Overused words and phrases

[ChaosTheory]

"FML"  people use this idiocy way to much.  I can understand if you're doing a status update on FB like for example;

"A plane crashed in my backyard and destroyed my swimming pool and shed and now I have reporters everywhere asking me questions and I can't get out of my driveway FML."
However most of the time its usually something like this...

"I just ran out of milk FML"

 

Really is life that harsh for such minor things?

So you're a Breaking Bad fan too, huh? 

I know I use "actually" and "awesome" way too much; I'm too lazy to consult a thesaurus, I guess.
A former boss of mine used to say "You with me?" (as in, do you understand me) every other sentence.  And he was one of the nicer bosses I've had.  In my current job, the phrase "It's an audit issue" is used to justify every nitpicky rule/complaint that corporate HQ inflicts on us. 

[AndyC]

An "issue" is something I find just mildly irritating. It's a problem, or maybe a concern, or even a complaint, but simple, direct language doesn't sound professional enough, so people have to pick a word that makes every little quibble sound important.

Corporate speak in general bothers me. In corporate speak, you just take words and run with them, making anything you want, based mostly on assumptions about the workings of the English language. I think as a journalist - a writer - it bothered me more than most people, particularly when some of the management types who spoke like this in my office were writers themselves, and should have known better.

I had an editor who used to always talk about "team" as some kind of a philosophy or idea or something. Not teamwork. Not being a team, or working as a team, team spirit, a team philosophy or "we are a team." It was just "team" as in "We believe in team." I wanted to smack him upside the head every time he said something like that, doubly so because his idea of a team was everybody working unpaid overtime and putting pressure on anybody who worked within the terms of their contract (i.e. me). Real nice when the "team" lecture comes as a result of expecting your employer to observe labour laws.

The other one I hate is "key." You can have a key component, or some little clue can be the key to solving a problem, but some corporate twit somewhere along the line extrapolated that into something being "key." Just key, as in "The report is key." I hate that. Used to be on a volunteer committee with a guy who used that all the time, a real smarmy, fast-talking character I really had to keep an eye on.

And the worst one, not really corporate speak, but definitely of the same family of expressions born of self-importance and bad English, is "surgery." I have no problem with surgery as a branch of medicine that often involves cutting into people. But "surgery" as a more technical sounding substitute for "operation" or "surgical procedure" annoys me. Not sure when this started, but I think it's just in the last ten or fifteen years people have been using it that way. I find it especially grating when people use "surgery" in plural, as in "He had six surgeries." That just sounds idiotic to me, especially when it comes out of a surgeon. That's partly because hearing it from a surgeon makes it sound more legitimate, and partly because a surgeon does not need to put on a phony air of authority.

Really, when did people start feeling insecure about using simple, correct language? I suppose the phenomenon is nothing new, but it seems to have grown to epidemic proportions. Maybe it's a product of the information age, with people becoming more accustomed to having the inside scoop on everything, and more insecure about not knowing. People today are pretty adept at sounding like they know what they're talking about, even when they don't.

[Flick James]

An "issue" is something I find just mildly irritating. It's a problem, or maybe a concern, or even a complaint, but simple, direct language doesn't sound professional enough, so people have to pick a word that makes every little quibble sound important.

Corporate speak in general bothers me. In corporate speak, you just take words and run with them, making anything you want, based mostly on assumptions about the workings of the English language. I think as a journalist - a writer - it bothered me more than most people, particularly when some of the management types who spoke like this in my office were writers themselves, and should have known better.

I had an editor who used to always talk about "team" as some kind of a philosophy or idea or something. Not teamwork. Not being a team, or working as a team, team spirit, a team philosophy or "we are a team." It was just "team" as in "We believe in team." I wanted to smack him upside the head every time he said something like that, doubly so because his idea of a team was everybody working unpaid overtime and putting pressure on anybody who worked within the terms of their contract (i.e. me). Real nice when the "team" lecture comes as a result of expecting your employer to observe labour laws.

The other one I hate is "key." You can have a key component, or some little clue can be the key to solving a problem, but some corporate twit somewhere along the line extrapolated that into something being "key." Just key, as in "The report is key." I hate that. Used to be on a volunteer committee with a guy who used that all the time, a real smarmy, fast-talking character I really had to keep an eye on.

And the worst one, not really corporate speak, but definitely of the same family of expressions born of self-importance and bad English, is "surgery." I have no problem with surgery as a branch of medicine that often involves cutting into people. But "surgery" as a more technical sounding substitute for "operation" or "surgical procedure" annoys me. Not sure when this started, but I think it's just in the last ten or fifteen years people have been using it that way. I find it especially grating when people use "surgery" in plural, as in "He had six surgeries." That just sounds idiotic to me, especially when it comes out of a surgeon. That's partly because hearing it from a surgeon makes it sound more legitimate, and partly because a surgeon does not need to put on a phony air of authority.

Really, when did people start feeling insecure about using simple, correct language? I suppose the phenomenon is nothing new, but it seems to have grown to epidemic proportions. Maybe it's a product of the information age, with people becoming more accustomed to having the inside scoop on everything, and more insecure about not knowing. People today are pretty adept at sounding like they know what they're talking about, even when they don't.

The only one I disagree about is "surgery." But this is all just opinion anyway, right? But "surgery" seems more accurate and appropriate than "operation." "Operation" could mean a number of things not related to the medical field, but "surgery" is precise and has no ambiguity. I'll gladly accept "surgery" over "operation."

But I'm with you on all the rest, k?

[AndyC]

The only one I disagree about is "surgery." But this is all just opinion anyway, right? But "surgery" seems more accurate and appropriate than "operation." "Operation" could mean a number of things not related to the medical field, but "surgery" is precise and has no ambiguity. I'll gladly accept "surgery" over "operation."

The context usually makes it clear. Otherwise, there are terms that are clear and correct.

Sure it's one word that is not ambiguous, but where do you stop bending the rules? Surgeons "surgering?" Patients getting "surgeried" or "surgered?"

[BTM]

When people say, "Taco Hell" instead of Taco Bell.

Okay, people, maybe that joke was funny the first 1,420,245 times it was done, but it's getting old, can we just drop it?

That along with calling the guy M, Night Shamalyadingdong.  HAHA.  Yes, I know, his movies have sucked of late, but it's been several years now and we're STILL calling him that?  (sighs)

[Flick James]

When people say, "Taco Hell" instead of Taco Bell.

Okay, people, maybe that joke was funny the first 1,420,245 times it was done, but it's getting old, can we just drop it?

That along called the guy M, Night Shamalyadingdong.  HAHA.  Yes, I know, his movies have sucked of late, but it's been several years now and we're STILL calling him that?  (sighs)

I just started calling him that, and I'm not going to stop for another year or two. Meanwhile, I'm off to get some lunch at Taco Hell.

 

[Ash]

When people say, "Taco Hell" instead of Taco Bell.

I've always called Taco Bell "The Mexican Phone Company".  (get it?  )

Anyone who utters the phrase "think outside the box" should have to stand in the corner for two hours.
Anyone who uses the phrase "raise the bar" should be publicly flogged.

[Mr. DS]

When people say, "Taco Hell" instead of Taco Bell.

Okay, people, maybe that joke was funny the first 1,420,245 times it was done, but it's getting old, can we just drop it?

That along called the guy M, Night Shamalyadingdong.  HAHA.  Yes, I know, his movies have sucked of late, but it's been several years now and we're STILL calling him that?  (sighs)

I don't like when people do that either

Keeping on restaurants, I personally don't like when people call McDonald's "Mickie D's".  

[Flick James]

Keeping on restaurants, I personally don't like when people call McDonald's "Mickie D's".

Agreed. Personally I call it Mcs**tstain's.

[Rev. Powell]

The only one I disagree about is "surgery." But this is all just opinion anyway, right? But "surgery" seems more accurate and appropriate than "operation." "Operation" could mean a number of things not related to the medical field, but "surgery" is precise and has no ambiguity. I'll gladly accept "surgery" over "operation."

The context usually makes it clear. Otherwise, there are terms that are clear and correct.

Sure it's one word that is not ambiguous, but where do you stop bending the rules? Surgeons "surgering?" Patients getting "surgeried" or "surgered?"

You've mentioned the "surgery" thing before, Andy, but honestly I have no idea what you're talking about.  I've heard "surgery" used as a synonym for "operation" all my life, and every dictionary I've consulted considers it proper usage.  I wonder if this doesn't come down to an American/Canadian usage difference: perhaps in Canadian English it was rare to use surgery in this way until recently.  If I had an Oxford English Dictionary I'd look it up. 

[Paquita]

The only one I disagree about is "surgery." But this is all just opinion anyway, right? But "surgery" seems more accurate and appropriate than "operation." "Operation" could mean a number of things not related to the medical field, but "surgery" is precise and has no ambiguity. I'll gladly accept "surgery" over "operation."

The context usually makes it clear. Otherwise, there are terms that are clear and correct.

Sure it's one word that is not ambiguous, but where do you stop bending the rules? Surgeons "surgering?" Patients getting "surgeried" or "surgered?"

You've mentioned the "surgery" thing before, Andy, but honestly I have no idea what you're talking about.  I've heard "surgery" used as a synonym for "operation" all my life, and every dictionary I've consulted considers it proper usage.  I wonder if this doesn't come down to an American/Canadian usage difference: perhaps in Canadian English it was rare to use surgery in this way until recently.  If I had an Oxford English Dictionary I'd look it up. 

I'm so glad you guys said something!  Ever since Andy first posted about the "surgery" thing, I've been so nervous of misusing the word, I don't think I've said it again!  I feel weird about saying operation too, so when I was searching for ways around it, I'd say something like "knee replacement ...procedure" with "procedure" mumbled a little because that doesn't sound right to me either. 

[BTM]

It's always bugged me just a bit when people use double negatives. 

Exp, "We don't have no inventory sheets left."

Course, maybe that's a Southern Illinois thing. 

If it's spoken by my co-workers whom I'm friendly with, I jokingly say, "Any." 

They're usually like, "What?"

"Any.  It's, 'We don't have ANY inventory sheets left.'"  Then I smile at them, so no one gets offended.

:)

[ChaosTheory]

When people say, "Taco Hell" instead of Taco Bell.

Okay, people, maybe that joke was funny the first 1,420,245 times it was done, but it's getting old, can we just drop it?

That along with calling the guy M, Night Shamalyadingdong.  HAHA.  Yes, I know, his movies have sucked of late, but it's been several years now and we're STILL calling him that?  (sighs)

THANK YOU!  My friends do that constantly and it hasn't been funny for about 5 years now (and I'm not even a fan of the guy).

On a related note, referring to Wal-Mart as "Hell-Mart", although it is a pretty apt description.

[AndyC]

You've mentioned the "surgery" thing before, Andy, but honestly I have no idea what you're talking about.  I've heard "surgery" used as a synonym for "operation" all my life, and every dictionary I've consulted considers it proper usage.  I wonder if this doesn't come down to an American/Canadian usage difference: perhaps in Canadian English it was rare to use surgery in this way until recently.  If I had an Oxford English Dictionary I'd look it up. 

It just doesn't sound correct to me. Whether or not that usage is accepted for that specific word, it just doesn't follow the general rules of the English language as I understand them. I suppose it's not without precident, as "robbery" is used in much the same way. On the other hand, you wouldn't describe someone who is frequently sweet-talked as "receiving many flatteries." Flattery is the type of statement, not the statement itself. In proper usage, as I understand it, surgery is the type of procedure, not the procedure itself.

And using surgery in that fashion is a recent thing in my experience. For years, I always heard of people having an operation. Having "a surgery" is something I've noticed only recently, and the motivation seems to be the same as for saying "concept" instead of "idea" or "issue" instead of "problem."

I'm so glad you guys said something!  Ever since Andy first posted about the "surgery" thing, I've been so nervous of misusing the word, I don't think I've said it again!  I feel weird about saying operation too, so when I was searching for ways around it, I'd say something like "knee replacement ...procedure" with "procedure" mumbled a little because that doesn't sound right to me either.  

"Knee replacement surgery" is perfectly correct. It refers to the type of procedure. You can say "he had knee replacement surgery" with complete confidence. However, "he had a knee replacement surgery" is incorrect. In that case, "a knee-replacement procedure" is correct, but totally unnecessary. I just call it a knee replacement. The surgical procedure is implied. Really, the best term for any operation is one that describes what's being done (a knee replacement, a heart transplant, a bowel resection, etc.)

[Rev. Powell]

You've mentioned the "surgery" thing before, Andy, but honestly I have no idea what you're talking about.  I've heard "surgery" used as a synonym for "operation" all my life, and every dictionary I've consulted considers it proper usage.  I wonder if this doesn't come down to an American/Canadian usage difference: perhaps in Canadian English it was rare to use surgery in this way until recently.  If I had an Oxford English Dictionary I'd look it up. 

It just doesn't sound correct to me. Whether or not that usage is accepted for that specific word, it just doesn't follow the general rules of the English language as I understand them. I suppose it's not without precident, as "robbery" is used in much the same way. On the other hand, you wouldn't describe someone who is frequently sweet-talked as "receiving many flatteries." Flattery is the type of statement, not the statement itself. In proper usage, as I understand it, surgery is the type of procedure, not the procedure itself.

Serious question, in case you know: what does the -ery suffix mean anyway?  We have "machinery," "battery," and "bakery," along with "robbery," "surgery," and "flattery."  The only constant I notice is they're all nouns.  I guess that, long ago, "surgery" may have referred to activities of surgeons, "bakery" to activities of bakers, "robbery" to activities of robbers, and so on, but obviously the meanings have shifted over the centuries.