some I refused to let slide while I was music editor for an arts/entertainment start-up:
"seamless"
referring to an album or song as an "affair"
"just sayin'"
"sprinkled," as in, a song "sprinkled" with an instrument or characteristic
and last but not least,
I had an English teacher in high school who despised "utilize" (when "use" will almost always work exactly as well without making you sound like a businessdouche), and the distaste rubbed off on me. Then I worked for a woman once who always used "utilize", no matter what. I insisted on proofreading anything she ever wrote, especially since almost everything she wrote would be seen by impressionable young people.
The editors' guidelines at Wizards of the Coast for their Dungeons & Dragons novels listed banned cliches such as "gaping maw" and "scrabbled for purchase".
ditto on "just sayin'"
My peeves:
"Moisture" ick. Nobody sounds good saying that. Not Barry White, Luther Vandross nor Bryan Ferry.
"I need you to" Just ask. Your personhood rights won't be stripped.
"checks and balances"
"basically"
"lush" as pertains to music. Scented bath and body products okay!
"Yeah, no." Always never.
"Utilize" is a huge one in my department. Our technical people insist on using it, and we change it to "use" every time.
The other one I despise is, "intimate knowledge," as in "Our company had intimate knowledge of the [state] Department of Natural Resources." I cringe every time I read it in a proposal I'm editing.
Most of these are great suggestions for words and phrases to avoid and I hope Stranger writers and readers will take them to heart. Particularly (@4, @10) "just sayin'" -- I'm looking at you, Goldy.
I do disagree (@10) with "basically", which is useful shorthand to express that you understand that someone could object to your assertion on technicalities, but they are not relevent to the issue under consideration. "Essentially" and "more or less" work for this purpose as well.
"Impact" as a verb. Fuckin' hate it. Also, this recent tendency (though not by publications, thankfully, to misuse the word "literally." ... "And I was like, literally, walking down the street, and I saw Fred."
@18 TKC thank god someone feels the same... Its like someone stole my culture from me and suddenly allot of people who are interested in things like "art films" or som genre of music you've never heard of are calling themselves, with a straight face, "nerds".
Am I the only person creeped out by "belly?" Not only won't I use it, but I refuse to buy any product with that in the name. Except pork belly (try making jjangmyeon without it) which I freezer-wrapped today and couldn't bring myself to label without abbreviating.
"Amongst." It's literally outdated. Why not use "hither" and "thither" while you're at it?
While I agree with many of the selections here it's worth noting that context is everything. Hell, this very thread is divided between instances of the spoken and written word. In regards to the latter, I find that some of the examples cited are useful synonyms that allow one to avoid repeating simple yet essential phrases.
And @19 is basically right. Though I would agree it gets a bit hackneyed (in spoken conversation) at times.
The technical exceptions argued for "basically" are fine as far as I would know, but when people use it in speech, what I hear is: "I don't really know the answer to your question, but I'm going to keep talking anyway."
@25 - I'm with ya. Outside of the pig-parts map, "belly" sounds like baby talk, which is never acceptable from adults. You might as well be telling me your tummy hurts after din-din. I hate myself for even writing that.
Many will disagree, but the word "create" bugs me (as in, "I will now create a new spreadsheet." Why not just say "make"?) Speaking of "make", I also hugely dislike "make" when it has to do with painting (:She plans to make a painting") and "piece" in connection with clothing.
Applause for #35. This is just criticism of other people's vocabulary by the bland and inarticulate who've already made the world a much more monosyllabic & puerile place.
Hubby and Wifey and Mommy when used in comments.
"Dear Hubby went nom nom nom on this meatloaf."
"The Wifey abused my credit cards."
"Four-letter words bring out my Mommy-rage. Think of the children!"
Pretentious [or basically any word, literally], much?
Grammar nazis (lol) really are quite tedious, and are not fun to be around. As @37 wrote, the English language is 'alive' and as such should be allowed to wander wherever the street takes it. Sounds like not many people here know much about how language works outside of usage guides.
@43: Except this isn't about grammar. It's about the use of annoying cliches, which is the opposite of the fresh, engaging expression you claim to want.
@41 Call me a stuck up New Englander but the phrase 'hubby' has always made me imagine fat couples from flyover states. I have never, not once, heard the term spoken aloud.
Anywho. *shudder* I broke up with someone who wouldn't stop saying that. We don't say this very much, but "at the end of the day" is VERY MUCH in overuse in the UK/Ireland.
I'd be thrilled if I never heard the term "master class" to refer to a great performance. Using it to refer to an actual class taught by an expert of some kind is OK.
The incorrect use of the word "momentarily" to mean "in a moment" as opposed to "lasting a moment" really annoys me, as does "winningest". You cannot use that type of adjective like that. It is wrong.
However my largest hate is reserved for the use of repeated "too" as in "too too much". Once is enough.
Whenever I hear or read "ATM machine" or "PIN number," I want to connect the perpetrator to the Department of Redundancy Department with my fist. It doesn't help that they're often in the same sentence.
My biggest peeves are supported by U.S. style guides: Don't put the periods and commas outside the quotation marks. Don't capitalize the t in "the" unless it's part of a proper noun, etc.
I had a boss who had words that she DID like. One of them was "however." She was also really into parallel construction. (My boss was not primarily a writer.)
Lots to agree with here, of course, but nothing brings me as much validation as seeing "eatery" on the original list. God, what a stupid, stupid word that real people do not ever use in conversation. I think there is no other word in English that so forcefully communicates a writer's failure to give a fuck.
@6,17: The new fad, at least it was new to me, in the business community is to use "leverage" in place of "utilize," presumably because the douche-y impact of "utilize" has diminished with overuse. "I leveraged Microsoft Excel to create this awesome 3D bar chart."
The word the makes me wince, wherever it's used, is "temblor." If a word can really only appear in a headline of a second-rate newspaper, or the copy of a horrible weekly ad-rag, it should be banished.
My favorite awful usage, deployed ironically by a photo editor who had had his fill of corporate-speak, was the verb "effort." As in, "I will get one of my photogs efforting in that capacity." The suits would get wood, and the newsroom flunkies would get a little inward chuckle. Before they all got laid off.
"seamless"
referring to an album or song as an "affair"
"just sayin'"
"sprinkled," as in, a song "sprinkled" with an instrument or characteristic
and last but not least,
"Not so much."
"Push the envelope"
"Pro-active" yeah, I know
and forever fuck "…partner with..."
My peeves:
"Moisture" ick. Nobody sounds good saying that. Not Barry White, Luther Vandross nor Bryan Ferry.
"I need you to" Just ask. Your personhood rights won't be stripped.
"checks and balances"
"basically"
"lush" as pertains to music. Scented bath and body products okay!
"Yeah, no." Always never.
The other one I despise is, "intimate knowledge," as in "Our company had intimate knowledge of the [state] Department of Natural Resources." I cringe every time I read it in a proposal I'm editing.
"Nerd-gasm"
"Get your nerd on"
Just stop using nerd altogether and start using what it really means now "Pop-Culture."
I do disagree (@10) with "basically", which is useful shorthand to express that you understand that someone could object to your assertion on technicalities, but they are not relevent to the issue under consideration. "Essentially" and "more or less" work for this purpose as well.
also, "read", e.g. "I'm an artist, (read, unemployed pot head)."
I third "pet peeve"
I'm currently working on my over use of redundant words too, using this list: http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/redu…
While I agree with many of the selections here it's worth noting that context is everything. Hell, this very thread is divided between instances of the spoken and written word. In regards to the latter, I find that some of the examples cited are useful synonyms that allow one to avoid repeating simple yet essential phrases.
And @19 is basically right. Though I would agree it gets a bit hackneyed (in spoken conversation) at times.
And what does Queen Elizabeth say when she makes someone a knight?
If it wasn't for don, how else would people put on their gay apparel?
@25 - I'm with ya. Outside of the pig-parts map, "belly" sounds like baby talk, which is never acceptable from adults. You might as well be telling me your tummy hurts after din-din. I hate myself for even writing that.
Either him, or the commercial that says its foodstuff "eats like a meal".
That said, I am a romantic--there really is a right sentence out there for every word.
"Dear Hubby went nom nom nom on this meatloaf."
"The Wifey abused my credit cards."
"Four-letter words bring out my Mommy-rage. Think of the children!"
Pretentious [or basically any word, literally], much?
the fact that I just typed it makes me want to cut off my fingers
Whenever that happens to me I don't let it go to waste. I find some baby birds and feed it to them. They love that shit.
I'd also like never to hear "on a daily basis" again. What's wrong with "every day" or "daily"?
However my largest hate is reserved for the use of repeated "too" as in "too too much". Once is enough.
If you lost 80% of something it wasn't decimated, it was 8 times worse than decimated.
I had a boss who had words that she DID like. One of them was "however." She was also really into parallel construction. (My boss was not primarily a writer.)
Now that's a winning pseudonym if I ever saw one.
Lots to agree with here, of course, but nothing brings me as much validation as seeing "eatery" on the original list. God, what a stupid, stupid word that real people do not ever use in conversation. I think there is no other word in English that so forcefully communicates a writer's failure to give a fuck.
;-)
The word the makes me wince, wherever it's used, is "temblor." If a word can really only appear in a headline of a second-rate newspaper, or the copy of a horrible weekly ad-rag, it should be banished.
My favorite awful usage, deployed ironically by a photo editor who had had his fill of corporate-speak, was the verb "effort." As in, "I will get one of my photogs efforting in that capacity." The suits would get wood, and the newsroom flunkies would get a little inward chuckle. Before they all got laid off.