Words that drive you crazy

Infinitesimal

And "supposably." Kill me now.

My top ten:

1. dude
2. dude
3. dude
4. dude
5. dude
6. dude
7. dude
8. dude
9. dude
10. whatever

caw

Soccer Mom said:

Loose for lose and all the variations. You're all a bunch of loosers!

Alright makes my eye twitch.

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Yes! This bugs me so much!

As for a word I refuse to use: smirk. I have no real explanation for this, I just don't like it! I think it makes a sentence weak. Does anyone else think so or is it just me?

jjdebenedictis said:

"I could care less."

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Yeah, that's an irritating one. It doesn't even make sense.

Although I see/hear it a lot now. I'm afraid it's only a matter of time before it becomes accepted usage.

I'd add:

"To wit"

"Per se" (when overused)

On the other hand, I try not to get too worked up about wrong usage. I already get agitated about too many things in life. Trying to be more zen. Language evolves. It's merely a symbol of meaning. So if the meaning is clear, then I'm okay with it.

jaksen said:

Where are you at?

Well, I would think that's more of a (regional) colloquialism than poor usage. I think so, though am not sure.

Hereabouts we say, where are you?

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In the Westcountry (the far south west of England), you will hear people asking "Where's it to?" for "Where is it?"

Heard one on the radio this morning that bugged the hell out of me - "I'm'a" for "I'm going to". Urgh.

Whilst irritates me for some reason. And seconding the vote for degrees of unique. Shudder.

'toward' is North American English

'towards' is UK English

Their meaning and usage is, otherwise, identical and interchangeable.

So whilst 'towards' probably sounds horrible and wrong to many Americans, 'toward' always sounds wrong to me

TheGrayLady said:

Also, glaring redundancies (i.e. "I had to redo the test again"). Unless you did it once and then twice after that, you did not "redo it again.

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'Redirect back' makes me want to kill.

'Reverse back' always makes me laugh.

brianjanuary said:

I see the "loose" for "lose" mistake all the time and its like fingernails on a blackboard! I'm mystified about how it originated!

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Well, 'lose' rhymes with 'choose', which looks like 'loose'.

'Lose' looks like 'close', but rhymes with 'clues'.

Smile Steady said:

And "supposably." Kill me now.

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You'd be shocked how many people use that "word" in my area. I cringe each time, but am not rude enough to correct them... until they piss me off for some other reason.

My really, REALLY, big, going-postal word is... "really?" followed closely by "seriously?" when either is used as an exclamation to replace "are you kidding me!" which is also causing more hair than I'd care to admit to unnecessarily fall from my dome.

I mean, really? Really??

It was cute at first, but is now so overused it's worse than the fingernails on the chalkboard to me (if you don't know what a chalkboard is, I feel old). I blame a lot of its overuse on my favorite sitcom "Modern Family". Love that show but one of the characters has a habit of dropping "really?" almost every episode, and now every female I know uses it fragrantly.

Another nitpick is when politicians or news commentators use "look" or "listen" when they're answering a question and need to change topics or add further explanation. Check it out for yourselves... watch any national news broadcast with talking heads and/or politicians and you will hear them use "look" or "listen" when they want to get a point across. Don't know why they do it, but it irks me.

Also not a fan of "moving forward" or "going forward". Seems like folks, especially on the telly, enjoy using those terms to make themselves sound smarter? Deeper? Not sure exactly why, but it bugs the holy hell out of me.

One final abomination comes from essays, columns, and other "serious" writing. The word "Indeed". The writer makes a comment or observation then starts or ends a sentence with "Indeed" as a supposably clinching modifier. Do we not get the inference without that word?

Indeed, we do.

Indeed.

"Moving forward" is classic business speak. My company is full of it - we have so much, we have a list of terms we're not allowed to use any more.

Must be off though, I need to prioritise my actions to ensure I don't run out of bandwidth.

gp101 said:

It was cute at first, but is now so overused it's worse than the fingernails on the chalkboard to me (if you don't know what a chalkboard is, I feel old). I blame a lot of its overuse on my favorite sitcom "Modern Family". Love that show but one of the characters has a habit of dropping "really?" almost every episode, and now every female I know uses it fragrantly.

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Bolding mine - deliberate, or just a typo?

It's inevitable in threads like these, of course. As soon as we start criticizing other people's misuse, we do something strange on our own!

onesecondglance said:

Indeed.

"Moving forward" is classic business speak. My company is full of it - we have so much, we have a list of terms we're not allowed to use any more.

Must be off though, I need to prioritise my actions to ensure I don't run out of bandwidth.

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Oh, let's not get into business-speak. That's a whole new paradigm shift.

I hate the word "moist."

That is all.

CrastersBabies said:

I hate the word "moist."

That is all.

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Ugh. That one ranks really high on my all-time-hate list.

Especially in context of the sexah scenes

*shudders*

"as a matter of fact..."

because it usually isn't

ralf58 said:

Yes, I know. It still bugs me. I just think it's a lot clearer if quote is the verb and quotation is the noun. (After all, thread is about words that drive you crazy, which doesn't necessarily have to be words used incorrectly.)

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You betcha! I've got words like that as well. Not necessarily incorrect words, or even used improperly, just ... well, they drive me crazy!

Another incredibly stupid statement for the Department of Redundancy Department is "continue on". Now, since the definition of continue means to go on, one could argue that this is one magnificent redundancy, as in,
"I had to complete the first task before I could go on and on to the next."

maplesyruped said:

Yes! This bugs me so much!

As for a word I refuse to use: smirk. I have no real explanation for this, I just don't like it! I think it makes a sentence weak. Does anyone else think so or is it just me?

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I also hate this word! When a character smirks, I instantly hate them so it better be the bad guy smirking and not the hero. What bugs me is the person I beta read for uses the word a lot. I mentioned it to her before and the image it inspires is of a smug arrogant person, but apparently it doesn't have the same impact on her because her main characters smirk all the time. Drives me nuts.

Roger J Carlson said:

That's a whole new paradigm shift.

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Not a word per se, but the expression, "You want my opinion?"

Because it takes every fiber of my being not to shout: No.

Roger J Carlson said:

That's a whole new paradigm shift.

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*pokes eyeballs out*

I worked as a contractor with the environmental arm of the Army Corps for a couple of years and I swore when I left I would never, ever, ever use this phrase again.

blacbird said:

My top ten:

1. dude
2. dude
3. dude
4. dude
5. dude
6. dude
7. dude
8. dude
9. dude
10. whatever

caw

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When I get bitchy at work about an email someone sent me, my reaction is often, "Dude." It's kind of a plea to the person to stop being a jackass even though they can't see me or hear me (I'd never do it to their face). "Dude. Are you effing with me? Dude." Then my eye twitches and I bang out a passive-aggressive response. This is my life.

To answer the question of the thread: "irregardless". And "disinterested"/"uninterested" used the wrong way. And any big word that the person using it has no business using.

I hate the word bling.