Superman reading. Travis Erwin was talking about the word "tidings" and whether it was ever used except at Christmas and that brought to mind an expression I dislike that has crept into the vocabulary of waitstaff. Maybe it's only in Michigan but a busboy or waiter will come up to the table and ask, "Are you still working on that?"
Somehow this expression takes me out of the experience of fine dining and into the experience of digestive processes.
What expression sets your teeth a chatter?
One more matter, I finally saw the recent film version of I AM LEGEND. WTF.
34 comments:
How about WTF. And while we're at it OMG.
The movie version of I Am Legend was terrible. It started out okay for about the first half hour than turned into a generic CGI zombie movie. Plus they ruined the ending.
Absolutely ruined it. Took a complex, interesting ending and used one used so many times. Yes, the first 40 minutes were fine although I liked the way he found the dog in the book. If I remember it right.
At the end of the day. I remember the first time I heard it used, an English diplomat telling an American about Iraq, "You know, at the end of the day it will be just the two of us," and thought it was eloquently put. Then it made its way into cliche-dom and drives me even crazier than it would, since at one point I enjoyed it.
I'll allow someone to type LOL into a conversation, but good gravy, why say it out loud?
"It is what it is," will soon be the worst and overused sports-related cliche in North America.
The phrase "you know what I'm saying" drives me nuts. I have a friend that used to pepper his conversation with it to the tune of about every sentence that came out of his mouth.
I finally said, "Can you not use that so much, you know what I'm saying!" He got the message after that.
Good point, Dana. I loved You Go Girl the first time I heard it.
LOL outloud, I've never heard. Maybe emailese gets especially annoying. Lots of sports phrases, Randy. And baseball announcers in a given city, really drive me nuts. Erne Harwell's "and it's a long one."
I have to agree with Cormac. "It is what it is" might sum up the perfect attitude when faced with circumstances you can't change, but DAMN, IT'S GOTTEN ANNOYING!
One that sets my teeth on edge is not the expression, but the constant complaints about it. I swear I go into a homicidal rage whenever someone whines about "At the end of the day..." At the end of the day, I couldn't care less.
Yes, I'm in a mood this morning.
My mind is blank right now but just the other day I was thinking about some phrase that irritated me.
Transparency is starting to annoy me. Especially since I don't "see" much.
"It is what it is" irritates me to no end. I'm starting to find "yes we can" and "yes we did" a bit irritating. I didn't mind Obama using it but when advertisers start jumping on the bandwagon I've had enough.
Underused is the proper reply to your waiter: "I'm sorry the management here doesn't allow tipping."
Last night I was reading ON BEAUTY, by Zadie Smith and she did, successfully use the word "tidings" (paperback pg. 66). I must email Travis!
"Are you still working on that?" Ugh! That one's always bothered me too. It makes me feel like I'm an eating machine.
I've got a long list of corporate jargon I won't even touch here, but I echo the sentiment against, "at the end of the day". I also struggle with the overuse of "awesome" and other hyperbole, although I'm guilty of overusing those words myself. It's tough to find substitutes for "awesome, wonderful, terrific" etc. when someone shares good news, but they don't mean much anymore.
"It is what it is" is HUGE right now. I used to like it, but it's annoying now.
Another phrase that annoys me is "That's wrong on SO many levels." Not used as much as "It is what it is," but annoying to me nonetheless.
The ingroup cliches of Washington governmental and New York financial folk that are slavishly picked up by the journalists of sorts who cover their activities. Endless iterations of a "roadmap" to an Israeli-Palestinian settlement, as if it wasn't a bad metaphor but instead an actual folded pamphlet. The ridiculous spread of "nukular" among the Republicans and GOP-friendly over the last eight years. The tossing about of how everyone's Gettting a Haircut in the current markets. It's pathetic.
I've heard people say "LOL" ironically.
Listening to a discussion of Obama's ethnicity on NPR, I note that black folks are much more prone to cling to the "one drop [of "black blood" makes one black] rule" than are non Klan whites. But, then, some Jews cling to the old Roman prescription that your mother must be Jewish, your father irrelevant, for you to be Truly Jewish. The oppressors often win, in at least small, ugly ways.
All of the above.
Tasked. (I loathe that word with all the repulsion I can summon from my core)
And just about any of the words here... http://www.lssu.edu/banished/
Heh. Happy reading. =)
"Thrown under the bus" should be, ah, done away with.
I've heard multi-tasking but not tasked. Thrown under the bus is completely new--what does it mean, Joe? Awesome-usually athletic types in their twenties. Right? How about "It's all good." I hear that a lot.
Getting a Haircut is new to me. I wonder how much regionality comes into play here.
As a former waiter, I could never threaten it but it is tempting when they plead with me to take my dish away half-eaten. Which I understand you can be charged for now in some places.
At the end of the day. Going forward. On the ground. Tasked. Part of the conversation. Partnered. Associates instead of employees. Unnecessary use of level (“His confidence level is up”). Court-adjudicated youth for juvenile convict. Support the troops. We’re talking … here. Indicated misused for said. Get a life. Tall, grande and venti for small, medium and large.
Good for you on It’s all good, Patti. That’s nothing but a polite blow-off.
Todd is dead on that journalists slavishly imitate the jargon of those they cover. (Happily, as a copy editor, I can correct some of this illiteracy.) One practice that grates on me is shorthand references to government departments, e.g., “Observers say there is chaos at Justice, panic at Defense and secret schadenfreude at State” (for Justice Department, Defense Department and State Department, respectively).
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Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Impact as a verb, though thankfully one does not hear that one too often anymore. Reference as a verb. Unfortunately, one hears and reads that all the time.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
We use "Awesome" to an awful degree. The British have similarly dulled "Brilliant!" through overuse. I suggest a two-year platitude swap to reduce the annoyance level in both countries. But I wonder if this awesome, brilliant idea will gain any traction -- at the end of the day.
Ah, yes when I was in England, someone said "brilliant" about every five seconds so we are not the only wankers/wonkers. Another favorite. Shagging. In more than one way.
Peter-an editor must go mad trying to correct these.
A copy editor could go mad trying to correct them, yes, but the wholehearted support and understanding he enjoys eases the burden considderably.
Wankers opens the discussion in new and interesting directions: words that are strictly forbidden in one culture, and much more widely used, though still low or vulgar, in another.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Awesome topic. My pet peeve? "I don't mean to be a [insert word here], but. . . " and then they say something that is exactly that. I don't mean to be a jerk, but I hate the color of your kitchen. I don't mean to be sexist, but most women have it easy in the workplace. I don't mean to pry, but when are you having more children?
We can eliminate that "I Don't Mean To" from our language. How about "I Don't Mean to Pry" but how does your daughter make much money from her novels. I get that a lot and truthfully say, "I have no idea."
Exactly. If you don't mean to pry/be rude/be sexist, then do not finish your sentence. Otherwise, you do mean to, and you are prying/rude/sexist.
Issue used in place of problem.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Here's another discussion about annoying phrases
The bartender at the Pen and Pencil Club in Philadelphia says "At this point in time" all the time. It is the sole flaw in an otherwise splendid character.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
You know what expression irritates me? In a restaurant: could we have the check please? It's a BILL NOT A CHECK. There, got it out of my system. :)
I had a friend who used the term "I mean it sincerely". In the beginning it was fine, and after awhile, once I learned he used it to emphasize a lie as being a truth. The only way I got him to stop was to use it back in a sarcastic voice.
"Thrown under the bus is completely new--what does it mean, Joe?"
The concept as you are about to be run over by something, you thrown the person closest to you as a sacrificial speed bump and I am guilty of using that expression to often at work.
My boss's boss tends to throw everyone and anything to the wolves, rather than face the responsibility herself. So I will suggest to someone that, "you should change your name to "Speed Bump" as many times as *** as thrown you under the bus."
CGI is so overused and abused in movies anymore. I love vampires and zombies, and all I could think of through the whole film was "Cartoons, cartoons, cartoons, they're #*@&*! cartoons..."
And Will Smith isn't dark and disturbed enough to be the last man on earth.
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