Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum OT - Irritating Words, Phrases and Sayings

What I was thinking as I read the thread.

My daughter is intelligent and well-educated and drives me nuts with her constant insertion of 'like' into her conversation. Fortunately her younger brother has avoided infection despite frequent exposure.

24/7....as in permanent or as in every day? Why say every day when they mean commonplace?

I shudder when I hear "Haitch". Why do they do it when it is easier to pronounce H correctly?

Meaningless verbiage.

Oh and if I may be so bold {grin} those who are completely unable to communicate unless every other word begins with "f".

It isn't garbage - it's rubbish.

You know what I mean?

Sundew - I'll "give you the benefit of doubt" and asume that you inserted this highly qualifying phrase intentionally :b:

Regards (and ending my rant), JF

kbk - I'm afraid we'll just have to "agree to disagree" on whether or not that's a qualifying phase here - but I wouldn't want it to become "a bone of contention" between us - otherwise we'll be forced to "extend the olive branch" and "wave the white flag" and "give peace a chance"

Regards, JF

Another good one Dennis - I've heard that often, but I've also heard "The only thing that stays the same is change" or "Change is the only constant" or "Things that don't stay the same tend to change" (Einstein, I think, or was it Newton?)- all of which has nothing at all to do with the currently over-hyped politically oriented "change" so highly touted by several Presidential candidates, which is a highly elusive commodity yet to be pinned down or precisely defined, and which could be anything anyone wanted it to be - or absolutely nothing at all (which is a situation I hope we can "change for the better").

Regards (and always keeping in mind that - "sooner or later" - "what's old is new again"), JF

English is rich in aphorisms for all occasions. I don't generally mind them when they distill some basic truth about life, especially when they are delivered with self-conscious irony.

There are, however, a couple—deceptively intended to placate with untruth—that I loathe:

"Everything happens for a reason."
"Everything turns out for the best."

It's hard to find words that console and comfort in a crisis, but these clichés are so trite and hollow that they might well have the opposite effect.

Steven

The "mission statement" that I wrote out was done through great practice. As a translator, I am forced to use these terms when they occur in order to maintain the desired tone regardless of how I feel about them personally.

I have also translated applications using big words, scientific jargon, a great deal of the "team player" type of vocabulary, and long convoluted sentences. (Like this one.) One such had a paragraph almost a page long. It consisted of one sentence. I could summarize the message in three words, "I can type."

One of the debates raging on the translator forum is whether the GIGO principle should apply. Do you render the same quality of text that you have been given, or do you improve it? it is a real pleasure to come across well written and concise wording as well as original thought.

"Kinda"/"kind of" and "you know"...

I kinda cringe when I hear those expressions, you know.

A very annoying mispronunciation rather than an annoying phrase, but one which may now begin to fade into well-deserved obscurity along with its most visible inadvertent promoter:

Noo-cue-lar

"Needless to say" (air quotes) I agree about trite and hollow clichés, but that "goes without saying".

At last! I knew that sooner or later someone would have the intellectual capabilities and the highly discriminating taste to fully appreciate my posts here in the various Forums

Or was I just guity of an "unwarranted assumption" by "taking your comments out of context"?

Regards, JF

P.S. interesting post on the problems in dealing with all these foilbles of the language by Professional Translators - never thought of that possible dilemma. Thanks keystring

I hate "i'm afraid". It's always a lie, and hypocritical.

This is an interesting topic. I am just as guilty as a lot of others of falling into the cliche trap, but there are some that bother me a great deal, such as when people refer to something as truly or very unique... it is either unique or not, no varying degrees. The same with auspicious people tend to do the same thing.

It used to irritate me when I would ask my staff there opinion on some matter, or if they preferred one thing over another, and they would respond "Up To You". If it was up to me I would not aks their opinion.

Regards, JF

JF
lol
KS

Responses of "cool" and "awesome" by the younger generation ... "take the cake".

KNOCKED OFF - used improperly in sports announcing all the time. Team A has only "knocked off" team B when Team B was the favorite. But instead, it is increasingly used as a substitute for the more generic "defeated".

Another term that is relatively new (I think) is "tipping point". I could be wrong, but there seem to be many talking heads that use it when they mean the exact opposite: turning point.

That's a good one Kathleen; it has driven me nuts for years. "Feel" used in that sense (as opposed to touching something) is like "am", "are", "is", and needs what I think is known as a predicate adjective , not an adverb. If you were a really bad masseuse, on the other hand, one might rightfully say "You feel bad"...haha.

I was thinking of the scrimp thing on my way to work today as an example of butchering our language but someone beat me to it.

ha ha ha too funny gmm1

Something that is beginning to annoy me is "I hope this finds you well". It's a nice way to start off an email and I appreciate it especially considering how customer service seems to be going down hill. But, it's being used so much it's starting to lose its meaning....