i don't wanna overdo it. plus, i hate bjork. fuck her.

French people don't say "hamburger," they say "'amboorgare." Is that 'incorrect'?

yes.

Or a French version of an English version of a German word.

Errrrrrrrrrrr, not really how these things work you'll find

Yeah, it's stupid and annoying. It's like spelling crazy with a k.

Whereas with Kraftwek you are kind of asked to make some unusual sounds -- and, in the case of the "kraaaft-vairk" types Jaymc is talking about, to affect an unfamiliar method of pronouncing familiar phonemes. So I tend to say "craft - verk," which, when pronounced American-English style, is almost completely indistinguishable from "craft - work."

I.e. rule = if you can say it naturally in your normal English-based speaking voice, then do it. If you can't, don't sweat it. (Though I'm never particularly annoyed by people who know how to say things "right," unless they seem to be making a big show of it.)

(This reminds me of my high school civics teacher, who'd get on all the Mexican students' cases about Americanized pronunciation: "Your name is not Flow-rez, it is FlorES!")

NB my rule on this is informed by the fact that there is a hard S sound in my name that I can successfully pronounce on maybe 10% of attempts, and even then only if I let myself sound like a total jackass trying. I certainly can't expect other people to say it properly, so the most I ask is that people say things as well as they can within their usual phonetic sets.

Haha, see I totally say Vim Venders, because I've never ever heard anyone pronounce those W's Anglo-style.

TORTURE.

twelfth is the only word that has ccvccc, i think. (/th/ is one phoneme)

"Schmo" is good. Amanda, I said "five-letter words." The thing that's interesting about it to me is that the vowel is at the very end and nowhere else.

"Up-side the head"

Anything with the word "munch" as the root.

when people type the words "sigh", or "shrug". If you went through the trouble to type 'shrug', maybe it kind of negates the whole fucking thing?

When people say or type "gotcha".

"Howdy"
"Okeedokee"

Any catchphrases from old comedies such as Wayne's World, Ace Ventura, or Austin Powers, will cause me to reconsider our friendship.

munchkin?

NOT! (as if.)

Oh, if this thread were about annoying internet words and phrases, I would have much more to contribute here.

But Americans don't say "on the weekend" (which strikes me as interchangeable with "at the weekend" in its Britishness); they say, "over the weekend."

no. it has a very specific origin, and came into use by members of a community who understood and referred back to that origin. it implies, if anything, disrespect for the hands-off approach the media takes with respect to the administration.

http://www.mcb.com.hk/online/image/upload/9/power_station.jpg

The claim is invariably a lie.

plus, i get a kick out of incorporating speech patterns into text, which is why i use "alla", "gunna", "I'ma", etc.

you're going too far, still

See, the thing is that he would probably like being called these names.

what term SHOULD be employed when referring to the current commander-in-chief?

Moving along, I've just read the 9-11 Commission Report, and can report that government employess pepper their speech with an unhealthy number of sports eulogisms. I've just returned the book to the library, so can't unpack all of the gems, but first and foremost, our Preznit (in defereence to N/A) expressing dissatisfaction with the early geopolitical politics: "I'm tired of playing offense, I want to play defense." Ha ha, I can just hear him saying that with a bit of a whine. Anyway, so many other CIA/FBI/Condi-types also reverted to these type of anologies when discussing world-wide matters of tremendous import. It made me happy that I haven't sought out a career as an operative.

Anyway the quite intelligent and eloquent Nabisco said:
If these students had spoken, say, Spanish, their teachers would have been given money and time to concentrate on bringing them up to speed with standard English.

Ahhh-hahaha. As a former teacher of both documented ESL students and non-documented "BVE" students I can say that teachers are provided with neither time and money to teach either. Perhaps, though, this is because I live and taught in Texas. . .

My ESL kids (and I had every single one of them in the school, me, the least experienced in the Language Arts dept.) were one of the six groups whose test performance determined our school's rating by the state. Said rating determined school funding and teacher raises. Some of the other groups included "at-risk" and "below federal poverty-line". I feel safe in asserting all of my "BVE" students fell into one of the latter two categories.

Bottom line. . .each group of students had the same extent of ground to cover in learning standard English. However the ESL students had a much greater cultural motive. They were largely first- and second-generation immigrants and becoming bilingual was very important to them. My African-American students rarely left the neighborhood unless it was to go to S1x Flags. They didn't really see the point in learning to make subjects and verbs agree since the only people they knew who talked that way were teachers and judges. And besides their cousin went to community college and she only got her GED.

America is a very soul-crushing place.

exactly!

I'd like to point out I only know this b/c of the band with the "Lump" song b/c they also had a song called "Kitty" which I liked quite a bit. . .

Shrubya.

ə

ding ding ding. okay, this wins.

Except no English person pronounces them that way (er, so how do Yanks pronounce ""Emma Bunton"" exactly?). Otherwise I agree with you.

Definitely Grand Pree and Byerk, but then again Craft Work. But pronouncing all foreign, especially French, words and names with really emphasising the accent ("A Year in Prov-ONCCCE") is just such a middle-class affectation. Calling a restaurant a rest-eau-ROOONHHH and so on. Jeh-rarrhd Deh-pAH-DEUUUHHHH. Boo-lehh-VAHHHHHHDEUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...
I mean, fucking hell...

http://www.bschool.nus.edu.sg/staff/bizcjh/movie_files/image141.jpg

my personal rule is: say what is funniest at the time of saying (eg GRAND PRICKS is ALWAYS FUNNY!) (= they are knobheads who drives cars fast and WHO CARES!)

"restaurant" = "ress-tront"
also from now on: BESSMENT JOCKS

I met a girl recently who always says this! I love her to death, but it's starting to annoy me!!! She always tries to make some kind of "mama" joke after it. oh..........

(in critical/cultural discourse following assertion "X is true...")

(au courant journalistic convenience for making contrived conclusion read like casual observation)

"Not for nuthin'"
When used as a preface, this can be translated as: "although my next comment comes unsolicited, please pay attention because it is germane to the topic at hand."
IE "Not for nuthin, but nobody wears acid wash jeans anymore."

"The City"
Referring to New York City
"You going into the city tonight?"

But the worst, which isn't just in NJ, is when people misuse the term "penultimate." It's not a larger, more powerful version of ultimate. You can't say, "Dude, Eruption is the penultimate guitar solo." Penultimate means second to last. So while you can say "There's only one burger left, I just ate the penultimate one," you cannot say "That burger is so good, it's the penultimate burger."

note: with Howard Stern being nationally syndicated for years, he's helped plenty of NY/NJ speech patterns spread across the land. This phrase is one of 'em.

I think this is pretty common!

the penultimate one = there is more to come which may be better = you are shivery w.hot anticipation = better than the ultimate one

I can't tell whether this annoys me more because it's become a stupid cliche, or because I dislike thinking of aesthetic experiences (it's usually used in reference to movies) as wastes of time. The notion that a piece of art owes you something is particularly noxious to me.

if its been mentioned upthread, it deserves mentioning again

I will probably think I get annoyed about stupid things, again, at some point

One I really loathe: OTM.

The response "Oh, you're fine" pisses me off. Goddamned right I'm fine.

my friend proposed saying "world wide web" instead of "doubleyoudoubleyoudoubleyou" for www, since it's more accurate and a third the syllables. hasn't caught on, though.

I know someone who says "wih-wih-wih".

I'm not saying that it's somehow illegitimate. I'm saying that it annoys the shit out of me (see thread title).

"I was curious if..."

"I'm curious whether..."

"I'm curious if..."

Just ask the fucking question, curious george!

"I say to you that..."

"I put it to you that..."

xpost

I've said dub-dub-dub before. I feel a little silly, though.

On a similar note, the entire fucking liner notes to the Sonic Youth "Daydream Nation" CD.

Curious

Just overheard: "I'm curious if I can ask you some questions. On your website I see [A] and I was curious to know if [B]."

If I was the person on the other end, I would've said, "You're curiosity will never be satisfied if you don't learn to start asking questions!" and hung up.

When we first started giving web addresses over the air in the late nineties, my sportstalk show would say "Go to the three double-yews, dot, at ksyg, dot, com..."

David Letterman used to crack me up when spelling URL's.

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1261700.jpg

"troubadour"

NNNNGGGGGRRRRGRGHHH! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!

i know someone who says "dub dub dub"

she is from seattle

Look. There is no race of people on Planet Earth that can be simply described as "green". Please shut the fuck up.

...or polka-dotted! Yes, ha ha. Now, SHUT THE FUCK UP.

i know someone who says "wubbily wubbily wubbily". they also call their mobile phone their "mobidilly diddly". as annoying as this sounds i find it quite endearing.

I will kill them all, and my life will improve considerably as a result.

For me, the fact that they answer the phone by saying "pronto" more than makes up for it.

Really? He's Donald Trump for the sole purpose of telling me about this Visa check card? If it weren't for that, he'd be a Senegalese greengrocer?

Sorry if this has been covered, I took a quick look & didn't see.

I find I do this sometimes . I'm fairly sure I did it before the Jay-Z song! Sometimes the server will call attention to the construction by saying something like "You sure can!" or "Absolutely!" -- at which point I feel a very brief moment of awkward self-consciousness which then dissolves into a longer moment of cheery satisfaction at their response.

XPOST

Yes, if you take only the literal words, and ignore the standard phrasing (the verbal cognate of a rolling-of-the-eyes), which acknowledges that the elimination of the negation is ironic, and not intended to change the meaning.

You hadn't. I was surprised that you of all people were taking exception to the term!

No, I think people the phrase does literally mean that, and therefore there's nothing sarcastic about the phrase. (sure, sometimes people use it when they don't mean it, i.e. hyperbolically, but the initial usage was not hyperbolic) I'm not saying that everyone who uses it thinks about the literal meaning of what they are saying, and why their intonation corrects for its literal incorrectness, but they do know the meaning of their words when intoned traditionally. And I don't think it's a bastardization when the 'common idiom' is less common than the bastardization.

Accent, it's actually supposed to be "the proof of a pudding is in the eating". Which makes a lot of sense, if you think about it, certainly more than the mis-abbreviated form.

Er, yes. Right, which is why I hate the abbreviated form so much. For the same reason as people don't like "I could care less". It doesn't mean anything.

Currently I also hate "of" being used instead of "have" because people don't understand contractions.

But it does mean something? Sure, it's sarcasm, which ain't great, but you can't say it doesn't mean anything without being wilfully ignorant.

Also, why does no one talk about "psychopaths" any more, but always of "sociopaths." That hard K sound gives the former more crazy authority. The latter just sounds like you have trouble on the school playground.

And this final gripe: the reason I gave up on Anne Rice's vampire books was not because the series shit the bed, even though it did—it was her constant use of the word "preternatural." She had to keep dropping it into the conversation. It's like she had a crush on a fucking WORD.
Having stylistic objections to Anne Rice is kind of dumb, I know. But those first books totally sucked me in. Even when they started to go bad, I followed for a little while.
Where are people's editors? Where's MY editor?
I'm going to stop myself. Right now.

: "How you doing today?"
: "Any better and I couldn't stand it."

My latest problem is the habit of media figures, bureaucrats, and students who want to sound intelligent appending a preposition to verbs. "Separate OUT," "divide UP," "play OUT," "win OUT" – why??? In every case they're redundant and look awful on paper.

"On April 18, 2008 CASA will hold our 1st Annual 'Light the Night' event at Immanuel Baptist Church (parking lot)."

You can't have an "annual" anything if it's only happening for the first time!

People who get con-fuzzed about things.

My latest problem is the habit of media figures, bureaucrats, and students who want to sound intelligent appending a preposition to verbs. "Separate OUT," "divide UP," "play OUT," "win OUT" – why??? In every case they're redundant and look awful on paper.

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, April 2, 2008 7:55 AM (Wednesday, April 2, 2008 7:55 AM) Bookmark Link

Because that is how American English tends to be spoken?

Many compound nouns have the form verb plus preposition: add-on, stopover, lineup, shakedown, tryout, spinoff, rundown ("summary"), shootout, holdup, hideout, comeback, cookout, kickback, makeover, takeover, rollback ("decrease"), rip-off, come-on, shoo-in, fix-up, tie-in, tie-up ("stoppage"), stand-in. These essentially are nouned phrasal verbs; some prepositional and phrasal verbs are in fact of American origin (spell out, figure out, hold up, brace up, size up, rope in, back up/off/down/out, step down, miss out on, kick around, cash in, rain out, check in and check out (in all senses), fill in ("inform"), kick in ("contribute"), square off, sock in, sock away, factor in/out, come down with, give up on, lay off (from employment), run into and across ("meet"), stop by, pass up, put up (money), set up ("frame"), trade in, pick up on, pick up after, lose out.[14][15]

Using "of" instead of "have" is tremendous

xp: err, I guess you're talking about verb forms rather than nouns

Yes. And in every case I cited the preposition is unnecessary.

language would kind of suck if it was efficient and orderly

orderly efficient useless language if w'asnt and be it would

the preposition thing seems more of a spoken thing that happens a lot, and looks really awkward on the page?

basically

I agree with Alfred here, but it's hardly surprising where spoken language goes written language follows.

...surprising THAT where...

haha ...where spoken language goes down, written language follows up.

my coworker:
"we weren't doin' much. just out fiddle fartin' around..."

ugh. hurts my guts when she does that.

the preposition thing seems more of a spoken thing that happens a lot, and looks really awkward on the page?

Reporters and columnists use these formulations all the time.

you're obviously reading the wrong journalists--they must be liberal hacks

j/k, to be fair, i can see why you would be annoyed by these things in like student papers and such--seems like a first draft kind of thing that you cut when you start to edit the paper

True, but a student walked in here a couple of hours ago and said, "The professor wanted to separate us out from" something or other. It's enough just to say, "The professor wanted to separate us from..."

The preposition thing is interesting, and I can't say it's particularly bothered me, especially since most of the time there is a slight (or sometimes significant) difference in meaning.

We wouldn't have a whole load of English words, from everyday ones to your more fancy or technical long words, if the Romans hadn't loved doing the same thing. A Latin verb without a prepositional prefix was considered rather plain, so they'd add them all the time. Sometimes the meaning would drift; sometimes it would keep the original meaning but be considered a more rhetorically stylish word.

No, I didn't have a point; yes, that was so poorly written as to destroy any point I might have thought I had. Hey, it's nearly hometime.

"starving"

You are not starving. Those little pregnant-looking babies in africa with flies around their eyes are starving. You are just hungry. Which is a fair usage.

^^^ Heh heh, I had a primary school teacher who used to get really pissed off about this.

jesus.

bugs me

I've been noticing an extreme overreliance on "essentially" lately.

"Utterly" used to fly into my ears several times a day, but luckily that died off somewhat after high school.

Yeah I find myself using "essentially" way too much in essays & whatnot.

You are not starving. Those little pregnant-looking babies in africa with flies around their eyes are starving. You are just hungry. Which is a fair usage.

Well technically they may well not be starving. Malnourished, yes, but not necessarily starving.

little pregnant-looking babies

babies can't get pregnant god are you retarded?

Re unnecessary prepositions, the one that bothers me the most is "off of."

'amazing'

Since when is hyperbole off-limits, starving-hataz?

word

I don't really mind me any colloquialisms, but'n when my ex-boss gets hisself an itchin' to use simplistic when simple will do, I just got me a right hankerin' to pat his pretty little haid 'n' set the poor fellah straight.

The main problem with business writing isn't neologism - it's a kind of stiff, flowless formality. People come into business, think "hmm this is serious writing, when was the last time I did serious writing, oh yes..." and so everything is written in the passive-voice style of a GCSE science project.

Ugh, so OTM. In one office job I had every email was "I advised her X and she advised me Y" as though 'advised' was just a synonym for 'told'.

Also "from whence" aarrggghhhhh

Also someone mentioned Rachel Stevens upthread, "Sweet Dreams my LAX" is the worst for this kind of thing - "If I were in your shoes I'd worry OF the effects" wtf.
"Do you think I'm the fairer S-E-X" , so what, Rachel Stevens is a whole gender now?
"Can't you stop playing that record again" also bugs me.

And on another track - "The sweeter you taste, the bitter I feel" nnnhhhhnnngggg

Yes - I probably listen to too much Rachel Stevens....

imagine, song lyrics not conforming to standard usage.

it's easy if you try

imagine, someone mentioning the words, usages and phrases that annoy the shit out of them on this thread.

Seriously though, that many weird usages in one song that consists mainly of just a few repeated lines? It's pushing it.

I dislike "so-called".

"On-trend" *vomit*

The Australian thing (ha) of calling any baby 'bubs'. Makes me cringe.

'irregardless' makes me want to unfold my pocketknife

The Australian thing (ha) of calling any baby 'bubs'. Makes me cringe.

-- Not the real Village People, Sunday, April 13, 2008 2:14 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

also, everything else australians say

For some reason, "no worries!" bugs me.

Also, the fact that it bugs me bugs me, because it makes me feel like Andy Rooney or something.

Oh well. No worries!

"Badboy" as a general purpose noun.

"Be inside in a min, just gonna smoke one of these badboys."

"not for nothin"
is this just an east coast thing? i can't stand to hear it.

The Australian thing (ha) of calling any baby 'bubs'. Makes me cringe.

-- Not the real Village People, Sunday, April 13, 2008 2:14 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

also, everything else australians say

-- and what, Sunday, April 13, 2008 3:06 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Link

otm

"shits and giggles"

"just putting that out there"

dapple

under the bus
soup to nuts

earbuds

I had an Australian boss a few years ago who dropped no worries like crazy and now I say it all the time and even I hate it.

bro
son

damn son why you hatin

usu irl the bro's are coming from douchbags and i knew that damn son shit had to just end the first time i heard it. like, we barely know each other don't call me son and don't be ironic white guy rapper anyways.

not you HOOS, obv

:D

undergrowth

'perfect!'

"rather" as an affirmative
"same difference"

soup to nuts

^

this, urge to kill rises whenever i hear it

"Whenever" when what is meant is "when." Possibly a Texas/South thing, but I hear something like "Whenever I was in college I drank a lot of beer but never gained a pound!" all the fucking time.

wtf is soup to nuts?

I used to have a buddy who said things like "Everwhat."

"They were down there in the parking lot, waiting for some pizza or everwhat."

"put the world to rights"

I used to have a buddy who said things like "Everwhat."

Are you positive he wasn't referring to his unfinished trilogy of fantasy novels?

"CALLING ALL"

"Calling all budding"

"CALLING ALL BUDDING...ARTISTS"

"CALLING ALL VILE PAROCHIAL ACTIVITIES"