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

...or, you could take leave of all your colleagues like that: "Kevin on", "keep on Daveing", "Sophie away then"... could really bring some new vibes to the workplace...

For years I have started freelance writing-related emails (aka "I want something from you" emails) with

>>How's it going? Hope you're well.

During the pandemic, this has evolved to

>>How's it going? Hope you're staying safe and doing well.

Lately I've reverted back to the former construction.

“You’re really Barbara-ing up that spreadsheet”

Calstars, I believe the most ILXy way to compliment a spreadsheet is to say Excel-sior, but I doubt my colleagues would get it.

Carrie on.

"i appreciate you" is desperate bad stuff, or any version thereof. impossible not to imagine really intense eye contact being evoked.

tell me how to end emails

god people are so fucking mean :-(

tbh I’d rather be perceived as a heartless asshole than a disingenuous Russell Wilson-esque creep, so I agree with all the pretentious language hate.

What about "you raise a good point"* or even "your point is well taken"?

I may be the only person who still says "your point is well taken."

* I have a child who has written "good point" on a piece of paper and hoisted it in the air to communicate "you raise a good point," and I lolled.

"i appreciate you" is desperate bad stuff

lol I said this twice today, once picking up a pizza and again when the UPS store guy printed a receipt for me (no eye contact, sounds closer to preshaychuh in practice)

also re: email, as an admin in a giant bureaucracy I write thank you emails about 500 times a day every fucking day and after a while you start mixing it up because A. it gets maddeningly boring otherwise and B. just saying "thank you very much" every time begins to read as patronizing/insulting/sarcastic (often I'm thanking people for helping me fix something I fucked up or vice-versa, and you REALLY do not want people to think you're being sarcastic in an email reply, so exaggerated politeness is definitely the way to go with someone you rarely speak to on the phone who may or may not hate your guts as a baseline)

lol I said this twice today, once picking up a pizza and again when the UPS store guy printed a receipt for me (no eye contact, sounds closer to preshaychuh in practice)

― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Monday, 4 December 2023 01:07 (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

honestly, much better!

"I appreciate you" is in common usage in the southern U.S., it doesn't strike me as objectionable at all.

it's been common usage here for the past few years (not southern US) and it's fine, especially when verbally condensed to something like what f. hazel says.

I’ve known a number of bartenders who would say “appreciate you” when being tipped

was recently and extendedly dealing with a plumber in another state (don't ask)

the woman who answered the phone was all like hi, X's Plumbing, how can i make you smile?

did someone make her do that? idk. it made me want to hang up and call a different plumber though

“By never saying that to another human being again”

I’d be pretty stoked to get something weird like that tbh

tbrh "how can I make you smile" sounds vaguely... sex-workery to me.

Professionally I find myself saying say "How can I support you best?" Or "How can I best support you?"

Sometimes, "How would you like to proceed?" Or "What would you like to have happen?"

None of those phrases are as cutesy-poo as the "smile" one. But when I catch myself saying them I do cringe a bit because they're so mannered and effete.

“How can I help” is good

"better to have loved and won than never to have ridden a horse"

was recently and extendedly dealing with a plumber in another state (don't ask)

the woman who answered the phone was all like hi, X's Plumbing, how can i make you smile?

did someone make her do that? idk. it made me want to hang up and call a different plumber though

― mookieproof, Sunday, December 3, 2023 11:12 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

My daughter is mildly addicted to Chick-Fil-A, which has led me to learn that the official Chick-Fil-A intro script is "how may I serve you," which comes off as creepy to me.

i think we can separate out lines service workers are told to say- always awful- from chosen usages in various contexts, right?

I hope we can all agree that saying "Have a good day" or 'Have a good evening", or whatever, is one Americanism we could do without. I've noticed it's increasingly prevalent with younger generations.

"thank you for providing me with the requested details and being so thorough. This was very much appreciated.

Hope your family is run over by a train,

Neanderthal"

I hope we can all agree that saying "Have a good day" or 'Have a good evening", or whatever, is one Americanism we could do without.

I didn't know this was an Americanism. My colleagues in the UK and Australia say "have a good one." What's so wrong with it?

I always wonder what the one is.

orgasm

"have a shit"

“have a blessed good one”

Sometimes, "How would you like to proceed?" Or "What would you like to have happen?"

OK, now who's slipping sex-worker talk into non-sex-worker contexts?

"Have a good one" is vague enough not to be irritating. "Have a good day" seems kind of personal and intrusive to me, I automatically think, "What the fuck has my day got to do with you? And, frankly, who the fuck are you?"

i like it when people are polite to me

I’ve heard ppl complain about it, I must admit I don’t see how it’s different from saying “good morning” eg

we can safely assume it's a callback to "have a better one" from Blade Runner

"Have a good one" is very big in Montana. I say it every time I pay at the bodega (actually a gas station convenience store; I think if they heard me call it a bodega, a whole other conversation would ensue).

I’ve heard ppl complain about it, I must admit I don’t see how it’s different from saying “good morning” eg

Well, "good morning" is a greeting for a start.

don't "have a good one" and "have a good day" mean literally the same thing?

Not necessarily.

Anyway can't two phrases mean the same thing and one be preferable to the other?

By the way I'm talking from the viewpoint of someone working in the service sector, not someone using the service sector.

Budo otm

“take care” y/n

"thank you for providing me the information I requested. I literally do not care what happens to you after this conversation"

If wishing someone a good whatever is objectionable per se it should also be objectionable as a greeting

I'm sure this has been thrashed out here before. The history of this phrase and its use was that circa 1972 some mega-enormous corporate entity (I forget which) began requiring its retail employees to end all transactions with customers by saying "have a nice day" or else face termination. Their employees' union objected strenuously, not because the phrase was objectionable, but the corporation was treating its employees as automatons and transactions with customers as assembly line products, hence dehumanizing the whole interaction. The issue made the national broadcast news and it prompted a huge amount of social chatter similar to the present discussion on this thread.

btw, the corporation won the battle and very soon most other retailers followed the same path. You couldn't visit a store without being wished a nice day, over and over. Through endless repetition it became lodged in the national psyche and normalized into an "americanism".

"gotcha"

Maybe just go back to 1991 when the only accepted greeting was:

'Sup?

If wishing someone a good whatever is objectionable per se it should also be objectionable as a greeting

Getting silly now.