Annoying words...

[Seattle]

My favorite words that I find annoying...

Gifted, gifting..."I was gifted this new watch" "Christmas is coming, I will be doing a lot of gifting".

Eats..."I'm coming to your city. Can you recommend some good eats".

Prolly..."It's cloudy. It's prolly going to rain".

Puter..."You sent me an email? Let me check my puter."

Do you have annoying favorites?

 

[wegs]

Troll (internet version) - a word that’s so often misused; people mistaking disagreement for “trolling.”
“He’s trolling!” No, he just disagrees with your point of view.

An actual internet troll is someone who deliberately posts to cause derision and rile up other members of a forum, or on social media, with no intention of debating in a sincere way.

Bandwidth - “I don’t have the bandwidth to handle one more project, Bob.” It’s so passive aggressive. And most people who say this do have “the bandwidth.”

Pivot - “If we’re going to be competitive with our services, we have to learn how to pivot.” It sounds like it’s meant to be edgy, but it’s annoying.

I’ll be back with more. . .

 

[exchemist]

My favorite words that I find annoying...

Gifted, gifting..."I was gifted this new watch" "Christmas is coming, I will be doing a lot of gifting".

Eats..."I'm coming to your city. Can you recommend some good eats".

Prolly..."It's cloudy. It's prolly going to rain".

Puter..."You sent me an email? Let me check my puter."

Do you have annoying favorites?

“Reaching out”

 

[Seattle]

Troll (internet version) - a word that’s so often misused; people mistaking disagreement for “trolling.”
“He’s trolling!” No, he just disagrees with your point of view.

An actual internet troll is someone who deliberately posts to cause derision and rile up other members of a forum, or social media, with no intention of debating in a serious way.

Bandwidth - “I don’t have the bandwidth to handle one more project, Bob.” It’s so passive aggressive. And most people who say this do have “the bandwidth.”

Pivot - “If we’re going to be competitive with our services, we have to learn how to pivot.” It sounds like it’s meant to be edgy, but it’s annoying.

I’ll be back with more. . .

Haha, I agree regarding "trolling". "Bandwidth" doesn't bother me but I can see that it's been used too much in "corporate speak" in your job so it has become annoying.

"Pivot" ...yes more corporate speak which reminded me of "Let's unpack this" "Let's peel it back like an onion". In the media "So" is over used among reporters and editorial types. They can't answer a question without starting with "So".

How did the Trump trial go today? "So, the judge really took control today..." Can you explain what is going to happen if Trump is convicted? "So, he may get home arrest, jail or just probation".

"Let's unpack this" is way overused currently. It's as corny as an old fashioned "Let's run this up the flagpole and see what the boss has to say"

Right out of school the one that annoyed me was "How are we going to grow the company"

 

[Pinball1970]

"Sense check."

Can you sense check this document?

 

[Pinball1970]

Plonk.

For wine

 

[Pinball1970]

Cockney rhyming slang, all of it.

 

[wegs]

Haha, I agree regarding "trolling". "Bandwidth" doesn't bother me but I can see that it's been used too much in "corporate speak" in your job so it has become annoying.

"Pivot" ...yes more corporate speak which reminded me of "Let's unpack this" "Let's peel it back like an onion". In the media "So" is over used among reporters and editorial types. They can't answer a question without starting with "So".

How did the Trump trial go today? "So, the judge really took control today..." Can you explain what is going to happen if Trump is convicted? "So, he may get home arrest, jail or just probation".

"Let's unpack this" is way overused currently. It's as corny as an old fashioned "Let's run this up the flagpole and see what the boss has to say"

Right out of school the one that annoyed me was "How are we going to grow the company"

haha I'm guilty of using ''So'' in the business world, when beginning conversations. Don't judge!

Agree totally with all of the other annoying phrases, though! ''We don't need to boil the ocean...'' is another overused phrase in work meetings. One of my former bosses a few years back, used to conduct entire marketing meetings, using nothing but euphemisms and idioms. lol ''At the end of the day, when the rubber meets the road, we need to remember that we don't need to boil the ocean. It's not a race, it's a marathon.'' I'm paraphrasing, but it's not that far off the mark of what he used to say.

''It's not rocket science'' is another cringe phrase. I find it to be a bit demeaning honestly, because the person is implying that you're too obtuse to understand what the task is, so the other person is explaining how simple it is. Maybe it's not that deep, but sometimes, it comes across as condescending.

And ''right sizing.'' Ugh, I really dislike that euphemism because at the end of the day (oops, sorry) - everyone knows it means ''job cuts.'' It simply sounds better.

 

[Sarkus]

In football/soccer commentary, I get irked by them referring to "pens" instead of "penalties" - as in "that was never a pen!"

"Taliswoman" is another, just because I see it as an example of taking inclusiveness too far, as it is etymological nonsense (talisman has nothing to do with gender).

"Literally" when they don't mean what follows to be taken literally.

"Like" when used, like, as a filler. "And he was, like, 'are you looking at me?'"


Regarding "It's not rocket science" - at my last job they found out I had a degree involving actual rocket science, so you can imagine the "fun" they had with that.

 

[C C]

[...] Do you have annoying favorites?

Perhaps every one-word bromide, tired genteelism, and sad/happy occasion slash oral presentation platitude out there. But if everybody was instead riskily and creatively making up their own each instance rather than needle reusing, I might be wasting time puzzling over the expressions or wondering if I was interpreting _X_ unfamiliar item correctly.

So despite the potential vexation, I guess I ultimately prefer our hackneyedness to the tower of Babel. (As far every everyday communication goes, anyway -- not films, tv-shows, commercials, arts & lit.)
_

 

[Seattle]

haha I'm guilty of using ''So'' in the business world, when beginning conversations. Don't judge!

Agree totally with all of the other annoying phrases, though! ''We don't need to boil the ocean...'' is another overused phrase in work meetings. One of my former bosses a few years back, used to conduct entire marketing meetings, using nothing but euphemisms and idioms. lol ''At the end of the day, when the rubber meets the road, we need to remember that we don't need to boil the ocean. It's not a race, it's a marathon.'' I'm paraphrasing, but it's not that far off the mark of what he used to say.

''It's not rocket science'' is another cringe phrase. I find it to be a bit demeaning honestly, because the person is implying that you're too obtuse to understand what the task is, so the other person is explaining how simple it is. Maybe it's not that deep, but sometimes, it comes across as condescending.

And ''right sizing.'' Ugh, I really dislike that euphemism because at the end of the day (oops, sorry) - everyone knows it means ''job cuts.'' It simply sounds better.

So. you use so. So, that's OK, I still like you.

It's not rocket science doesn't bother me. The corporate cringe started, IMO, with the Microsoft and Apple stage meetings where the CEO comes out wearing tennis shoes, a headset and acts like a cult leader/cheerleader.

Before the more detailed press conferences after a game, sports interviews used to be cringe inducing in that they weren't really saying anything. The team that scores the most points will win or we've got to really want it or it's all about the big D (defense), etc.

 

[Magical Realist]

They can't answer a question without starting with "So"

I hate that. Like they are continuing with a point they previously made. I also got tired of "Really?" real quick. It's faded out now thankfully..

 

[Seattle]

I hate that. Like they are continuing with a point they previously made. I also got tired of "Really?" real quick. It's faded out now thankfully..

The written versions, sometimes seen in these parts are "ya know" or in keeping with your point about "so" sounding like a continuation of a prior conversation (that didn't actually happen). there is "this reminds me of the joke about XXX, well anyway". The joke isn't told, it's like the writer is having a conversation with themselves as if we know what is going on in their head.

It's a self-indulgent style in other words.

 

[Seattle]

There's more..."explain it to me like I'm a 5 year old" "I'm just a working man" "I'm just a dummy".
These are phrases you'd never hear me utter.

 

[wegs]

“Going forward…” - as opposed to what, going backwards?

“Feminazi” - just over used

“No offense, but…” - when the person is about to say something offensive

This is a fun thread. ^_^

 

[Seattle]

“Going forward…” - as opposed to what, going backwards?

“Feminazi” - just over used

“No offense, but…” - when the person is about to say something offensive

This is a fun thread. ^_^

Speaking of the "no offense" remark, there is a sports reporter (Steven A Smith) who is always dramatic and loud but before he trashes someone he also says something like "Some people may say that Lebron James has declined and isn't the player that he used to be. I'm not saying that. This man is one of the greatest players ever, a fine human being and an excellent basketball mind...but some people would say that he is just a shell of his former self..."

In other words damning by faint praise.

 

[Seattle]

This isn't a matter of annoying words but an annoying way of arguing (political argument) is noting correlation when there is no causation.

"I got laid off yesterday but the rich only got richer" "My uncle died of Covid but corporations made record profits".

This is the moving target approach as well. "The rich don't pay enough tax" Actually they pay most of the Federal Income taxes. "Well they should and anyway sales taxes are regressive and a large percentage of the poor's income"

So, do the rich pay enough or not and of course sales taxes are a larger percentage of someone's income who has almost no income. By definition how could it be otherwise? There is no world in which a rich person will pay a larger percentage of their income in sales taxes than a poor person. The only person who could do that would be another poor person.

 

[Sarkus]

This is a fun thread

Yeah, that one irks me, too!

Shortened words like "gorge" instead of "gorgeous" irritate.
Then there's words like "amazeballs" but these mostly irritate when spoken by someone over the age of 20, especially by a 40-year old manager in a meeting discussing work issues

And how can one forget the highly annoying "your tax bill is overdue"!

 

[wegs]

Yeah, that one irks me, too!

Shortened words like "gorge" instead of "gorgeous" irritate.
Then there's words like "amazeballs" but these mostly irritate when spoken by someone over the age of 20, especially by a 40-year old manager in a meeting discussing work issues

And how can one forget the highly annoying "your tax bill is overdue"!

“Amazeballs.” Yea, that’s up there with “awesome-sauce.” Someone needs to make these words go away.

 

[James R]

Cockney rhyming slang, all of it.

Most people these days miss the point of rhyming slang.

The original point was to make it difficult or impossible to understand certain conversations, if you weren't 'in' on the secret.

Properly used, one never uses the rhyming part of the slang - only the non-rhyming part.

So, for example, if you want to talk about your feet, you talk about your "plates" instead: "Being made to stand around all day is hard on the old plates."

Anybody doesn't know that "plates" refers to "plates of meat" (which is the rhyming slang for "feet") will be confused about what you might be referring to.

Too often these days, when people talk about rhyming slang, they immediately give the game away by immediately explaining whatever rhyme it is that they are using, which makes the whole exercise essentially pointless.