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

[InvertedGoldfish]

“I work to live, I don’t live to work”

Just makes me sad that not everyone loves their craft, especially as most will spend a very large chunk of their life doing it

 

[avz]

“I work to live, I don’t live to work”

Just makes me sad that not everyone loves their craft, especially as most will spend a very large chunk of their life doing it

Context in which this phrase is used is important as people who enjoy what they do don't usually call it "work". Enjoying what you are doing is probably the very definition of "living".

 

[VulchR]

When someone replies to me with "WHATEVER." They might as well say "I don't give a **** what you are saying." Especially annoying when coming from one of my daughters.

I found that I could have rational conversations with my daughters once they entered their mid-20's.

 

[sinango]

Here are few that make me cringe every time I hear them:

1. As someone who works with kids, sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't use the term "kiddo" or "kiddos" instead of "kid" or "kids". It's not as bad as "doggo" or "doggos" (instead of "dog" or "dogs"), but pretty darn close.

2. "legit" used as an adverb. For example, "I legit just saw Tom Cruise at the mall." As an adjective, I don't mind it. For example, "The email you received was legit" doesn't bother me.

3. "said" used by non-lawyers in non-legal contexts to refer back to a previously mentioned person, place, or thing. For example, "I found a pair of sunglasses I like, so I bought said pair of sunglasses." It just sounds utterly pretentious.

There are others, of course, but those are the top 3 at the moment in my head 😂

Conversely, there are words or uses of words that seem to bother many people that I don't have any problem with. Probably the most common would be the use of "literally" in a hyperbolic sense. For example, "That movie was so amazing, it literally blew my mind." To me, that's clear and obvious hyperbole and doesn't bother me in the least, yet for some reason it sends others into conniption fits. They don't seem to accept that words can have totally different meanings and/or connotations depending on context. You may not like that use, fair enough, but it's not "incorrect". I admit the same about the three words I detailed above--they are common, accepted uses, but I just don't like how they sound.

Oh boy, I'm totally with you on the "doggo" and "doggos" front! It's like someone tried to make "dog" sound fancier and ended up with a linguistically awkward superhero name. And "said" used like that? I mean, who are we, detectives in a mystery novel? 🕵️‍♂️ Language can be a wild ride, can't it?

 

[VulchR]

For me it's '..., like, ...' Like, it totally, like, makes me want to, like, muzzle somebody. Like, totally.

 

[KaiFiMacFan]

Said overuse of "like" is low-key cringe.

 

[usagora]

Oh boy, I'm totally with you on the "doggo" and "doggos" front! It's like someone tried to make "dog" sound fancier and ended up with a linguistically awkward superhero name. And "said" used like that? I mean, who are we, detectives in a mystery novel? 🕵️‍♂️ Language can be a wild ride, can't it?

Recently I saw a video on YouTube where someone almost t-boned another vehicle that had two dogs in the backseat. Someone made a comment on the video: "Thank God he didn't drive right into those good boys in the back seat," and then later, "Just glad those good boys in the back seat weren't hurt or worse." Never heard anyone refer to dogs generically as "good boys" before, but apparently that's yet another odd thing people say 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[usagora]

For me it's '..., like, ...' Like, it totally, like, makes me want to, like, muzzle somebody. Like, totally.

 

[chown33]

Oh boy, I'm totally with you on the "doggo" and "doggos" front! It's like someone tried to make "dog" sound fancier and ended up with a linguistically awkward superhero name. ...

I've heard "doggo" and "kiddo", but it occurs to me I've never heard "catto".

FWIW, the original awkward canine superhero is Underdog.

 

[SalisburySam]

Teenagers taking shortcuts and possibly not yet understanding the importance of using correct spelling, punctuation and grammar in various situations can be (somewhat, anyway, in my book) excused.

But what magically happens to those teenagers transitioning to adulthood? When they turn 21 is there a grammar/spelling/punctuation injection required? Won’t they just continue using what they’ve already become very accustomed to, which by the way, has worked well for them for years?

 

[rm5]

But what magically happens to those teenagers transitioning to adulthood? When they turn 21 is there a grammar/spelling/punctuation injection required? Won’t they just continue using what they’ve already become very accustomed to, which by the way, has worked well for them for years?

1. I think there's something to be said about casual vs. formal/professional conversation. Obviously in a professional setting, you'd always spell out names of places or things, and not use slang, abbreviations, etc.
2. Talking to people your age vs. talking to people who are much older - you use different language talking to someone younger vs. older, right? At least I do...
3. Language used now vs. language used in 50 years - I'd think I would get annoyed by some of the language used by people my age 50 years from now.

EDIT: I think as far as the grammar/punctuation thing goes, that's just something that people have to learn.

 

[Mousse]

Language used now vs. language used in 50 years - I'd think I would get annoyed by some of the language used by people my age 50 years from now.

Aye. I'm already annoyed by the Gen Z's butcher of the language. Soz. Sus. Drip. Boujee.😩

Back in Tolkien's time, will was plural, shall was singular. Will became accepted as singluar sometime after I my schooling days. Same with they/them.😓 I remember being so annoyed hearing people say, "I will" instead of "I shall".

Gandolf didn't shout to the single balrog, "You will not pass!" He shouted the grammatically correct, "You shall not pass!"

We should never had gone beyond Victorian era English. The language back then was both easy to understand and exuded an air of culture. I blame the uncouth Colonials for butchering the Queen's [Victoria] language🧐 and for drinking coffee instead of tea.😁 I wouldn't mind bringing back the thee's and thou's.🤗

 

[chown33]

We should never had gone beyond Victorian era English. The language back then was both easy to understand and exuded an air of culture. I blame the uncouth Colonials for butchering the Queen's [Victoria] language🧐 and for drinking coffee instead of tea.😁 I wouldn't mind bringing back the thee's and thou's.🤗

In older fiction, I'll sometimes see "phone" (referring to a telephone) with a leading apostrophe to indicate elision of the "tele". E.g. "I used the 'phone to call for a carriage."

 

[nielshutch]

"Growth", when applied to population, economy, profit, &c., seems intended to mislead. Are all measurable increases natural and good? ("Growing the business" can be synonymous with "greed"; can "temperature growth" describe "global boiling"?)
Leave the term "growth" to biology, describing natural increases in plants and 'kiddos'.

I cannot stand being called buddy.

"Bros" – shudder.
"Mate" became universally popular in Australia.
As a term of familiarity between relative strangers, I prefer a more traditional "pal".

"Nice" is ambiguous. "A nice distinction" is rather tasty while "Have a nice day" is cringe-worthy.

 

[nielshutch]

I blame the uncouth Colonials for butchering the Queen's [Victoria] language🧐 and for drinking coffee instead of tea.

How dare you, Mousse!
I once shared your prejudice, thinking the mis-spelling of "colour" as "color" was a misguided Yankee attempt at efficiency. Then one day, reading a 17th century English manuscript (all 'f's for 's's), I uncovered the miscreant "color".
You Royalists always transfer your own crimes to your victims.

 

[KaiFiMacFan]

Gandolf didn't shout to the single balrog, "You will not pass!" He shouted the grammatically correct, "You shall not pass!"

Honestly, re. will vs. shall, it’s not surprising that the usage leveled off into a preference for “will” considering how convoluted the rules were. It wasn’t just a matter of singular vs. plural, it was that for simple future, “shall” was used for first person (“I” and “we”) and “will” for second and third, but if there was some other sense aside from futurity, like determination or a command (as in the Gandalf example) then it’s the inverse: “shall” for second and third person (“you shall not pass!”) and “will” for first person (“I will not be disrespected!”). Not to mention it seems to have always varied a bit between Britain and the U.S. Not easy to keep all of that straight. 🤔

 

[VulchR]

Well, if we are talking about UK English here of the kind Victoria used, I'll never get used to people in the UK using 'that' and 'which' interchangeably. Ouch.

 

[VulchR]

Oh my.

 

[C0ncreteBl0nde]

Back to the punctuation/grammar thing…In another lifetime part of my job description while working for an engineering firm was to proofread the engineer contracts and technical specifications. Everything had to be correct. Now, when reading anything online such as chat rooms, forums, etc. the all too frequent punctuation and grammar and spelling errors jump out at me as if they were neon. It’s a curse. Sometimes I wonder if people must know better but are just being lazy? The English language is being assimilated with the invention of text message abbreviations.

 

[usagora]

Back to the punctuation/grammar thing…In another lifetime part of my job description while working for an engineering firm was to proofread the engineer contracts and technical specifications. Everything had to be correct. Now, when reading anything online such as chat rooms, forums, etc. the all too frequent punctuation and grammar and spelling errors jump out at me as if they were neon. It’s a curse. Sometimes I wonder if people must know better but are just being lazy? The English language is being assimilated with the invention of text message abbreviations.

I'm guessing most people don't put a lot of weight on proofreading social media posts--there's really not much to be gained by that unless the mistake changes the entire meaning of the post or something. Now, if you're a business posting on social media, there's a bit more at stake because of course you want to appear professional.

 

[C0ncreteBl0nde]

I didn’t mean to imply that; I’m talking about the use of (there-their-they’re) and (your-you’re) etc. Sometimes it seems people just don’t bother with the punctuation. I’m not referring to this forum but Reddit and TikTok, which perhaps speaks for itself. I could be expecting too much. 😁

 

[usagora]

I didn’t mean to imply that; I’m talking about the use of (there-their-they’re) and (your-you’re) etc. Sometimes it seems people just don’t bother with the punctuation. I’m not referring to this forum but Reddit and TikTok, which perhaps speaks for itself. I could be expecting too much. 😁

But that's precisely what I'm talking about. Whether those are mistakes not caught due to lack of proofreading or purposeful for the sake of pumping out posts a bit faster, it's really of no consequence in contexts like this. I personally have an inner drive to write and speak correctly in all contexts, and I gather you do too, but I can understand why others don't. And even though I normally proofread posts, I still very often read them later and find mistakes 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[avz]

Aye. I'm already annoyed by the Gen Z's butcher of the language. Soz. Sus. Drip. Boujee.😩

Back in Tolkien's time, will was plural, shall was singular. Will became accepted as singluar sometime after I my schooling days. Same with they/them.😓 I remember being so annoyed hearing people say, "I will" instead of "I shall".

Gandolf didn't shout to the single balrog, "You will not pass!" He shouted the grammatically correct, "You shall not pass!"

We should never had gone beyond Victorian era English. The language back then was both easy to understand and exuded an air of culture. I blame the uncouth Colonials for butchering the Queen's [Victoria] language🧐 and for drinking coffee instead of tea.😁 I wouldn't mind bringing back the thee's and thou's.🤗

Will is definitely coming across as more "confident" than shall. "I will" gives an individual more "power" and therefore feels "more empowering".
While "We will rock you" sounds great and confident, "We shall rock you" sounds "weak" like we want to rock you but we might not be able to.

 

[avz]

It would have not be the same if the dudes actually tried to pull this off.
Because women are like totally awesome.

 

[Big Apple Tim]

"Daily Driver" makes me cringe. "I've been daily driving an iPhone 14 Plus and got to say it's a really underrated device."

I'm sure you don't have a special phone you bring out only on weekends if it's sunny.