Just for Fun: Words that drive you crazy!

If I see the words plethora and pop another time, I'm going to puke. Puke: That's a word I like.

A plethora of recipes can be found on the Internet.

I have a plethora of homework this weekend.

At this point, plethora has been so over used it's now cliche. I find the word obnoxious.

Pop: another obnoxious, cliche word.

Wear purple eyeshadow and your eyes will really pop!

Add a splash of yellow paint and those mountains will pop!

What words drive you crazy?

Phrases more than words Brenda

"At the end of the day" - argghh. Once heard someone say "At the end of the day we've lost another year."

"Going forward" or its wordier cousin "On a going forward basis" - Where's my gun?

Politicians have suddenly latched onto "We need to have that conversation." No you don't, you need to take some action. Sheesh.

Enough already. Calm down lad. Time for my afternoon nap, during which I'm hoping for a plethora of pleasant dreams.

"On the same page".  I heard that so much at my former job it made me quit! 

Oh and another one is "I kid you not".........Okay then don't!

Articles that start with "If you've been looking for (keyword/-phrase) you've come to the right place."

*Yawn* That is so 2009.

Ah yes, kimbesa and I used to have a nickname for someone at the other site who started every single one of her 500+ pages with that.  Our nickname wasn't nice. 

"That said" yada yada

A coworker was caught having done nothing on a project....he answered, when asked about it....

"I'm not aware of any forward momentum on that issue."  

Ha ha

I tweeted a classic this morning from the mouth of a colleague, who if only she would listen to herself some days....

'And we, like, sent pictures of like, shoes and like, stuff to each other.'

I HATE the overuse of the word like as a filler. I also hate the generic catch all and stuff to end a phrase.

Got is another pet hate. Gotten I can live with, but got really annoys me.

So does nice. As the Inuit have 17 words for snow, so we have more than nice to express that something is pleasant, fun, good mannered, looks OK, tastes yummy. About the only time I use it is sarcastically with an overuse of exclamation marks after it.

Whatever. I am seriously going to buy my pregnant colleague a baby bib with that on for her newborn, because it is her catchphrase.

Business-wise, I'm becoming good at bully bingo:

• going forward
• rightsizing
• at the end of the day

I have to hand it to our current CEO though, he gave a presentation today and he didn't allow me to play bully bingo. Not once. He's a very good speaker and presenter.

Am sure I'll come up with more once I've read my way through the thread.

WordChaser, Yummy is the other word that drives me crazy.

Okay Chef, I can take a hint. Now I have to go back through all my articles and remove that phrase. lol!

BrendaReeves: 06/19/2013 - 04:04 PM

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WordChaser, Yummy is the other word that drives me crazy.

Especially in the phrase 'yummy mummy'?! *runs away screaming*

There are so many cliche phrases in the English language that it's hard to write without them. I catch myself starting to use them all the time. I'm going to do some housecleaning on my articles.

If you put a plethora of green frosting on those yummy cupcakes, they'll really pop in the photograph.

That one I haven't heard.

I hate the word that.

I can't seem to stop using it. Do we ever need to use it?

When I wrote for DMS, I decided I wasn't going to use it anymore. I wrote an article omitting it, and the editor went through and put thats where I had intentionally omitted them.

Not a hint, Brenda. I didn't think about you when I wrote it.

My nap was filled with hated words and phrases (a veritable plethora Brenda).

"absolutely" - Oh dear

How about ordering a cup of coffee/glass of water/or nothing at all and being told "awesome"?

Even if it is impossible, everything nowadays seems to be "No problem." Okay, so where's the Higgs Boson?

We have a prime minister in Canada who starts every sentence with "I want to be perfectly clear about this" and then obfuscates, dissembles, and skirts the issue as though he had a black belt in bafflegab.

How about new stores just "Opening" instead of the obligatory "Grand Opening" that is always very ordinary?

Can we all please start thinking inside the box again? It's so much easier for us codgers.

"Virtual" and "Literally" are totally, like, confused all the time.

But, here's a word I love - "susurration," meaning a whispering sound or murmur, the noise made by dry leaves skittered across a patio by a light breeze. Two other words I adore - meadow and Daddy.

Now you've started this Brenda I'm going to be plagued by words and phrases that irritate me.

No, that's more about people who don't know when to place it in a clause.

I find that when, ..., that something happens. My editorial red pen becomes a tadge twitchy! Two sets of that in one clause? Surely it's

I find that when, ..., something happens.

The other time where I find myself being editorially challenged not to throw the book at the writer is when they will insist on referring to 'people that have diabetes', for instance, rather than 'people who...' (or even 'whom').

Cardinal rule: people are who

• The Spy who Came in from the Cold

Things, objects, even sometimes animals are that.

• The Cat that Walked by Himself

Grumpy Editor has been Grumpy All Day. Please forgive?

Now, Rupert, trust you to go off the page!

A word I adore is discombobulated. A permanent state of confusion.

Sounds about right, for me at least.

My friend insists on using 'actually' as a filler word. One day I'll ask her politely to please stop before I am actually forced to disembowel her.

*Sigh*

I like the word apoplexy - "the sudden loss of the ability to feel or move parts of the body caused by too little blood going to the brain". 

I used to get that at work all the time.  Or so I claimed.