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

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what?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 22:36 (twenty-two years ago)

That seems like it'd be right up your alley, TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 22:36 (twenty-two years ago)

My friends got into saying "P-word" as a jokingly PC way of saying "pussy" .. i.e. - "so-and-so is a p-word." I tried to explain that it's a real pussy move to be afraid of saying pussy and hypocritical of anyone then to call anyone else a p-word. I think it fell on deaf ears.

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 22:37 (twenty-two years ago)

my p hurts!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 22:37 (twenty-two years ago)

If my dad wants to agree with something you've said, he says "This is true." It really, really gets me annoyed, for no other reason than overuse as far as I can think.

― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:21 (twenty-two years ago)

"Have a Cool Yule!" - I haven't actually heard this lately but because of the season I remembered this the other day and darkly mulled over its wankiness.

― Chriddof (Chriddof), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:26 (twenty-two years ago)

using "Cool Yule" seems like it should automatically warrant a knife in the face.

― El Santo Claus (Kingfish), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:36 (twenty-two years ago)

My father met Cheech Marin while drunk and got his autograph. My father is not the autograph type, but kept it because it is a small bar napkin that says "BE COOL FOOL, CHEECH." A man of few words, that Cheech.

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I cant stand it when I hear someone say 'impactful' is that even a word? Impact is not a property, its created.

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:45 (twenty-two years ago)

It must say something about ILX that this is the most repeated topic of all time:

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

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm getting really pissed of with american interpretations of 'Liberal', 'Libertarian' and 'Conservative'

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I also get upset about "N-Word" as well. If you're using it in a critical context, people will understand that. If you're not, then you should have the conviction to let people hear it if you want to say it.

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I hate "touch base" and "metrosexual"

― phil-two (phil-two), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:55 (twenty-two years ago)

OH come on, let's touch bases.

― TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Tuesday, 23 December 2003 23:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, "metrosexual" is possible the lamest noun of the new millenia.

― andy, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Or is it an adjective? I don't know.

― andy, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

If my dad wants to agree with something you've said, he says "This is true." It really, really gets me annoyed, for no other reason than overuse as far as I can think.

-- 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.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:02 (twenty-two years ago)

But Ed, those words have different interpretations in almost every country in which they are used.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I blame the consolidation of global political power and the diminution of class mobility on people who write in the passive voice.

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

― felicity (felicity), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:07 (twenty-two years ago)

"It must say something about ILX that this is the most repeated topic of all time..."

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?

― andy, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Least favorite (mis)usage ever - "ON accident..." it's BY accident you fucking moron!!

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

― roger adultery, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I know, oops, but still it pisses me off.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 00:54 (twenty-two years ago)

The recurrence of this topic is always accompanied by the recurrence of complaint about its recurrence.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 01:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Space. All this crap about needing space. Fuck off, then.

― Roderick the Visigoth. (Jake Proudlock), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 03:19 (twenty-two years ago)

All girls must now refer to one another as "guy"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 03:30 (twenty-two years ago)

ok?

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 03:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Using "Sexy" in a business environment that has nothing to do with sex. As in "this is a very sexy proposal for our company". Well, I guess, if ripping people off is what turns you on.

― BrianB (BrianB), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 05:26 (twenty-two years ago)

'exact same'.

― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 20:47 (twenty-two years ago)

"bird" instead of "girl" or "woman". AAAAAARGH.

― Melly E (Melly E), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 21:10 (twenty-two years ago)

When people call each other 'babe' and the completely inappropriate use of the word 'literally'. Also can I add at this point, even if it may not be entirely relevant, the unjustifiable grammatical error in Rachael Stevens' song 'Sweet Dreams My LA Ex' : "accuse me of things I never done." And I've listened hard for "I've never done" to try and give her the benefit of the doubt but she doesn't say it.

― barbara wintergreen, Monday, 29 December 2003 18:24 (twenty-two years ago)

"Begging the question" and "chomping at the bit." The first is almost always used incorrectly, and the second should be "champing," Goddamn it.

― Salmon Pink (Salmon Pink), Monday, 29 December 2003 20:18 (twenty-two years ago)

or "bits"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 29 December 2003 20:34 (twenty-two years ago)

'any way shape or form'. Most heard in full-media-glare denials of misdeeds. Used by dodgy sportsmen who have been 'coached' by their minders for the occasion. It immediately strips the first dozen layers of credibility from whatever statement is being made.

'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.

― Fred Nerk (Fred Nerk), Monday, 29 December 2003 23:59 (twenty-two years ago)

optics

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 30 December 2003 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

also photonic inplace of optic

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 30 December 2003 00:10 (twenty-two years ago)

"the....(insert superlative)...in pop."

― barbara wintergreen, Tuesday, 30 December 2003 00:19 (twenty-two years ago)

To return to the top of the thread, I still after 20 odd years gag on 'outreach' as a VERB....

― Fred Nerk (Fred Nerk), Tuesday, 30 December 2003 00:46 (twenty-two years ago)

the mightily empty "i could care less" variant on being unable to do the same

― ermes marana, Tuesday, 30 December 2003 01:47 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

People who pronounce the word "presentation" as "PRE-sentation".

― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Thursday, 18 August 2005 07:29 (twenty-one years ago)

since i was reading some VICIOUS anti- rachael ray sentiment last night and i'm still feelin' the love: "E.V.O.O. EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL"

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 07:32 (twenty-one years ago)

"YUM-O"

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 07:33 (twenty-one years ago)

cf.

― gear (gear), Thursday, 18 August 2005 07:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Also: 'fridge,'

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

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 18 August 2005 08:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Saying "it impacted on me" instead of "it had an impact on me"... well that's annoying enough but, just recently, I've heard people say "it impacted me" - which surely would only make sense if the speaker was a molar?

― Diddyismus (Dada), Thursday, 18 August 2005 09:10 (twenty-one years ago)

'fridge,'

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?"

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Thursday, 18 August 2005 10:29 (twenty-one years ago)

bougie, instead of bourgeois. heard it four times last week.

― naus (Robert T), Thursday, 18 August 2005 10:38 (twenty-one years ago)

"Chav"

― Diddyismus (Dada), Thursday, 18 August 2005 10:39 (twenty-one years ago)

bourgie?

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 18 August 2005 10:42 (twenty-one years ago)

"Yes, sir, I am bougie, I am bougie... etc."

― Win A Lie-Down, Mrs. Davies (kate), Thursday, 18 August 2005 10:44 (twenty-one years ago)

"what the...?"

― jimmy glass (electricsound), Thursday, 18 August 2005 10:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 12662 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

*jerks

― marzipandemonium (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 17 July 2026 15:24 (one month ago)

Ha I was thinking about that show recently and how it's basically just about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_Family_Systems_Model.

x-post - Inside out is definitely based on IFS.

― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Friday, 17 July 2026 15:34 (one month ago)

Man, as much as I loved Herman’s Head as a kid, I forgot about it as soon as it went off the air.

― Cow_Art, Saturday, 18 July 2026 02:53 (one month ago)

four weeks pass...

i don't like the word 'elite'. one of those situations where using it just reaffirms the fiction. literally everyone is a slowly ossifying water bag with a spark of life that has nothing to do with who they are socially.

― shaking babies (map), Saturday, 15 August 2026 17:00 (six days ago)

Elite always makes me think of the Eloi from The Time Machine.

― Cow_Art, Saturday, 15 August 2026 18:28 (six days ago)

we're more than a water bag, map. we're also an alimentary toroid!

― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Saturday, 15 August 2026 18:32 (six days ago)

And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden

― leprechaundriac (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 15 August 2026 18:50 (six days ago)

it's so widespread now that i barely think about it but i don't like it when people just casually toss out 'karma' to mean comeuppance of someone they don't like.

― shaking babies (map), Thursday, 20 August 2026 21:54 (yesterday)

even as a buddhist i’m like ay that aint so wrong, but yeah igi

― viking voyages were all inclusive: leg irons, murdered children (Hunt3r), Thursday, 20 August 2026 22:04 (yesterday)

how do you feel about 'karma's a bitch, bro'?

― Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 20 August 2026 23:11 (yesterday)

some type of way

― shaking babies (map), Thursday, 20 August 2026 23:18 (yesterday)

i think you must ask these queations in future incarnations/expressions, and not all buddhists buy into those quite so much

― viking voyages were all inclusive: leg irons, murdered children (Hunt3r), Friday, 21 August 2026 02:12 (thirteen hours ago)

my understanding of pali stuff is “yeah don’t disregard it,” tho it’s not so zen me.

― viking voyages were all inclusive: leg irons, murdered children (Hunt3r), Friday, 21 August 2026 02:14 (thirteen hours ago)

At least in the US, "less than" has completely replaced words like "inferior" in the speech and writing of the earnest Youth. This is weird to me. It's both agrammarical and unnecessary. What made it stick?

― lakini's juice newton (theStalePrince), Friday, 21 August 2026 02:46 (thirteen hours ago)

hah, agrammatical, wtf? lol at self

― lakini's juice newton (theStalePrince), Friday, 21 August 2026 02:47 (thirteen hours ago)

That's your clue they are not human children but most likely bots that can only think in greater than-less than formulations. Or possibly extraterrestrials who haven't mastered the tongue.

― paper plans (tipsy mothra), Friday, 21 August 2026 03:24 (twelve hours ago)

Yeah I don't love "less than" but it does communicate the meaning. It's just calcified into its own expression instead of being a passing choice of words in the moment.

― Ima Gardener (in orbit), Friday, 21 August 2026 13:11 (two hours ago)

I find it annoying but I'm not the audience that will respond to it.

― Ima Gardener (in orbit), Friday, 21 August 2026 13:12 (two hours ago)

I also do not love "less than" used in this way, it sounds a little therapy-ish. Other / othering is similar but more useful.

Compare the trajectory of "anti."

Used to be anti- was just the prefix (antibiotic, anti-aircraft) now it is more like a word synonymous with "opposed to."

"I'm very anti that." "They're very anti-me." Heard recently.

― leprechaundriac (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 21 August 2026 13:28 (two hours ago)

I'm irritated at the way podcasters have gotten used to saying "pre" and "post" for everything when "before" and "after" are right there.

I also can't stand "iconic."

― boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 21 August 2026 13:32 (two hours ago)

I’m fine with “iconic” in and of itself, but it’s too often used to describe something (especially a brand) that while famous, stops well short of being iconic.

― Lee626, Friday, 21 August 2026 14:34 (one hour ago)

I'm really getting tired of reading/hearing how [insert artist here] works at "the intersection" of this, that and the other. Not that it's not useful as a descriptor, it just feels so hackneyed and automatic now.

― henry s, Friday, 21 August 2026 14:43 (one hour ago)

Like, how about they say [insert artist here] works at the intersection of 72nd and 10th and leave it at that.

― henry s, Friday, 21 August 2026 14:46 (one hour ago)

I hear 'iconic' in sentences like, "Well, Diane Keaton is iconic, what else is there to say?" There's a LOT to say, asshole!

― boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:07 (forty-two minutes ago)

"iconic" - robbing diane keaton of her full magnitude since brat summer.

― shaking babies (map^2), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:12 (thirty-seven minutes ago)

i don't like iconic either but i find myself using it :|

i'm a sucker for therapy speak tbh. i'm not sure i've heard "less than" in the wild but i probably will now.

― shaking babies (map^2), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:16 (thirty-four minutes ago)

Hate to be That Person but icon originally meant a picture of something, not the thing itself. Historically, ikons are often mass-produced portraits of religious figures.

I would mildly prefer iconic to mean something more like "often copied" as opposed to "unique and wonderful."

A Stratocaster and a little black dress are iconic as in "often copied" or "often imitated."

For Meryl Streep or whomsoever we have phrases like legend / legendary, one of a kind, unmatched.

― leprechaundriac (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:18 (thirty-one minutes ago)

The religious symbolism of icons is really the only meaning that I think of, which makes it hilarious when I hear someone call something "icon behavior" -- by which I assume they mean standing really still and flashing a selection of orthodox gang signs.

― Ima Gardener (in orbit), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:21 (twenty-eight minutes ago)

I would mildly prefer iconic to mean something more like "often copied" as opposed to "unique and wonderful."

The latter is how I hear it, alas.

― boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:24 (twenty-five minutes ago)

I like “less than” tbh … I don’t think of it related to bots, but as describing the very human trait of comparing oneself to others.

― sarahell, Friday, 21 August 2026 15:28 (twenty-one minutes ago)

My computer desktop is really iconic.

― leprechaundriac (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:29 (twenty minutes ago)

Alfred otm — also I think of Ikon the brand of fancy photocopiers.

― sarahell, Friday, 21 August 2026 15:29 (twenty minutes ago)

Xp i.o. Or looking miserable with a bunch of knives and swords stuck in you.

― sarahell, Friday, 21 August 2026 15:31 (eighteen minutes ago)

online discourse is about immediate impact, not nuance. the posts (note I don't say people) calling Diane Keaton iconic are just reaching for a word that says Keaton isn't just an actor they like but an actor everyone should like. it's an adversarial compliment, good for a lot of online exchanges that are mostly about vying for zero-sum attention. eventually iconic will be overused (like GOAT is now) and you'll see another term show up that hits as hard as iconic used to. it's irritating in the same way overcompressed CDs are, and the strategy has the same goal.. the loudest sells better. remember that the majority of content online (especially on X/bluesky/Facebook/comment sections) is either bot traffic or commercial placement. and increasingly LLM-generated. it feels fake and annoying because it IS fake and annoying.

― fluffy tufts university (f. hazel), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:31 (eighteen minutes ago)

Yabbut ikon is what a copier produces - hundreds of cheap likenesses.

Not the shining ideal but the copies. Just as the icon on a desktop merely points to the application, which resides elsewhere.

― leprechaundriac (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:32 (seventeen minutes ago)

(I think of iconic as denoting something worthy of worship, mainly due to iconoclasts who were really mad people were worshipping icons instead of god)

― fluffy tufts university (f. hazel), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:35 (fourteen minutes ago)

Yes it is a prestige machine that generates many copies very rapidly!

― sarahell, Friday, 21 August 2026 15:36 (thirteen minutes ago)

Not to be 100% trenchant but, in Capitalism, mass production of copies is a form of worship

― sarahell, Friday, 21 August 2026 15:38 (twelve minutes ago)

There was only one Diane Keaton imo

― boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:39 (ten minutes ago)

I'm really getting tired of reading/hearing how [insert artist here] works at "the intersection" of this, that and the other. Not that it's not useful as a descriptor

It also presupposes there is only one intersection! It feels too linear, whereas reality is more amorphous blobby

― sarahell, Friday, 21 August 2026 15:41 (eight minutes ago)

in an infinite universe there are an infinite number of diane keatons, one of them was their world's pauly shore

― fluffy tufts university (f. hazel), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:43 (six minutes ago)

"at the intersection of" still better than "interstitial"

― Cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria de Episcopio, Friday, 21 August 2026 15:43 (six minutes ago)

am i about to defend "iconic"? lol. going off of f hazel's post, i think it describes something in a succinct way. i sort of hear it as a mutation of "archetypal" with an overtone of worship. it's not a word i'd use - i'd rather go on at length haha - but it seems reasonable to me, idk.

― shaking babies (map^2), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:44 (five minutes ago)

"At the intersection of iconicity and ubiquity was the late Diane Keaton..."

― boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:44 (five minutes ago)

I'll admit that some of my hostility lies in a kind of gay YASSS QUEEEN discourse about stars.

― boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:46 (four minutes ago)

yeeeeahhhhhh

― shaking babies (map^2), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:46 (three minutes ago)

Diane Keaton died?

― sarahell, Friday, 21 August 2026 15:46 (three minutes ago)

if i have to see one more post about a celeb being iconic or getting their karma served to them i'm going to gaggggg

― shaking babies (map^2), Friday, 21 August 2026 15:47 (two minutes ago)

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