Poll: 'Whatever' most annoying word

upi ^ | Dec. 16, 2010

[JoeProBono]

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. -A New York pollster said its survey indicates "whatever" is considered the most annoying or phrase in the English language by 39 percent of U.S. adults.

The Marist Poll of 1,020 U.S. adults, conducted via telephone Nov. 15-18 by pollsters at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., found 39 percent of respondents despise the word "whatever," while 29 percent cited "like" as the most annoying word or phrase in contemporary conversation and 15 percent said they were most incensed when people say, "you know what I mean."

The survey found "to tell you the truth" is the most irritating phrase to 10 percent of those polled while 5 percent said the word "actually" is their least favorite thing to hear in a conversation.

[JoeProBono]

[Gen. Burkhalter]

whatever.

[SnakeDoctor]

Whatever.

(It had to be done.)

SnakeDoc

[ClearCase_guy]

OMG

[theDentist]

Oh. I thought it was ‘Progressive’...

[WayneS]

Actually, ‘whatever’ is fine.

It’s ‘what-eVURRRRRR’ that is incredibly annoying.

[JPG]

Fine. That's kewl.

[rightwingcrazy]

Annoyed? To tell the truth actually, whatever! Like, you know what I mean?

[WVNan]

well.........the bottom line is..

[Lakeshark]

Like whatever dude....

A trifecta.

[WayneS]

I’ve really come to hate the phrase “Let me be clear, here” (and its variants) — especially when spoken by a certain temporary resident of Washington, DC.

[albie]

“Obama” is the most annoying word! I can’t even type it without showering afterwards.

[SunkenCiv]

The most annoying phrase IMHO is when a phone pollster says “this will take just a few minutes”.

[ClearCase_guy]

At the end of the day, I would say that meaningful communication is becoming a lost art.

[9YearLurker]

Whatever you think of ‘whatever’, it is only annoying in certain contexts.

[DJlaysitup]

I TOTALLY agree!

[Holen1]

Yesterday, I heard a mid-twentyish white woman say “dat’s the bomb yo.” I almost spit my beer out. Wanted to back hand her.

[Nea Wood]

I think people hate “whatever” because it’s usually said in a sarcastic, dismissive way.

[Dilbert San Diego]

The speech patterns and phrases of teenage girls and ghetto language is creeping into everyday language of everyone.

[FrankR]

I think that "yey man, ya see what I'm sayin'?" is much more annoying...especially when said 5 times in the same sentence. And when he's done, you still don't "see" what he's sayin'.

"Whatever" is a useful word for those who are:
(a) unable to articulate a viable reply or provide any credible examples of their point;

(b) Too lazy to articulate a viable replay or provide any credible examples of their point.


It's like the people who ask preemptive questions, so they won't have to answer yours, i.e. "Do I like apples? Yes. But do I like celery? No. " This tactics pulls your focus to how they answer their own question, and many time twarting any harder questions you may have for them.

I have a grown step-daughter who says "whatever" every 10 minutes...it's annoying at best.