Top Ten Irritating Phrases

Some folks at Oxford have put together a list of the "top ten most irritating phrases":

1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science

My list, with exclusive, free, cutting-edge commentary:

1. Top Ten (Anyone for Top Twelve?)
2. Like, you know (Yeah, I do now.)
3. Good morning (at the start of Mass. Shudder.)
4. I mean...I mean... I mean (do you? Trying to convince yourself?)
5. The keys to winning the game (for any sport. It's simple: score more points than the other team.)
6. This is a defining moment (Huh? What? Sorry, I must have fallen asleep.)
7. To be completely honest (Uh oh. I assumed you already were being completely honest. Silly me.)
8. As I've always said (and you're going to say it again, aren't you?)
9. Change is a good thing (then why keep saying it again and again?)
10. We gave 110% (Sorry, not possible.)
11. Team chemistry (Why not team biology? Or team physics?)
12. I feel... (Stop! Too much information. This is a feeling-free zone.)

With all due respect, at the end of the day, it's not rocket science. Absolutely.

Comments

[Evan]

Yes, perish the thought that we greet our neighbor with a kind "good morning"! And in the house of God, of all places! What do they think this is, a sacred fellowship or something?!

[Marguerite]

"Went missing" is another one. How does one "go missing"?

[Carl Olson]

What do they think this is, a sacred fellowship or something?!

Of course. Which is why, Evan, the first words spoken by a priest at Divine Liturgy (in the Eastern rites) is:

PRIEST: Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and forever.

PEOPLE: Amen.

That is sacred fellowship: communion with the Triune God in the presence of the hosts of heaven. "Good morning" can wait until afterwards.

[Sheryl D.]

"Irregardless"

[Ed Peters]

right carl. people don't get what you are talking about cuz they don't stop think about what the liturgy is already doing there.

re "5 - With all due respect" that one gets me all the time. I say, just do it, don't tell me you're doing it, just do it.

[Subvet]

I use "irregardless" every chance I can when I hope it'll annoy someone.

Irregardless of that, my pet peeve is "my friend". It's normally used when someone wishes to sell me a pig in a poke.

[Ed Peters]

ps, m: it's an idiom. and like most other idioms, it doesn't make sense, but it works, typically, better than anything else that would 'make sense'.

[dad29]

To be completely honest

...the statement most often followed by a lie...

[W.]

should of
could of
would of

The word is "have."

[brendon]

12. I feel...

That would be much higher up if I were to make a similar list.

With all due respect to Master Yoda: Don't feel. THINK!

[Ed S]

For me, personally, irregardless of what others say, I feel that when people go like blah, blah, blah or yadi, yadi, yada, they should of said etc., etc., etc. Because at the end of the day, quite honestly, the good old latin words are the real foundation of our language, of course with due respect to other foreign tongues. Absolutely true!

[Deacon Harold]

It irks me when people say, "You going with?" Why do they insist on dropping "me" at the end?

[Jackson]

The sitcom speech that's infected the culture, e.g., this kind of silly use of the word "so": "I so need to get some new shoes."

[Margarita]

1. with "regards" to
2. "faith journey"

[Lorraine V. Murray]

"Welcome to our Eucharistic celebration! Please silence all pagers and cellphones. And now, please stand up and greet those around you."

[Diane`]

"The most unique" gets me every time. Grrr

[NYer]

The most irksome and annoying expession, personally, is:

WENT MISSING

When and how did this expression infiltrate the English language? The proper term is:

IS MISSING
or
DISAPPEARED

If you are missing, then you have disappeared and when you reappear, you will no longer be missing. No one "goes missing"; at least not in the English taught me by the good sisters :-)

[Pesky Pundit]

What I find most irritating are those irritating idioms that people commonly misquote/misuse. For example, the idiom is "I couldn't care less" and NOT "I could care less". Another irritation is contemporary "journalists" inability to research idiomatic expression. In one issue of a "national magazine" last year, the lead editorial used the term "jury-rigged" when "gerry-rigged" or "jerry-rigged" was what the writer was reaching for. I try to imagine the editor of a leading national magazine sitting at his computer and keying that term in - "jury-rigged" - and not even stopping to ask himself what the legalistic sounding expression ("jury"?) had to do with malfunction mechanical/technical equipment. Then again, I come from a long line of "literate types" who - to this day - provide their children instruction in English language grammar. I can honestly tell you all that today school teachers do not appreciate having their 12-year-old students explain the proper use of the colon and semicolon to them, the etymology of particular words, or whatever. I've had to explain to several school principals that it is not MY problem that the EDUCATORS under him are ILLITERATE. I have had to SEND MY KIDS' REPORT CARDS BACK with corrections IN RED of grammatical errors and misspelled words in the "Teacher's Comments" section. I have extracted so many apologies - for myself or my kids - from school educators and administrators over language issues that I have lost count.

[Evan]

On the liturgy and opening greetings, the point is well taken (I "get" it, that is) about the orientation of the fellowship during Eucharistic celebration. That a simple greeting "at the beginning" is cause for shudder, however, seems to demonstrate a sort of liturgical rigidity about the whole affair. While I'm personally rather traditional about these things, I always find it a little silly that people feel the need to "shudder" over something like this, or folk hymns during worship, or certain forms of passing the peace, etc. That the liturgy is "already doing" its own work in binding the fellowship isn't an argument against local variation or a little bit of fresh air (even if certain folks consider that air corny, tacky, redundant, pedestrian, simplistic, etc.).

But I suppose I can't object to this being on your personal "top ten irritating phrases" list. By all means, go ahead. I just worry sometimes that these cyber-proclamations of pet peeves are construed as The Way Things Are, when really they're just a top-ten list on a blog.

[Jacqueline Y.]

"Went missing" appears to be a British expression. It probably sounds no stranger to our American ears than some American expressions surely must sound to British ears. My all-time favorite britishism (is that a word?) is "fell pregnant". Strange-sounding, indeed!

[Ed Peters]

Ummm, "jury-rigged" is accepted, and long-attested, English. It's "gerry-rigged" that is of much more recent coinage.

[Deacon Dana]

My-oh-my, isn't it interesting that so many good folks could be so peeved about such trivial things? Language changes constantly, and not always for the better. Get used to it. My own list would include some very different phrases and words; for example: pro-choice, quality of life, gay, pregnancy termination, etc.

[Francisco Sandoval]

I have to agree with deacon Dana. Languages have, do and will change constantly, particularly english.

However, we must not interprete these lists as an atempt to preserve correct english, they are just a means to venting our frutration (and in my case perplexity) at other people linguistic handicaps.

As for my own list, I coincide 100% with Deacon Dana.

[El Zorro]

What about, "It is what it is"? That deserves the #11 spot on your list, at least. All of you may be interested in the "Common Errors in English" web site found at http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html.

[Cajun Nick Jagneaux]

"It goes without saying that ..."

Then, why'd you bother saying it?