What are some of the most annoying phrases in the English language? In a new forthcoming book, A Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare, Oxford researchers list the common phrases that we use incorrectly or just all too excessively. Here’s the list (and if you have your own disliked expressions, list them below in the comments).
1 – At the end of the day
2 – Fairly unique
3 – I personally
4 – At this moment in time
5 – With all due respect
6 – Absolutely
7 – It’s a nightmare
8 – Shouldn’t of
9 – 24/7
10 – It’s not rocket science
via The Telegraph
I heard a discussion about this on my local radio station and the term “closure” was mentioned – the scenario was that a family loses a child by some violent crime, they catch the criminal, now the family can have “closure”. A trite way of saying they are perhaps no longer news-worthy?
“Could” care less (instead of “couldn’t”)
Drives me nuts
Like, I think, like, that the word “like” is kinda like overused as well… like.
“Scientific fact” … as opposed to what other kinds of facts?
“Nice”
A word that tries to be pleasant, but is somehow pathetically wimpish; a word that covers too many areas:
Pleasing; amiable; skill; a degree of accuracy; refinement; respectability; delicate; fastidious…
Why not be more descriptive:
accurate, admirable, amiable, attractive, becoming, befitting, charming, commendable, considerate, cordial, correct, courteous, decorous, delicate, delightful, discerning, exact, fair, favorable, fine, friendly, genial, genteel, gentle, good, gracious, helpful, ingratiating, inviting, kind, kindly, lovely, meticulous, minute, obliging, pleasant, pleasurable, polite, prepossessing, proper, respectable, seemly, simpatico, superior, swell, trim, unpresumptuous, virtuous, welcome, well-mannered, winning, winsome…
“Going forward”
@Stephen: “Like” drives me bonkers, too. It ends up in rampant use because we are speaking faster and lack either the energy or the education to phrase our recollections properly when speaking.
Phrase: a sequence of two or more words arranged in a grammatical construction and acting as a unit in a sentence.
“Absolutely”: Absolutely not a phrase.
“Absolutely not”: Absolutely a phrase.
Can’t say why this bothers me so much. But Oxford scholars? They should know better.
“Grow the economy” (or as my local newspaper put it one day: We need to grow more school administrators.)
“The people on the ground”
“There’s two”
And a tangential irritation: emphasizing the prepositions, as in “a supporter of and an advocate for” where ‘of’ and ‘for’ are heralded as the important words instead of ‘supporter’ and ‘advocate’.
How about “whatnot”? Does that even mean anything? Ugh. Makes me want to stick my head in a bowl of oatmeal all day so I don’t have to hear it.
-”basically”
-”interface” as a verb
-”whatever”
-”hopefully”
i believe a whatnot is a shelf for knick-knacks.
Sport analogies like “Step up to the plate”
I suppose we all have our pet peeves when it comes to language – I detest the overuse of the word “utilize” these days, as I like to say, I never use the word “utilize”, I instead utilize the word “use”. At any rate, language is nothing more than a tool for conveying meaning. The point to all communication is the faithful passing of meaning from one to another. Certainly, there are phrases that get used repeatedly and, as much as one hates this one or that one, one’s prejudices against some bits of language are a deterrent to one’s receptiveness to meaning. As much as we’d all like others to use language in the style we ourselves prefer, the greater responsibility is to be open to the meaning the communicator is so desperately attempting to convey. We must let our childish prejudices against language patterns different from our own subside. This includes the silly and unwarranted expectation that all of those you encounter must speak your language and speak it well. Without these prejudices, I believe we’ll find meaning much more easily discovered, conveyed, and appreciated. Genuine meaning is what we’re after.
In other words, grow up, criticize much less and listen a good deal more. Utilize whatever phrases you wish and, in spite of the snobbery surrounding you, never stop communicating.
“The fact of the matter is…”
dialogue… when used as a verb. As in…”lets dialogue about that…” or, in class, “Let’s dialogue about current events…”
“To be quite honest…”
Whenever anyone says this to me I always want to ask, “Have you been lying about everything else you’ve said up until this point?”
Also, I know it’s not a phrase as it’s only one word, but “irregardless.” I have to fight the urge to smack people when they use it. The fact that it is in the dictionary makes me cringe.
When people say un-thaw. “Please take the steak out to un-thaw” literally saying please freeze. I always want to point it out but have learned my lesson over the years, it just leads to blank stares and confusion.
flammable and inflammable
Here are some of the main irritations for me:
“My aunt she did this; those people they know better” (which ungrammatical statements are always quoted verbatim in the media, thus searing the mistake into the language.)
“Grow the economy”
“There’s two”
“The people on the ground”