Catholic commentary on culture, media, and politics.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Annoying phrases redux

The brainiacs at Oxford have given us a list of Most Annoying Phrases of 2008. (It appears in a new book Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare by Jeremy Butterfield.)

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

A lot of these are repeats. Here is my partial list. Gimme yours.


* Using impact as a verb. "How will this impact the group?"
* When you say, thank you" to a store clerk or waiter, and he or she grunts, "uh huh," instead of "you're welcome.
* My bad.
* No worries.
* No biggie.
* Don't go there (that's sooo 1997).
* Just sayin.'
* "In the tank for," as in, "the media is in the tank for Obama." (This one cropped up during the election marathon, as "gravitas" did in 2000 to describe what Dick Cheney brought to the Bush ticket.)
* Yadda yadda yadda. (Hasn't Seinfeld been off the air for a decade?)
* Saying "waiting on" when you mean, "waiting for."
* Literally when you mean figuratively. (This one has really got to go!)
* That said....
* At the end of the day...
* "Can't cut the mustard." (It's "can't pass muster," a military term about drill inspections.
* "Graduated high school," instead of graduated from high school.
* Out of pocket, meaning "not available."
* It's like/you know...
* You go, girl.
* You da man.
* Whassup?
* Dude as the first word in any sentence.
* Press one for English.

I have to stop there; getting a headache.

14 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

One of the things than grinds on my nerves is the misusage of the term "begging the question".

It does not mean "raising the question", it means that the outcome of a logical conclusion is based on the assumed validity of one or more of the premises in said argument.

It drives me nuts because it's so commonly misused that I find myself using it improperly. I then get the desire to scoop out my brain with a mellon-baller.

1:15 PM

 
Blogger Patrick Prescott said...

Let's get down to brass tacks.

Thinking outside the box.

What's the bugaboo?

Measuring heighth, rather than height.

I don't mean to speak out of school.

I love the guy to death, but...

I'm only telling you this so you can pray for him...

8:48 AM

 
Blogger Patrick Prescott said...

That was me, PatrickP.

8:49 AM

 
Blogger Patrick said...

Never heard that one.

1:47 PM

 
Blogger Patrick said...

The begging the question one, I mean.

How about "no worries."

And the word pundint instead of pundit.

Arrrrggghh!

1:48 PM

 
Blogger Patrick Prescott said...

How about "have a nice day" when it's 9 PM?

1:55 PM

 
Blogger Patrick Prescott said...

Again, PDP there. ^^

1:55 PM

 
Blogger Patrick said...

Have a nice day at 9PM. LOL! How about LOL?

3:11 PM

 
Blogger Patrick said...

PDP can't you pop over to Hollywood for a 4PM drink? Are you going to the early show?

3:11 PM

 
Blogger Patrick Prescott said...

I'll be at work until 5.

PDP

8:03 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Would one of you kindly offer to change your name to Muigel, or Dan or something? I'm so confused.

7:55 PM

 
Blogger Patrick said...

It's easy. I'm Patrick.

7:45 AM

 
Blogger Patrick Prescott said...

And I'm Patrick. But my middle initial is D. Oh wait...

8:59 AM

 
Blogger Patrick said...

Let's make it 100% clear. I'm male, and a baptized Catholic -- oh, and I'm the one who went to Franciscan University.

11:08 PM

 

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