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 ...
I hate when people say what they had for lunch and use the name of the restaurant as if it were the name of a food item...i.e., “I had Taco Bell for Lunch.”
Unless you have an appetite for bricks and mortar, it’s more likely you had food (if you can call it that) from Taco Bell for lunch.
I’m more fed up with historical election/moment/whatever.
It should be “hysterical”.
I suppose “shouldna” is right out, then.
This thread is, how should I put it, uhm, ‘amazing’, ‘incredible’ !!!!!!!!!
Thinking outside the box
E-Ticket ride
Push the envelope
Change the paradigm
Most importantly
Utilize
Sustainability
Rubric
White paper
Foci
Appreciative inquiry (if you haven’t heard this one, thank your lucky stars)
Organic (when used on something not organic)
5. “Oh, no she di’int!”
You must be from Rhode Island.
2. A good read.
3. Grow a business.
4. Could care less.
"stakeholders"
"synergy" and "synergistic"
“Chang we can believe in”
Followed closely by
“My friends”.
LOL! Good job!
as per
“could care less”
(Well good, glad you think at least _that_ highly of the idea...)
slow moving connection cost me 2 seconds.
No, sadly, it’s heard down hear in the south too.
Will that train miss us?
Gift certificates from Weasle Jack's Tattoo Parlor are not accepted for the meal.
The janitor looked at your x-rays and HE thinks it's benign.
Honey, What did the mechanic mean when he said the engine “ate a piston”?
No, your policy doesn't cover that..or this...or this.
I am so g.d. tired of people who think it’s cute or clever or witty or whatever delusion they suffer from, to spell ‘probably’ as prolly. It’s stupid , asinine, and unoriginal. And everyone pronounces it prob bab lee anyway, so what’s the bloody point behind the ‘prolly’ spelling?
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