"Phrases I would like to retire from the English language." Topic

Not necessarily grammatically incorrect. Just annoying.
And you do NOT have to justify it. Annoying you is sufficient.

"All time favorite…" Movie, book, TV show, no matter. The phrase just grates on me. It sounds too …fannish to me.

"Most underrated…" General, quarterback, supporting actress, bass player. Whatever.
What do you mean? "Very good, but does not get the appreciation he/she deserves"?
I take it differently. To me, they are under-rated because they are not really that good. They are rated exactly where they belong.

"Lessons will be learned" – oh no they won't, it'll just be shoved under the carpet until it happens again.

"just have to " – as in, I'm not going to do anything about it, even though I know the situation's wrong, so shut up and put up with it.

"At this moment in time" – what are you, paid by the word?

Shouldn't this post title include the word "should"?

"Whatever"
"Talk to the hand"
"Orientated"
"My bad"

"Practically speaking", and "to be quite honest",
"It is what it is"..

paradigm shift and think outside the box

Please God, take those phrases away!

eye candy

"Just sayin' …"

As in "This is a dumb way to do task X and anyone who likes it is an idiot. Just sayin' …"

It appears to be an updated "With all due respect …"

Shouldn't this post title include the word "should"?

Sounds British.

Just sayin'.

"Having said that" or, even worse, "That having been said."

"very" as in "it's in the very top drawer".

Is that the drawer above the ordinary top drawer?

"For your convenience" because it never is.

"Let's do this"

Thankfully I don't hear real people saying this much anymore, just extremely annoying commercials.

The War on_______ fill in the blank.

The War on_______ fill in the blank.

Agreed. The War on _______ when _______ is an unavoidable aspect of the human condition is stupid.

War on Sadness.

War on Tailgating.

War on Digital Clocks.

Ridiculous.

Awesome choices.

Just awesome.

Awesome, dude.

"With all due respect…" means the exact opposite.

"I agree with the OFM"

"_____ of the Year/Century/Millenium", especially when it's only January or XX05.

"Awesome sauce" Really, is there such a thing, and does it go on EVERYTHING? I think not, so it must not be that awesome.

"Duude!" Most of us aren't stoners, are not "dudes" in any sense of the word, and it adds nothing to a conversation, even if you ARE attempting a Bill and Ted impersonation.

"I'm trying to think. . ." So that is what that smell is! I hear this all the time when I ask a question.

Me: Hey could you tell me where you keep the food trough wipers?
Clerk: I'm trying to think. . .
Me: I could tell, the smell is really irritating. Now, if you could just point me in the right direction I will leave you to continue to attempt to get your brain started.

"The Mother of all __________", doesn't pop up as often as it use to, but it's quality over quantity.

"With all due respect…" means the exact opposite.

You have NO idea how many times that has calmed people who have wanted to kill me and my firstborn for work decisions.

Jeez, folks, to listen to you all, every word in the English language is a cliche; while I don't know the exact plot, from the trailers, it looks like to deal with a lot of you it would have to be gesticulating wildly and not speaking at all….

--
Tim

"Basically.." No, it's not basic or you wouldn't have to preface your explanation with this word.

Yes! "basically" grates, as does, "I mean" and the use of "I'm, like <fill in the space> and he/shes like" and so on…..

I stay way from books reviewed as "compelling" or "tour de force" Okay, the last one's French, but our whole language is borrowed. Can we give that one back?

Going Forward.

And literally. One of my colleagues "literally" exploded with rage the day. It was less messy than you think.

Unadultrated for something that is adultrated. Example: "I wouldn't eat that rotten unadultrated beef on that hamburger".

________gate.

"A joy to paint" grates on me for some reason. Maybe due to hearing it too much.

I could list quite a few but will restrict myself

world class
new and revolutionary
win win
utterly
lucid enlightening and thrilling – recent book review book itself was c---
and my favourite
New bestseller

Actually.

I don't like "like" used as a comma in speach. You know like when you like haven't like really thought through like what you like want to like say.

But it pales into insignificance when replaced with the multisyllable abomination of a comma :

You know actually when you actually haven't actually really thought through actually what you actually want to actually say.

But, actually, keep this list goiing guys because actually it'll be really actually useful when I'm actually a bit actually bored and I actually want to actually annoy someone by actually using the words that actually annoy them actually.

I believe, in the ENGLISH language it is favouUrite – notice the U.

I would like to retire all phrases where ex colonies have corrupted our lanuage :-)

20th Maine – regards 'like' – that one drives me mad, and due to the amount of American kids shows we have had on TV here over the last 5 years or more it's crept into our language. I refuse to talk to people who use it as you mention. It does mean the missus and kids don't talk to me much, but I can live with it ;-)

I would like to retire all phrases where ex colonies [sic] have corrupted our lanuage [sic] :-)

Oh, don't worry. You guys are doing fine all on your own.

'emerging'

as in 'emerging issues'


'emerging technologies'

Etc.

"Anyways."

"Absolutely" instead of "yes" – presumably because "yes" is just not affirmative enough….

Doug

"Retire" as a euphemism for delete.

This the bottom line; then the person keeps talking.

It isn't a phrase, but cut out all the customer service people that want to talk 'buddy-buddy' to help us feel comfortable on the phone.

I would like to retire all phrases where ex colonies [sic] have corrupted our lanuage [sic] :-)

Oh, don't worry. You guys are doing fine all on your own.

Oh dear Scott – he got you there and no mistake…

doug

I believe, in the ENGLISH language it is favouUrite – notice the U.

No, it isn't. It's favoUrite. Just one U, not two.

Greetings

Lest we get too hung up on spellings I should point out that the insertion of the 'u' in British English e.g. in 'colour' seems in some cases to have been a relatively late standardisation in the 17th-18th century (and to some extent aping French origins of words) so one can make a case for the US spelling being the more or at least as traditional. Webster is credited with standardising the -or form in the US in the early 19th century. I've certainly read 18th century English documents where the 'u' is not present.

Regards

Edward

'_gate' gets me.

We need a serious scandal over the installation of gates, so we can have Gategate. Or a scandal over attempts to cover up the fact that Richard Nixon resigned – Watergategate.

Pat

Any phrase that sounds like a Chuck Norris joke.

Got us some adverb haters here. Really.

And, I'm like, "Duhhh!"