word annoyances + loves
Some improper word-use annoyances:
You don’t wet your appetite, you whet it.
No one can wind their way to work, you wend your way.
The further I see into the future, the farther my stomach sticks out, not the other way ’round.
Flesh out a rough or “skeletal” idea, not flush it out. Flush it and you lose it.
Impact - we’ve gone there before, I’ll let it go for now.
Yeah, yay and yea. - Yeah is casual agreement, yay is an expression of happiness, and yea means yes, as in the opposite of nay. These get confused even more than there, their and they’re if you ask me.
A few phrases I’m currently sick to death of:
“It is what it is.”
“Long story short…”
“At the end of the day, …”
“… and whatnot”
“it was literally mind-blowing” - or “literally [fill in the blank] because they meant “figuratively” and I want to kill when I hear this.
“Whatever, I’m over it.” Clearly you aren’t if you’re bringing it up.
“Ah-ha moment” Do I need to explain?
A few phrases I will never tire of:
“Here’s what really sticks in my craw”
“Wanna hear something funny?”
“Come look at these adorable kitty cats!”
Some words I love: ostensibly, sycophant, slapdash, ubiquitous, lucid/cogent, visceral, exacerbate, schadenfraude, obsequious, jackass, mothertrucker (which I learned from the edited-for-TV version of The 40 Year-Old Virgin. Cracks me up every single time), honky-tonk.
May 24th, 2010 at 10:52 am
I love this list, and most bug me too, especially “It is what it is”.
One of my biggest word annoyances is when people say “nucular” instead of “nuclear.”
Funny story about one of your favorite words: I had a boss once who absolutely insisted the word “ostensibly” was spelled “obstensively,” and whenever I corrected it in his letters or memos he would point out “my” mistake. I could not convince him of the correct spelling, and finally had to bring a dictionary into work one day (I’m dating myself; these were the days before online dictionaries).
June 10th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
If you want some entertainment one slow afternoon, just cruise craigslist. It’s amazing what people write in their posts. One of my biggest peeves is “rod” iron instead of wrought. UGH.
June 11th, 2010 at 10:17 am
You are the best. Let me add the overuse of the word “absolutely.” As in, “Do you want a turkey sandwich?” “Absolutely.” Absolutely is not a synonym for “yes” or “sure.” Irritating. As for overused phrases, what about the fact that just about everything is a “ticking time bomb” these days? And what about the horrendously annoying new rhetorical device of adding “Right?” to the end of every declarative statement. Barf.
June 12th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Gwynnie - I love/hate that “rod iron”!! Funny, but sad because there are SO many like that. It’s the modern disease known as informal stupidity (to my mind).
K8 - I agree 100% and just remembered another one of my peeves: recently I’ve heard people using “literally” to MEAN figuratively, as in “That concert literally blew my mind!” Really? No. Not really.
June 12th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Sarah - I meant to write back to you, too. That story about your boss is fantastic! “Obstensively” is so wrong and so clearly a mix of ostensibly and extensively and would be a great mash-up word if those two words could make sense together.