Words or phrases that you hate ...

[longers]

I've had a look through this thread and might have missed it but "my bad" gets my vote.

 

[philipbh]

[With apologies to gbb]

The use of the word "Take" to mean impression / interpretation

I know that it is an acceptable meaning of the word - but it makes me uncomfortable for some reason

 

[Ste T.]

Not a word or phrase, but a style of speaking. I'm talking about up-speak.

That habit, that seemed to come from Australia via the the west coast of the USA, that for some time looked likely to take hold here. The habit of ending everything you say in an upwards inflection so that your every sentence sounds like a question. Luckily, enough people started to ridicule those using it, so now you only tend to occasionally hear it.
It was a close call for a while though.

 

[Aperitif]

I'm sure we all have bumpy journeys when taking the language for a ride - it would be a bit dull otherwise. My dislike always used to be "To be honest and truthful with you..." as preface to something 'needing profundity'. I wouldn't expect most people to be otherwise.
Not much bothers me now, as long as I can play around and the important stuff gets communicated - d'you you know what I mean. Right?

 

[swee'pea99]

'Dear Colleague' at the head of spam. I am *not* your xxxxing colleague!

 

[danphoto]

Misuse of "i.e." and "e.g.". Even the BBC news site has somebody writing on it who uses "i.e." to mean "for example".

Thankfully, I think they still get their "its" and it's" right, at least for the time being ...

 

[Jason B]

Do the math

 

[Ravenbait]

Misuse of "i.e." and "e.g.". Even the BBC news site has somebody writing on it who uses "i.e." to mean "for example".

Thankfully, I think they still get their "its" and it's" right, at least for the time being ...

But even they spell focused as "focussed".

Bah.

Sam

 

[Angelfishsolo]

I read a quote by J.R.R Tolkien in which he says the most beautiful words in the English language (when used together) are "Cellar Door" He's right you know

sound[/i] of words, regardless of meaning, from someone called David Crystal: “You’re in a spaceship approaching a planet. You’ve been told there are two races on it, one beautiful and friendly to humans, the other unfriendly, ugly and mean-spirited. You also know that one of these groups is called the Lamonians; the other is called the Grataks. Which is which? Most people assume that the Lamonians are the nice guys.”

 

[dragon72]

"...duh, duh duh, duh duh"
when someone can't be arsed to finish a part of their story by using words

 

[asterix]

<br />I read a quote by J.R.R Tolkien in which he says the most beautiful words in the English language (when used together) are &quot;<b><i>Cellar Door</i></b>&quot;  He's right you know <img src='http://www.cyclechat.net/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/icon_smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /><br /><br />

<br /><br /><br />

Like 'War of the Worlds', Eloi vs Morlocks. The latter ate the former for breakfast (dinner and tea).

 

[Angelfishsolo]

I think you mean "The Time Machine"

 

[Tinuts]

"It's a job of work"

"At the end of the day"

"Knowottahmeen"

 

[ianrauk]

'Yo Bro', or as we say on the planet earth, Good morning.

To refer to ones wife as 'The wife' How rude.

'Ball park figure' What the bloody hell is one of them?

When people say they are loving something. eg 'I'm loving the new wall paper' / 'I'm loving my new hair style'

Mrs Ian doesn't think so...she seems to like I call her that.
but I do tell her she's the second wife. But the best wife so far....

 

[goo_mason]

'Hand-cut sandwiches' - as opposed to foot-cut ones, perhaps?

'If you have any questions, please contact myself.' - people seem to think that 'myself' is the 'posher' version of 'me'. AAAAAARGHH!!!

And here's a Scottish mangling that I really hate:

'That thing what yous have did' - I feel like throwing myself off the building when I hear that one.