words that annoy

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Yeah it hates "women's" and "children's".

Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Friday, 1 April 2011 16:14 (thirteen years ago) link

what about 'it's a steep learning curve' to describe a task that is hard to pick up? Now, if time is on the Y axis and competence is on the X-axis, as is the convention, then a steep curve indicates a job that is picked up very quickly. It's a _shallow_ curve that indicates difficulty. Perhaps people have the mental picture of a steep curve being hard to climb.

friend of mine had this to say: steep learning curve - nothing to do with time, all about the amount you get better at something (x) compared to the amount of effort required (y).

NI, Wednesday, 6 April 2011 14:45 (thirteen years ago) link

yes.

dog latin when referring to the large down-filled bed covering do you say "DOO-vett"?

40% chill and 100% negative (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 6 April 2011 15:09 (thirteen years ago) link

when you catch a fish do you fillet it? (fill it it)

★ The Pistns ★ Miss You Sheed ★ (dayo), Wednesday, 6 April 2011 15:11 (thirteen years ago) link

she was only the fishmonger's daughter but she lay on the slab and said fillet

cockroach shakespeare (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 6 April 2011 15:11 (thirteen years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bJOIqVAD-s

ENBB, Wednesday, 6 April 2011 15:26 (thirteen years ago) link

fingers

Telephoneface (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 6 April 2011 15:30 (thirteen years ago) link

I am struggling to make some sort of filet of fish commercial + casiotone for the painfully alone joke right now

★ The Pistns ★ Miss You Sheed ★ (dayo), Wednesday, 6 April 2011 15:32 (thirteen years ago) link

Fish Filet for the Culturally Delayed

corey, Wednesday, 6 April 2011 20:16 (thirteen years ago) link

swag

A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, 6 April 2011 23:24 (thirteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...

derring-do

kkvgz, Wednesday, 27 April 2011 00:05 (thirteen years ago) link

People don't say derring-do enough IMO.

Evil Eau (dog latin), Wednesday, 27 April 2011 10:12 (thirteen years ago) link

one month passes...

actioned (this is the first time i have seen this "word")

context: your unsubscribe request has been received and will be actioned.

sarahel, Wednesday, 8 June 2011 16:38 (twelve years ago) link

two weeks pass...

"stunned"

whenever something mildly unexpected happens in sport, politics &c the person or persons on the receiving end are always said to be "stunned".

Neil S, Monday, 27 June 2011 14:37 (twelve years ago) link

similarly "floored"

corey, Monday, 27 June 2011 14:43 (twelve years ago) link

'extravaganza'
'bonanza'

ugh

and er

'mentalist', as in a nutty, crazy person.

also when people use 'depressive' as an adjective. stfu. 'depressing' is obviously right.

jumpskins, Monday, 27 June 2011 17:15 (twelve years ago) link

'blogosphere'

come on really what the fuck

jumpskins, Monday, 27 June 2011 17:17 (twelve years ago) link

utilize

remy bean, Monday, 27 June 2011 17:18 (twelve years ago) link

and any word with the same letter in more than about 4 times. i cant think of an example right now. but yeah.

jumpskins, Monday, 27 June 2011 17:19 (twelve years ago) link

I think I will try to popularize the term "protes" for proteins.

― fletrejet, Wednesday, September 24, 2003 12:36 PM (7 years ago)

So happy this never materialized.

Aimless, Monday, 27 June 2011 17:21 (twelve years ago) link

four months pass...

ouster

flopson, Thursday, 10 November 2011 01:56 (twelve years ago) link

idk what I was thinking choosing to intern at a middle school when, for 15 years straight, my least favorite word has been and still is
appropriate
Sometimes it's the right word to use but so many of the times it's not
and I have caught the disease
I just flung it out there in a way that wasn't appropriate
you guys really don't know the complex web of hatred I have for this word
even though sometimes it is the right word

puffy paint (Abbbottt), Monday, 14 November 2011 21:00 (twelve years ago) link

lather. rinse. repeat.

Aimless, Monday, 14 November 2011 21:08 (twelve years ago) link

today is a good day for me and crippling long-term hatred!

puffy paint (Abbbottt), Monday, 14 November 2011 21:12 (twelve years ago) link

"amusing" -- almost always used in an arch, self-aware way. ugh.
"arguably" -- rarely actually needed in a sentence.
"old school" -- should never be applied to anything that is not old hip-hop.

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 14 November 2011 21:20 (twelve years ago) link

transmittal

kashi west: late vegetarian (rustic italian flatbread), Monday, 14 November 2011 21:30 (twelve years ago) link

I think I'm guilty of nearly all three of J.D's.

Glo-Vember (dog latin), Tuesday, 15 November 2011 00:47 (twelve years ago) link

I want to murder people who use the word "timely" as an adverb ("submit the application timely"), even though I know it's grammatically correct. it seems to be a favorite usage of bureaucratic assholes who will punish you for untimeliness, so maybe it's tainted by association. on the other hand, the clunky phrase "in a timely manner" (in which "timely" is an adjective) doesn't enrage me much at all.

cher's missing (unregistered), Tuesday, 15 November 2011 01:09 (twelve years ago) link

I thought maybe I hated all words that had an -ly ending in both their adjectival and adverbial forms, but words like "weekly" and "daily" and "early" don't seem to bother me, so "timely" must be uniquely evil.

cher's missing (unregistered), Tuesday, 15 November 2011 01:12 (twelve years ago) link

i hate that use of "timely" too! the same people i've heard use "timely" like that also said "verbage" (to mean "legal language").

reconstituted pork offal slurry (get bent), Tuesday, 15 November 2011 01:27 (twelve years ago) link

former english majors with depressive disorders should not go into dilbert/office space type careers.

reconstituted pork offal slurry (get bent), Tuesday, 15 November 2011 01:28 (twelve years ago) link

haw

on further thought, it seems like people use the adverb "timely" for brevity's sake to avoid the wordy construction "in a timely manner". but for some reason it doesn't occur to these people that they can use similarly brief (and far less irritating) alternatives like "on time" and "early" and "promptly". I guess assholes who edit themselves for brevity and plain speech are still assholes.

verbage/verbiage is absolutely vile, I agree.

cher's missing (unregistered), Tuesday, 15 November 2011 01:48 (twelve years ago) link

(but "verbose" is alright)

cher's missing (unregistered), Tuesday, 15 November 2011 01:50 (twelve years ago) link

One thing that has been getting on my nerves lately is "journey" as used by reality show contestants "it's been an amazing journey and I just don't want it to end" and otherwise intelligent documentary presenters talking to camera at the end of the film: "I've been a journey and have discovered..."

Daniel Giraffe, Tuesday, 15 November 2011 09:05 (twelve years ago) link

I'v e been *on* a journey, I mean.

Daniel Giraffe, Tuesday, 15 November 2011 09:05 (twelve years ago) link

six months pass...

'anyways'

Autumn Almanac, Monday, 11 June 2012 08:33 (eleven years ago) link

stateside

dis civilization and its contents (nakhchivan), Saturday, 16 June 2012 16:35 (eleven years ago) link

magisterial.

Fizzles, Saturday, 16 June 2012 16:47 (eleven years ago) link

^ I'm guessing that poor word has been badly overworked lately on BBC.

Aimless, Saturday, 16 June 2012 16:51 (eleven years ago) link

very possibly, but it's more the frequent use in book reviews and then blurbs that causes me to go IA in bookshops or other bookish places. wild eyes. handwaving. raised voice. concerned confused looks from companions. angry asseverations it's to do with a lubberly fear of masterly/masterful pedantry.

Fizzles, Saturday, 16 June 2012 16:59 (eleven years ago) link

i see now from whence you arrived and you have my full sympathy.

Aimless, Saturday, 16 June 2012 17:06 (eleven years ago) link

thanks, A. not sure it is actually used out of the masterly/masterful fear, but I can't understand why ever else you'd use it. how can magisterial possibly be an appealing quality in a book, unless maybe its a historical/genre survey or other secondary text? (don't have a problem with these types of books, but they're the only groups I can imagine the word magisterial being a recommendation.)

but generally it just annoys me.

Fizzles, Saturday, 16 June 2012 17:26 (eleven years ago) link

blurb writers seems to think 'magisterial' is a useful word to convey the idea that they were favorably impressed, while also showing off their vocabulary. when it turns out the book is not magisterial in any sense, you come to understand that their vocabulary is rather smaller than they thought it was.

Aimless, Saturday, 16 June 2012 17:54 (eleven years ago) link

one month passes...

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/08/literally-everyone-is-lying.html

"Literally," I'm okay--I use it every now and again. "Actually" I use too often. My Achilles Heel is "just." I use "just" (when writing) like a teenager uses "like."

clemenza, Wednesday, 8 August 2012 14:40 (eleven years ago) link

noise. noise annoys.

rods & cones (doo dah), Wednesday, 8 August 2012 18:27 (eleven years ago) link

one month passes...

grok
parse
truthsquadding
wonk
spa
soups
mouthfeel

horribl ecreature (harbl), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 23:38 (eleven years ago) link

mouthfeel

/\ /\ Delete post (admrl), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 23:44 (eleven years ago) link

iconic

horribl ecreature (harbl), Wednesday, 12 September 2012 23:58 (eleven years ago) link

activate

/\ /\ Delete post (admrl), Thursday, 13 September 2012 00:02 (eleven years ago) link

pecadillo

/\ /\ Delete post (admrl), Thursday, 13 September 2012 00:03 (eleven years ago) link


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