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
How about the guy who modifies an absolute with the next phrase out of his mouth? "Yes. I mean . . . "
yitbos
"Zero fat candy"
yitbos
That reminds me of "a whole nother..."
That's just "another" with a "whole" stuck in the middle of it.
-PJ
"Athleticism"
yitbos
Well, I guess the correct pronounciation depends on where you are. I’ve taken to saying “awnt” since that is the norm here (southern Ontario), but I grew up in Nova Scotia saying “ant”, which was the norm there. Nova Scotia, of course, was largely settled by the Scots, while there were more English here. When in Rome...
“Yeah, and a few years ago, the teens would say: “Nah, I’m straight”.
To which I replied: “I’m not interested in your sexual orientation.”
Good one. Then there’s the ever popular use of the multi-purpose phrase “hook up.” My crabby response to that one is usually, “Hook up to what?” Not terribly clever but it does make a point.
So like you know, dude, English as a second language is now becoming a reality for American-born kids. Is there like something wrong with me? Or is there like something radically wrong with that?
I know, it’s funny when someone with a British accent uses the “short a” in places an American would use the “aw or ah”, where it’s normally the other way around. It sounds “off” or flat.
One glaring example recently, to me, was on Dancing with the Stars. The very proper Englishman Goodman calls the “mambo” the “ma’am bo” - with a “short a,” rhyming with Sambo. Most of the rest of us call it the “mawmbo.”
I “can’t get my head around” this thread.
Who’d a-thunk it?
You go girl...Been there done that....My bad...
Actually, yes...there IS...
It’s from the days of yore when we used to say, “Heighth and Breadth”
So, you’re saying they’re BASICALLY ACIDIC...???
good one...!!!
I was LIKE cold....you know...
frikkin’ frigid, Frank.
A serious moment in cultural history occurred a few years ago, marking a significant takeover of public rhetoric by proles. I’m referring to gasoline trucks changing the warning word on the rear from INFLAMMABLE to FLAMMABLE. Widespread public education had at last produced a population which no longer recognized -in as an intensifier. The proles for whom the sign FLAMMABLE was devised will be impelled when they hear that something (like a book or a work of art) is invaluable to toss it into the trash immediately.— Paul Fussell, Class, 1983.
They might be talking about the same number of people, only skinnier. Then you wouldn't have fewer people, but you would have less people.
“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?”
~~~~~~
That’s easy....
All you would have to do is IMAGINE you know what women REALLY want.....!!!
When you get five blocks horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, jump up and shout "BULLSHIT!"
This game will leverage synergies and core competencies in a proactive manner while allowing you to embrace a paradigm- building networking opportunity with your fellow team members. That said, and at the end of the day, utilize best practices and JIT concepts in order to maximize your particular experience.
I have a Websters Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, copyright 1984, that lists two pronunciations for spigot. 'spig·ət, 'spik·ət.
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