# Most hated idioms **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 7, 2011, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875 "2011-10-07T07:01:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/181 "2011-10-27T11:59:22Z")
But now you’ve given me one more way to express my thoughts in threads outside of the Pit without violating the rules. Bless your heart. No, this time I mean that literally, bless your heart, I do. This can become the new passive-aggressive “Regards.” ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/182 "2011-10-27T15:48:36Z")
Not really an idiom, but “aren’t I?” Given the limitations of the English language, that’s about as good a contraction as we’re gonna get for that situation, but it stills grates on my ears when I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/183 "2011-10-27T20:18:33Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Britishism. Could still be annoying to you, though. (Especially, I suppose, if she isn’t a Brit, but is trying to sound like one.) She’s definitely not a Brit–from the rural Maritimes. Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/184 "2011-10-27T20:44:33Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > Oh, God, yes, ‘impact’. You mean _‘affect’_. Just bloody say ‘affect’. When I rule the world, everyone will have a little implant that zaps you with an electric shock if you use ‘impact’ as a verb. Sometimes ‘impact’ _is_ a verb. “The asteroid is about to impact California!” The problem with this one, and many of the others in this thread, is not that there’s anything wrong with them, when used appropriately, in their proper context. It’s that they have become ‘buzzwords’ that are used _ **Every-Fucking-where** _, regardless of their appropriateness, by idiots who just want to sound cool, hip, or ‘corporate’. I second your implant idea, but only for the idiots in question. I don’t want to be zapped if I use something appropriately, just because it’s become a buzzword for corporate drones. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/185 "2011-10-27T23:15:26Z")
Aaaghhhh! \*Hit \*California! Or \*strike \*California! What’s wrong with ‘hit’? _implantzap_ I agree with you about a lot of these - the problem is the overuse, not the idiom itself - but ‘impact’ as a verb is just hideous, in any context. To my ear, anyway. I couldn’t come up with a logical argument for the implantzap, but I figure what the heck, this thread is about stuff you just hate, not about stuff you can justify hating. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/186 "2011-10-28T01:37:30Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > Aaaghhhh! \*Hit \*California! Or \*strike \*California! What’s wrong with ‘hit’? > > _implantzap_ > > I agree with you about a lot of these - the problem is the overuse, not the idiom itself - but ‘impact’ as a verb is just hideous, in any context. To my ear, anyway. I couldn’t come up with a logical argument for the implantzap, but I figure what the heck, this thread is about stuff you just hate, not about stuff you can justify hating. Nothing at all, except that “impact” was a perfectly good verb, until corporate drones started using it on their “bottom lines”. :whistling while looking the other way smilie: ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/187 "2011-10-28T03:06:09Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > “Who pissed in your Cheerios?” Not sure, but it very well may have been the same guy that peed in my Wheaties. Also, another thumbs down for “thrown under the bus”. I’ve got a coworker who uses the phrase so often I’m tempted to, well, throw him under a bus for reals. Oops, hope “for reals” doesn’t set anyone off. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/188 "2011-10-28T13:04:56Z")
At the end of the day, it might. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/189 "2011-10-28T14:15:03Z")
**Cheers** : when someone says this to me, or when I read it, my mind automatically says, “And Roebuck!” I may not say it out loud, but it’s there. Anyone who’s seen Woody Allen’s _Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex_\* would get the joke. 99.99% of the people I come across wouldn’t get it, although Dopers would be an exception, I’d imagine. **Bless your heart** : I first ran across this when I was about 4 years old, living in SW Virginia. My next door neighbor was well into her 70s at the time, and she always said that about my mother. I remember the neighbor saying, “Your mother’s got such a sunny disposition, bless her heart.” I never took it as anything but nice until many, many years later, and I still can’t believe that nice old woman would’ve been insulting my mother–especially to a 4-6 year old kid. So either “bless your heart” has changed meanings in the last 45 years, or my neighbor wasn’t using it correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/190 "2011-10-28T14:22:59Z")
> [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](#): > > So either “bless your heart” has changed meanings in the last 45 years, or my neighbor wasn’t using it correctly. That’s the beauty of it, it can mean anything from an actual blessing/sympathy to a passive-aggressive “fuck you”, and that’s the precise point, there’s no way to tell for sure except by context, tone of voice, and body language (and sometimes not even then.) In your case, it wasn’t outright dismissal, and was most likely a sincere compliment. ---
**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:** [November 9, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/191 "2011-11-09T17:18:13Z")
I think “Get the juices flowing” sounds gross. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/192 "2011-11-09T17:21:16Z")
Nice username/post combo there… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![brittekland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/193 "2011-11-09T18:02:30Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I think “Get the juices flowing” sounds gross. Perhaps think of fruit juice like OJ… instead of something other? ---
**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:** [November 9, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/194 "2011-11-09T19:12:13Z")
> [@brittekland](#): > > Perhaps think of fruit juice like OJ… instead of something other? No can do. My mind is always in the gutter. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/195 "2011-11-09T19:31:17Z")
“Skyrocketing” is perhaps the most overused word in all of journalism. To read the newspaper or listen to the radio, you’d think NASA had taken over the world. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/196 "2011-11-10T04:22:34Z")
The misuse that has been irritating me for quite a few years is “Thankfully.” _Last night, an asteroid larger than a skyscraper whizzed past Earth. It came so close that it actually travelled inside the moon’s orbit. Thankfully, there was no collision between our planet and the asteroid._ No, not “thankfully” at all. [ol] [li]Neither the asteroid nor the planet had the sentience to be thankful.[/li][li]Unless someone was miraculously able to instantaneously survey the inhabitants of the asteroid, we have no idea if any entity there was thankful or not. For that matter, see #3 below…[/li][li]As for the people inhabiting Earth, there are those millenarians who are tremendously disappointed that this year’s third opportunity for The Rapture has passed without taking them away and there are also those who are tremendously disappointed that this year’s third opportunity for The Rapture has passed without taking the millenarians away. Together, they could very well make up a majority of the planet’s cognizant population and they are certainly not thankful at all.[/li][/ol] “Fortunately” is the preferred term that is being improperly replaced and, while it was used in the past to imply good fortune as perceived by the communicator, its proper usage has become so rare that current or future users could just as easily employ it to imply misfortune as good fortune. _Fortunately (for us at least), our planet did not suffer yet another cataclysm with long-term global impact._ * * * As for “going forward” the phrase seems to be used dismissively. Somehow “going forward” seems to imply ignoring or disconnecting from the past as if trying to pretend it didn’t happen, and proceeding blithely without regard to anything learned or discussed. In contrast, Bosstone’s three alternatives seemed to imply taking the past actions/decisions/practices respectfully into account, then proceeding in a new direction. * * * As for “just sayin’” the phrase is a staple of ultra-right talk radio self-appointed experts who, in fact, are not ‘just sayin’ but are providing half-truths and innuendo in order to stir up controversy. Said controversy is used either to gain audiences, improve ratings, or galvanize the audience more strongly against the vilified opposition. You’re not ‘just sayin’ at all, you’re trying to sell your extreme views and you’re not fooling anyone with your half-hearted disclaimer uttered merely to protect yourself from accusations of inciting illegal activity. —G! What you don’t understand is that what you think you heard is not what I think I meant to say. “I can’t explain the time it takes to make you understand.” . --Cheap Trick . _Never Had A Lot to Lose_, from Lap of Luxury ---
**Author:** ![Curious3d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Curious3d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Curious3d)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/197 "2011-11-10T20:16:29Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > A lot of people seem to take considerable grammatical umbrage at the phrase “I could care less.” I don’t, but I know that this is something that really gets to people. I cringe when it’s said the way you wrote it above, because if you could care less, then that means you care. It’s a common mistake that bugs the hell out of me. The right phrasing is “I couldn’t care less” - which doesn’t bother me when used appropriately and sparingly. I also hate “just sayin’”, “stabby”, “sammich”, and any many of the euphemisms for menstruation. One I actually heard was “magic girl fairy”. And of course, the intensely offensive “threw up in my mouth…” This one is dated, and possibly regional - I heard it a lot in the SF Bay area in the 90s. There was a trend where people would agree with you by using the phrase “Yeah it is”, with an emphasis on the “Yeah”. It sounds like it’s contradicting a negative statement, but instead it was applied to a positive one. Non-irritating: During a blizzard, you comment that it’s not snowing. Person responds “YEAH it is!” and looks at you like you’re insane. Irritating: During a blizzard, you comment that it’s really snowing a lot. Person responds “YEAH it is!” and continues scraping resin out of a pipe they found behind the mall earlier that day. ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/198 "2011-11-10T22:23:50Z")
At the end of a list, “last but not least” - how about a simple “finally”? ---
**Author:** ![Dorabella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f08c70/32.png) [@Dorabella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorabella)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/199 "2011-11-11T00:50:50Z")
Epic phail. Hate stupid spelling trying to look cutesy. 24/7 Baby daddy. Yummy mummy. alot - I cringe every time I see that. ect - instead of etc though this is probably ignorance or a typo. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/200 "2011-11-11T04:46:55Z")
> [@Dorabella](#): > > Baby daddy. Oh, yes. This. And while we’re at it, MILF. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875.md?page=11)