# More words/expressions to abolish **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 9, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274 "2012-03-09T15:13:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Rich\_G7subs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85e7bf/32.png) [@Rich\_G7subs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_G7subs)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/62 "2012-03-14T12:14:31Z")
May not be that popular outside of MY specific work site, but… If I hear one more suit utter the phrase “Low hanging fruit” one more time I’m going to scream. Used in the context of “easy stuff” Corporate big shot : "We need to minimize the overtime worked. Lets start with the low hanging fruit by cutting XXX… " ---
**Author:** ![Semjaazah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@Semjaazah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Semjaazah)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/63 "2012-03-14T12:19:04Z")
“I’m offended by…” and variations thereof, as if the world owes them a rubber stamp for them to run around censoring things and rendering them illegal because of their dubious moral values. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/64 "2012-03-14T14:02:30Z")
I dislike the phrase: “Think outside the box.”. It always seems to translate to: “Think inside my box.”. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/65 "2012-03-14T14:07:00Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Or 24/7/365 - yes! 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for all 365 weeks of the year! i dislike that too 24/7/364.25 so i don’t use it. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/66 "2012-03-14T14:09:39Z")
> [@Ana\_Byrd](#): > > And seconding **give 110%** , which only seems to be used at company meetings. you don’t watch sports much likely. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/67 "2012-03-14T14:52:48Z")
RIP for “rest in peace.” I can’t describe why it bugs me so much, just that it looks trite and reminds me of halloween decoration gravestones. Show more respect and type the whole words out! ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/68 "2012-03-14T16:13:05Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > you don’t watch sports much likely. Make that “not at all”. I live in Louisville and would make a point to wear green when U of L plays UK if I could ever remember. What other bothersome cliches do the announcers say? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/69 "2012-03-14T17:00:29Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > \ > My sister in law describes any decoration or household item she likes as “rustic”. As All-Smashing Og is my witness, induction stovetops are not rustic! > > Can we erase “rustic” from the dictionary, or at least from her copy? Interestingly enough, I usually hate things that look rustic. 🙂 > [@Ana\_Byrd](#): > > Make that “not at all”. I live in Louisville and would make a point to wear green when U of L plays UK if I could ever remember. What other bothersome cliches do the announcers say? All of them. And then they go interview athletes, who should never be allowed to speak in public. Unless they have no filter on their mouths and they tell us all the things they aren’t supposed to say. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/70 "2012-03-15T04:56:18Z")
Mine are written. “Lurve”, although I haven’t seen it much lately. I don’t know why they used to type it, but they did. I dislike “lurves” more. It’s some form of baby talk, I guess. Baby talk is cute from babies, but babies can’t type. “…it does” as in, “It makes me happy, it does.” I have a similar dislike for “…I will” as in, “I’ll tan your hide, I will.” Unfortunately, I’m reading a novel shot through with this crap but at least the characters have the excuse of being semi-literate rednecks from the 19th century. “IANAL”, “IIRC”, and other acronyms I only see on message boards, but particularly those two. Bonus points if somebody gets shirty about some web abbreviations but not others. I got in an argument once defending a guy for using “u” for “you” on a newsgroup that was quite difficult to read because of all the abbreviations. I especially dislike “IANAL” and “IIRC” as they imply “Everything I’m about to say is just a worthless guess that I’m not going to check, I’m just responding to this like I respond to everything else I see.” They also strike me as lazy and obscure, possibly deliberately obscure. Lame. “You owe me a new keyboard!” Ugh. Yeah, I really wanted the image of somebody doing a spit-take. This gets a pass but “LOL” is bad? I agree that LOL is insipid as commonly used, but I’ve seen it well done, like when it’s an admission of evil. Even when it’s not, it’s a lot briefer and less gross than “You owe me a new keyboard!” Smilies are shit, too. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/71 "2012-03-15T05:39:41Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > How about “imput” instead of “input.” If people knew what the word meant, they might figure out that it has to do with what goes IN, and that “IM” makes no sense. Or not. This, in case you care, is just the result of a natural tendency in speech to change _n_ to _m_ before _b_ and _p_. That’s why you get words like impossible and improper rather than the more “logical” inpossible and inproper. > [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Putting “pre-” in front of words ending in “-ed”. The “-ed” says it’s been done- the “pre-” is redundant. Not necessarily. The _pre-_ of _predeceased_, for example, isn’t redundant in the slightest. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/72 "2012-03-15T08:16:30Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > RIP for “rest in peace.” > > I can’t describe why it bugs me so much, just that it looks trite and reminds me of halloween decoration gravestones. Show more respect and type the whole words out! It’s for Requiescat in Pace, you guys just happen to have a translation with the same initials. ---
**Author:** ![LoonyMoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/34f0e0/32.png) [@LoonyMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoonyMoon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/73 "2012-03-15T09:18:35Z")
Nuclear pronounced “noo-ku-lar.” Jewelry pronounced “jew-ler-y” (look how it’s spelled). And my favorite: “like” liberally peppered through seemingly everyone’s speech today. Example: “So, like, I was, like, walking down the street and, like, I saw this really skeevy guy who was like just, I dunno, like acting all weird and stuff, and he like was looking me like, I dunno, like sorta funny and like that really like creeped me out.” Sigh… ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_G7subs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85e7bf/32.png) [@Rich\_G7subs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_G7subs)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/74 "2012-03-15T09:39:07Z")
> [@LoonyMoon](#): > > And my favorite: “like” liberally peppered through seemingly everyone’s speech today. > > Example: “So, like, I was, like, walking down the street and, like, I saw this really skeevy guy who was like just, I dunno, like acting all weird and stuff, and he like was looking me like, I dunno, like sorta funny and like that really like creeped me out.” > > Sigh… “Ok fine, fer sure fer sure. She’s a Valley girl and there is no cure.” Frank Zappa ---
**Author:** ![Time\_Like\_Tears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@Time\_Like\_Tears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Time_Like_Tears)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/75 "2012-03-15T11:28:50Z")
One that drives me batshit is ‘should of’, ‘would of’, ‘could of’. It get me more often in text than speech, since I understand the reason people believe it’s ‘of’ rather than ‘have’ is because of accents and natural slurring. But to actually go and type a phrase like this that makes zero sense when you think about it - it’s got to be willful ignorance. Hasn’t it?? ‘Leverage’ as a verb. The instant someone says this I know they’re trying to sell me something. They even had to change the pronunciation of the word to make it sound fancy. What’s wrong with simply saying ‘use’? I think we should leevrage our preexisting assets such as a perfectly clear set of words that should of been enough to get our point across without having to inject an entirely new vocabulary designed only to make some suit look smarter than he is. ---
**Author:** ![Mixolydian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/76 "2012-03-15T15:28:09Z")
“Speaking to…” a subject. I hear this on conference calls all the time; “Jethro, can you speak to this issue?” See my previous post about my boss who has a boatload of phrases that all need to be abolished - [Inept, Pompous Windbags (AKA Middle Management)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=563926) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/77 "2012-03-15T20:25:59Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > \ > > Smilies are shit, too. Oh oh. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/78 "2012-03-15T20:29:50Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > “Utilize” – just say “use”, you pompous twit! Yes!! I have bemoaned this for years. I’m an editor, and I see this word everywhere. It’s the classic word people use because they think it makes them look smarter, and it’s in everything from proposals to resumes to deliverables. I figure if you really have something intelligent to say, you don’t have to cloak it in unnecessarily big words. And if you don’t have anything intelligent to say, perhaps you should focus on that. The other word I am sick of hearing is viral, as in _the video went viral_. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/79 "2012-03-15T20:53:32Z")
I never use the word **utilize** , but I’m guessing there has to be a legitimate use for it somewhere, right? Or is it that in all cases **utilize** could be replaced with **use**? And since one-one answered this earlier, I’ll try one more time. For those who don’t like, “At the end of the day.” And I’m also guessing the older phrase, “When it’s all said and done.” What should be said instead? ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/80 "2012-03-15T20:58:37Z")
RadicalPi, I was thinking of words like predrilled, prewashed, preheated, and preplanned, all of which mean the same thing if the pre- is left off. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274/81 "2012-03-15T21:13:36Z")
Swimlane. (“A visual element used in process flow diagrams, or flowcharts, that visually distinguishes responsibilities for sub-processes of a business process.”) That one’s a favorite where I work, and every time I hear it, I cringe. I also don’t like “circle,” as in, “let’s circle on that and come to an agreement.” I try my best to avoid as much corporatese as possible, because I think it sounds stupid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-words-expressions-to-abolish/615274.md?page=5)