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’ve got to go clean the yard.
There is a small tree I will chop down, and then chop up.
yi9tbos
I’ve been driving on the parkway, now I am going to park in the driveway.
Same difference.
I cannot stand “winningest”
bump for later read
Early morning, slow post day filler.
yitbos
OK, I’ll stop whinging.
“Thusly”
“multitasking” which apparently means (at least at my job) banging your own head against the wall while your boss simultaneously kicks you in your ass.
I never understood “your personal” whatever from nose hair trimmers to pan pizza. I suppose it’s meant to appeal to people who grew up in orpanages and had to share every worldly possession with the other kids.
“at the end of the day”
No, that’s a good one.
“At the end of the day”
That one annoys me, but it’s a pretty descriptive aphorism.
Here are some that annoy mean because the original meaning is (mostly) lost: Mixed bag, cakewalk, decimated.
“I could care less” when they really mean “I couldn’t care less.”
I think we’ve, at least partially, like the word ‘liberal’ managed to turn ‘multicultural’ into a bad word. Even ‘diversity’ is coming to be recognized as a synonym for ‘bullshite.’
sleeping in.
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