Posted on 05/29/2007 2:17:17 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
Readers have responded in their thousands to The Daily Telegraph's call to select the worst phrases in the English language.
Since our invitation was issued in February, more than 3,000 of you have submitted personal inventories of the damned, containing the phrases, aphorisms and clichés that irritate the most.
High on the list of grievances was the increasing use of slang, poor grammar and the incorporation of Americanisms into everyday speech.
Many of you shared frustrations over the misuse of "forensic" and "literally", while management jargon such as "downsizing", "brainstorming" and "thinking outside the box" also received plenty of nominations.
The Daily Telegraph has responded with its own compilation of annoying phrases, and She Literally Exploded: The Daily Telegraph Infuriating Phrasebook is now available on Amazon.
Here is a selection of your comments so far:
"It's not rocket science". Rocketry is engineering, not a science. - Tony
The phrase "up close and personal" was irritating to start with and has become hackneyed and meaningless e.g. I went on a river trip and was thrilled to get up close and personal with a crocodile - Margot Lang
I can't stand "to die for". Nothing's that good and even if it was, you'd be dead and wouldn't be able to enjoy whatever it was. - Vivsy
"Pushing the envelope" always conjures up for me some ridiculous scene in a mailing room or post office. - Nigel Brown
Why, when someone famous dies, do tributes always "pour" in? Also, when a plane crashes in the sea, the media is quick to remind us that the waters are always "shark-infested". - S.Winrad
Only £1,999.99. - P.H.Heilbron
"This door is alarmed". Is it really frightened? - Alan Lawrence
The infuriating rising inflections at the end of sentences that make everything sound like a question? - Steve Grant
I hate being addressed as "hallo there". My name is not "there". And why have all the cookery books and frying pans disappeared? What is a "cook" book and a "fry" pan? - Susan Byers
When the waitress plonks the plate in front of you and says, "there you go". Where do I go? Where's there? - Ken Clarke
"It will be in the last place you look". Well of course I'm not going to continue to look for it when I have found it. - Tom Batt
I can't come up with an example of this. How do people misuse these words? (I wonder if I'm such an offender.)
Irregardless. It drives me nuts.
“He was one of the only who...”
That phrase makes no sense whatsoever. Does it mean “one of only two,” or “twenty” or “one thousand”, or how many?
Speaking of real estate terminology, this annoys me:
The term “newer” means less new than “new”.
“Bush’s fault.”
(Can I get an Amen?)
When I say “thank-you” to my teens’ friends, they respond “no problem”. I usually respond “do you mean you’re welcome”?...to which they respond, “yes you’re welcome”. I’m now getting the same “no problem” response from some adults!
Not numerically.
LOL...everytime I hear someone say this, I always tell them..."uh-oh, you've been talking to a consultant haven't you ?"
Also, I am REALLY SICK of hearing "My Bad"
Oooh, I like this topic.
“challenge the bubble” WTF does that mean. If you’ve got trouble popping a bubble, you’ve got some real issues. Why are you challenging it anyway, just leave it alone, it’ll pop in a sec.
Also “More “insert here” than you can possibly imagine”
Hmm, ok there. Lessee.
Money: I can imagine every inch of the Earth, stacked 100,000 feet high with 100 dollar bills, more than that then?
Power: I can imagine having the power on a single thought to be able to contract the universe to a singular point infinitesimally small, then reverse it in a quadrillionth of a second. More power than that?
You get the point. Now, can you imagine being able to imagine more than I can possibly imagine?
I’m from the Government and I’m here to help.
“Old adage.”
I recently had to change the password on my work computer. I keyed in "Sum(n)=n/2(A1+An)".
The system gave me a message that my proposed new password "is not unique enough."
Unique is a binary choice. Something is either unique or it's not. And what was the problem with my prospective new password? I tried several other entries, with the same response.
So I called our help desk. The helpful help desk guy explained that I needed to make my password uniquer.
;-) Hugh/Huge
LOL Hugh could be huge, but it is better to be clear.
Series/Serious
And the most tiresome of all, “No Problem.”
I’m chill..
“breaking the paradigm”
I always thought “paradigm” meant two ten-cent coins.
How about Conservative Democrat, or Liberal Republican.
If a person is a democrat he is not conservative, and if he is liberal he is not a Republican.
That went over like a lead balloon ;-).
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