List some phrases you absolutely abhor..

[meltdown75]

ok... now someone start a thread listing the phrases we actually use, and it'll break out into an all-out war... :evil:

 

[Skillet49]

I worked with a woman who would always ask for our "John Henry" instead of "John Hancock" when she wanted our signature.

 

[2dt Drifter]

"For all intensive purposes"

:awe:

:O My boss says this ALL the time.

 

[wheresmybacon]

lolumadbro, or u mad bro, or u mad. Whatever the variation makes me want to punch a clown.

^

Also, being called “guy”. “Whatsup guy?” Oh I dunno how would you like to be thrown down a flight of stairs?

 

[ElFenix]

to check in with someone regarding a specific subject or project?

right but where'd it come from? baseball?

 

[joesmoke]

^

Also, being called “guy”. “Whatsup guy?” Oh I dunno how would you like to be thrown down a flight of stairs?

you tell'em champ

 

[Fenixgoon]

i thought of one earlier today when i got into work.. totally forgot what it was though

 

[shortylickens]

COCKSUCKA!!


Actually, I like that phrase.

 

[foghorn67]

Doppleganger. Not abhorrent. But really, that word has been running rampant.
People are using it badly as well.

 

[foghorn67]

basically any corporate buzzword bullshit but specifically, the phrase

"Soup to nuts"

fills me with silent rage.

Your avatar is beyond any of these words or phrases listed so far.

 

[KeithTalent]

were all sick of hearing about your magazine sales job...

Haha, callback! :awe:

KT

 

[grrl]

Hate because they're wrong:

Jerry-rigged (Jury-rigged)

Both are in the dictionary, but jury-rigged is the original form. There is a term jerry-built, though.

Toward (there is no s, ever)

Wrong.

to·ward
–preposition
Also, to·wards

Have your cake and eat it too (Eat your cake and have it too)

Wrong.

 

[grrl]

I also heard someone say "great person rigged" once. I guess that means hook it up as if you were from Africa? I'm not too sure, but he was still talking about doing a really shitty patch job because it only needed to hold for a short period of time.

/facepalm

 

[Kanalua]

"where have we been all of our lives" and yes said like that (error and all).

my favorite from law school (i went to a conservative undergrad and a liberal law school): "What do you mean 'that's gay'?"

 

[SphinxnihpS]

Both are in the dictionary, but jury-rigged is the original form. There is a term jerry-built, though.

Wrong.

to·ward
–preposition
Also, to·wards

Wrong.

Jerry-built has nothing to do with the Germans in WWII. It's from the 1800s and does not mean quite the same thing. And if you don't really disagree with me, why did you include it in your laundry list of stupidity?

Towards is NOT a word is the US just like cheque is not. I have millions of red marks on English papers to prove it.

The actual phrase is Eat your cake and have it too. The common way you hear it, 'have your cake and eat it too' is wrong, period. It makes no sense. Think of the meaning and then decide which is correct.

 

[gaidensensei]

James J. Kilpatrick, in his book Fine Print, says there is no discernible difference between the two: the British prefer towards; American usage calls for toward.
Fowler, however, has a more complicated answer.
He notes differences in pronunciation and usage (adjective/preposition). Says use as adjective is obsolete and, as preposition, the -s form is the prevailing one, and the other tends to become literary on the one hand and provincial on the other.

In journalism, the AP tells students that the "s" is unnecessary from the AP style book. It is like omitting the use of 's' in backward or forward.

I guess in the end it is just really what you prefer. If you're writing professional for journalism then I guess you'd have to stick to one way. For me, I do tend to write Towards which was brought to me by the californian education system.

 

[duragezic]

I worked with a woman who would always ask for our "John Henry" instead of "John Hancock" when she wanted our signature.

:awe: I've never heard someone say that but I hate that too, big time, for some reason.

I hate when people at work were like "touch base" to see "what's on my plate".

 

[foghorn67]

:awe: I've never heard someone say that but I hate that too, big time, for some reason.

I hate when people at work were like "touch base" to see "what's on my plate".

Maybe she didn't want to say cock.

 

[ShawnD1]

I worked with a woman who would always ask for our "John Henry" instead of "John Hancock" when she wanted our signature.

I've heard this. I think they were being sarcastic. I guess you could say she really great person-rigged that phrase :awe:


Another bad one is libary. People don't type it like that, but say it.

 

[OverVolt]

touch base.

I mean really?

 

[QueBert]

Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

Very outdated and really doesn't even seem like it was ever that good of an insult to me. It sounds like some shit a person would say when they're mad and have nothing witty to say to you.

 

[ShawnD1]

touch base.

Maybe people will stop saying it if we pretend to misunderstand what they said. "Did you just say you wanted to touch my penis?"

It only works if you say it with a totally straight face.

 

[ahenkel]

Re: have your cake and eat it too.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/eatcake.html


The most popular form of this saying—“You can’t have your cake and eat it too”— confuses many people because they mistakenly suppose the word “have” means “eat,” as in “Have a piece of cake for dessert.” A more logical version of this saying is “You can’t eat your cake and have it too,” meaning that if you eat your cake you won’t have it any more. The point is that if you eat your cake right now you won’t have it to eat later. “Have” means “possess” in this context, not “eat.”

 

[grrl]

Jerry-built has nothing to do with the Germans in WWII. It's from the 1800s and does not mean quite the same thing. And if you don't really disagree with me, why did you include it in your laundry list of stupidity?

I never made any connection to the Germans, I merely included jerry-built because it could be one reason some say jerry-rig instead of jury-rig.

Towards is NOT a word is the US just like cheque is not. I have millions of red marks on English papers to prove it.

No one said this thread was about US English.

The actual phrase is Eat your cake and have it too. The common way you hear it, 'have your cake and eat it too' is wrong, period. It makes no sense. Think of the meaning and then decide which is correct.

I'll half concede on this one. You are right, the standard sequence of eat-have is the original, but it's a bit pedantic - and wrong - to suggest have-eat is somehow inherently illogical.

 

[Phoenix86]

COCKSUCKA!!


Actually, I like that phrase.

Not that there's anything wrong with that!