I’m in Grumpy Old Man mode today, as it’s broiling hot and I was just outside, singeing in my own fur. And there’s lots of noise outside my office because they’re not only redoing the roof, but digging up the sidewalk to replace the ceiling of an underground tunnel to the adjacent building. TONS of annoying and disruptive noise!
So, you get to hear four words or phrases that I can’t stand. I managed to find all four, used in headlines, in about two minutes, just by doing a Google search for the word and adding “Huffington Post.” For if the PuffHo does anything, it tries too hard to be cool and current—or maybe it’s because most of the editors are privileged white women, clearly not long out of school, who have decided to appeal to their readership by using the Young Folk’s Argot.
Now I know I can’t stop the progress of language, whatever that means, but I can highlight words and phrases that rankle. Here are my choices for today.
- “Epic” should be reserved for things that are related to an epic, i.e., something in the grand scale, preferably related to a poem or tale. Even the Oxford English Dictionary doesn’t sanction its current use: as “something out of the ordinary” (i.e., perhaps a notch above “amazeballs”). Here PuffHo applies it to a fricking PIE:
- The adjectival “genius”: The OED lists its use as an adjective as “colloquial,” and I can almost tolerate that, but NOT when applied to something like how to recycle Parmesan rinds:
- “Throwing shade” is a phrase I can’t stand to hear. It means to publicly criticize or denigrate, although it originally referred pejoratively to the shade-thrower, not the throwee. Now, however, it simply means “criticize” or “go after.” It’s used only by those who want to show how hip they are, as here.
- “Rocking a ___”. To “rock something” means to use or wear an item in an attractive way; as far as I know, it usually refers to clothing, as in the unbearably au courant headline below. As George Orwell pointed out in his famous essay on the English language, if you use a metaphor like this, it should convey something tangible, bringing a real image to mind. “Rock” conveys a misguided image. So when I hear of someone “rocking a dress,” I envision them cradling the dress in their arms and rocking it like a baby. When I hear the phrase, the soles of my shoes curl up.
Can we use them all in one short paragraph? Of course! Here goes: “Don’t throw shade on Professor Ceiling Cat for his genius cowboy boots. They’re epic, d00d*, and he’s rocking ’em!”
*Another disgusting word, especially when spelled with zeroes instead of “o”s. It’s invariably meant to denigrate men, and by women who would never stand to be referred to as “chicks.”
I know most of you have words or expressions that rankle you just as much. Do share them below.
Agree with all the above Brothers, Sisters, Comrades (miss you Hitch)
I’ve noticed, in the UK at least, that immersive and existential litter many pieces of text where they serve no purpose other than to “big up” the writer (OMG this offends on ” so many levels”).
I nearly forgot those beauties “elevator pitch” and “deep dive”.
Sent from my iPad
To me, “elevator pitch” is 10 degrees (the maximum pitch under which the elevator will work, and “deep dive” is limited by the length of the umbilical cable.
But “elevator pitch” is really quite a vivid metaphor: A pithy sales pitch that is short enough to get through in the time it takes to travel between floors.
British “lift pitch”. 😁
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Organic food. And they don’t even smile when one asks for inorganic potatoes.
‘Top of the hour’ been puzzling over what that could mean for years.
. . . and she was like ‘I know’, and then she goes ‘he was well hot’ and you know you just knew didn’t ya? (heard on a bus).
Brexit
« ‘Top of the hour’ been puzzling over what that could mean for years. »
Have you never seen an analog watch?
“Bottom of the hour” = half-past.
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“Incredible”. When did this word cease to mean not-credible? Amazing,stupendous,beyond belief,excellent,terrific, wonderful, etc. Drives me nuts.
In my neck of the woods the word “thug” is used in every situation in which someone has interacted with the police. I counted the word 9 times in one article once.
Presumably they wander around strangling people!
Pre-planned – what other sort of plan is there??????!
“so” starting a sentence when it is not consequent upon any previous statement…
Direct descendant – what other sort is there? Say DESCENDANT!!!
A spur-of-the-moment plan?
So, “direct”, here, is synonymous with “lineal”; so the other sort is “collateral”.
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“Can I get a coffee?”
NO! You cannot ‘get’ a coffee – the barista will get it, or make it we hope, “can I HAVE a coffee” is what you should say!
May I?
A few that get me:
“At this current moment in time” instead of “now”.
UK TV news reporters who, after something bad has happened somewhere, say that the family/neighbours/community/town concerned “are struggling to come to terms with” whatever happened.
Management BS such as “leverage” (as a verb), “putting our weight on our front foot” (I don’t know about you, sunshine, but I have left and right feet, not front and back ones), “punching above our weight” and “going for the low-hanging fruit”.
Also, my sister has just had a loft conversion done at her house, and I am told that when our teenage great-nephew saw it he described it as “well sick” – apparently that signified approval.
Finally, “pwned”, and “noms” for food (sorry, PCC(E), but you did ask).
Isn’t that what the fox tried before realising that the fruit in question were sour?
The “front foot” idiom may be derived from cricket. The batsman puts his weight predominantly on the front foot or the back foot, depending on what kind of shot he is playing.
Adding “The thing is, is ” to a simple statement such as “She has a new job”:
“The thing is, is that she’s got a new job.”
I HATE the thing is, is. I even heard our very articulate President say it once. Where the hell did it come from?
It’s what is sometimes referred to as Mamet-speak. I heard it first in one or another (:all) of the Mamet movies starring Joe Mantegna.
Yeees, how did I forget that one? Hurts my ears every time. My opinion is, is that double copula are the worst. Another one I forgot to mention: journey for lengthy process. If you’re not traveling, it’s not a journey!
“issue”.
My personal most grating neologism du jour is feels when used as a noun, as in: “This video of a kitten just gave me all the feels.”
Or
“Watching that toddler hear for the first time got me right in the feels.”
Even writing these examples made me gag.
Changing up instead of just changing🙀
Possibly comes from baseball pitchers?
“Intersectional”
“Die Cis Scum”
“Mansplain/Cisplain”
“Cisheteronormative”
“Check your privilege”
“Problematic”
“Empower”
“lift up”
“microaggression”
“Kyriarchy”
“white capitalist patriarchy”
“dominant culture”
“Manspreading”
“marginalized”
“system of oppression”
“punching up”
‘freeze peach”
OK, two others:
Deconstruct. Post-modernists LOVE this word, and apparently wanted to make a claim to fame by not using the word “analyze” in order to distance themselves from their elders.
Extraordinary: Why does this not mean “so very, very ordinary.” Or, is that a redundancy? As a kid, I thought extraordinary meant something so average that it was uninspiring.
Is there such a thing as “very average”?! Maybe I would feel more comfortable replacing extraordinary with metaordinary.
The “extra” in “extraordinary” comes from its Latin meaning: “outside” or “beyond” (the range of ordinary). It’s the colloquial sense of “extra” as “more” that’s a bit of a head-scratcher.
An unusual addition?
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Derrida didn’t seem to use “deconstruct” to mean analyze, but rather to mean “say any BS I like about”, which others inherited to varying degrees.
(There is a sense in which you’re right, but that would be anathema, because supposedly “deconstruction” is what “cultural studies” and “continental philosophers” do, as opposed to those “analytic” philosopher.)
“people of color”
I hate that phrase more than anything. It is supposed to be “inclusive” but it just comes across as a reworking of “colored”.
Now the Reverse, please.
May we have some phrases, even sentences that should be retained for all of eternity. I nominate:
‘light a candle to’
‘the cupboard is empty’
‘It will all be the same, a thousand years from now’, and
‘A man going past in a cart with a bolting horse would never notice’ (as a response, for example, when the Supreme Commander-in-Chief suggests the front lawn needs mowing).
One of my favorite words is a synonym for “lackey” or “flunky”, and is derived from the notion that the subordinate always stands or walks behind the master. The word is “catchfart”, and I found it while I was idly browsing through the Oxford English Dictionary. Yes, I browse dictionaries. To use it in a sentence:
Perfect!
Another very annoying term is “optics” instead of “appearances” when talking about someone’s (usually a politician’s) actions, as in “The candidates optics were not good.”
Yuck!
Do people actually say this?
The one that I howl about the most is when a single terrorist is referred to as a “lone wolf.”
That glorifies the terrorist in the minds of the “copycats” and other impressive adolescents. Who wouldn’t like to be known as a lone wolf, conjuring up images of a lone hero riding to the rescue of a fair damsel?
Copy me on new responses, please.
“Trending.” I did a word search through this thread and nobody mentioned this word yet. I can’t stand it, it is like following a stupid fashion just because it is fashion. Just running along with the other sheep. Grrrr…