Most annoying English phrase? 1

[LNBruno]

I'd like to lead off with one (of thousands) of my favorite(s):

...at the end of the day...

To which I always want to add something like:

...another one will start!

Okay, Word Police! Let's hear 'em!

< M!ke >
I am not a hamster and life is not a wheel.

 

[dgillz]

I am not sure where you are going with this, but the one that people always get wrong, gramatically, is:

"I should/would/could of...."

Drives me batty.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

"If you have a big enough dictionary, just about everything is a word"
--Dave Barry

 

[Welshbird]

My personal 'favourite' is
"I have spoken with..."

Now, this may be perfectly reasonable in American English, but in British English it is meaningless.

One doesn't speak with someone, one speaks to someone and listens to them also. One might, however, converse with them.

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[cjelec]

Using the word 'after' to describe a time scale without including the item before:

I'll do it after.

After what?!?

 

[Bandenjamin]

When someone who is attempting to say that it would be impossible for them to care any less about a topic says....

I could care less

So you're saying you do care??

Oh and this one drives me nuts too....boughten. Maybe it's just the area I live but people use boughten way too much around here!!

--Dan
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain

 

[Grenage]

I think that's a localised misery. Most folk round here say "I couldn't care less" or "I could care more".

Carlsberg don't run I.T. departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[AnotherHiggins]

It took me a second to figure out what "boughten" is even supposed to mean. (Past tense of bought - which is already the past tense of buy, right?)

I hate it when people use the word "anymore" in this way: "It's hard to find Count Chocula anymore." (meaning "these days")

Yes, yes, such usage might be supported by the dictionary, but that doesn't stop it from bugging me.

[tt]_____
[blue]-John[/blue][/tt]
[tab][red]The plural of anecdote is not data[/red]

Help us help you. Please read FAQ 181-2886 before posting.

 

[Welshbird]

cjelec: That makes perfect sense to me, which is not a surprise considering my upbringing.

My AP's are staying with me at the moment, and only this morning my Dad said
"I'll do that for you know in a minute after" which makes perfect sense to him and to me.

Cymru Am Byth!

(The eisteddfod is this week isn't it?)

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[MeGustaXL]

Can I include Scottish phrases?

"ken", as in:

ken, ah'm at th' bookies
D'ye ken werra bank is pal?
Ah dinna ken, hen

Grrr...

Chris

Don't count the days, make the days count

Muhammad Ali

 

[SantaMufasa]

My pet linguistic peeve is abuse and misuse of pronouns. And for those of you who are recalcitrant pronoun abusers yourselves, and you do not recognise abuse when you see it, I'll list both an example of the abuse and the correction of the abuse:

**********************************************************
Abuse: Using subjective pronouns when appearing as part of a compound object:

"Steve took my wife and I to dinner." <- Abusive
"Steve took my wife and me to dinner." <- Correct

**********************************************************
Abuse: Improper use of reflexive pronouns (myself, herself, himself, ourselves, themselves, itself):

"Steve took my wife and myself to dinner." <- Abusive
"Steve took my wife and me to dinner." <- Correct

**********************************************************
Abuse: Improper use of pronouns for elliptical comparisons:

"Steve likes his dinner more than me." <- Abusive (hopefully)
"Steve likes his dinner more than I." <- Correct

The reason I say "hopefully" is because the first sentence's non-elliptical expansion means:

"Steve likes his dinner more than he likes me."

The corrected sentence's non-elliptical expansion is:

"Steve likes his dinner more than I like my dinner."

**********************************************************
Abuse: Incorrect objective-sense pronouns in elliptical responses to questions:

"Who wants ice cream?" "Me!" <- Abusive (="Me wants ice cream.")
"Who wants ice cream?" "I!" <- Correct

"Who wants to go to the movies?" "Us" <- Abusive
"Who wants to go to the movies?" "We" <- Correct

**********************************************************
Abuse: Use of objective-sense pronouns with any form of the infinitive "to be".

"The person Steve took to dinner was me." <- Abusive
"The person Steve took to dinner was I." <- Correct

"The person who deserves to go to dinner is her." <- Abusive
"The person who deserves to go to dinner is she." <- Correct

"The people who went to dinner were us." <- Abusive
"The people who went to dinner were we." <- Correct

This particular abuse (use of objective pronouns with any form of the verb "to be") is, perhaps, the most abused of all the pronoun abuses.


Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[drlex]

With (the greatest) respect...

Since you know that the above precedes a statement or opinion that contradicts you and is rarely uttered with any sincerity whatsoever.

soi la, soi carré

 

[cjelec]

willif,
It does seem to be a Welsh thing, but I do hear it being said in other places now.

"isn't it", that one makes me smile. I moved to England for a few years and the people there liked to point out that I was from Wales by adding an exaggerated "isn't it" (isen't-et) to the end of their sentences.

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
My least favorite is:

It goes without saying...

which is invariably followed by the thing that 'goes wthout saying'..





To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[ESquared]

No offense, but...

Yeah RIGHT. Pull the other leg while you're down there.

[COLOR=#aa88aa black]Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.[/color]

 

[IknowMe]

Along the lines of willif's "spoken with" I'd like to say "had a go" sounds to me like someone needs to use the potty

Wow, I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time.
I think I've forgotten this before.

 

[ESquared]

Regarding misused pronouns (something that irks me too):

I have a friend who once said something along the lines of "... to Nancy and I."

I explained that since the pronoun was in the predicate part of the sentence, he needed to use a predicate pronoun ala "... to Nancy and me." However, he confidently explained to me that while it used to be that way, they changed it recently and now this way is correct. He was extremely confident of himself, making some reference to some book or TV program or some source he had come across, and would not listen to me or any of my attempts to help him out on this one.

Yes, this is the same friend as I talked about in the unintelligence thread and over in STC recently.

[COLOR=#aa88aa black]Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.[/color]

 

[HalComps]

LOL

'To be honest' and 'i was only saying', so u was only saying so that makes it ok!!! hehehe

 

[pinkgecko]

You can't miss it!" Puts a big warning flag in my mind that It's probably hard to see unless you know what to look for. If something is obvious, it goes without saying. If something "can't be missed," you had better keep your eyes peeled.

[blue]Never listen to your customers. They were dumb enough to buy your product, so they have no credibility. - Dogbert[/blue]

 

[ESquared]

you had better keep your eyes peeled.

Painful.

[COLOR=#aa88aa black]Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.[/color]

 

[AnotherHiggins]

Wow - some of y'all really seem to think the worst of others....

[tt]_____
[blue]-John[/blue][/tt]
[tab][red]The plural of anecdote is not data[/red]

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