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?"

i’ve tried substituting “you people” for y’all because i’m yankee and don’t wanna seem southern ever. not popular tho i felt excluded after all attempts.

Creative as noun is like the patron saint of usages that annoy

B-b-but this has been common parlance for decades. Have you not watched Mad Men?

So out of East Coast chauvinism, I must and will always argue for the broader adoption of "youse," as in "youse need to shut the fuck up."

Pure Scots, by the way.

B-b-but this has been common parlance for decades. Have you not watched Mad Men?

I think "creative" used to be confined to the advertising industry but more recently has spread to all creative professions.

"Youse" is fairly common here in mid-Atlantic US, but apparently many people pronounce it with a hard "S", like the noun use, whereas I always pronounced it "yooz" - am I saying it wrong? I've also heard "you lot" twice in the last year.

Youse is also Scouse ofc

In the NJ Pine Barrens it is yiz.

at the grocery store last night: 'family size,' 'family style,' 'family pak'

I hate them all, maybe I just hate families

I prefer potato chips, whose larger sizes are for parties and not families

"share size" yeah right

"new fun size!" just means it got smaller

'side quest'
'xxxx-maxxing'

I just heard about 'pheromaxxing'... bro-dudes not showering so women find their odor irresistible

my kid announced today she was something-maxxing and i was just “careful, with i heard you usually end up hammering your face or a metaphorical equivalent” and i’ll stay with that as parental advice.

“with _maxxing” eh

You're parentmaxxing

I heard some students talking about one another gigglemaxxing and it occurred to me how little giggling is part of my life. Gigglemax while the gigglemaxxing is good, I say.

at the grocery store last night: 'family size,' 'family style,' 'family pak'

may have to bust out no trend, "family style" for my evening listening session

highly recommended, andy, if you truly hate families

I think "creative" used to be confined to the advertising industry but more recently has spread to all creative professions.

I was watching the 1988 film She’s Having A Baby recently, and Kevin Bacon’s character works in advertising and there’s a scene in his office with a note on the wall about “making better creative” and I thought, “Wow, the awful uses of the word as a noun actually have been around for a while.”

In 1993, agency folks were saying both "creative" as a noun and "editorial" as a noun. Not to mean an opinion piece but to mean anything written.

We need some editorial here.

a buddy of mine in manhattan at bbdo in the fucking late 80s schooled me on creatives, creative, and what he had to do to accomodate and SELL THAT SHIT.

i adopted the descriptive term now regret, but this shit is _ancient_.

he moved on to make a fucking fortune in pharma sales 90-now, but that’s a dif story.

Yes, creative has long been an ad industry term, but my sense (including my brief stint in that awful world) is that “creative” is short for creative department, as in “he’s in creative”, “creative needs it by friday”, or “he’s creative” in the way you might say “he’s finance.”

I think this is different from the ca. 2010s way people started saying “I’m A creative” to mean you’re a freelance illustrator. I think it has more to do with, say, the rise of Linkedin and linked-in speak.

If this thread didn't happen to be near the top of the page the universe would have been spared this post (I mean, I'm generally used to Australians talking like frickin' 3-year-olds) but a radio traffic report just announced that "traffic is generally light due to school hollies", ie. 'school holidays', presumably. She shortened it several times over, on the national broadcaster. Just talk properly 'straya. I'm not demanding RP or whatever here, just, you know, actual words. This stuff is not cute.

I’m an unapologetic y’all user and I live in the Midwest. It’s the best group term we have and y’all can eat a donut in stony silence if y’all don’t like it

despite having been literally born in pittsburgh (magee women's hospital ftw!) and grown up there . . . i have long since lost the battle/war for its plural term. it *should* be 'yunz' but has instead become 'yinz'

anyway everyone everywhere has full permission to use either term

ye

Ahem

different deployment ofc

yours, i presume, is just short for kanye

It's actually supposed to be a thorn (Þ)

Because it's short for KanÞ

Actually it would be a yogh in that case, should really be Kanȝe.

but a radio traffic report just announced that "traffic is generally light due to school *hollies*", ie. 'school holidays', presumably.

Ugh, it reminds me of the turdtastic “cozzie livs “. Stop it with this shit people!

"cozzie livs" seems like a parody of the genre, as does "menty b"

The Australian diminutive is not new, prezzies for Chrissy etc. Firefighters being called firies, though, is a choice.

I thought cozzie livs/menty b is more specifically 2020s British?

TS Mel B vs. Menty B

Menty B and Rakim

"y'all" is a very useful word, but it's the camel's nose inside the tent for creeping Southern-ism"

This. My problem with it is the tone and way it's used in my current environment. In Texas it was fine and I used it freely, it was just another word. In Savannah there's a tone to it that grosses me out. It's like, a weird pride in using the word? In my attempts to personally eradicate it I've given up on using a contraction but I think I'll switch to "youse." Added benefit: it will really aggravate my pedantic mother-in-law who is a ya'llmaxxer.

I thought cozzie livs/menty b is more specifically 2020s British?

Cozzie livs yes, menty b has always been described as Aussie slang when I've heard it.

Never heard of either of them but they seem quite amusing to me, school hollies is just stupid though. Prezzies isn't Australian, by the way.

... first recorded usage is by Nancy Mitford! And, yes, I can definitely imagine it starting as English upperclass/public school slang.

"creatives" as a broad term is annoying but god forbid you run into "makers" and "builders"

I've made my peace with it, but the one that bugged me for a while was people putting "based in" in their bio. As opposed to "lives in," I guess? I kind of jokingly called someone out on it because they didn't really travel much for work.

I think I'll switch to "youse."

One of us... one of us...

I saw someone write "Youns be all" in a group chat. I assume it was some mad typo, but I like it

Anyway, I'm starting to hate "quietly" being used in clickbait headlines. "Alex Karp quietly purchased 32,000 acres of Swedish forest". "Israel has been quietly bombing the citizens of the West Bank" etc...

I think youns is supposed to be pronounced more like yoo'uns, as two syllables.

campaign to bring back "thou"

good but singular, so for y’all i’m sticking with dmac’s “ye” i guess

I’ll be continuing with y’all bc those other substitutes are not part of my dialect at all. I’ve never said yinz or yunz or youse in my life and I’m not about to start now.

this one guy at this bookstore used to greet my wife as i with a semi-exasperated "hello, you two" like we're a couple of ne'er-do-wells or something

i say vosotros

all y'all

on LETTERKENNY, eh? they say 'yous' but i am not canadian enough to say how that is spelled or how widespread it is