Most Irritating Phrases
I’ve always been fascinated by words and phrases, and how we manage to employ textures of meaning, even when we don’t know the etymologies.
The Wired blog has a great post by John Scott Lewinski that called my attention to a new book called A Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare
We learn, for instance, that we use language in chunks of words–as one linguist put it, “we know words by the company that they keep.” For instance, the word quintessentially is joined half the time with a nationality–something is “quintessentially American” or “quintessentially British.” Likewise, in comparing eccentric with quirky, the Corpus reveals that eccentric almost always appears in reference to people, as an “eccentric uncle,” while quirky usually refers to the actions of people, as in “quirky behavior.” Using such observations, Butterfield explains how dictionary makers decide which words to include, how they find definitions, and how the Corpus influences the process.
Also included in the book is the “Oxford Researchers List of the Top 10 Most Annoying Phrases.” I’ve seen lists like this before, but I was interested in the University of Oxford researchers’ version because they track such usage through the Oxford English Corpus database, a terrific resource in its own right. Someday, I’ll have my very own OED…. sigh. Yes, I’m enough of a bookworm nerd to drool over it.
- At the end of the day
- Fairly unique
- I personally
- At this moment in time
- With all due respect
- Absolutely
- It’s a nightmare
- Shouldn’t of (Damn you all! It’s “shouldn’t HAVE”!)
- 24/7
- It’s not rocket science
I would add these:
- smart X
- extreme X
- X on steroids
- cutting-edge
- bottom-line
- outside the box
- dealbreaker
- 110%
- having said that
- I’m just saying
- I’m not a racist, but…
- literally (especially when it’s not literally)
- basically
- irregardless
- like, you know
- and I was like
- I mean
- to be completely honest
- touch base
- I hear what you’re saying
- same difference
- nucular
- rilly
- no doubt
- happy camper
- free gift
- I’m good
- on the same page
- maverick
- sour grapes
Have any more?