Back in January (but not back in the day), we invited you to let us know what expressions tick you off.
And here's what you told us.
You're tired of standing on line, pushing the envelope, raising the bar, having a good one, and thinking outside the box. You're vexed by corporate jargon (efforting, best practices, incent); irritated by mispronunciations ("definally," "nucular," "supposibly"); annoyed by redundancies (ATM machine, added bonus, end result); and fed up with usage errors (hisself, irregardless, would of).
We'll soon look more closely at some of these expressions to try to figure out (efforting?) just what makes them so annoying--or even so very annoying. But in the meantime, at the risk of ticking you off again, here are the 170 expressions that have been submitted up to now. Once you calm down, be sure to tell us if we've overlooked any of your pet peeves.
- @ (instead of "at")
- added bonus
- ain't
- aks (instead of "ask")
- almost only (as in "Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades")
- alot (instead of "a lot")
- All I'm saying is . . .
- all-new
- appropriate and inappropriate
- at the end of the day
- ATM machine
- at this point in time
- Awesome!
- baby bump
- back in the day
- Back to you at the studio.
- basically (as a sentence adverb)
- beautiful ("a favorite of real estate agents, writers of travel brochures, and Martha Stewart")
- Been there, done that.
- bling and bling-bling
- bottom line
- breaking news
- breaking weather
- buy one, get one
- cain't
- change (political talk)
- couch potato ("only because it was the favorite phrase of the woman who my husband left me for--or 'for whom my husband left'")
- could care less (instead of "couldn't care less")
- crisis
- cruisin' for a bruisin'
- cutting edge
- decimate ("to mean the total annihilation of something, rather than a tenth")
- definly, defaly, and definally (misspellings and mispronunciations of "definitely")
- different than (instead of "different from")
- dog do-do
- drill down (as in "look further into a situation or document")
- dude
- Dress it up and Dress it down.
- efforting (instead of "making an effort to find")
- empathetic (instead of "empathic")
- end result
- Enjoy! (as used by waiters and writers)
- estate homes ("when describing new housing developments with 1/4 acre lots")
- exact same
- ex cetera (instead of "et cetera")
- executive driven ("when referring to used cars")
- facilitate
- fire me off one
- fresh baked bread
- from day one
- from now (redundancy after time phrases, as in "The game starts in 20 minutes from now")
- future plans
- give 110%
- give it your best
- go out there (sports talk)
- going forward (as in "We will adopt the new policy going forward")
- got (using "they've got" instead of "they have")
- graduated college (instead of "graduated from college")
- guesstimate
- guys
- harm's way
- Have a good one.
- Have a nice one.
- healthy food (instead of "healthful food")
- He's a guy that . . .
- hisself
- hopefully ("and other so-called sentence adverbs")
- *Hugz!*
- ID (for "identify" and "identification")
- I'd like to be perfectly honest.
- If we don't have it, you don't need it! (as a sales pitch from a store)
- I mean
- I'm going on break now or I'm on break (instead of "I'm going to take my lunch break now")
- I'm just saying.
- I'm not gonna go down that road.
- I'm not gonna lie.
- incent (an example of "corporate-speak")
- infer (instead of "imply" when the meaning is "to suggest")
- irregardless
- irrespective
- I seen
- issues
- It is what it is.
- It's heavenly.
- I've came
- just as soon
- Keep everyone in the loop.
- keepin' it real
- Leave it be.
- like ("as abused by the young")
- literally (as in "I was literally at the end of my rope!" when there is no rope present)
- load shedding (instead of "blackout")
- LOL
- make no mistake
- "market basket of goods and services" ("used to calculate the consumer price index")
- me and him (as in "Me and him are going to the movies")
- mitigate (instead of "militate")
- momentarily (instead of "in a moment"--as in "The plane will land momentarily")
- move forward
- must have
- my bad
- near miss
- next steps and best practices (examples of "corporate mindshare speak")
- no problem (instead of "you're welcome")
- not for nothing
- nucular (for "nuclear")
- oh (instead of "zero"--"especially in telephone numbers")
- okay
- on accident (instead of "by accident")
- one less (instead of "one fewer")
- OMG
- on the same page
- over-achiever
- paradigm shift
- parent (as a verb)
- PIN number
- preggers
- prioritise/prioritize
- proactive
- Punxatawney Phil ("1. a phailed attempt at alliteration. 2. time to leave this trite tradition behind.")
- pushing the envelope
- raising the bar
- reach out
- reiterate
- shoulda
- situation (in football play-by-play reporting "to describe the down--'third down situation'--or other action--'punting situation'")
- spend the night
- stand on line (instead of "stand in line")
- Sup (instead of "What's up?")
- supposibly
- team player
- temper (as in "He has a temper")
- temperature (instead of "fever," as in "I have a temperature")
- there, their, and they're (commonly confused)
- That's what she said.
- think outside the box
- think the unthinkable
- This tastes refreshing.
- those that (instead of "those who" when speaking of people)
- to be honest with you
- tolerance
- tons (as in "tons of stocks")
- troops ("when referring to individual soldiers")
- uhhh
- umm
- Understand what I'm saying?
- undocumented workers ("when what they mean is 'illegal aliens'")
- unique
- unsweet tea
- up or down vote
- utilize (instead of "use")
- veggies
- very (as in "very overwhelming" and "very similar")
- very unique
- vision (political talk)
- vow (instead of "say")
- wait on (instead of "wait for")
- Whatever
- whatever it is
- What were you thinking?
- whenever (instead of "when")
- Where are you at? (instead of "Where are you?")
- without further ado
- would of (instead of "would have")
- You did so good--with the reply--with you too ("when you haven't done anything)
- You feel me?
- You got gas?
- you know
- You know what I'm saying?
- your and you're (commonly confused)
To add an annoying expression to this list, click on the "comments" button below.
UPDATES:
Comments
I suggested #51. “From now” is not the problem; it’s using it with “in”. That is “The game starts in 20 minutes.” or “The game starts 20 minutes from now.” BUT NOT “The game starts in 20 minutes from now.”
“You follow me?”
“where is it at?”
I hate that!!
Likely. The senate will likely spend tax dollars on…The President will likely fly to…I will likely go nuts if this word continues to infiltrate every news report I hear.
“folks”
Yell-O (instead of Hello)
(1) My irritation with “decimate” is actually the opposite of that listed. That is, it is very irritating that some people think decimate has to mean “killing one tenth” because it USED at one time to mean that (in Latin). That is like saying “to orient” (as in, “He got hit on the head and couldn’t orient himself”) has to mean “to know which way is east” because that is what it used to mean. Both original senses of decimate and orient still exist, but are eclipsed by their more modern usages. (2) “different than” and “different from” are idiomatic, rather than correct/incorrect. “Different to” is also used in some parts of the world and is considered correct. (3) Nothing wrong with “irrespective”; I’d bet that people confuse it with “irregardless” and thus think it is similarly wrong. (4) Personal irritation not on the list: expresso instead of espresso.
My students over the last two years have begun to use “upmost” as in “I have the upmost confidence in your abilities” (for utmost).
“Have your picture made”
The word “so…) instead of a period at the end of a sentence has become just too tiresome.
I can’t stand the overuse of air-quotes. It is the body language equivalent of Valley-girl talk. Like, really, it is “annoying”.
Ending a sentence with I as in “The gift was given to Tom and I”.
‘Devastated’ as in ‘I was devastated’ meaning I was very upset and/or unhappy.
Towns or countries can be devastated but surely not people
expressions such as ‘return back’ and ‘repeat again’.
Return means to come back. The back is redundant in return back.
Repeat means to say or write again. The again in repeat again is redundant.
There are other similar ones.
“comprised of”
Composed of, yes. Comprised of, no. The group comprises six people, not the group is comprised of six people. Come on! How hard is it to remember something as simple as this? Yes, it does matter!
And defensing????? Damn!
I’m also really tired of hearing iteration used in ways that have nothing at all to do with math.
“boots on the ground.” It started with Iraq. Now almost any subject can be freighted reverently with “on the ground.” News readers, politicians, military men, congressmen, bureaucrats, etc., they’re all guilty of this idiotic tautology. I once heard someone pontificate about “trucks on the ground.”
I have yet to hear these linguistic midgets explain the other side of the story–about things “in the air.” Most likely they’ll be able to explain them if they can figure out the appropriate “point in time.”
hunker down
Beginning every sentence with: “Actually…” with a questioning tone of voice
“fixin’ to” and 24/7
The following drive me nuts!
Due to the fact that….
Between you and I….
In my opinion I believe…..
and using thing instead of something more specific
1. Future plans. That’s what all plans are, in for future.
2. Ground zero. The epicenter of the Twin Towers devastation has been demoted to the disgrace of now being but the shabby start of any project or idea. “I’ve been hungry for pizza from ground zero, dude.”
3. Dude.
4. Birthing. ‘Nuff said.
5. The expression “Nuff said.” How trite can I get?
Sportscasters are the worst. Snuck.
Sackerfice fly.
Calling batters “hitters” even when they don’t hit, as in “He walked the hitter on four pitches.”
“Everbody is safe.”
Uhmedially, as in, “He was tackled uhmedially.”
Fortunally, fortunly for fortunately.
Prolly and probly for probably.
Cumf-terble for comfortable.
Intersting for interesting.
Reck-unize for recognize
Uhsposed for supposed, as in “It’s not uhsposed to rain tomorrow.
Innerduce for introduce.
People adopt an elitist vocabulary once they enter the realm of celebrities, performers and broadcast. They like to pronounce the silent “t” in often, as if they are correcting the speech of the rabble. (But they still say soffen for soften, which is corect.)
Also they start saying EYEther and NEYEther instead of EEther and NEEther (either and neither)the way they always said it at home.
Lab-ul for liable, as in “She’s lab-ul to kill me.”
“I shoulda stood in bed,” instead of stayed in bed. Who stands in their bed anyway? If you’re standing up you “mays well” (there’s another irritation) just get up!
Asterick instead of asterisk.
Very overwhelming is very stupid, as is just about any expression using very.
Weathercasters who say “tempachure” instead of temperature, four syllables.
Finally, people say “evolved” when they mean exactly the opposite. “The event evolved into an annual celebration,” means it changed by conscious, purposeful leaps as opposed to unplanned, random, incremental steps.
In spite of my typos in above comments, here are some more sure-fire irritants, numbered to keep them separate:
1. “Advance scouting” Is there any other kind?
2. “Defense,” as a verb: “They’re hard to defense against.”
3. “The same identical play” That’s what identical means, the same.
4. “In this day and age” Like this is the first time in history there’s been any common sense or morality or whatever.
5. That’s like “Bring us into the 21st century, like it’s only in the last eight years that civilization has been awake or modern.
6. “April third.” It is just April three, but the third of April. If someone asks you where the catsup is, you don’t reply, “aisle ninth,” you say “aisle nine.” Same goes with the date.
7. Saying “Talk about,” when no one is talking about it, as in, “Talk about taking advantage!”
8. mis-CHEE-VI-ous instead of MIS-chievous.
9. My favorite:”Little baby boy.” They’re all little and they’re all babies. Just say “Boy.”
I have to add “impacted” being used instead of “affected,” for example, “The delay impacted our project.”
Was about to add “impact” myself! I’d include its substitution for the noun “effect”. “Impact” actually means “squash”, not merely change.
I’d also like to add the misuse of:
• “is” for “are”, as in “In the heart of Dixie, comparisons to Grant, a symbol of the Union, is the worst sort of insult….” (CNN.com);
• “has” for “have”, as in “There’s been two accidents”;
• “their”, “them”, and “themself”(!) for “his”, “her”, etc., sometimes denoting talking breast implants: “If you know a woman who has received implants as a grad gift I would love to interview them for my PhD study. Please contact me right away” (from a Facebook page); and
• missing hyphens, particularly punishing, as in the headline “Elder jailed in petrol for sex scandal” (news.com.au).
“Cool Beans!” What in the hell does that mean anyway?
How about those among us prone to subsituting “of” for “have” – I should “of”, he would “of” (I should have, he would have, etc.). I see this travesty in blogs daily, and even caught it once in an article in the county daily – and only proves to me that people are unafraid to advertise their ignorance.
Oops – SUBSTITUTING – I should “of” run a spell-check!
price point used instead of price
Thank you for this opportunity to vent. It drives me absolutely berserk when people say 3:00 am in the morning. Unbelievably, mostly heard on news programs where you would think someone was paying attention to this stuff. Talk about redundant!
amazing!
Another sportscaster phrase that has bugged me sine I was a kid (and that’s a long time!): “on the” in place of “for the” or “this.” “He’s won seven games on the year” or “she’s four over par on the day.” How about “He’s won seven games this year” or “he has seven wins for the year” or “she’s four over par today?”
I will return your call “at my earliest convenience.”
She/he “was beside her/himself”. Not physically possible.
Irregardless has always been a pet peeve — but do any of you recall who created the word? It was the cartoonist Al Capp, creator of the comic strip, L’il Abner, about a bunch of hillbillies in the south living in a community called Dogpatch. I think Capp created the comic strip in about the 1940s or even late ’30s. Capp had L’il Abner, his girfriend Daisy Mae, and Abner’s parents, Mammy and Pappy Yokum, slaughter the King’s English. And irregardless was one of Al Capp’s favorite word creations, and one that caught on so much that even college graduatets use it.
The other comment I have is the term “illegal alien”. An illegal alien is from Venus or Mars, or the Moon. People who came here illegally from Mexico or other countries are actually “illegal immigrants.” So says the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement service.
Free up, cook up, change up, change out, switch up, switch out, frame up, drop down, descend down, raise up, and so many more: What’s wrong with free, cook, change, switch, frame, drop, descent, and raise?
Bored of: Aaargh! Hate this! What happened to bored WITH?
Small little: Where did that come from, and why does almost everyone seem to be saying it?
Oops. Meant to say descend, not descent.
Company jargon “Leverage” drives me crazy.
I had a boss who liked to use the phrase, “take point on,” as in “Bob will take point on this project.” Just say “lead.” I will understand what you mean.
Also, feel free to say that you want to talk to me, but please don’t tell me that you want to “touch base” with me. I don’t want to “dialogue” with you, either.
Epicenter does not mean center. It means above the center. The center of an earthquake is below ground. The epicenter is at ground level. So stop using epicenter as a synonym for center. Using big words that you do not understand does NOT make you sound smarter.
“level the playing fields”
‘Come on board’ to mean ‘join’, as in ‘join the firm’.
“Have a nice day”: Yuk!
“body of work” used by sportscasters, as in, “Mickey’s body of work included hitting more than 500….”
My boss always says, “It is what it is.” So annoying and stupid. Another co-worker regularly says, “I’m not drinking the Kool-Aid.” I want to throw my stapler at him when he says this.
Eugh.
1) ‘Particuly’ instead of ‘Particularly’
2) The use of the word ‘but’ at the end of sentences rather than at the beginning. Is it replacing ‘though?’
‘He’s nice but’
‘Somethink’ and ‘anythink’
This is a great list. I hate when people use the word “supposibly.” It drives me insane. I do hear a lot of “should of,” but sometimes it’s difficult to differentiate whether someone is saying “should of” or “should’ve.”
“Let [me/you/us] know.” The phrase “tell [me/you/us/her/him]” is more direct, less clumsy.
“Going forward.” What’s wrong with “in the future?” Afraid of the future?
“Attending the family reunion meant a lot to my brother and I.” To quote Ricky Ricardo: “Me Me Me Me Me…”
“I said to her I said…” I’ve noticed this a lot in mid-Atlantic speech.
Alot.
Calling batters “batsmen.” True, they’re not a cake mixture, but it sounds too much like one of the participants in a game of Cricket.
And so much more…
Thanks for this! I am so disgusted with the constant use of “going forward” and “moving forward.” It’s gotten to the point that these useless, redundant phrases appear almost as much as “and” in any given sentence, particularly on tv and radio. I just heard them repeated on NPR seven times combined by both interviewer and interviewee in the space of three minutes. Then just as I started to look for folks on line with whom to share my gripe, the next moderator on the radio said “go forward.” It gets to the level that I can’t even listen to what people are saying!! The other gripe I have is the wrong use of “lay” and “lie,” as in “she is laying on the ground,” etc. etc. I hope the resultant eggs are tasty.
Sorry, to the person who hates “folks,” as I just used that word in my gripe. (Funny thing is, I almost never use it!) In my view, many of the words/expressions we detest are annoying because of their overuse, or incorrect applications. “Going forward” would probably not bother me if I only heard it once a day and not fifty times a day.
I am trying to find out what the expression “go forward” means? Can anyone use it in a sentence? thanks
Ever hear people say “de-thaw”, such as “I need to de-thaw the hamburger for dinner” If it’s frozen, why do you need to freeze it more?!
But guess what…in the middle of a sentence.
“loose” instead of “lose”
He gave it to Joe and I (instead of Joe and “me”) People use I thinking they are using proper English.
Grankids (leaving off the “d” in “grand”)
Peeps
But what you don’t understand (indicating you are stupid and they are not)
Aim High
christopher barnes 16, Nottingham, England
While it’s not possible to utter the following two examples of written redundancy, I’m sure that those people who love using the appropriate keyboard keys to produce them would give anything to find a way to do so:
??????; as in “. . . and what would you say to that??????”
and !!!!!!, or even !, as in “. . . and you’ll know what I think about that!”
And I would add my vote to those of many others who would like to see the word ‘very’ abolished.
Why does ‘You know’ rate so far down the list? I’d put it at the top. Other than that is is a wonderful list of the things we do wrong to the language and to those who hear is speak. Thank you.
Another that greatly annoys me is the use of nouns as verbs. Defensing, impacting, etc.
“Myself, himself, herself, themselves” for I or me, he or him, she or her, and they or them. Jack and MYSELF are going to the gym. Tell that to Joan and HISSELF. Even worse than himself. Let MYSELF know when you’re ready.
I know it’s picky, but using “and” after verbs of purpose: He went to the bar AND got drunk rather than, not only grammatically correct but more likely the truth, He went to the bar TO get drunk. I went to the store TO buy bread (though I will admit, I may have gone to the store for another reason AND then bought bread, anyway).
I’ve given up all hope of hearing the Subjunctive Mood used (condition contrary to fact – if I WERE to go to the store, if he WERE to call me). I know, picky. (Years ago I went to a Catholic grade school with NUNS teaching us … shudder!.)
Other comments:
#27. the example should have read,
” … woman WHOM my husband left me for”. It’s alright to end a sentence with an preposition as long as you put the referring pronoun in the Objective Case;
#64. the use of the word “healthy” in any other way than to describe the condition of a living creature (though you frequently hear “My business is healthy”, “This project is reallyhealthy”, they’re really not) other-wise, “healthful” is the word to use;
#128. “Stand on line” is Canadian/British. We all (well almost all) say stand on line.
Now that my fingers are numb, I’ll just submit this. As they say, “I’m outta here!!!!”
“It’s” when they mean “its”
“Duvet cover”
“give a shout” (in reference to calling someone on the phone)
SO ANNOYING!!
Recreate the wheel (as in “No need to recreate the wheel.” Corporate Speak)
“It’s only Common Sense”
This appeal, sensible and no nonsense as it may sound, it often betrays a lack of perspective and / or ability to perceive from another point of view.
Often used to bolster a case and curtail discussion that might reveal weakness in a proposition.
I mean how could argue against Common Sense …?
Other (or another) alternative
Lay and lie.
“went missing”…what’s wrong with vanished or disappeared?
“orientate,” as in “I was disorientated when I woke up from my drunken stupor.”
“gracious,” as in “I am so gracious for everyone’s generosity.”
“on accident” I know it’s been mentioned already but I have to chime in. It’s the worst.
Don’t know if you’re updating this, but I have a few to add:
Amazing
Price point
To be honest, honestly
Moving forward ( it’s been mentioned already, but it’s so annoying …)
How can you leave out “random”‘? Kids use it way too much, and don’t even know it’s proper meaning.
Irrespective is fine. just not irregardless.
Misuse of apostrophes everywhere, including just making plurals of common nouns, verbs with an s at the end, and in possessive pronouns, (It’s, and your’s).
Going forward…. I wasn’t aware we had any choice.
And the worst, it is what it is.