Over-Used or Misused Words and Phrases

[Pitre]

Legend/legendary

Celebrity/star

Ridiculous

Great value

Professional

Rare

Attractive

Sensational

Black Friday (I am utterly sick of receiving related emails, must have deleted 100 or more)

[Eric Mc]

So... at the beginning of a sentence

Iconic - overused and not properly understood

Horror - every car or aeroplane crash is referred to as a "horror" crash

Tragic - used far too often - especially when somebody over 80 years of age dies.

[Johnspex]

"I'm not sure".
Used on here by people who can't bring themselves to say " I don't know"
Even a request like "what fast estate car, that isn't a BMW, can you suggest" will bring the response "I'm not sure what your budget is..." It's not a case of being unsure, it's a case of not knowing because you haven't been told. Just say " I don't know..."

[Tisy]

UNPRECEDENTED.

BREAKING / BREAKING NEWS !

[smithyithy]

CEO

[Tisy]

Side hustle

Low-key (all the kids say this, along with "like")

[Pitre]

Expert

Respected

[Huzzah]

Pitre said:

Legend/legendary

Celebrity/star

Ridiculous

Great value

Professional

Rare

Attractive

Sensational

Black Friday (I am utterly sick of receiving related emails, must have deleted 100 or more)

^^^^^^^ THIS LITERALLY.

[pteron]

For me it's "brought" when it should be "bought" - is it a typo or do people genuinely think that past tense of to buy is "brought"?

And don't get me started on the people who think aitch is pronounced H-aitch.

(some of them even argue it is when it's pointed out)

[CMTMB]

Like

Literally

My teenage nieces like literally can't speak without literally saying the words like and literally, like literally every second literal word.

[StevieBee]

I recently heard someone say how they dislike that the word Legend has been downgraded from one who pulls a sword from a stone to one who unexpectedly returns from the bar with crisps.

A professional niggle of mine is 'Recycling waste'. Waste is a material that has reached the end of its useful and economic life. Recycling is a term related to a variety of commodities. You can certainly waste recycling but you cannot recycle waste.

[Lotobear]

'catastrophic' (invariably used to describe fairly prosaic things)

'gaslighting'

'across' as in used to described several items

[iphonedyou]

Referring to draws when meaning drawers would seem apposite, here.

[pteron]

iphonedyou said:

Referring to draws when meaning drawers would seem apposite, here.

Like "Chester draws" - from the council thread

[CoolC]

crisis

[Super Sonic]

'Recalcitrant' for 'Reluctant'

[dundarach]

LITERALLY

[POIDH]

Artisanal. Applied to every other shop in an attempt to sound posh and charge 30% more.

Luxury. Applied to every other holiday cottage or hotel to sound posh and charge 30% more.

Curated. Applied to every other small brewery collection to sound posh and charge 30% more.

[lizardbrain]

I think most style guides accept literally as an intensifier. Which has annoyed bored editors for centuries, millennia perhaps!

[gotoPzero]

Like.