Overused and abused words

phil_b

Keiko said:

"virus"

"vaccine"

"lockdown"

"now more than ever"

2nd wave, 3rd wave

viruses dont spread in waves

phil_b

"Expert"

JohnS37

One expression that rubs me up the wrong way, and I can’t explain why, is ‘rock up’, as in “then Julie rocks up in her new Lamborghini”.

yocky

phil_b said:

"Expert"

not now Gove

merlin

Sassafras

I can accept almost anything but 'awesome'.
Since when did a cup of tea or sandwich become awesome.
The word's 'literally' become diminished.
Genius gets overused too.
Bruv sets my teeth on edge. It's worse than dude.

Sassafras

phil_b said:

Keiko said:

"virus"

"vaccine"

"lockdown"

"now more than ever"

2nd wave, 3rd wave

viruses dont spread in waves

I'm not so sure about that.
I used to live in Brighton and swam in the sea most days.
I caught some pretty nasty infections.

Cranky

Sassafras said:

I can accept almost anything but 'awesome'.
Since when did a cup of tea or sandwich become awesome.
The word's 'literally' become diminished.
Genius gets overused too.
Bruv sets my teeth on edge. It's worse than dude.

Dude is part of my DNA. It's a west coast thing. But it does crack me up when I hear people from other parts being annoyed by it. A couple of kids on an Australian cartoon that my kids watch kept saying "dude" to bug their parents, it was funny.

SPECTRUM001

Oh dear, I am probably guilty of tons of these.

But I am definitely wary of email and messaging, and how easy it is to make statements of fact that may be incorrect. Somehow I think the speed at which we can communicate encourages our egos and overblown claims to score points.

Back to the thread, and two that rough me up are ;

1. False apologies (‘sorry to bother you, but can I just etc etc’). If you were really sorry you wouldn’t do it. Just say, ‘do you have a moment spare ?’ or simply ‘can I please have five minutes ?’

2. Carnival. As far as I am aware, carnivals are events that take place all around the globe. There are more than one, and I think should be prefixed with the definite article. If you are attending Carnival, I don’t know if you are going to West London, West Wittering or West Ham...so just say The Notting Hill Carnival.

Cranky

When I ask someone "what's up" and they say "the sky" or "the ceiling." It's neither funny nor clever. Are you trying to make me not want to strike up a conversation with you ever again? Or, is "what's up" itself an overused thing?

pigface

JohnS37 said:

One expression that rubs me up the wrong way, and I can’t explain why, is ‘rock up’, as in “then Julie rocks up in her new Lamborghini”.

That was a pretty standard expression when I was growing up in Africa in the 70s. Not sure why it's made its way to the UK now.

To contribute to the thread, I'll add 'toxic, as applied to masculinity, work environments, and other things that some people have a problem handling.

For a phrase, and this is more of an American thing, how about "out of an abundance of caution"? I hate that :-(

ronnyb

'Guys'. Walking into a restaurant or shop with the wife to be greeted by 'Can i help you guys' or 'Evening guys'. Are they suggesting my other half looks like a bloke? Another Americanism. 

Reverend

JohnS37 said:

One expression that rubs me up the wrong way, and I can’t explain why, is ‘rock up’, as in “then Julie rocks up in her new Lamborghini”.

Clearly it is "rock down". Eddie Grant knows the score

Grunfeld

SPECTRUM001 said:

Oh dear, I am probably guilty of tons of these....

2. Carnival. As far as I am aware, carnivals are events that take place all around the globe. There are more than one, and I think should be prefixed with the definite article.

@SPECTRUM001 -- good to see the figurative use of tons spelled like that instead of tonnes.  I had a dispute about that with a gf which was more or less cited in the divorce.  Ah, pointless arguments and the joys of being single.  (We probably both said.)

Carnival and the definite article.  That's the position I held for a long time.  I'm not sure what's happened, (unless it was that gf's bad influence), but I'm not bothered about it any more.  I still prefer "the baby" to "baby".  But tonight I heard a respected US academic talking about "brain" rather than "the brain" and it sounded appropriate, better even, in the context.  I liked it and I reckon I'll be dropping the definite article from brain from now on.

boogieman

phil_b said:

"Expert"

From “ex”: something that’s a has-been 
and “spurt”: a drip under pressure. 

Almach

Stunning, as in "A stunning pair of rusty hedge clippers from my shed. Only £10"

zepp76

Oh and a very annoying Americanism that has crept into motorcycle sales ads on eBay......”Barn find” where did all these bloody barns suddenly spring up from around the country?

sammysaber

I'm just glad that we no longer need to use "Synergy" all the time.

HAL9000

‘Question mark’ instead of question.
’ Myself’ - almost always superfluous.

p90fool

JohnS37 said:

One expression that rubs me up the wrong way, and I can’t explain why, is ‘rock up’, as in “then Julie rocks up in her new Lamborghini”.

It isn't an expression I'd ever use, but I think you probably can "rock up" in a new Lamborghini.

More so than a new Astra, anyway.