I wouldn’t mind calling it a hack if it had to be seriously MacGyvered in order to work. Otherwise, yeah, just a tip or trick.
And yet both of those signal that you are under no social obligation for whatever you just thanked me for. Not equivalent phrases, true, but the same release. Also the same level of being watered down to a set, required response.
I sometimes use “neato” for the same purpose.
Came in to mention this one! Another business-related phrase that gets under my skin is “thought processes,” mostly because it’s next to impossible to ask about thought processes in a way that doesn’t sound like “what the hell were they/you thinking?”
The phrase “pick your brain” is creepy. What’s so hard about asking “what do you know about [topic]?”
As a user of the phrase “no problem,” I’m pretty sure it’s undergone a shift in meaning to take the place of the stodgy-sounding “you’re welcome.” This is especially true if I’ve done some small extra task in the course of my workday to help someone else, or come up with some easily-produced tidbit of data to assist a coworker – “you’re welcome” just feels clunky in those situations.
Every time a cashier tells me “You have a good one!” I really want to say “Thanks for noticing!”
It seems to be subsiding, or maybe I’m inured, but I hate impact and impacted used to replace affect, effect, and affected. People have overused the term so much it has lost its influence.
“Sooner rather than later.”
My neck breathing coworker (not even my boss) used to say it to me often. It’s been years since I worked with him and I still get a flash of the guy whenever someone says it. Must be mild PTSD.
“this day and age” redundant and signals a dated mindset.
“this, that, and the other” please strangle me posthaste.
“iconic” in the 2000s: I am a hack writer, please strangle me posthaste.
“iconic” in the 2010s: I grew up reading mass media in the 2000s, and/or I aspire to be a hack writer. Use your own discretion re: murder by asphyxiation.
But why? If someone says that to you it’s pretty obvious they want to ask you a personal question. Do they really need to specify what type of question they’re asking you?
Completely unnecessary adverbs that people seem to think they need to say:
She was brutally raped (as opposed to people who were gently raped?)
He’s fiercely independent (as opposed to people who are halfheartedly independent?)
They were tragically killed (as opposed to people who are happily killed?)
I think the French-speaking people in my area use “malade” (literally “sick,” in the sense of being ill, but using it to mean “cool”) much more than the English-speakers use “sick” in the same sense.
Well…there *could *be a difference - i.e., by analogy, murder is murder, for instance, but there’s still a difference between secretly injecting too much anesthetic into a patient vs. violent hacking someone to pieces with an ax.
The word “fuck” sends me up a wall. And, yes, I hear it every damn day.
I have ranted previously on the topic of “apples and oranges”.
I am seriously peeved by people who say that I can’t compare apples and oranges. They are both fruit, dammit. They both grow on trees. They have comparable contents (i.e. vitamins, carbohydrates, fiber, and so on) and grow to comparable sizes. So puh-leez don’t tell me that apples and oranges can’t be compared. They are prime candidates for comparison. In fact, rigorous scientific comparison has been done.
Confusing apples with oranges would be a mistake, and you would be justified in correcting anyone who did that.
I was going to try to think of something to contribute but honestly, I could care less.
Heh. Well done.
I read somewhere that it has been seriously proposed that apples and oranges be replaced by “apples and roller coasters” as an expression precisely because of the similarity of apples and oranges.
First off, “Can I ask you a question?” is a lazy screenwriter “tool” that’s been infesting TV and movies for the last 10 years or so. The correct answer (which several other Dopers would attest to) is “You just did.” I don’t think anyone has ever asked me that question that way. Usually, it comes out as an order: “Lemme ask you a question.” To which you say: Sure, No, or I don’t answer questions, officer.
Every time I hear CIAYAQ? in the movies/TV it’s usually used wrong, i.e., an inappropriate time or situation. And it always sounds awkward.
And, damn right, one should specify what kind of question one is asking in a particular situation. The intent isn’t wrong, it’s the inept phrasing off CIAYAQ? which I still say is a stupid writer’s “shortcut.”
Forcing computer terms into everyday workplace language. My boss is the worst offender. “Let’s take this offline.” “I don’t grok that.” “Let’s drill down on this.” “Let me revert.”
Of course he usually uses them wrong, so he gets his just desserts.
When my daughter says “Can I ask you a question?” I usually say. “Just one. And that was it.”
^ You’re my new best friend. 
Worse than “can I ask you a question?” is “can I ask you a QUICK question?” No, please ask it at a glacial pace. You know how much I enjoy that.