Any particular word(s), phrase(s), etc. you particularly despise?

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The discussion centers around frustrations with certain phrases and buzzwords commonly used in professional and casual contexts. The phrase "good job" is criticized for being a euphemism for a high-paying job, while "you need to be flexible" is seen as a demand for personal sacrifice for a superior's benefit. Participants express annoyance with manager-speak such as "work smarter, not harder" and "crunch time," which often imply excessive work expectations. Misused phrases like "should of" instead of "should have" and incorrect pronunciations, such as "tempachure," also draw ire. The conversation highlights a broader disdain for jargon and linguistic errors that detract from clear communication, with many contributors sharing their personal pet peeves regarding language misuse. Overall, the thread reflects a collective frustration with the decline of language precision in both professional and everyday settings.
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Lately, I've been irked by the phrase "good job". It's a substitute for "high-paying job" but many people use to convey the idea of an idyllic life, where all problems are gone. A close second is "you need to be flexible" (when used by a superior); roughly translated, it means you need to sacrifice some of your personal life to fix my (the superior's) work-related problem.

 
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'particular' when it isn't needed. It's so pretentious.
 
I love you.
 
Particularly when combined with "any". I have failed. :blushing:

Oh wow... I just noticed what I typed as the thread title... redundant redundancy is redundant!
 
I saw "possibly possible" repeated in the same sentence this morning.
 
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Just look up a list of all the "manager-speak" buzzwords, and you'll have my list. "Work smarter, not harder" was one of my least favorites. It was a favorite phrase of my General Manager, who gave me all kinds of crap when I wouldn't work 70-hour weeks when he thought it was "crunch time". "Crunch time" was another of his favorites. When he declared "crunch time" no amount of self-sacrifice and overtime was enough to suit him.
 
David Cameron's "Big Society". It translates as: "Basically, there will be no support for those of you of a low economic status, sort it out yourselves. However, I can't say that, and so instead I'll imply that we can all work togeather, in a selfless, utopian society of love, kindness and compassion. Don't worry that it hasn't been tried before, that's because no one thought of it before, not because it doesn't work."
 
Mathnomalous said:
Particularly when combined with "any". I have failed. :blushing:

Oh wow... I just noticed what I typed as the thread title... redundant redundancy is redundant!

That's it, you've gone too far. I'm turing you into the Department of Redundancy Department.
 
"The thing of it is, is..."

"Irregardless"

Ya got to do what you got to do"

"It's time to get hot."
 
  • #10
"Thank you for asking."
 
  • #11
"Sounds to good to be true."
 
  • #12
Recently, it has been really annoying when I see someone type "should of" instead of "should have".

And the title of the thread isn't redundant. The two "particulars" are describing two different things and they're both used correctly.
 
  • #13
Would despising any particular words in general say more about the despiser than the 'despised'?
 
  • #14
innovention, guesstimate

turbo-1 said:
Just look up a list of all the "manager-speak" buzzwords, and you'll have my list. "Work smarter, not harder" was one of my least favorites. It was a favorite phrase of my General Manager, who gave me all kinds of crap when I wouldn't work 70-hour weeks when he thought it was "crunch time". "Crunch time" was another of his favorites. When he declared "crunch time" no amount of self-sacrifice and overtime was enough to suit him.
...or how about doing something "with a sense of urgency" which of course is a fancy way to say work faster. I guess business-speak gets old fast too, like perfect storm, bullish/bearish, etc

leroyjenkens said:
Recently, it has been really annoying when I see someone type "should of" instead of "should have".
I'd seen that a lot of the internet but it never really got to me because it's just the internet, but I noticed "should of" or "could of" all through No Country for Old Men. You'd think the editor would of caught it.

edit: I mean would have bwahahahhahha :smile: :wink:
 
  • #15
"marination" a word food tv people use when they mean to say "marinate" or "marinade"

TV food person "get the marination going on that meat" I do see that eventually getting added to the dictionary since millions of tv viewers will soon be using it.

fourier, another similar one is "I half to have it"

and saying "simular"
 
  • #16
Andre said:
Would despising any particular words in general say more about the despiser than the 'despised'?
When Peter tells us of Paul, he tells us more of Peter.
 
  • #17
It's not a phrase just spelling, but I've seen a rash of "mute" being used when "moot" was meant, which irks me. :frown:
 
  • #18
When TV weather broadcasters pronounce temperature as tempachure. They get every other word right, including technical terms. Why tempachure?
 
  • #19
Hurkyl said:
It's not a phrase just spelling, but I've seen a rash of "mute" being used when "moot" was meant, which irks me. :frown:
How many times have I seen "reign in", when "rein in" is intended? It twists my shorts every time to see that on supposedly reputable news sites.
 
  • #20
berkeman said:
When TV weather broadcasters pronounce temperature as tempachure. They get every other word right, including technical terms. Why tempachure?
For the same reason that Jimmy Carter couldn't pronounce nuclear instead of saying nukular.
 
  • #21
F---. Especially when it's used as a noun, adjective, verb, and adverb in the same sentence.
 
  • #22
There is a large family-owned jewelry chain in this state, and the patriarch prides himself on being the voice behind their ads. The problem is that he pronounces jewelry as joolery every single time. Clueless old fart. He brags about buying diamonds in Antwerp, when De Beers clearly wouldn't let him do any such thing, and after he claims to have an inside deal on diamonds, he has to throw in joolery again. What a maroon!
 
  • #23
"You can't have too much water in the nuclear reactor's primary cooling system."

This one's always bugged me. Does that mean I can put all the water I want in the reactor's cooling system with no problem? Or does it mean I'm not supposed to put too much in?

I hope I don't get in trouble with my boss over this.
 
  • #24
berkeman said:
When TV weather broadcasters pronounce temperature as tempachure. They get every other word right, including technical terms. Why tempachure?

Ugh, we have a TV news reader who pronounces "bag" with a long a: "bayg".

Not that it mattered much...until the Iraq war. Baghdad => BAYG-dad. :mad:
 
  • #25
Jenny Craig advertisement on TV -- "Lose all the weight you want for $20, not including the cost of feud".

Is there someplace in the US where the accent includes pronouncing everything right, except food is turned into feud?
 
  • #26
berkeman said:
Jenny Craig advertisement on TV -- "Lose all the weight you want for $20, not including the cost of feud".

Is there someplace in the US where the accent includes pronouncing everything right, except food is turned into feud?

:smile: I've never heard that from anyone except Inspector Clouseau!
 
  • #27
I hate it when people say, "Do you not agree?" Or any other question that uses not in the middle. I never know how to answer...
 
  • #28
Speaking of pronunciations, I have a couple bugaboos. But here is my main one.

"Zoology" pronounced "Zoo-ology" (as in "zu-ology", as in \mathrm{z \dot o \dot o \cdot \dot al' \cdot a \cdot ji}).

The proper pronunciation is "Zoh-ology" (as in \mathrm{z \overline o \cdot \dot al' \cdot a \cdot ji}).

The roots are 'zo' (pronounced 'zoh', i.e. \mathrm{z \overline{o}}) from the Greek zoion "animal" and logia "study," from logos "word."

I mean if the first syllable were pronounced "zoo" it would make the whole word zoo-logy; not zo-ology.

The thing that makes me cringe is when I hear this incorrect pronunciations on TV and in the movies by the characters themselves who are supposed to be zoologists. Do real life zoologists spend much of their time cringing when in public or when watching movies/TV?
 
  • #29
I'd seen that a lot of the internet but it never really got to me because it's just the internet, but I noticed "should of" or "could of" all through No Country for Old Men. You'd think the editor would of caught it.
They may have been saying should've and could've. I don't think they're proper contractions of should have and would have, though.
There is a large family-owned jewelry chain in this state, and the patriarch prides himself on being the voice behind their ads. The problem is that he pronounces jewelry as joolery every single time. Clueless old fart. He brags about buying diamonds in Antwerp, when De Beers clearly wouldn't let him do any such thing, and after he claims to have an inside deal on diamonds, he has to throw in joolery again. What a maroon!
When I say jewelry, I only say it in two syllables. I suppose it's supposed to be 2 syllables for the "jewel" and one syllable for the "ry", for a total of 3 syllables.
But I noticed you spelled it "joolery" instead of "jewlery", which would have the same sound.
People did that when George Bush's wife said Karina instead of Katrina. People went nuts over that, like she's so detached from what's going on that she didn't even know what the hurricane's name was.
They were saying she said "carrina" or "corina". She only missed one letter, but they spelled what she said completely different than Katrina with a missing T.
Now, I'm not saying you spelled it that way to make it seem like he's pronouncing it that much more incorrectly... actually yes, that's what I'm saying. But I don't think you did it on purpose.
I hate it when people say, "Do you not agree?" Or any other question that uses not in the middle. I never know how to answer...

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?
I mean if the first syllable were pronounced "zoo" it would make the whole word zoo-logy; not zo-ology.

The thing that makes me cringe is when I hear this incorrect pronunciations on TV and in the movies by the characters themselves who are supposed to be zoologists. Do real life zoologists spend much of their time cringing when in public or when watching movies/TV?
That's a good one that I used to be guilty of. When I was a kid, I used to play a card game called Magic the Gathering. There's a card of a guy named the Zoologist. I always called him the Zoo-ologist. I didn't know about the field of study called zoology, so I thought it was just a made-up word for the game. He had animals surrounding him and he could summon animals as his ability. And of course the word "zoo" indicates animals, so I stuck them together.
But how did I not notice there wasn't a 3rd "o" in the word to make the -ologist? I don't know.
 
  • #30
I hate it when news reporters on TV say someone was "gunned down." It seems inappropriate to add cuteness to a story about a murder by inserting slang borrowed from cowboy movies.
 
  • #31
Power [anything]. [I once thought about marketing a "Power Tie" that came with a plug]
Family values [as it normally is meant to falsely define a particular political persuasion]
You Betcha [a relatively new aversion of mine]
Don't keep your mind so open that your brains fall out [often used as a justification for a mind so closed that nothing can get in]
Be a team player [another way of saying that you need to be flexible.; ie work for free]

Probably my all-time most despised phrase
Let's do lunch [salesman-speak for "let me bore you for an hour with doubletalk"]
 
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  • #32
Taking anything "to the next level". Ye Gods how I hate that hackneyed phrase.
 
  • #33
berkeman said:
When TV weather broadcasters pronounce temperature as tempachure. They get every other word right, including technical terms. Why tempachure?

Umm... what's the difference?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/temperature lists tem-per-cher as a correct pronunciation. The only difference between that and what you posted is the r, and the r can be difficult to pick up lodged in the middle like that. -acher and -ercher are very similar, and even as a native English speaker (with a mild Baltimore accent), I have trouble picking up the difference.
 
  • #34
Jack21222 said:
Umm... what's the difference?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/temperature lists tem-per-cher as a correct pronunciation. The only difference between that and what you posted is the r, and the r can be difficult to pick up lodged in the middle like that. -acher and -ercher are very similar, and even as a native English speaker (with a mild Baltimore accent), I have trouble picking up the difference.

Temprichure would be more acceptable.


I suspect that meteorologoists are rushed. They must learn to talk fast to get thorugh their allotted time. They are proably well aware of the corners they have to cut.
 
  • #35
When someone writes "I wanna" instead of "I want to", for me it's like chalk screeching on a chalkboard.

However, I don't feel the same way about "I gotta" instead of "I've got to" or "I have to", or "I dunno" instead of "I don't know", in writing that is deliberately intended to reflect colloquial speech.
 
  • #36
The thing of it is, is, I want to tell you all my thoughts on this thread, because it's time to get hot. You know crunch time. So, with a sense of urgency and regardless of any possibly possible need to be flexible in particular, I intend to work smarter, not harder. After all you got to do what you got to do. So I plug in my power tie and sidle over to my wife who is in the kitchen preparing something. She is half way through the marination, an innovention of hers, which I would guestimate to be a good job. I whisper in her ear "I love you." This shows I have good family values, do you not agree? She took it to the next level saying "Let's do lunch". I replied "Thank you for asking, sounds too good to be true." A rather mute point since everything she cooks is good. I'm a team player, so I eat with gusto. You betcha. Oh well, you can't please everyone.
 
  • #37
turbo-1 said:
How many times have I seen "reign in", when "rein in" is intended? It twists my shorts every time to see that on supposedly reputable news sites.

I thought it was "rain in." Now they make more sense when they say we have to "rain in federal spending."
 
  • #38
jtbell said:
When someone writes "I wanna" instead of "I want to", for me it's like chalk screeching on a chalkboard.

However, I don't feel the same way about "I gotta" instead of "I've got to" or "I have to", or "I dunno" instead of "I don't know", in writing that is deliberately intended to reflect colloquial speech.

I got to say, I'm relieved. I'd've had to change my posting style otherwise.

I agree with you on rejecting "wanna" That looks and sounds childish, but "gotta" is exactly what it sounds like people are saying in place of "got to." I imagine that I have deliberately used "gotta" several hundred times in posts and emails. I notice that no red line appears under it, so Mr. Spellcheck thinks it's OK!
 
  • #39
DaveC426913 said:
Temprichure would be more acceptable.

How so? dictionary.com says both are acceptable. If both are correct, can one be "more correct?"
 
  • #40
leroyjenkens said:
But I noticed you spelled it "joolery" instead of "jewlery", which would have the same sound.Now, I'm not saying you spelled it that way to make it seem like he's pronouncing it that much more incorrectly... actually yes, that's what I'm saying. But I don't think you did it on purpose.
That's exactly how he pronounces it. Jool'-er-y in three syllables with the accent on the drawn-out "jool".
 
  • #41
Jimmy Snyder said:
The thing of it is, is, I want to tell you all my thoughts on this thread, because it's time to get hot. You know crunch time. [...]

Chi Meson said:
I agree with you on rejecting "wanna" That looks and sounds childish, but "gotta" is exactly what it sounds like people are saying in place of "got to."

I agree, in the right context I have no problem with it. I use "gotta" and "dunno" occasionally myself, when I'm firing off a causal post in a colloquial tone. I don't use "wanna" myself, but that's mainly because it just doesn't come up in the posts that I write in that tone.

The "wannas" that get to me are in posts in in the "technical" forums here. Over and over again, I see posts that start off with something like, "I want to know how to calculate the proper parameters for a dilithium chamber running at warp nine." It's not just here. I first really noticed it several years ago in a Usenet newsgroup about C++ programming. And it seems to be only "wanna" that gets used that way, not "gotta" or "dunno."

I wonder if it's mainly some particular group of non-native English speakers that does this.

I guess I better just shuddup and live with it. :rolleyes:

Now that I think of it, that question about the dilithium chamber would sound perfectly natural coming from Scotty. Of course, he'd never have to ask it because he knows all those parameters by heart!
 
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  • #42
Just "nuke-you-ler"
 
  • #43
mugaliens said:
Just "nuke-you-ler"

Seconded.

That and "aluminum" - I know it's not strictly wrong, but is there really a need for it?

I use "wanna" and "gotta" in IM conversations, texts and informal emails. I never use "dunno", it sounds 'dumb' to me. Not sure why, just don't like it.
 
  • #44
A phrase I read last night -"BEFE (bio-electric energy field enhancement) is based on Quantum Field Science" - in reference to an ionic foot bath that is supposed to generate 'healing frequencies' that 'rebalances' the body's 'bio-electric field'. And people buy this stuff.
 
  • #45
Don't keep your mind so open that your brains fall out [often used as a justification for a mind so closed that nothing can get in]
You don't like that one? I think it's pretty clever, especially when responding to someone who believes in some crazy idea and they say you should keep an open mind about it
Taking anything "to the next level". Ye Gods how I hate that hackneyed phrase.
I say something similar to that. I sometimes say that I'm "taking it up a notch". I say it in more of a funny way, though, never will I say that when I'm completely serious.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/temperature lists tem-per-cher as a correct pronunciation. The only difference between that and what you posted is the r, and the r can be difficult to pick up lodged in the middle like that. -acher and -ercher are very similar, and even as a native English speaker (with a mild Baltimore accent), I have trouble picking up the difference.
That pronunciation completely omits the A. I don't think that's right.
When someone writes "I wanna" instead of "I want to", for me it's like chalk screeching on a chalkboard.

However, I don't feel the same way about "I gotta" instead of "I've got to" or "I have to", or "I dunno" instead of "I don't know", in writing that is deliberately intended to reflect colloquial speech.
I type "I want to", but I do say "I wanna" if I say it fast.
I hate "I dunno". And I don't really like "I'm gonna", but "I'm going to" just sounds so robotic.
 
  • #46
I heard tofu pronounced "toe-few" for the first time yesterday. It sounded kind of funny
 
  • #47
At the end of the day...
That being said, let me say this...
With reference to same...
No worries/not a problem (in response to "Thank you")
The thing is is that...
Anything to do with pushing envelopes
Moving forward...
Anything that doesn't properly distinguish between the use of "that" as opposed to "which"
"People that..." rather than "People who..." If it involves a human it's "who", folks, not "that"

And probably lots and lots and lots of others.
 
  • #48
Jimmy Snyder said:
The thing of it is, is, I want to tell you all my thoughts on this thread, because it's time to get hot. You know crunch time. So, with a sense of urgency and regardless of any possibly possible need to be flexible in particular, I intend to work smarter, not harder. After all you got to do what you got to do. So I plug in my power tie and sidle over to my wife who is in the kitchen preparing something. She is half way through the marination, an innovention of hers, which I would guestimate to be a good job. I whisper in her ear "I love you." This shows I have good family values, do you not agree? She took it to the next level saying "Let's do lunch". I replied "Thank you for asking, sounds too good to be true." A rather mute point since everything she cooks is good. I'm a team player, so I eat with gusto. You betcha. Oh well, you can't please everyone.
:smile:

I'm embarrassed to say that I don't use wanna, gonna, dunno, etc... unless I'm trying to be intentionally funny.

A person I worked with couldn't say "precipitation", they'd say participation, as in "there's a 10% chance of participation today".
 
  • #49
Having said that...
 
  • #50
It goes without saying...
 

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