Very glad to see Oxford has weighed in with some irritating phrases. However….
I’m not gonna lie, it would have been far more impactful if the list had extended to 20, or 30, or 700. A top-10 list is rather unique, of course, and at the end of the day we’re only going to remember that many. But once they’re in for 10, they ought to be in for the whole nine yards and compile as many as possible. Therefore, let us start the Database of Irritating Phrases. Some of our previous posts can count as first entries.
13 comments:
Many thanks to Dane, an alert reader from the Sunshine State who helped put the Oxford report "on the radar"
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug - Mark Twain
Ok, let's start:
For your consideration:
"forward-looking"
"Joe (insert name here)"
"papparazzi"
"de-listed"
"boots on the ground"
"i(insert noun here)"
using nouns as verbs. ex: we "office" on 10th street
Give us the deliverables
"spreading the wealth around"
"Hockey Mom"
"TARP"
"The G-7, or 8, or 20"
"Commander in Chief"
"Think Tank"
"Toxic Assets"
"The Nations Heartland"
"No Huddle"
"Lesser Works"
"Processed Cheese Food"
"Side Effects May Include..."
"This is not a toy"
"Contents may be hot"
staying on message
the (whatever) brand
too close for comfort
target market
niche market
Any kind of godd----d market.
Market volitility
Contra-indicated
Third World
Freedom Fighter
Fillabuster-proof
Child-proof
Ground-truthing
Time is of the essence
Limited liability
Barnstorming
Credit crunch
Euro-(insert word here)
Oil-rich
Oh look, it's December. Time for a new blog entry. Perhaps the planets converging on the crescent moon this evening will inspire you. We await your bloggages.
Doesn't "credit crunch" sound like a breakfast cereal that you pick up at the supermarket and then purchase through a series of minimum monthly payments?
Oh, here's another irritating phrase: "President George W. Bush".
"Education based blog update delays"
Merry X-Mas
Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. ~Mark Twain
This is not an irritating phrase though I am sure that Twain could have come up with some good ones.
Happy New Year to Rob and to those that visit his blog. I joyfully await the promised wealth redistribution.
One more new years quote: An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. ~Bill Vaughn
One more irritating thing:
The use of the term "actionable"...such as "Is the evidence actionable?"
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