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

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I can't believe the number of people who I've heard using the word "conversate". It's not a real word!

AGH! I hate that, too! And The Rapture used it in "Echoes" (the song). It's "converse" you dolts!

― Ian Riese-Moraine: a casualty of social estrangement. (Eastern Mantra), Thursday, 18 August 2005 15:36 (nineteen years ago) link

business-english now uses "piece" as a noun that means anything. it's the most annoying thing. "we need our customer service piece to etc..." "we'll get all the pieces in sync and blah blah..." i hate this so so much.

― geoff (gcannon), Thursday, 18 August 2005 15:39 (nineteen years ago) link

Here's a couple:

(1) People who append "thing" at the end of every sentence. For example, "Are you going to the party thing tonight?" Why add "thing"? My friend theorizes that it's a camp phenomenon, signifying a cooler-than-thou disinterest in the event. It's still unnecessary. Can't you just say, "Are you going to the party tonight?"

(2) When someone announces that they're 'all about [fill in]." What the fuck does that mean?

(3) "Impact" as a verb. IT'S A NOUN! Use "AFFECT"!!!

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 18 August 2005 15:40 (nineteen years ago) link

I wrote "here's a couple" and listed three items. haha.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 18 August 2005 15:42 (nineteen years ago) link

I do the thing thing too often. Generally it's when I'm unsure whether I'm using the proper noun for the thing in question. Like, "are you going to that party thing tonight?" shows that I don't really know if it's a true party or not.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 18 August 2005 15:47 (nineteen years ago) link

"Get in"

"Job done"

"Bish bash bosh"

― Huey (Huey), Thursday, 18 August 2005 15:56 (nineteen years ago) link

Andy so OTM at the start of this thread. There's some TV commercial where the announcer talks about the "veggies" in a sandwich or something and it flips some atavistic switch that makes me really want to put his head on a stake, next to the heads of the director, the writer, the account guy, and the client.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 18 August 2005 15:59 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah, Oops, that sounds perfectly reasonable. At least it's not "dealie."

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 18 August 2005 16:01 (nineteen years ago) link

This one only happens in print, but since when did "everyday" become a substitute for "every day." This also makes me want to kill, slowly and painfully. It's not rocket scientry, morans!

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 18 August 2005 16:01 (nineteen years ago) link

Cheesy white dudes using "my bad"
Cheesy moms referring to the toilet as "potty"

― Outsider Enter Port City (sexyDancer), Thursday, 18 August 2005 16:03 (nineteen years ago) link

The word potty should be banned.

― Leon C. (Ex Leon), Thursday, 18 August 2005 16:07 (nineteen years ago) link

I was annoyed by that at age 4!

― Outsider Enter Port City (sexyDancer), Thursday, 18 August 2005 16:08 (nineteen years ago) link

"Jobs a good 'un"
"What's the script with [blah blah]"
"I want to check we're [singing from the same hymn sheet/reading from the same page]"
Pretty much anything Marketing people say. Argh.

― Craig Gilchrist (Craig Gilchrist), Thursday, 18 August 2005 16:13 (nineteen years ago) link

This one only happens in print, but since when did "everyday" become a substitute for "every day." This also makes me want to kill, slowly and painfully. It's not rocket scientry, morans!

ugh, i hate that too.

i don't like "whilst" either although i suspect it may be more "right" in britain than over here -- i dunno though, it sounds like something that would be said by a preening five-year-old girl who wants to impress mum by being all properlike.

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 17:12 (nineteen years ago) link

"everyday" as an adjective is a real word; but when people write it this way as a noun i go mental.

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 17:14 (nineteen years ago) link

"amongst"

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 17:17 (nineteen years ago) link

and especially "muchly"

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 17:18 (nineteen years ago) link

and people saying "as" instead of "since" or "because"

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 17:20 (nineteen years ago) link

i also really hate it when people call orange juice "O.J."

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Thursday, 18 August 2005 17:29 (nineteen years ago) link

"on the pull"

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 18 August 2005 17:39 (nineteen years ago) link

i overheard two people speaking in englsih the other day and one of them said "canada is freaky fucking cold" i controlled myself not to punch him right away

― chupa-cabra, Thursday, 18 August 2005 17:49 (nineteen years ago) link

'Cukes' for cucumbers.
'Purple onions' when they're talking about red onions.

STOP TRYING TO BE COOL WITH VEGETABLES

― chrisco (chrisco), Thursday, 18 August 2005 17:52 (nineteen years ago) link

"canada is freaky fucking cold"

yep, did you know that toronto has the EXACT SAME CLIMATE as ellesmere island?

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 17:55 (nineteen years ago) link

I loathe every one of these words and phrases you have listed and for the very same reasons listed. In particular, marketing buzz words bug the s--t out of me (anyone recall "buzzword bingo" a game played in meetings about 10 years ago?) I also hate "ditto". Ditto is punctuation, not a way to say “I feel the same”! The bastardization of language in general bothers me. I sound like an old fogy, but it disturbs me that kids are learning this crap as acceptable language when it is not acceptable at all. When broadcasters and journalists use it on the air it makes me cringe and I get angry as it perpetuates the myth that these terms are adequate substitutions for legitimate language skills. If it continues, the true language will be lost entirely just from laziness and the fear of offending some segments of the population, from kids to adults of all cultures and races. Why are governments and such so afraid these days to offend? Fear of lawsuits? Or is it excellent PR from cultural preservation groups? What is the deal?

Don’t even get me started on how Ebonics should simply be accepted in schools and not corrected by educators as a politically correct cultural acceptance.

Do you think I feel strongly about this topic? You bet. However, I find myself hypocritical since I use shortcuts in emails and on these posts often; however I would not think of doing it in a business email or conversationally. I'll stand down from my soap-box now.

― Wiggy (Wiggy), Thursday, 18 August 2005 18:16 (nineteen years ago) link

didn't they give up on ebonics (because of all the controversy)?

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 18:22 (nineteen years ago) link

this woman at work says "you welcome" rather than you're welcome about 20 times a day on the phone. i wish i could have her fired.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Thursday, 18 August 2005 18:35 (nineteen years ago) link

"Thank you much."

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 18 August 2005 18:46 (nineteen years ago) link

HAVE A GREAT DAY

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 18:47 (nineteen years ago) link

"Thank you much."

this doesn't bother me, but it's a little obnoxious when people linger on the "ccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhh" sound at the end.

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 18:48 (nineteen years ago) link

"can i help who's next?"

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 18:50 (nineteen years ago) link

what's wrong with "may i help the next person?"

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 18:51 (nineteen years ago) link

dawg (when used by white people)

whatknot

― fauxhemian (fauxhemian), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:02 (nineteen years ago) link

also, when people stupidly misspell annoying words...

'whatnot'

― fauxhemian (fauxhemian), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:03 (nineteen years ago) link

xxpost: it must be tough being you

― Outsider Enter Port City (sexyDancer), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:04 (nineteen years ago) link

what's wrong with "may i help the next person?"

There's actually a certain economy to "Can I help who's next?" that makes sense, I think, given the circumstances in which it's usually used. Plus, it allows you to put the stress on the next, since it's at the end, so that if the addressee isn't really paying attention, they'll at least hear "blah blah blah blah NEXT?"

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:06 (nineteen years ago) link

valorize
privilege, as a verb
waitperson's questions in present progressive

― M. V. (M.V.), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:08 (nineteen years ago) link

xxpost: it must be tough being you

every day is a struggle for survival. < /puts hand to forehead and faints>

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:20 (nineteen years ago) link

When people lose their train of thought, pause, and say "Gosh, I gone braindead" makes me want to start ripping out some feeding tubes.

Also, the word "manchild" makes me uncomfortable.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:24 (nineteen years ago) link

"Gosh, I gone braindead"

I've never heard this, but I kind of despise "brain fart."

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:26 (nineteen years ago) link

Dude, does anybody properly remember what the Ebonics thing was actually about? Half of the whole point was to say "these kids aren't coming to us speaking standard English; we need to acknowledge the way they speak as another dialect so we can devote time in the curriculum to teaching them standard English as a sort of second language. And maybe get funding for that. And maybe in the meantime just let the language thing go when we're trying to teach them, like, math."

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:31 (nineteen years ago) link

Brains farting is like white people saying "dawg." Poser brains are trying to co-opt all the cool stuff the butt comes up with.

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:32 (nineteen years ago) link

There's actually a certain economy to "Can I help who's next?" that makes sense, I think, given the circumstances in which it's usually used. Plus, it allows you to put the stress on the next, since it's at the end, so that if the addressee isn't really paying attention, they'll at least hear "blah blah blah blah NEXT?"

the stressed-"NEXT" part makes sense, it's just the "can i help who's" that makes me tear my hair out.

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:36 (nineteen years ago) link

People making 5 bucks an hour caught in not using perfect english shocker.

― Outsider Enter Port City (sexyDancer), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:42 (nineteen years ago) link

"can i help who's next?"

This is great if the next person in line happens to be Pete Townshend.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:44 (nineteen years ago) link

Nabisco OTM re: ebonics. It annoys me how often the idea is misunderstood or deliberately misrepresented.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:46 (nineteen years ago) link

"Dude, does anybody properly remember what the Ebonics thing?"

You used "thing"!

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:49 (nineteen years ago) link

AAVE (formerly BVE) has been around as a recognized dialect long before the Ebonics craze -- that was a classic case of the media blowing up a language issue because it's controversial. Does anyone remember when the jogger was attacked in Central Park? There was a media outcry against "wilding." What the kid actually said was that they "did the wild thing." Not that the media outcry over "wilding" and Ebonics is the same, I admit it's a tangent, but what the linguists wanted originally was, iirc, to acknowledge that AAVE has rules and is a verifiable dialect rather than a "bastardization" of English.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:55 (nineteen years ago) link

ax anybody...

― Outsider Enter Port City (sexyDancer), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:57 (nineteen years ago) link

Also, hate to be pednatic (don't really), but:

cooler-than-thou disinterest in the event

A *lot* of people get this wrong. To be disinterested is not to be uninterested. It's to have a lack of stock in the outcome (ie, "Jack, not a taxpayer himself, remains politically disinterested is this issue."). This does not mean that Jack is uninterested in the issue, but just that he has nothing to gain or lose from it.

― paulhw (paulhw), Thursday, 18 August 2005 19:58 (nineteen years ago) link

people mix up "un- " and "dis- " and "mis- " all the time! they're not interchangeable!

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 18 August 2005 20:11 (nineteen years ago) link

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