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

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.

When you say "good morning" are you actually wishing someone a good morning? Or are you just saying hello?

Either you’re actually wishing someone a good morning (obviously fine) or, as you suggest, it’s a meaningless but benign social custom that you needn’t find offensively presumptuous (also obviously fine), it’s much like “have a good day” in this way

"you are welcome to have the quality of day you wish, I do not seek to impose my values upon you,

Neanderthal"

this conversation is insane, but I concede that some of you definitely are not having a good one

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phatic_expression

"Good morning" doesn't make me cringe, so there's a difference. Greetings aren't really meaningless are they?

And even if they are, they're useful.

F hazel, don't phat-shame us

don't make me tap the signifier

Now you all need to go shopping in France.

lol fh delivers as usual

Greetings do serve a purpose, they are a subcategory of phatic expression!

passe un bon un

i sort of agree with tom d about "have a good day." you can say it with an edge. i think that says something about the phrase.

i like a "take care" in the right moment, and i often sign my emails with "best," cuz i'm a live laugh love / wine mom kinda guy.

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

I work in customer service.

I use the “cheers” signoff with gleeful incontinence

Just decided early on I would be a cheers guy and never looked back

better than using the cheers signoff with fecal incontinence at least

talking to people is hard enough without the ILX vibe police telling me the way I talk is annoying so I'm just going to ignore everything in this thread

I use the “cheers” signoff with gleeful incontinence

― Boris Yitsbin (wins), Monday, December 4, 2023 6:45 PM (forty-seven seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

i use "cheers" from time to time, a throwback to my wannabe anglophile youth