Hmmm...annoying phrases

ORIGINAL: bunni

 After glaring at me for the 5 minutes it took to check out she said "Have a nice day". I said, "Oh come on, you'd rather have me get hit by a truck". It was the first time she smiled.

[sm=blush.gif]

I HATE the phrase "No offense, but..."[:@]

ORIGINAL: cyclefiend2000

i used to work with a guy that ended almost every sentence with "you know what i mean". it drove me nuts, and most of the time i didnt have a clue what he meant. of course, i think a lot of the time he didnt even know and was hoping that i did.

 
OMG!!!!!!! I sit across from that guy!!!! IT'S SOOOOOOOO ANNOYING!!!!!! [:@]

When I'm at work and I answer the phone and the first thing the person on the other end says is, "hi, how ya doin?". 

 
I really love when people do this and then pause as if you are supposed to know who it is.
 
I work with a "basically" guy, though he substitutes "essentially...."
 
Don't even get me started on the "dear" or "hon" people.
 
You know something that really bugs me?  People who say, "so-and-so went missing."  Umm...how about "so-and-so disappeared?"  Where did you go today Tina?  I went missing.  Or, instead of "I lost my keys", the keys went missing.  How?  Did they walk away?
 
How about when a woman relates a story about pregnancy and she says "when I was pregnant for (insert name)."  Call me a grammar freak, but I was pregnant with Jake, not for him.
 
The written errors are a whole other gripe for me.
 

ORIGINAL: probe1957
You guys bring up some good examples, to be sure, but my pet peeve has to do more with the written word.

There instead of their.

Your instead of you're.

There are others, but that is the what I can think of right now.

 
My husband does that, which is why I proof read everything for him.  English was not his best subject.  That's OK, we balance each other out- I help him with written English, and he helps me with history related things.

You guys bring up some good examples, to be sure, but my pet peeve has to do more with the written word.

There instead of their.

Your instead of you're.

There are others, but that is the what I can think of right now.

I used to be sort of freakish about this sort of thing, until I became a linguist...(and started teaching English language learners!)

I've decided that as long as the person with whom you are communicating understands, its a.o.k., correct even!

I guess it all comes down to whether you are a rescriptive or descriptive grammarian... Im descriptive!

ORIGINAL: Prince_Pride

OMG!!!!!!! I sit across from that guy!!!! IT'S SOOOOOOOO ANNOYING!!!!!! [:@]

i am not sure if the guy you know does this.... "you know what i mean" being said as a question or a statement depending on the  inflection (sp?) in his voice.

examples:

"my wife and i went to the store last night, you know what i mean." -- not really. what exactly are you trying to imply or say?

"i was driving speeding in a construction zone last night, a cop started chasing me, and i thought i could out run him; you know what i mean?" -- not really. i dont usually try to out run the police.

cyclefiend...yes it is like that. But most of the things he says 'know what I mean' is when he is trying to describe a computer problem/solution which is even MORE annoying b/c it's usually to an end user...and of course they aren't going to know what in the heck he means!! But he says it before he even finishes explaining things. Like everyone is supposed to read his mind or something ......................................Erg..I'm getting fed up just typing about it!!! [8|]

i know. the guy i knew did that too. i was working a construction job with him, and i didnt know much about heavy equipment at the time. we had a piece of machinery that you had to use starting fluid to get it crank. the first time i ran it though the scenario was something like this....

"take the starting fluid with you and crank the machine, you know what i mean."
"no i dont. what is starting fluid?"
(hands me the can)
"just spray it in there and it'll start, you know what i mean."
"spray it where?"
"in the machine, y k w i m"......

luckily there was another guy on the job with me that did know what he meant, and we got the machine started. otherwise, i might still be trying to figure out what he meant!

How about when people say "What?" even though they heard you.
 
 

Where I live, the word "hella" is said a lot. "I hella liked that movie."  "That was hella funny."  It wasn't that long ago that a friend of mine told me that on the East coast (he's from Boston) they don't say "hella", but they say "wicked" instead. So just substitute "wicked" for "hella" and that's how people talk over there. "Hella" just sounds ridiculous to me. I have been guilty of using it in the past, but I try to catch myself if it ever seems like it's gonna slip out of my mouth.

Interesting to see all the responses...funny thing is that I agree with every one of them!  Here in the South, a common phrase for putting something away in it's place, is to "put up..toys, etc."  Took me a long time to get used to that one.

I drove into the Bay Area with DH this morning because he had an errand there and of course, we pulled up directions from mapquest first.  Mapquest apparently wasn't up on a few things, like there are 2 exits with the exact same name. So ... we stopped at 2 gas stations, a tire store, 2 restaurants and a major hotel chain and couldn't find one single person who spoke English. By that time, I would have settled for any phrase even a seriously annoying one, if I could have understood it. [:@] We finally got directions by chasing down a mailman.

Joyce

ORIGINAL: chewbecca
I hate when I'm arguing with a loved one (my fiancee) or a family member and they say, "Will you listen to me?" or "Am I allowed to speak now?"
My experience is that when someone says that to me, they haven't heard a word I've said. People rat themselves out ALL THE TIME in ways like that.

 
Hahahaha... you are so right!
 
My biggest "annoying phrase" pet peeve is the misuse of "literally." It's not just for emphasis! David Cross (comedian) actually does a bit about this, I'll paraphrase and clean it up a little for polite company - he talks about someone who tells him something was so crazy/scary/exciting, "I literally pooped my pants." Cross replies, "Wow, that's gross - what a mess!" The guy says, "No, man, I didn't actually poop my pants, I literally pooped my pants!" I guarantee you, once you think about that one you will start to hear it EVERYWHERE!
 
As for the written word, for some reason I become completely unhinged when I see people write "loose" for "lose" (as in the present tense of lost). I think my neurosis dates back to a college writing workshop where a girl in my class did this multiple times every single week in her pieces, despite being told over and over that it was LOSE. It drove me nuts... literally.

Living in Texas and working outside most of the time,
"Is it hot enough for ya?"

Having gone to school in MA, yes, they say "wicked".  "It was wicked hot" or "wicked cool".  heh...  Being from NY, I thought it was funny and neat.  We got all the "likes" in sentences.  In high school we had to give a 5 minute speech on a book we read.  This one girl said over 100 "um"'s before I quit counting. [8|]

I say "what" a lot when someone doesn't get my attention first.  I get pretty involved with whatever I'm doing and unless I know you're talking to me, you could be talking to the dog, the TV, yourself, whatever...