Posted on 12/28/2012 8:25:16 PM PST by JoeProBono
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y., - "Whatever" remains the most annoying word or phrase in the English language, a poll indicates.
"Like" and "you know" trailed in the show and place positions, the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., reported Thursday.
Almost one-third, 32 percent, of the adults surveyed selected "whatever." Another 21 percent picked "like" and 17 percent "you know."
"Just sayin" was the only other phrase to break into double digits at 10 percent. Another 9 percent picked "Twitterverse" and 5 percent "gotcha."
"Whatever" has now been in the top spot for four years running. But it has lost ground from last year when 38 percent found it most annoying.
Older respondents, non-college graduates and people with incomes under $50,000 were more likely to be annoyed by "whatever." Respondents under 45, college graduates and those with larger incomes tended to go for "like."
Marist surveyed 1,246 adults by telephone Dec. 4-6. The margin of error is 2.8 percentage points.
Branding.
“Agenda 21...Agenda 21...Agenda 21...Agenda 21...Agenda 21...”
Ahhh, that makes sense now. Thanks.
Really?
irregardless?????
meaningful
Conversating I haven’t heard much, but one which is mildly annyoing, that I hear cropping up everywhere is “re-purposing”, which is used a lot on the DIY style home improvement shows. Former irritants from years past include
a phrase Bryant Gumbel used to use a lot——”bottom-line it for me”, and the once- ubiquitous, but now completely gone
“efforting” which was used where “making an effort to” was always used.”Efforting” made the rounds for about 6 months among lower-level media types , but it must’ve felt so alien even to them, that it was dropped very quickly.
Low Hanging Fruit!
One you hear more often (maybe it’s what you meant)
is one you ironically hear even from under-30 people:
“back in the day”.....sounds ridiculous coming from a young
person, especially when it’s in the context of “back in the day, when my boyfriend and I were canvassing for Obama during his first campaign....”
Unprecedented!
My daughter started using “essentially” when she was only about 20, but doesn’t use it so much anymore, ten years later.
I welcomed it because it sounded good in the contexts she used it in, and was proof she was developing a precise and thoughtful vocabulary. She NEVER says “like”.
And you’re right, “actually” is a word we hear more and more, mysteriously and needlessly slipped in not in place of any other word, but just as an inessential addition to a sentence, like the ones in your examples.
Well, to me.
It’s a mute point.
‘Really?’
“dude”......... You got that backward, a “dude” is someone who DOESN’T work on a ranch and has NEVER worked on a ranch before. Kinda like you if Mr Dalton had called you a “dude”.
More often you hear “speak to”, rather than “talk to”.
Both are annoying , because the one thing they have in common with ALL these overused , instantly-minted but lame cliches is that they are substitutes for a more personal and individual way of expressing ourselves.
“basically”
LOL!!!
Thank you.
How about “togetherness????
YECK!!!
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