Phrases that annoy you the most

[n3mo]

I love it when people offer to buy something and then confirm they will pay with ........ CASH! Wtf else is the seller expecting? Peanuts or marshmallows??? Grrrrrrr

[Pica-Pica]

Starting an answer with 'so'. Especially if it is a serious programme like newsnight. Don't get me started on calling a mixed group 'guys', luckily 'folks' seems to be making a comeback, very, um, folksy.

[S7Paul]

RichB said:

ell I will politely disagree with you regarding the use of the word may because it's conditional. The answer is "You may or you may not." Perhaps in hindsight "I would like..." is unambiguous. either way, as long as it's not the wretched Americanism, "Can I get"

I've only just seen this thread, but didn't think I'd have to look back too far before I found my pet hate, "Can I get".

We were in a restaurant a while ago, and daughter's boyfriend asked the waiter "can I get...". The waiter replied "no, but I can get it for you". Good man!

[Rotorsforme]

Leveridge instead of Leverage
Gotten instead of Got
Take out food instead of take away food.
etc etc

[acalex]

POA (why do I need to apply to find out how much it is??)

[Einion Yrth]

Rotorsforme said:

Gotten instead of Got

Nothing wrong with gotten really, it's just fallen out of favour in British English, apart from a few relicts like "ill gotten gains".

[mickk]

acalex said:

POA (why do I need to apply to find out how much it is??)

So they can decide how much you can afford. Annoys me as well.

[Pothole]

Einion Yrth said:

Rotorsforme said:

Gotten instead of Got

Nothing wrong with gotten really, it's just fallen out of favour in British English, apart from a few relicts like "ill gotten gains".

A few what, now?

[Gilbertd]

Television presenters who say, "Good to see you" and "See you next week". You can't fking see me, in fact you can't see anyone except maybe a cameraman. You wouldn't know the difference if the camera was switched off. You are sitting in a studio talking to yourself in the hope that someone out there is watching.

[Foxhall]

So; can anyone explain the ongoing craze for starting every sentence with; So?

So? I here you ask. Is so, so much of a problem?
So long as the sentence is a question, not so much. But, the use of so outside this is so - so.

So, I know that some may see this as pedantic and a pedant I am, but, in this (lack) of context the use of so is so so – so, I find aggravating.

So , is so, so – so, or not so so-so?

[mybrainhurts]

Foxhall said:

So

If I ever find out who started this crap, my cattle prod will be greased and turned up to 12....

[Zad]

Annoyingly, it often seems to be relatively well educated people who do the "so..." thing. My theory is that they communicate a lot with Americans, who seem to be the instigators of it. Usually, this sort of bdisation of the English language usually starts with the less well educated parts of society ("should of" etc). Normally I'm all for the evolution of language, but this seems to be devoid of any use.

[vournikas]

mybrainhurts said:

Foxhall said:

So

If I ever find out who started this crap, my cattle prod will be greased and turned up to 12....

I'll hold 'em down, "pal"

In other news, 'Yeah,no' as an initial response to a question. Mrs v first spotted this in interviews with Red Bull's Christian Horner, and i) she's right and ii) it seems to be getting everywhere!

[Einion Yrth]

Pothole said:

Einion Yrth said:

Rotorsforme said:

Gotten instead of Got

Nothing wrong with gotten really, it's just fallen out of favour in British English, apart from a few relicts like "ill gotten gains".

A few what, now?

Relicts; or you could have looked it up yourself.

[irocfan]

I'm not gonna lie; but I hate that phrase with, like, a passion.

Think that's my current 'win-double' contained in the same sentence.

[gord115]

My mate and my sister in law both say "do you know what I mean?" at the end of every f-ing sentence.

[Jefferson Steelflex]

"No smoke without fire"

A horrible phrase that effectively says if you're accused of something it's probably true. Part of the tabloid mentality I guess.

[mrnoisy78]

wibblebrain said:

"like"

I was on a train from London to Banbury recently and the group opposite had some dozy tart who couldn't utter three words without one of them being "like".

I could have happily strangled her by the end of the journey.

Christ yes - this!! With a side order of "you know" to punctuate it. Really irritating.

Also, the phrase "mugging me off" which has become so popular with people since Ray Winstone's earlier films probably came to their attention.
The fact that people seem to think that them behaving like imbeciles and having it exposed by someone else is somehow that person's fault is laughable at best, the phrase moreso.

Last one - the way people feel it necessary to invent new words due to an apparent lack of vocabulary - "inactivate" is a prime example. Why!? Deactivate. Not inactivate. Why not buy a dictionary. Morons!

Edited by mrnoisy78 on Friday 30th June 08:35

[Monkeylegend]

gord115 said:

My mate and my sister in law both say "do you know what I mean?" at the end of every f-ing sentence.

I was watching an interview the other day and the interviewee kept saying "yeah" at the end of every sentence as if he was looking for approval, do you know what I mean?

[BarryG]

MorganP104 said:

I dislike lazy clichés spouted by motoring journalists.

"Hewn from granite"
"Handles like it's on rails"
"You feel like an extension of the car"
"Telepathic steering/handling/throttle response"

I'm sure there are plenty more, but that's enough to be getting along with.

They're also guilty of lazy adjectives: I hate seeing "uber" (as in "uber GTi") used to describe something like a Golf R. Get your thesaurus out and stick to English!