ShareThisIt's, like, you know, so annoying, the word "whatever," especially when, like, it's drawn out by your 16-year-old who doesn't want to go to the family reunion. Like, it's just the pits. At least it is to 47 percent of the people surveyed by Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., which is kind of a goofy name for a town. But Pee Dee is a funny name for a river, too, so I'll move on to other words and phrases that get my goat.
That last phrase in the paragraph above is another oft-repeated term that really gets on my last nerve. Wait, any "last nerve" reference does as well. How about people who have "issues" instead of problems? It's as if their worries and woes are bound into volumes. Please, I've heard all about volume 1 and don't want to hear about volume 2. And people who must add "know what I mean?" to every statement either aren't good at expressing themselves, and they know it, or assume that I'm a dolt and won't understand their point.
I sometimes give away my age when I respond that something is "cool," but others do it, too, when they describe a wonderful thing as "sweet" or "awesome." Who isn't sick of those? They are so yesterday.
Oops, there goes another one of those phrases that Middle America only caught onto after whoever originated it was so over it. (I can't stop myself. It must be something in the water ... Darn it, there's another one.) And I can't forget how annoying the people are who have an "uplift" at the end of every statement, effectively making everything they say into a question. I can't decide if they're uncertain of their point or simply crave approval.
Apparently most Americans can't speak without slipping in something annoying. I'll admit that I've committed some sins of my own over the years, such as using "literally" when I meant no such thing, or "bottom line" or even "at the end of the day." Fortunately, I've had good editors along the way who red-marked them so thoroughly it was as if the page was bleeding.
Several comments on the Marist College Web site pointed out a few words that didn't make the list of choices for most annoying but merit mention here:
-- "The most annoying word is 'closure' or 'bring to closure.' It is one of those Katie Couric-type words. It is a television media word that is rarely heard in common speech."
-- "Am I the only one that finds the adding of 'wise' to the end of nouns (i.e., weather-wise, traffic-wise) in order to create an adverb annoying?"
-- "'That being said' needs to be taken out and shot."
Personally (and there is yet another annoying word), I find myself telling others to "Have a good one" or something similar upon leaving a store or a restaurant, thinking it sounds better than "Have a nice day." It doesn't. I so often want to respond, when it is said to me, "I'll have a lousy day if I want to. Get off my back."
And if anyone (especially someone in authority) prefaces a comment with "Frankly," you know you're in for a rough performance review. It's almost as bad as that "but" after a compliment.
The Marist Institute for Public Opinion, founded in 1978, is the first college-based survey center in the United States that involves its students in gauging the nation's views. It's sort of a language work-study program.
Surveys range from the highly entertaining "most annoying words" to queries about politics, lifestyles and attitudes that aid students in their studies into political science, communications, marketing and psychology.
But Marist is not alone in finding fun in study. A group of University of Oxford professors came up with their own list of overused phrases, characteristically giving it a hifalutin name: "the great hierarchy of verbal fatigue." Including some already mentioned, they thoughtfully added, along with my observations:
-- Fairly unique. (Either something is or it isn't. Akin to "a little bit pregnant.")
-- At this moment in time. (What other time would one be talking about?)
-- With all due respect. (Used only to soften the blow of criticism.)
-- It's not rocket science. (Nothing is ... except rocket science.)
Well, like, duh.
(Bonnie Williams is the editorial-page editor of the Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail. E-mail williamsbc(at)independentmail.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
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