Grating

~ Clarissa

There are some cliches I like but there are also those that drive me nuts. The worst ones are “in one fell swoop” and “chock-full.” Brrr.

Which expressions give you a headache?

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Published by Clarissa

22 thoughts on “Grating”

  2. The British terms ‘gobsmacked’ and ‘innit?’ both make my ears/teeth/soul hurt.

    The modern buzzword ‘conversation’ grates on my nerve because of its newspeak flavor.

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  3. My all time hated phrase is a very specific Indianism: ‘the same’.

    ‘I have sent you an email. Please read the same and respond.’

    ‘Please bring X the next time you come to India as dad is asking for the same.’

    I die a little every time I encounter this.

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  4. I’m fine with almost anything in speech, as it can be livened by gesticulation and voice modulation. It’s hard to find a cutesy expression that survives being written.

    I will say that I hate the words community (used always to point to amorohoys groups with no real cohesion), program, and resources. All are entirely vacuous and used by people who are bullshiters.

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  5. I tend to get most irritated by faddish expressions or phrases. So things like
    1) Saying “This!” to signal agreement with a comment. Even worse is when people say “So much this!” My brain immediately shuts down at that point and I stop processing anything written after that.

    2) The word “nope.” Somehow this word has exploded– particularly in online writing. People seem to think it’s cute or funny. It’s neither. It’s annoying.

    3) Using “they” to refer to a singular, specific person. The most irritating is when someone demands to be referred to as “they” instead of “he” or “she”. It’s pretentious and legitimately confusing and makes tracking sentences very difficult. I particularly hate when people try to claim the long history of the singular they. “Jane Austen and Shakespeare used it!”, the class goes. And it’s so disingenuous. The singular they has only ever been used to describe a general type situation–as in “If someone asks for directions, send them to the help desk.” They has never, until now, been used to describe a specific individual. And I think it’s clumsy and awkward.

    Rant over! 🙂

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    1. And that should say “the claim goes”. Not the “the class goes”. My phone makes annoying and mysterious corrections.

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      1. And: “no worries” (instead of “you’re welcome”)–also, “no problem,” which spawned the horrible “no worries”

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  7. “Nice weather out there—if you’re a duck”
    …always uttered when it’s raining.
    Love being in the presence of such brilliant creative wits. Next stop for them: the local comedy club …

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  8. The overuse of the euphemisms “challenge” and “challenging” (instead of “problem”). And now that I think about it, the word “problematic”drives me nuts, too, but that’s mainly because of the people who use it too much–the SJWs, who think way too many things are “problematic.”

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  9. … “beggars belief…” this awful cliché is used by people who are reacting to an exaggerated story, don’t know what it means and and can’t be bothered to think for themselves!

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  10. In the military, it’s not a good idea to tell your superior officer bluntly that you think he/she made a mistake, so the military cliche is ,”Sir, I think we missed an opportunity…”

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  11. A headline for an article (usually for opinion pieces in online journalism) that ends with “Here’s Why.”

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