# annoying everyday phrases
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 11, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916 "2019-03-11T00:10:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/1 "2019-03-11T00:10:56Z")
In the many years of this forum this must have been covered but -
People that don’t get a sandwich, they “grab” one.
They don’t get in the shower, they “jump in”.
“Level playing field”. Where is this unlevel playing field?
“At the end of the day…” What about the beginning of the day, or the middle? What does time have to do with it?
If I thought about it I could some up with other examples, but I see a lot of intelligent people using these phrases, how can they not know they are speaking in cliches?
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/2 "2019-03-11T00:12:50Z")
I incessantly post this every time one of these threads comes up:
“Can I ask you a question?”
The usual dudes will be along soon to comment; Hey, guys!
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### Author:  [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/3 "2019-03-11T01:15:20Z")
Men and women in uniform. If you mean soldiers, say soldiers, if you mean firefighters say firefighters. Burger King employees of both sexes wear a uniform.
Any and all business buzzwords and phrases.
Increasingly aggressive terms for disagreements in news print. No, Trump didn’t get assaulted with a question and Kim Kardashian did not destroyed with a clapback.
Also, clapback.
‘Hacking’ used to describe anything other than a computer crime.
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### Author:  [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/4 "2019-03-11T01:52:13Z")
I thought of another one - “On American soil.” What the hell does dirt have to do with it? Can someone, at least once, say “the worst terrorist attack in the United States”?
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### Author:  [@Cindycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cindycat)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/5 "2019-03-11T02:26:30Z")
I hate it when people say ‘my bad,’ or ‘bae’ or ‘boo’ instead of baby/babe. And when did saying ‘sick ‘ come to mean the same thing as ‘cool’? Also, people throw around OCD and bipolar too much with little knowledge about the actual disorders.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/6 "2019-03-11T02:37:31Z")
‘Have a blessed day’, no, I want to have a horrid day, thank you very much.
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### Author:  [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/7 "2019-03-11T02:46:39Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#):
>
> People that don’t get a sandwich, they “grab” one.
The self-checkout machines at my local Target remind me to “grab” my receipt.
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### Author:  [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/8 "2019-03-11T02:47:35Z")
> [@Cindycat](#):
>
> I hate it when people say ‘my bad,’ or ‘bae’ or ‘boo’ instead of baby/babe. And when did saying ‘sick ‘ come to mean the same thing as ‘cool’? Also, people throw around OCD and bipolar too much with little knowledge about the actual disorders.
I have a poster, details not important, and when my stepson’s friend saw it he said it was a “sick” poster. I thought he was insulting me until I realized it meant “cool”
And yes, it now seems cool, or sick, for people to say they have OCD. Just because you see a poster on your wall that is crooked and you straighten it up doesn’t mean you have OCD. If you are driving to work and feel compelled to go back home and straighten it, yes you have OCD. Or are bipolar.
And BTW, is there any slang expression that has had as long a life as “cool.” It was cool in the 50s and it’s cool now. No one ever says “nifty” or “swell” anymore.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/9 "2019-03-11T02:50:36Z")
^ I still say “nifty.” I like getting funny looks. :o
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/10 "2019-03-11T03:03:22Z")
“Surrounding.”
A few years ago I started noticing people saying “surrounding” to mean “about” or “involving,” and now I can’t un-notice it. If it’s not on all sides of something, literally or figuratively, then it’s not surrounding something, literally or figuratively.
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### Author:  [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/11 "2019-03-11T03:11:51Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#):
>
> And BTW, is there any slang expression that has had as long a life as “cool.” It was cool in the 50s and it’s cool now. No one ever says “nifty” or “swell” anymore.
I worked with a writer who’s pushing 80, and was a jazz musician in Brooklyn in the 50s.
We asked him about… well, we started by asking about weed in the pre-hippie “Beat” days, but we quickly broadened to clothes and language that faded by now. He could rattle off phrases like “Don’t get wigged, Jackson, but that back seat bingo doll? She’s a bang-tail gone cat, but she’s copping the cube bit”
But _“cool”?_ He was so tickled that the greatest word from his young wild days was still with us. With exactly the same meaning.
\*Hepcats \*aren’t hep any more, _Groovy_ wasn’t actually groovy for long, but _Cool_ has always been cool.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/12 "2019-03-11T03:16:35Z")
🆒
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### Author:  [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/13 "2019-03-11T03:25:01Z")
Hey now, THIS cat still uses “groovy”, it’s a peachy keen word and I dig it, so y’all just keep on truckin and I’ll catch ya on the flip flop ok?
Besides, can “cool” really be considered slang anymore?
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/14 "2019-03-11T03:29:44Z")
[Moderating]
Moving from CS to IMHO.
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### Author:  [@Dickerman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dickerman)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/15 "2019-03-11T05:14:23Z")
“Having said that…” and the similar “That being said…”. Especially when someone says it almost every other sentence. Ugh!
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### Author:  [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/16 "2019-03-11T05:15:39Z")
My old boss said the following annoying phrases constantly:
This is neither here nor there, but…
Sue can you _reach out_ to Bob in accounting?
It is what it is.
But what bugged me most were his nonsensical “air quotes”. He would gesture them constantly, but sometimes he would put quotes on words where it made no sense. For example:
I have a meeting with the “new hire”. (when he had a meeting with the new hire)
We can discuss the financial plan after the “conference call”. (when we were going to discuss the financial plan after the conference call)
It took enormous restraint not to strangle him.
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### Author:  [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/17 "2019-03-11T05:38:46Z")
I’m going to “jump in” and be contrary, because it’s my nature.
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#):
>
> “Level playing field”. Where is this unlevel playing field?
When playing sports casually with friends in any old field, a slight slope can give one side a noticeable advantage.
When it comes to professional sports I doubt any team could get away with having a sloped surface, but teams switch sides partly to prevent this kind of thing being an issue.
> [@](#):
>
> “At the end of the day…” What about the beginning of the day, or the middle? What does time have to do with it?
It just means “ultimately”. Other languages have similar expressions.
It’s the subtle distinction between “we must work towards this” and “we must do this now”.
Though I would agree some people just use it as rhetorical filler.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/18 "2019-03-11T05:50:14Z")
I will slap you down if you tell me to 'get ‘er done’.
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### Author:  [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/19 "2019-03-11T06:16:31Z")
“I’m just saying”. Most commonly used as a lame comeback by the user of said phrase in response to a solid argument the user can’t counter logically or factually.
Something like: ( husband/wife or BF/GF )
“Hurry hurry! You’re taking too long to get ready and going to make us late!”
“I’m not taking any longer than you did, and anyway we’re WAY ahead of the crazy early time YOU insisted on us leaving”
“I’m just saying!”
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### Author:  [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2019, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-everyday-phrases/830916/20 "2019-03-11T06:53:15Z")
> [@Sitnam](#):
>
> ‘Hacking’ used to describe anything other than a computer crime.
My view is precisely the opposite. “Hacking”, in the sense of playful messing around with machines, is the earlier use. “Hacking” in the specific sense of computer crimes is a later corruption. There’s no reason at all to endorse this latter use, and certainly not at the expense of the former.
A similar thing happened with “meme,” and I have the same complaint. The original sense was a self-replicating set of ideas, like religion or language. But it’s been corrupted into the boring special case of “images with funny text that grandma forwards to you”.
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