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?"

a new meaning for "last month" that the kids have invented

(I'm reminded of the time my OH described something as a 'scheme' in the US and the other person was very offended, as it has purely negative connotations we don't have here)

It means a council housing estate in Scotland and that usually comes with negative connotations!

“a new meaning for "last month" that the kids have invented”

nah it’s been around for a minute

Stick with me while I explain. Imagine I captioned a video “POV: You’re too short to reach the top shelf.” The usual expectation might be that the video will be shot from the point of view of a short person, with the camera tilted up longingly at something just out of reach. These days, though, a video with that title will often feature the short person right there in the middle of the frame, reaching and hopping. “POV: You just got a new haircut” won’t try to replicate somebody’s view of impressed friends offering compliments; it’ll point the camera directly at the haircut in question. The POV tag has developed a fresh meaning, something along the lines of “imagine this is you” or “this is what it’s like when” — it offers something more like a “fly on the wall” perspective than a literal point of view.

Jesus Christ man. What are we doing.

consider that there is a generation that has grown up with social media and their internal conception of self is not like ours which is that of seeing the world, but of being seen by it

occasional/past ilxor Nitsuh explores the current horrible usage of the term "POV", something that drives me up the fucking wall

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/magazine/pov-gen-z-linguistics.html

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Thursday, June 4, 2026 3:00 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

does anybody have a gift link for this? i can't seem to make any of the various archive dots work with nyt anymore

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/magazine/pov-gen-z-linguistics.html?unlocked_article_code=1.olA.8qxk.gyhkEnXKmvkl&smid=url-share

thank you!

consider that there is a generation that has grown up with social media and their internal conception of self is not like ours which is that of seeing the world, but of being seen by it

ding ding

i guess i have an elastic enough sense of POV where if i say, "this is my point of view about X" i don't always literally mean that this is how i look at something out through my eyeballs, and to see it my way you would have to somehow strap a go pro to my head

it's one of the flaws of not annihilating the prescriptivist conception of language from your mind... if all you care about is calling out and correcting "wrong" usage you miss critical shifts in behavior that nonstandard usages can illuminate. we should be focused on WHY the meaning of a word changes for some speakers instead of wasting time coming up with futile schemes to "correct" it.

linguistically POV like that can show up in actual syntax in very interesting (and subtle) ways. always fun when you're moving from English to Spanish and trying to deal with verb pairs like "take/bring" and the underlying assumptions about which one you use based on all the involved parties' location in space. or trying to gain an understanding of something like ergativity in verb systems or how something like noun cases that go from some kind of readily-apparent practical distinction to a purely grammatical construct with no obvious referent to day-to-day like.

day-to-day LIFE

I'm hearing/reading "generational" an awful lot this year. Namely cases where, for instance, "generational ability" seems to mean "once-in-a-generation talent" or similar. While such usage may not be specifically spelled out in many dictionaries (yet) I don't think I can claim it stretches established definitions much, if at all.

BUT I'm against it regardless, for largely sub-rational reasons lol. At the very least, spelling out what one actually means with more traditional phrasing is surely easier on listeners/readers.

As the USA (& Mexico & Canada) World Cup is a couple of days away, I would like to submit "rooting for" to the pit please.

There is virtually no version of that phrase that I find myself comfortable using in conversation - rooting for (makes you sound like a pig), pulling for (what exactly am I pulling and why), cheering on (what, rah rah rah like a cheerleader?!)

You don't think that sports fans are like pigs or cheerleaders? Its one of the two, in my experience.

It's the whole focus on "I'm going to join in with chants to encourage this team" which makes me cringe, reminds me of this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XOhDLUXuVs

The acceptable word is "supporting" - it does not imply that you have to make some kind of display.

"Rooting for" seems so commonplace that it wouldn't occur to me to find it odd or cringey. I do not think of pigs.

not commonplace outside the USA. well, in Australia it's fairly commonplace but means something else.

To my American ears, "supporting" / "supporter" used in a sports context always sounds strangely reserved.

I wi root for teams that I don't support, there's a clear and necessary distinction imo

"Supporting"? Like an undergarment?

My old man used to get pedantic about "supporting" unless you actually attended matches/financially supported a club in some way

Americans who encounter ‘support’ in a sports context are usually trying not to think about jockstraps.

I wi root for teams that I don't support, there's a clear and necessary distinction imo

Oh sure, but here we would say "fan" instead of "supporter." Not a verb form of that, though.

No problem with "root for" as an idiom.

But I do think saying "we won" when you're not on the team is weird.

"the"

POV: ineluctable modality of the visible: at least that if no more, thought through my eyes. Signatures of all things I am here to read, seaspawn and seawrack, the nearing tide, that rusty boot. Snotgreen, bluesilver, rust: coloured signs. Limits of the diaphane.

I'm sorry but "root for" elicits a queasy feeling in my gut and nothing anyone has said has done anything to address this.

i'm rooting for all of you. you got this.

Oh sure, but here we would say "fan" instead of "supporter." Not a verb form of that, though.

yeah i completely get that, i was just responding to CaAL that (in UK parlance) "root for" isn't an exact synonym for "support". i guess you could use "cheer for" if you have deep-seated personal issues with rooting?

"cheer for" is equally lame, sorry.

lol i honestly had a feeling you'd say that

anyway there needs to be a verbal distinction for being a fan of a particular team and being a temporary fan of anybody playing a particular hated team

ride for

or what about "love". just "i love nottingham" or whatever.

or "they are my friends". i'll be watching my friends play football today. i hope that they win.

it's the hierarchies of hate in watching sport that makes this complicated

hmm i see

for example, in the World Cup, i don't have any love for the Australian football team, they aren't my friends, i don't love them. i will root for them to batter the USA tho.

"I'm hoping they win/do OK/don't get beat/etc" will do

they're your frienemies.

depends what you're doing.

supporting a team: we have a word for this
picking a team and going to watch them play: you're just watching them
joining in with "I believe that we will win" chants: don't do that
hoping a team will win a match: we don't need a word for this

i follow tottenham, who i fucking hate with every fibre of my being

"I'm ride or die for them"

You say you support Tottenham, but do you fuck with them?

name 5 albums by them

not commonplace outside the USA. well, in Australia it's fairly commonplace but means something else.

LOL, yeah, pretty sure I've not heard it in a sporting context in AU. (Not unrelated: router, the IT device, pretty much *has* to rhyme with outer to avoid giggles, whereas a route on a map, where it doesn't suggest a verb, almost invariably rhymes with root.)

for example, in the Maine Senate election, i don't have any love for Graham Platner, he's not my friend, i don't love him. i will root for him to batter Susan Collins tho

#onethread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKH-Khz7kQU