Words or phrases that annoy you (even if you can't explain why) . . .

[Scepticalscribe]

Okay, here's one that I feel like a lot of you won't like:

"It's giving", meaning "it's giving off...[X] vibes". So instead of saying, say, of a particularly outfit, "it's giving off rockstar vibes", someone will just say "it's giving rockstar".

Yes, it is more zoomer slang. As one of the zoomers here, I feel like sharing some of the obnoxious ways we talk.

Apart from being a linguistic horror (which it undoubtedly is), it also doesn't make sense, - not literal sense- as it infers something that you cannot possibly know unless you are already familiar with the context of the conversation.

 

[Arran]

I don't agree. If someone said such trite phrases to me in grief, it wouldn't be helpful. Society would get along just fine without such cliches. It doesn't take much imagination to reword it in a way that actually seems sincere.

I totally agree. But what can be "helpful" in such dire circumstances?

A hug maybe? And just leave it at that.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Sometimes, the proprietary word (noun) fills a need to express something that the language lacked.

Actually, in the UK, (and Ireland), "Hoover" was the word used for vacuum cleaner when I was a child. It wasn't until well into my teens that I (belatedly) discovered that this was a proprietary noun that had come to describe the activity in question.

And, by the exact same process, "Hoover" also became a verb, - "to hoover the house", "I hoovered the living room, the study and the hall, could you do the stairs?" and so on

 

[Arran]

"Task force." Don't know why, it's just annoying

Even worse when the Task Force occupies a "War Room" (complete with a home-made "WAR Room" sign taped inexpertly to the door!)

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I totally agree. But what can be "helpful" in such dire circumstances?

A hug maybe? And just leave it at that.

Some of us don't much care for hugs, or are not "touchy-feely" by nature, and would feel exceptionally uncomfortable giving, or receiving, hugs.

So, such a formula of words allows you (one) to express your sorrow for their loss in an agreed (and usually, public), format, which is a context and setting that will rob all but the most confident of normal speech.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Even worse when the Task Force occupies a "War Room" (complete with a home-made "WAR Room" sign taped inexpertly to the door!)

Okay.

On this, we are in complete agreement.

 

[Arran]

Some of us don't much care for hugs, or are not "touchy-feely" by nature, and would feel exceptionally uncomfortable giving, or receiving, hugs.

So, such a formula of words allows you (one) to express your sorrow for their loss in an agreed (and usually, public), format, which is a context and setting that will rob all but the most confident of normal speech.

Good point. I was thinking of a personal incident. You're right that it definitely wouldn't work in a lot of cases.

That said, I really can't stand "sorry for your loss". Too formulaic.

Best just to show up and wing it.

 

[Arran]

"Supposably." "Irregardless." And one I just saw over the weekend, "holy macro." 🐟

Yep, the internet and mondegreens were made for each other.

Confident confusion galore!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Good point. I was thinking of a personal incident. You're right that it definitely wouldn't work in a lot of cases.

That said, I really can't stand "sorry for your loss". Too formulaic.

Best just to show up and wing it.

It is formulaic, agreed, but sometimes, that is the point.

And I used to think it stiff, and stilted, and false, - all the stuff you have written - until the funerals, respectively, of each of my own parents, when I realised - for the first time, of the necessity for - and the value of - this formula.

This is because it gives people - who are struck dumb by feelings of embarrassment, awkwardness, inadequacy, people who aren't used to attending funerals in societies that attempt to deny death, stumbling through a (public) ceremony lacking words to express what it is that they wish to say in a tone that suggests conviction - a script that they can follow in this context, even if it seems somewhat stilted.

 

[Arran]

It is formulaic, agreed, but sometimes, that is the point.

And I used to think it stiff, and stilted, and false, - all the stuff you have written - until the funerals, respectively, of each of my own parents, when I realised - for the first time, of the necessity for - and the value of - this formula.

This is because it gives people - who are struck dumb by feelings of embarrassment, awkwardness, inadequacy, people who aren't used to attending funerals in societies that attempt to deny death, stumbling through a (public) ceremony lacking words to express what it is that they wish to say in a tone that suggests conviction - a script that they can follow in this context, even if it seems somewhat stilted.

Beautiful comment.

 

[usagora]

I totally agree. But what can be "helpful" in such dire circumstances?

A hug maybe? And just leave it at that.

Pretty much. "Weep with those who weep." And perhaps just affirming to them that you'll be there if they need someone to talk to.

 

[rm5]

"This comes as..."

 

[usagora]

"This comes as..."

Could you give more context? I can think of several, but maybe they don't all annoy you:

E.g. "We discover the two married. This comes as a surprise, since they never used to get along."
E.g. "Here is the newest kitchen gadget. This [gadget] comes as a set."
E.g. "The screen has protection. This [protection] come as a plastic sheet on top of the screen."
etc.

 

[rm5]

None of your examples are what annoy me. What annoys me is when news broadcasters/articles say "this (news) comes as [whoever did whatever]" of which there are many variations.

 

[usagora]

None of your examples are what annoy me. What annoys me is when news broadcasters/articles say "this (news) comes as [whoever did whatever]" of which there are many variations.

Must be a regional thing. I'm not sure I've ever heard that (nor does it make grammatical sense to me . . . not even sure what it means, lol!).

 

[koelsh]

None of your examples are what annoy me. What annoys me is when news broadcasters/articles say "this (news) comes as [whoever did whatever]" of which there are many variations.

Do you mean as another way to say "This is a result of" ?

"This is a result of such and such happening" vs "This comes as such and such is happening"

 

[usagora]

Saying a business is "shuttered" meaning closed (permanently). For some reason, I had never heard this in my life until COVID-19 and now I seem to hear it all the time in news articles. What's wrong with just saying they're closing? I don't see how "shuttered" adds any nuance to the meaning, and it just sounds stupid imo.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Saying a business is "shuttered" meaning closed (permanently). For some reason, I had never heard this in my life until COVID-19 and now I seem to hear it all the time in news articles. What's wrong with just saying they're closing? I don't see how "shuttered" adds any nuance to the meaning, and it just sounds stupid imo.

Just a posh, self-important way of announcing that a business has shut permanently.

 

[adrianlondon]

Well, I learnt two new words in my native language thanks to covid. 1) furlough and 2) asymptomatic.

I, luckily, don't remember hearing "shuttered". Maybe the word has been furloughed or I have asymptomatic hearing loss.

 

[MacMan2013]

A rather annoying one my local press have started using in recent years is "caged". Muggers and bulglars and so forth are not arrested or jailed or imprisoned anymore, but caged. It sounds idiotic.

 

[avz]

A rather annoying one my local press have started using in recent years is "caged". Muggers and bulglars and so forth are not arrested or jailed or imprisoned anymore, but caged. It sounds idiotic.

This type of "journalism" is normally used to victimize the criminals and criminalize the authorities.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

A rather annoying one my local press have started using in recent years is "caged". Muggers and bulglars and so forth are not arrested or jailed or imprisoned anymore, but caged. It sounds idiotic.

Oh, good grief, yes, yes, yes.

This type of "journalism" is normally used to victimize the criminals and criminalize the authorities.

Not always.

Sometimes, you will see this sort of stuff in headlines in tabloids - "sadistic caged killer takes up yoga" - which serve to obliquely attack the conditions under which the incarcerated individual is held.

 

[KaiFiMacFan]

I haven't heard "caged" much in the mainstream media, but among anti-incarceration activists, that's pretty common language. "People in cages" is how they describe it when stressing that they don't think prisons should exist at all, or at least that they should be utilized far less than they are. Not to get into a debate about that, but...yeah.

I think it's interesting that there's a lot of news media and corporate language in this thread. It does seem to have a way of grating on you. For one, it seems like when the media or corporations find a new term, they use it ad nauseam. During the pandemic, I got really sick of "surging" and "soaring". And they use it for everything now: temperatures SOAR, prices SOAR, homelessness SURGES. Those words on their own aren't wrong to use, but it gets annoying, especially since they're always associated with doom-and-gloom bad news.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I haven't heard "caged" much in the mainstream media, but among anti-incarceration activists, that's pretty common language. "People in cages" is how they describe it when stressing that they don't think prisons should exist at all, or at least that they should be utilized far less than they are. Not to get into a debate about that, but...yeah.

I think it's interesting that there's a lot of news media and corporate language in this thread. It does seem to have a way of grating on you. For one, it seems like when the media or corporations find a new term, they use it ad nauseam. During the pandemic, I got really sick of "surging" and "soaring". And they use it for everything now: temperatures SOAR, prices SOAR, homelessness SURGES. Those words on their own aren't wrong to use, but it gets annoying, especially since they're always associated with doom-and-gloom bad news.

It is a way of over-stating - or emphasising - something, - in a way, screaming the importance of this story - and further stressing the language by somehow suggesting that the perfectly functional words, and terms, which used to describe these events, are no longer deemed adequate or sufficient.

Needless to say, I agree with you, and think that this - tone of almost hysterical hyperbole - is entirely unnecessary, except when used very, very sparingly.

 

[SalisburySam]

These most recent posts are totes awesome, indeed even epic. Uber-kewl fer sure.