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

Yeah, I don't see that one as hateworthy - lots of valid uses in the larger project of keeping an exchange of ideas or collaborative decision-making based in listening to other people.

The idiotic sounding "brexit" reminded me of the dumbest political language I've ever heard: when documents were called "sexed up" or "sexy" during Labour's run. News reporters repeated that shit for too long and I bet they still get cringe flashbacks thinking about it.

afaict "if that makes sense" is also a way of asking "are you still listening to me?"
i don't think it is intended to reflect on the listener's ability to comprehend as much as the speaker's desire to be heard/understood

Whilst I use it myself on occasion and concede its benefits to the cause of introverts everywhere being made to explain things (perfectly), I've definitely known people to abuse "if that makes sense" in like a coy over-estimation of their own depth. Like "I'm just a naturally perceptive person! I can really help people to understand their own minds, if that makes sense" or "I think when you get to my age your issues will just seem like youthful drama, if that makes sense".

I use it in work situations where I really don't know whether people are hearing me or not.

I often manage collaborative projects that depend both on group consensus and on contributions from a lot of different people - people who are very busy and who very much do not work for me.

So (as I did this morning) I find myself saying/writing something like: "Last week, the consensus was that Yasuko and Jose would meet separately to strategize. I'll take that content and combine it with what Susan and Rajiv wrote earlier, then send out the revised draft to everyone for comment. Does that make sense?"

Perhaps it's passive/aggressive or whatever but: organizationally speaking I can't order these people around, but I am absolutely dependent on their expertise for the content we are jointly assembling. So I float a game plan with an open-ended question, allowing people to chime in if I'm way off base.

If they don't object, then I move forward as I indicated. Should someone challenge my judgment later on, I always have the excuse handy of "I gave you an opportunity to comment or raise objections, and you didn't."

"Clunge"

"woke"

I ask "does that make sense" a lot in training mostly because some of my colleagues use things like "are you following?" or "do you understand" as it can make someone feel singled out or like you're calling them stupid. also because prefer the former because it frames it more like "did I explain it to you well enough" because maybe I didn't and if not then I want to try explaining another way.

I also use "did that answer your question" as a courtesy.

one of my co-facilitators basically made this poor woman feel like an idiot a few weeks ago by just kinda badgering her with questions like "what isn't clear to you, this plan is not really that different than other plans".

*and it can , not "as it can"

"Morphed"

in 2016!!! wtf

it also bothers me when people say "karma" every time some shitbag later has something shitty happen to them.

Elvis otm.

Elvis was otm to most.....

also "lit"

I think this is just confined to Australia, but "schnitty" as a ubiquitous slang for a schnitzel used by pubs and restaurants across the land, and all who encourage it should be rendered down to their component elements

TBH australians doing that for most words gives me hives.

I'll always rep for durry, that said.

i like durry too, and pluggers has its rough charms, but schnitty is an outrage and servo is depressing.

when i briefly visited australia i was surprised, kind of bemused, but overall pleased, by how ubiquitous schnitzels were.

'Price point', as in 'set at that price point'. What's wrong with just 'price'?

"make a decision"

WE HAVE A WORD FOR THAT IT'S "DECIDE"

Are we back to making decisions now? Under Cameron we were taking them, much to my disgust.

"pay grade"

yeah, people I work with use "beneath my pay grade" all the time to mean "this task that's part of my job description should really be done by an intern."

i only ever hear pay grade used when people are asking if they can do something in fear that it might be "above their paygrade". probably use this occasionally myself, like if i am about to send a mail or question something that might be best said by my boss or whatever.

Can't help myself, whenever I see Pay Grade I immediately think Gay Pride.

i think first heard it in a Bourne movie, tbh, then all of a sudden it was everywhere. just seems like an unctuous way to say "salary"

or Gay Parade, xp

xp it doesn't just mean "salary" because it refers to jobs that have specific salary steps or "grades" (e.g. govt jobs).

If I use it, I mean what LocalGarda said. It means "I'm just the dumb worker bee, I can't make a decision of that magnitude." Or "I'm just a contractor. It's not my place to tell you what your business strategy is - that's for your leadership to figure out, and if they haven't, that's on them, not me."

Pithy alternatives like "it's not my place to say" sound weak and passive. The more folksy "That's outside my swim lane" sounds like you're just trying to dodge work.

Especially if you're talking to ex-military or government folks, they will know that what you mean is "a different (usually more important) person needs to decide that." The idea is for them to conclude "Okay, I need to lay off hassling Mad Puffin, because it's not his fault his hands are tied."

It may also mean "I will get in serious trouble with both of our bosses if I do that thing that you just asked me to do." Or "My hands are tied (by your own stupid internal rules)." Ass-coverers everywhere can relate, and they will let you off the hook.

So (as I did this morning) I find myself saying/writing something like: "Last week, the consensus was that Yasuko and Jose would meet separately to strategize. I'll take that content and combine it with what Susan and Rajiv wrote earlier, then send out the revised draft to everyone for comment. Does that make sense?

Actually, I'm way less annoyed by "does that makes sense?" -- I think precisely because it's a question, and not a rhetorical statement. I ask that a lot when I'm training people too, because it forces them to actually consider if it makes sense. And they almost always say it does, when later I realize that it didn't, but that's another story...

This Twitter perfectly explains what dogs would have been like in school
The hero of 'The Big Short' perfectly explained why you shouldn't try to be the next Warren Buffett
Joseph Brodsky Explains Perfectly How to Deal With Critics and Detractors in Your Life

Let me make up my own mind whether or not it's perfect! And paired with 'explains' like you definitely didn't understand in the first place...

― It certainly is punk of the Church of England to think that way (tangenttangent), Monday, July 25, 2016 8:52 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I feel like some of this type of language in clickbait ties in with my half-formed thoughts about this increasingly popular tendency for average people to reject experts because they have access to so much information that they now believe themselves to be experts in everything except that their 'expertise' often only extends to parroting dumb shit that was written by a twenty-year-old clickbait author who employs rhetorical flourishes that project expertise without any of the troublesome ambiguity or depth found in an actual expert's opinion that might pose a challenge to our own.

Recently saw this article by a woman complaining about whiny friendzone guys, making all sorts of silly generalizations. She said one of the key differences between friendzone whiners and studs was that the former were obsessed with what pundits say and studs don't care about pundits opinions.

"And Hiddleswift have been photographed just ONCE in the past two weeks. Before the Kimye feud kicked in, they were papped multiple times per day."

Papped?! I assume short for 'papparazzi'd? Ugh.

that's repulsive

That's been about for 10 years, easily.

Pap-smeared multiple times per day

the new guidelines suggest once every 5 years

http://blog.robertstrachan.com/wp-content/gallery/glencoe-feb-10/loch-leven-pano.jpg

"That's above my pay grade" is also a way I sometimes self-deprecatingly remind myself to stop overthinking and second-guessing decisions I have no control over.

.... if that makes sense.

tbh 'if that makes sense' is ultimately arrogant, rather than humble. If it didn't make sense that way you wouldn't have said it that way. If you think you were unclear, then you'd rephrase. So you either don't care enough to fix your lack of clarity, or you do actually think it's pretty clear (this is more likely) but that the person listening is a cretin who can't follow your heroically nuanced train of thought

i say this all the time fwiw

... if that makes sense

I think it gets used out of insecurity, but an insecurity ultimately born of thinking you're smarter than other people and worrying about how they'll perceive you.

it is entirely possible to not know if what you said was clear.

especially if you frequently work among people with different learning styles and personalities who don't react the same way to you as others do. an aire of superiority isn't inherent in that statement IMO.

If you're not sure you were being clear, then clarify! don't put the responsibility on the person you're speaking to! to like, raise their hand and admit that actually, no it doesn't make sense, which takes a more than a bit of courage particularly if their status is lower than yours or they're not comfortable speaking up in public

'sorry, sometimes i speak quickly because my mind is just so amazing and i make cognitive leaps that other can't really keep up with, are you with me? good good"

especially if you frequently work among people with different learning styles and personalities who don't react the same way to you as others do. an aire of superiority isn't inherent in that statement IMO.

― Neanderthal, Monday, August 1, 2016 3:14 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This happens to me all the time now that I'm out of the office world and into a public school so far outside the city center that a lot of the staff are basically like the ppl from my hometown (pop. 4300) who never left.

And yes I DO wish I could stop phrasing everything like I'm talking to 10 year olds but so far experience suggests that I will only get in trouble because whoever I'm talking to won't understand a thing.