Phrases that annoy you the most
Discussion
Recently in a well known budget clothing store (it rhymes with Cataplan):
I was just thinking how nice the store was, because they'd left me alone and didn't keep coming up to me with dumb questions like "Are you alright there?" .... until I reached the head of the queue to the tills:-
"Are you paying by card or cash?"
Annoyed more by the abrupt, demanding way it was said than by the words themselves.
But if they really need to know, then there has to be a better way.
I really can cope with self-scan tills, I really can, I'm quite an intelligent person. Just put a sign on it saying "card only" like Tesco/Sainsbury do. Then please leave me alone!
I was just thinking how nice the store was, because they'd left me alone and didn't keep coming up to me with dumb questions like "Are you alright there?" .... until I reached the head of the queue to the tills:-
"Are you paying by card or cash?"
Annoyed more by the abrupt, demanding way it was said than by the words themselves.
But if they really need to know, then there has to be a better way.
I really can cope with self-scan tills, I really can, I'm quite an intelligent person. Just put a sign on it saying "card only" like Tesco/Sainsbury do. Then please leave me alone!
M4cruiser said:
Recently in a well known budget clothing store (it rhymes with Cataplan):
I was just thinking how nice the store was, because they'd left me alone and didn't keep coming up to me with dumb questions like "Are you alright there?" .... until I reached the head of the queue to the tills:-
"Are you paying by card or cash?"
Annoyed more by the abrupt, demanding way it was said than by the words themselves.
But if they really need to know, then there has to be a better way.
I really can cope with self-scan tills, I really can, I'm quite an intelligent person. Just put a sign on it saying "card only" like Tesco/Sainsbury do. Then please leave me alone!
They want to know if you are paying by card or cash so they know if they need to enable to card machine or open the till so they can deposit your cash into it.I was just thinking how nice the store was, because they'd left me alone and didn't keep coming up to me with dumb questions like "Are you alright there?" .... until I reached the head of the queue to the tills:-
"Are you paying by card or cash?"
Annoyed more by the abrupt, demanding way it was said than by the words themselves.
But if they really need to know, then there has to be a better way.
I really can cope with self-scan tills, I really can, I'm quite an intelligent person. Just put a sign on it saying "card only" like Tesco/Sainsbury do. Then please leave me alone!
I'm not sure how anyone can find that question even remotely annoying in any single way.
snuffy said:
M4cruiser said:
Recently in a well known budget clothing store (it rhymes with Cataplan):
I was just thinking how nice the store was, because they'd left me alone and didn't keep coming up to me with dumb questions like "Are you alright there?" .... until I reached the head of the queue to the tills:-
"Are you paying by card or cash?"
Annoyed more by the abrupt, demanding way it was said than by the words themselves.
But if they really need to know, then there has to be a better way.
I really can cope with self-scan tills, I really can, I'm quite an intelligent person. Just put a sign on it saying "card only" like Tesco/Sainsbury do. Then please leave me alone!
They want to know if you are paying by card or cash so they know if they need to enable to card machine or open the till so they can deposit your cash into it. I'm not sure how anyone can find that question even remotely annoying in any single way.I was just thinking how nice the store was, because they'd left me alone and didn't keep coming up to me with dumb questions like "Are you alright there?" .... until I reached the head of the queue to the tills:-
"Are you paying by card or cash?"
Annoyed more by the abrupt, demanding way it was said than by the words themselves.
But if they really need to know, then there has to be a better way.
I really can cope with self-scan tills, I really can, I'm quite an intelligent person. Just put a sign on it saying "card only" like Tesco/Sainsbury do. Then please leave me alone!
snuffy said:
RichB said:
So what I have always known as doubling up, not down.
You place your bet down on the card table. When you double your initial bet, you again place your bet down on the card table.Hence down.
I'll stick to plain old *double* so I don't sound like a dick.
As in 'I'll double my efforts' and not I'll double down on my efforts'. If it wasn't alliterative it wouldn't have caught on.
Wacky Racer said:
Back in the day
Blue sky thinking
Think outside the box
Ballpark figure
I used to spend part of my working life working as a civvy with the military. Blue sky thinking
Think outside the box
Ballpark figure
They loved their buzzword phrases which - as I would work with them every six months or so - would change. I think they are worthy of a separate post.
What was interesting was the use of just out of date civilian management phrases, that had been replaced in the civvy world by a batch of new model year wky phrases. The main culprits, senior NCOs.
Maybe a year or two after wkers in the civvy world stopped using “Going Forward” you’d hear it being used by CPOs in warships. “Yes Sir, going forward we need to watch this…”
Annoying as these phrases are in civvy life, a shouty NCO bking the boys with phrases like “Think outside the fking box” and said as a kind of warning “Blue Sky Thinking!” to a couple of lads who were about to screw something up worked. But when said by Nigel the marketing manager at a meeting, it comes across as wkerish.
snuffy said:
M4cruiser said:
Recently in a well known budget clothing store (it rhymes with Cataplan):
I was just thinking how nice the store was, because they'd left me alone and didn't keep coming up to me with dumb questions like "Are you alright there?" .... until I reached the head of the queue to the tills:-
"Are you paying by card or cash?"
Annoyed more by the abrupt, demanding way it was said than by the words themselves.
But if they really need to know, then there has to be a better way.
I really can cope with self-scan tills, I really can, I'm quite an intelligent person. Just put a sign on it saying "card only" like Tesco/Sainsbury do. Then please leave me alone!
They want to know if you are paying by card or cash so they know if they need to enable to card machine or open the till so they can deposit your cash into it.I was just thinking how nice the store was, because they'd left me alone and didn't keep coming up to me with dumb questions like "Are you alright there?" .... until I reached the head of the queue to the tills:-
"Are you paying by card or cash?"
Annoyed more by the abrupt, demanding way it was said than by the words themselves.
But if they really need to know, then there has to be a better way.
I really can cope with self-scan tills, I really can, I'm quite an intelligent person. Just put a sign on it saying "card only" like Tesco/Sainsbury do. Then please leave me alone!
I'm not sure how anyone can find that question even remotely annoying in any single way.
Johnspex said:
So not in any way a phrase that has only recently come in to use by the PM. the BBC, and various trendies who like to think it's cool to use American expressions all the time?
I'll stick to plain old *double* so I don't sound like a dick.
As in 'I'll double my efforts' and not I'll double down on my efforts'. If it wasn't alliterative it wouldn't have caught on.
You have completely failed to understand the expression and it's usage.I'll stick to plain old *double* so I don't sound like a dick.
As in 'I'll double my efforts' and not I'll double down on my efforts'. If it wasn't alliterative it wouldn't have caught on.
No one has ever said "I'll double down on my efforts"; i.e. they don't just add "down" to the "double" because it's alliterative.
The military use, or used phrases which annoy me.
Gucci. Anything that is perceived as good, from a woolly hat to a warship.
Kinetic. Seemed to refer to anything that was moving
be it physical to a situation.
Purple. At one point 20 years ago everything was purple. It meant involving all three armed forces.
Joint. The new purple.
Fused. Nothing to do with explosives but again connected with joint operations. The units at sea were fused with the troops ashore.
Afghan. Used to refer to the place rather than someone from Afghanistan. “They are going to Afghan “ you’d not say “I spent a year in French”
I found it really frustrating talking to some people because my role, as a civvy, was to improve communication skills with the public via the media. The police are just as bad. Maybe it’s something to do with uniform and rank?
To be clear, I’m not talking about Jackspeak, or it’s Army and RAF equivalent. That has some fantastic phrases and is culturally important. Neither am I talking here about military jargon. Most industries develop shorthand.
Gucci. Anything that is perceived as good, from a woolly hat to a warship.
Kinetic. Seemed to refer to anything that was moving
be it physical to a situation.
Purple. At one point 20 years ago everything was purple. It meant involving all three armed forces.
Joint. The new purple.
Fused. Nothing to do with explosives but again connected with joint operations. The units at sea were fused with the troops ashore.
Afghan. Used to refer to the place rather than someone from Afghanistan. “They are going to Afghan “ you’d not say “I spent a year in French”
I found it really frustrating talking to some people because my role, as a civvy, was to improve communication skills with the public via the media. The police are just as bad. Maybe it’s something to do with uniform and rank?
To be clear, I’m not talking about Jackspeak, or it’s Army and RAF equivalent. That has some fantastic phrases and is culturally important. Neither am I talking here about military jargon. Most industries develop shorthand.
The one that got me in the military was when gossiping about other officers in the navy, if they were decent then they would say "oh John Smith, yes he's really professional"
Professional? Are others not? Do you mean competent or capable? They always sounded like such dicks. Still goes on today.
Professional? Are others not? Do you mean competent or capable? They always sounded like such dicks. Still goes on today.
Blown2CV said:
it's also a more polite way of saying "we need to do the transaction now as there are other people waiting" which is usually only needed with oldies who do like a chat.
I was in a small shop a couple of days ago. It seems they are also a collection point for Amazon. There's an old dear in front of me collecting a parcel, using the email on here phone. She takes her phone out, then starts searching through her apps until she finds her email app. Then she opens it. Then she starts scrolling through her emails until she finds the correct Amazon one. She could have done all that before she arrived at to collect her parcel, and had the email there as soon as she got her phone out. But no, she had to do all that once she was at the counter....and what does "no brainer" mean? Does it mean it's so obvious that even someone with no brain could see it, or does it mean only someone with no brain would think of it?
Also, why would someone who watches too much US television think it necessary to insert 'even' between 'would' and 'think' in my sentence above?
Also, why would someone who watches too much US television think it necessary to insert 'even' between 'would' and 'think' in my sentence above?
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