Posted on 11/07/2008 8:35:19 AM PST by edzo4
Heading the list was the expression 'at the end of the day', which was followed in second place by the phrase 'fairly unique'.
The tautological statement "I personally" made third place – an expression that BBC Radio 4 presenter John Humphreys has described as "the linguistic equivalent of having chips with rice."
Also making the top 10 is the grammatically incorrect "shouldn't of", instead of "shouldn't have".
The phrases appear in a book called Damp Squid, named after the mistake of confusing a squid with a squib, a type of firework.
The researchers who compiled the list monitor the use of phrases in a database called the Oxford University Corpus, which comprises books, papers, magazines, broadcast, the internet and other sources.
The top ten most irritating phrases:
1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
And my #1 all time annoying phrase that will gring my teeth.........
1. "WHATEVER !"
“Economic Justice”
“You know?”
WOW! I always assumed it was another worn out football phrase.
“It just goes to show ya...”
“Live and learn...”
“Who’d a thunk it...”
gring = grind.....whatever........
they “disrespected” me
LOL I dislike that one too! However, I am so tired of hearing people use “sort of” in strange ways, for instance, “He’s sort of always obnoxious.” You cannot be sort of anything if you are completely that thing!
“in depth analysis” from the mouths of a 30 second news “reporter”
University educated (like in what?, cinema?)
student athlete
incredible
fabulous
fantastic
wonnnnderrrrful
hot
cool
“my boys”
got your back
partnering
secure investments
blue chip stocks
market jitters
savvy investors
market rebound
over/under
researchers have found
entertainment package
bigwigs
and my all time favorites....
“with yo’ bad self”
“doing my thing”
“don’t preach to me”
“preaching to the choir”
“it’s not you, it’s me”
“I’d rather be (fill in blank)”
Well, I guess the stock market showed how much confidence
“it” have in Obama....down, what 400 points today so far?
I wonder if he would vote for a late term abortion on
his election? Guess the answer is above his pay grade.
Yup, we are no longer going forward....
Seriously. I sit next to a guy at the office who cannot say 10 words without including that. I wish I had a nickel for each time I’ve heard that over the past year.
You know what I mean? Geesh!
I bet you sort of wouldn’t like the phrase “fixin’ to” either, as in “I’m fixin’ to go to the store.” ;-)
This one drives me absolutely crazy.
Regarding the “whole nine yards” —
The saying dates from the World War II and The Korean conflict, where “nine yards” was the length of an aircraft machine-gun ammunition belt loaded into the wings 50 cal., and to “go the full nine yards” was to use it up entirely.
In other words, hit ‘em with everything you’ve got.
Being from TX I find it perfectly charming! Sort of....
Speak truth to power.
puke.
Don't they score such matches when those clubs play each other with a body count?
Also missing from the list;
Thailand.
Pergola ( only applies to ACC college football when discussing the University of Virginia )
Hell...I’ve never been a good speller anyway.
“like”
“you know what I mean?”
“Ya, Ya, Ya”
“Amazing!”
“Fight with me, my friends”
“no new taxes” ??
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