10 most hated phrases

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 11:48 pm

Anyone hate any of these? (the story is from a Korean English language newspaper)

The 10 Most Hated English Phrases

Oxford University has chosen the 10 most-hated sloppy idiomatic expressions. The Telegraph reports the most hated phrase was "at the end of the day," while "fairly unique" came in a close second.
Oxford researchers explained that the phrase "at the end of the day" was chosen because it could be summed up in one word: "finally," while "fairly unique" is an oxymoron.

In third place was "I personally," which was tautological, while coming in at eighth was "shouldn't of," an illiterate rendering of "shouldn't have."

Writer Jeremy Butterfield said the ninth most-hated phrase "24/7" was repeated too often and became office jargon. He pointed out that people were growing increasingly tired of repetitive anecdotes, jokes and involuntary linguistic tics.

Although they did not make the Top 10, "literally" and "ironically" were also chosen as expressions that irritated people.

The Top 10 were:

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 (twenty-four seven)
10. It's not rocket science

Lorikeet · Post by **Lorikeet** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 12:24 am

"Shouldn't of" irritates me even though I understand from whence it stems.

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:25 pm

Original link please.

fluffyhamster · Post by **fluffyhamster** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 5:06 pm

Only two results came up on Google for e.g. 'Oxford University has chosen the 10 most-hated sloppy idiomatic expressions. The Telegraph reports the most hated phrase was "at the end of the day," while "fairly unique" came in a close second.' The first seems to be "it" (the "guff above"), the second, the Telegraph piece on which the blog bit was based.

http://www.oxfordcityguide.com/2009/01/ ... rases.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... rases.html

lolwhites · Post by **lolwhites** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 3:31 pm

1 and 4 irritate me too. Also free gifts and local residents

Incidentally, given the events of the last few months, has financial expert become an oxymoron?

Sally Olsen · Post by **Sally Olsen** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 6:50 pm

I am irritated by "like". Yesterday on the bus I counted 150 times that a young woman used this word in a 10 minute ride. "Like she wore this bag of a dress, like gross, eh."

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 3:44 am

I agree with Sally that nothing is as annoying as that.

Are linguists officially allowed to hate phrases? On what grounds? A linguist knows that a natural language is not a perfectly orderly, logical system, and is all a bit messy, right? Therefore why be upset if part of the system seems to be violated?

Why should we hate phrases because they are new/common? It seems to me that what people often object to is the attitude of the sort of people who often seem to use the phrases - in this case many of them seem to be the the language of informal pontification, the typical language of the DJ, tabloid journalist or sportsman. I bet most Oxford Uni people use most of them too though, if they wish to pontificate informally.

As to redundant terms, isn't "I personally" a kind of humble hedge? Don't academics generally like those? And if people said 'This magazine comes with a gift', rather than a 'free gift' wouldn't it be a little bit confusing?

I suppose "absolutely" is hatable because it sounds a bit yuppie-like, while "It's a nightmare" sounds a bit wet/camp or something. Or do people hate these because they are grown-up "look at me I'm modern and fashionable" words, the same as the teenage "like"?

ssean · Post by **ssean** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 7:55 am

my pet hate phrase is "my bad", i remember hearing it on tv a couple of years ago thinking that will never catch on, but the other day i heard my 11yr old daughter using it

mesomorph · Post by **mesomorph** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:49 pm

'Off of'.

God damn it.

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 4:25 am

I also dislike "my bad". My bad I guess.......

It's unusual to express such fogeyish sentiments without using capitals and punctuation!

zorro (3) · Post by **zorro (3)** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:20 pm

I like the idea of them being linguistic tics.

Although I can't help but think the reason people don't like these phrases, is because they are 'out' already. They have expired or become over used. Cliche. Then it's like anything with fashion. It's cool (let me stretch the analogy a little) when you're the only one wearing the new Nike air max, but when everyone has got them. 'Mum, they don't fit me any more. I need a new pair.'

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 1:47 am

That's definitely an important part of it for some things, but since none of those on the list were ever really obvious attempts to be "cool" in the first place, you wonder why they should go out of fashion.

zorro (3) · Post by **zorro (3)** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 11:29 pm

Perhaps I stretched my analogy a little too far.

In that case, I can settle for the obvious. They have simply been overused and have become common.

Or it could be due to word level hypercorrection. Labov reckoned that people from lower middle class and upper working class tend to over enunciate, or jump over the next class above them. Like Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses when he used to say everything in a posh accent for overt prestige, or to try and get kudos.

Maybe this is the same mechanism at work here but on a word level. Just a thought I had when I looked at the phrases again, especially 'absolutely', 'I personally', 'At the end of the day', 'fairly unique' and 'it's a nightmare'.

strictly_nicky · Post by **strictly_nicky** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:54 am

It's like the great Ricky Bobby said in 2006's cinematic classic Talladega Nights.

--"With all due respect, Mr. Downey, I had no idea you'd had experimental surgery to have your balls removed."
--"What did you say? What was that?"
--"Well, I said 'with all due respect'!"
--"That doesn't mean you can just say whatever you want to me--"
--"It sure as heck does!"
--"No, it doesn't!"
--"It's in the Geneva Convention, look it up!"

How can you not like the phrase With all due respect.

I personally love it.

As for "absolutely", I find it less irritating if you give it a little of that expletive infixation juice and say "Abso-*beep*-lutely".

MrPedantic · Post by **MrPedantic** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:50 pm

I suppose "At the end of the day" provides a usefully sonorous introduction to a statement, especially in an interview; while "I personally" allows a little melody of tentativeness and guardedness that isn't possible with a bare "I".

MrP