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?"

So, in the past few months I have gotten “a promotion” which means I get to attend meetings with people from other orgs and local government staff… as opposed to mainly working with the people who my org helps… so I now have moved from the annoying “woo woo” language to the corporate jargon that many of you already suffer with.

On a sociological level, I notice how the jargon use often mirrors the hierarchy… if the department head talks about a project as a “container” then a month or so later, their underling will also start talking about a project as a “container”… and I have to try not to make a face or ask, “like a shipping container? Shipping containers aren’t considered buildings or subject to building codes if they are kept on wheels…”

https://i.thriftbooks.com/api/imagehandler/m/F0074583EFC9562CAA3B14F2352C2800CF12CE4E.jpeg

I still hate “morph” as a synonym for “change” every time I encounter it.

In orbit … u know i want to read that

I have it! Come over and borrow it some time. xo

I haven't heard 'learnings' in a while now - there's always some fresh new word to dazzle, you don't wanna be caught using stale jargon - but it was pretty well abused in nonprofit circles just prior to covid

(I heard somewhere that shipping containers are possibly the 20th century's greatest invention that nobody talks about)

Learnings is awful and I cannot help but hear it in an ‘Igor’ voice when it appears on the page/screen.

xp
depends on what you mean by "greatest"

I do really HATE hate "learnings." It evokes the Lloyd Alexander character Gurgi imo -- "yearnings and learnings for Gurgi, oh yes."

lool

That's on my list to read too! xpost

shipping container buildings is my favourite Grand Designs / tiny house sub-genre

twice today I've heard "trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube"...

Not sure if I hate it but it's interesting to see how these things have their moment

Does it “add value”?

Levinson's shipping container book absolutely worth reading if you suspect it's your thing. This one too...

https://f.media-amazon.com/images/I/91AFvKf1ygL._SL1500_.jpg

oooooh now I want a new book.

although the phrase doesn't innately bother me, there's been an alarming increase of "lean into" in recent months

https://ideas.time.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2013/03/book.jpg?w=720&h=480&crop=1

^ written about a decade ago

re Shipping containers , also well worth watching this Sekula film

https://www.theforgottenspace.net/

'colourway'

https://imgur.com/Oggx5G2

seem to be running into this a lot lately when reading about/watching news on tech or fashion. completely superfluous.

"this is the new macbook pro in a space black colorway"

...not sure where my jpeg is, but it's the trend graph of the word's usage from google...

in 2024, everything is feral or potentially feral

also while i'm at it, and this is one i occasionally use, but about 10 years ago many of us realized it wasn't a good practice to call everything "crazy" all the time in a positive way. "wow, they won the game? that's crazy!" etc. i think it was fine to move away from it, "crazy" has some issues and the word had a good run. but now, everything is "wild". wow that's wild. everything is wild and potentially feral. i still say "wild", so i'm not trying to make anyone reading this feel bad. this thread's wild! but yeah i might just start seeing "good"

Anything new and distinct that everyone starts using all at once usually annoys me, and then I eventually surrender and start using it as well. That's how "wild" has for me recently.

Fire

Also never forget “will be wild”
The podcast by the same name was also quite good tbh

'inspo'

"love on" in place of "to love," or "to give affection." As in "You gotta love on your babies" or "

This seems to have taken hold in anodyne Christian mom-land sometime after I departed that scene and has now escaped captivity and is everywhere. It conjures images of rubbing up against something like a cat. Probably not what the user has in mind.

On Googling, it seems this was broadcasted to wider America by the Duggars. So I was right, and also eurrgh.

Oh I love “love on” as a way of describing expressions of care. My former student Linda thanked me for loving on her at graduation and I’ve liked it ever since.

It’s a way of saying “showered with affection” which is to me a wonderful (and rare) thing.

I think of "love on" as a Southernism, because I don't think I ever heard it until I moved to Tennessee. But I don't know if that's true or just my experience.

"love on" in place of "to love," or "to give affection." As in "You gotta love on your babies" or "

This seems to have taken hold in anodyne Christian mom-land sometime after I departed that scene and has now escaped captivity and is everywhere. It conjures images of rubbing up against something like a cat. .

Gross!! It was not like that w Linda. She’s a mature Black woman in her 50s and she was proud of graduating. I won’t let some xtian mommies or gross imagery destroy my memory of how proud I was of her on that day 🏆

Sorry, LL! I believe you. I can hold two contradictory things in my mind: The way I feel about that expression, and respecting Linda and everything that you mean to each other.

We keep in touch! I just love the idea of showering someone with care and can’t find it gross.

"that tracks"

Well does it?

I didn’t like “cook” in its new verb form until I started using it myself. Now I’m cooking with it most days.

awaiting the linguistics paper on the rise and fall of 'serving _____'

How about an undergraduate thesis titled "Serving C*nt: an Intersectional Historical Look at the Reclamation of a Taboo Word"? (Though I guess that's less about the "serving" part.)

i love u jaymc

:)

:)

“Cunt-curious” give me a break. Of COURSE this was from Claremont.

"____ is worse than you think"

This is every headline and video title now.

"actors" used to describe non-thespians definitely having a moment

really? that's so common as to be unnoticeable for me, 'various actors in the region' I wouldn't even notice it

area actor