I’m not talking about your little pet peeves. No, I want to know about the things about our English language that set your teeth on edge. I think this is a discussion worthy of its own thread.
It has irritated me for years with the advent of the YouTube maker generation when those giving a stream of instructions use the phrase “go ahead” over and over.
“I’m going to just go ahead and put that in there.”
“Why don’t you go ahead and screw that down.”
“I’ll go ahead and add those ingredients.”
It’s useless, and now you’ll see it everywhere. Sorry.
EDIT: Because the people who say it are usually people to whom you can’t say “Stop fucking using that word when you really mean emotionally moving.” You also can’t follow up with a demonstration of an impact with a 2x4.
I know, it is in the dictionary now… because after some dipshit misused it in the 60s or 70s, it caught on and really started gaining steam in the late 90s/early 2000s in religious circles. Knowing that doesn’t make me any less irritated, though.
Opening any commentary with: “The thing of it is this… (pause, then get to the point)”
Mr. TF’s family all use this phrase. It’s taken years to build a tolerance and not have to stifle my rage. I get it, you’re the focus of the conversation right now and you’re basking in the attention. Please just get to the point.
I’ve heard it so many times, I caught myself using it once and it burned my heart.
That phrase is kind of horrible. What does it even mean? I mean, I know what it means, but it is kind of stupid if you think about the actual words. The thing.
Yeah, in my experience, use of that is the nice alternative to something, um, less polite. But, I hear you, Doc… it can also come off as condescending and useless.
Reminds me of a phrase more often heard back east than where I am… “Lemme ask you something…”
**Literally **
Definition: used to emphasize the truth and accuracy of a statement or description. Example: "The party was attended by literally hundreds of people. "
My coworker cringed when he heard a sales guy say, “We can literally scan the enterprise network in a matter of minutes. I’m speaking figuratively, of course.” What the actual eff, dude? Also, by “enterprise network”, he meant the company’s network globally - an international Fortune 500 company. Clueless sales guy.
I really irritate people who don’t want to have a conversation with me, but want to tell me a whole lot of useless garbage. I let them talk, but don’t give those little conversational/social cues to let them know I’m listening. Nodding, saying “uh huh”, grunting assent, nothing. I’ll look them square in the eye as they are talking, but won’t give any acknowledgement that I either agree or disagree. This feedback is an important part of conversation, but I believe you have to earn it. It makes people very uncomfortable and they tend to wind down quickly. They only do that once, typically.
I believe that efficient use of the English language is important. I’m not perfect, but I try very hard to not fall into pitfalls and learn from my mistakes where I can.
My boss says these things over and over again in every conversation:
blah blah blah
and stuff like that
It just means that he doesn’t know how to end his thoughts or adequately describe what he is talking about. This makes for awkward moments where I have to ask him what he means or to expand on what he is trying to convey to me. I haven’t pointed it out to him yet because he has a lot of other things on his mind right now in his personal and professional life. I don’t think that this level of directed self-improvement would be a good idea at this time. Still, I hear it. It bugs me. I can live with it. For now.
Another cow-orker uses the same 4 sentence structures over and over all day long. He finds me hilarious, though. I don’t want to wreck that.
You have to pick your battles, or at least know when to sue for peace.
Alternately, knowing when to throw a carefully placed fuck into the conversation for maximum impact is a delicate balancing act. I find that expletives are most effective when they are unexpected and rare.
My two older kids would start most conversations with “I have a question”… I was always yelling at them to just ask the question. Or they would ask if they could ask a question and I would say they just did. Which would break them for a moment.
I understand this, but feel that it is part of a level of politeness that can also be necessary. You get the person’s attention before asking the question to prepare them to listen.
On the other side, I’ve stopped adding “please” to my tickets. It’s a ticket. You don’t really need to have that extra layer of politeness. I’m asking a professional to do their job.
The issue I guess is that we’d already be in a conversation. I get the purpose of occasionally asking that. But in practice it was usually so out of place.
They both think it’s funny that they did that now.
