Top 10 Most Irritating Phrases of the English Language
In his book Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare, Jeremy Butterfield outlined the top 10 most irritating phrases of the English language. (Why damp squid?)
… the book’s author Jeremy Butterfield says that many annoyingly over-used expressions actually began as office lingo, such as 24/7 and “synergy”.
Other phrases to irritate people are “literally” and “ironically”, when they are used out of context.
Mr Butterfield said: “We grow tired of anything that is repeated too often – an anecdote, a joke, a mannerism – and the same seems to happen with some language.”
Here they are:
- At the end of the day
- Fairly unique
- I personally
- At this moment in time
- With all due respect
- Absolutely
- It’s a nightmare
- Shouldn’t of
- 24/7
- It’s not rocket science
Found via Neatorama
I like it – can you think of any others?
Sun, 23 Nov 2008 at 6:05 pm
An ex-co-worker drove me wild with “don’t get me wrong”. Did he permanently assume I couldn’t understand him?
Sun, 23 Nov 2008 at 8:07 pm
I think that translates to, “I’m about to say something unintelligent. Make it work for me.”
Sun, 23 Nov 2008 at 8:48 pm
11. Mommy, mommy, mommy!
12. Mommy, where are you?
13. Mommy, are you done working on your machine?
Sorry– I shouldn’t of added these, but I hear them 24/7– having a toddler you know, it’s a nightmare. They absolutely won’t qualify for the next edition of Damp Squid, but with all due respect to Mr. Butterfield and his devotees, at the end of the day, I personally would rather hear all of the top ten most annoying phrases in a single paragraph… hey, it’s not rocket science; at this moment in time I’m just starved for adult conversation.
How do you like me now?
Sun, 23 Nov 2008 at 11:56 pm
“don’t get me wrong–if anyone’s wrong, it’s YOU”
Mon, 24 Nov 2008 at 8:32 am
Trish what was BB’s again? I forgot and wanted to add it – it was a good one.
Mon, 24 Nov 2008 at 4:24 pm
I could probably create quite a list:
-as I was saying
-I personally think
-positively
Tue, 25 Nov 2008 at 2:25 pm
I literally peed my pants reading these entries!! Odd that “fairly unique” made the list but not “very unique”. Oh well.
Tue, 25 Nov 2008 at 9:14 pm
literally peed your pants. nice.