# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/81 "2011-10-10T05:34:26Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > I’ve got one: methinks. I really only ever see it on this board, and it always sets my teeth on edge … just pretentious, twee, and awful. Methinks I’ve used this word in several of my posts recently. What youthinks of THAT? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/82 "2011-10-10T05:44:26Z")
This grates on my nerves: Usually heard when someone is giving an interview (where an interviewer is asking questions), or sometimes in speeches: The speaker asks a rhetorical yes/no question, as if he is interviewing himself, and then immediately answers is (often in the negative with a “No…but…”): Police chief at news conference: “Do we have conclusive evidence yet? No, but we won’t give up the investigation until we do. At the end of the day, are we going to get our man? You betcha.” Politician in speech or at presser: “Does our party have all the answers? No, but we have a better platform than my colleagues across the aisle. Will we fix the economy overnight? No, but we can start working on this immediately. Do we have a better solution than my good friends across the aisle? Yes, and after the election, we will enact it…” ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/83 "2011-10-10T06:29:08Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > I hate ‘going forward’. It never seems to mean anything at all. It’s just two extra words that don’t add anything to the sentence. > [@JessMagic](#): > > Yuck, “going forward” is horrible. It’s just filling up space that could otherwise be used for lovely silence. Really? I mean, sure, it’s pretentious corporate bullshit and the sound of it scrapes my eardrums, but it’s not _meaningless_. It means exactly the same as “from now on.” “We’re going to start doing it this way.” “From now on we do it this way.” “Going forward we do it this way.” “Starting now, we do it this way.” None of those mean quite the same as “we do it this way.” If you take out “going forward” you have to replace it with something. Yes, I’m nitpicking in a thread not meant for nitpicking, but hate the phrase for the right reasons, at least. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/84 "2011-10-10T06:58:42Z")
Did someone say “prolly” for “probably” yet? It doesn’t bother me personally but I know it sends some people into fits of rage. One I just thought of that drives me over the edge is “You never know.” No. Sometimes you know. I 100% know for sure Justin Bieber is not going to get with my fat-ass, 40 year-old, hair thinning, alcoholic self. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/85 "2011-10-10T08:51:04Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > I enjoyed the other languages part at the end. Old ladies and sticks, pieces of dung head first, etc… One of the Spanish ones is missing a piece: _llueve chuzos de punta_ (it’s raining spearheads/icicles point first). It means that it rains so hard and cold that it hurts, not just that it’s raining a lot. Went and edited, who knows how long it’ll last… Euphemisms for dying. “He’s gone”, “he’s left”, “he moved on”, “he…” Fuck it, he died. People die. You, too, shall pass, better get used to the idea. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/86 "2011-10-10T13:29:36Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > Thrown under the bus. Damn you! I thought I’d make it through this entire thread before seeing an idiom I was tired of hearing. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/87 "2011-10-10T15:15:54Z")
Oh, I have two more, but I haven’t heard them outside the MMORPG community (specifically, World of Warcraft). Not sure if they’re just “teenagerisms,” but every time I hear them a want to kick a puppy: “Soz.” This means “sorry.” Somebody had to tell me that. “Plox” or “Pl0x.” This means “please.” I figured that one out on my own. I hate it just as much for having done so. ---
**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 10, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/88 "2011-10-10T15:38:09Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Really? I mean, sure, it’s pretentious corporate bullshit and the sound of it scrapes my eardrums, but it’s not _meaningless_. It means exactly the same as “from now on.” > > “We’re going to start doing it this way.” > “From now on we do it this way.” > “Going forward we do it this way.” > “Starting now, we do it this way.” > > None of those mean quite the same as “we do it this way.” If you take out “going forward” you have to replace it with something. > > Yes, I’m nitpicking in a thread not meant for nitpicking, but hate the phrase for the right reasons, at least. 😛 I never hear it used like that. (And I would still loathe it if I did, but yeah, for different reasons.) I hear ‘Going forward, we’re going to be changing our paradigm to include blah blah blah.’ Or, from Irish politicans, ‘Going forward, we’ll be taxing the bejasus out of you for the foreseeable future.’ Which is in no way different from ‘We’re going to be changing our paradigm to include blah blah blah’ or ‘We’ll be taxing the bejasus out of you for the foreseeable future.’ I think it’s being used to mean ‘If I throw in all the corporate bolloxology I can, maybe it’ll drown either the unwelcome meaning of the sentence or the fact that I don’t have a bog what I’m talking about.’ ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/89 "2011-10-10T16:09:14Z")
“Up” and “impact” as verbs. They are not verbs. You don’t “up” revenue; you “increase” revenue. Beginning a sentence with “I feel like…” when • You are not making a statement about your health; • You are not making a comment about your emotions; • You are not talking about a tactile sensation. People are using “I feel like” when they actually mean “I think” or “I believe” or “It is my opinion that…” I blame this on Generation Snowflake™. Somewhere along the line, it became offensive to simply state a fact or an opinion. You might hurt someone’s feeeeeelings by making a definitive statement. So people couch their definitive statements in soft, touchy-feely emotional language when the statements have nothing to do with emotions at all. Opinions and facts are not feeeeeelings. “I feel like” makes me stabby. Perfect example: “Do you know where John is?” “Oh, I feel like he went down to the store.” GAH! And “need to”. I hate “need to.” “You need to call me tomorrow.” Very rarely is the statement one of actual need. I tend to respond with “What I need is for you to stop needing me to need what you just said.” Needs, desires, preferences and suggestions are different critters. I also despise “do” as the weakest verb in the English language. There is almost always a more accurate verb available. Example: “I do music.” No. You play music, or you study music, or you listen to music. In fact, I don’t know what “I do music” means. It could mean more than the three verbs I used above. “Let’s do lunch!” could mean “Let’s make lunch” or “Let’s eat lunch” or “Let’s serve lunch.” Fills me with grrrr. ---
**Author:** ![Orionizer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orionizer/32/4442_2.png) [@Orionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orionizer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/90 "2011-10-10T17:16:20Z")
Sick-sick-sick of hearing trifecta ---
**Author:** ![Orionizer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orionizer/32/4442_2.png) [@Orionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orionizer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/91 "2011-10-10T17:20:35Z")
The ONLY time I’d ever use this is with my dogs, never a person! > [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > “No-no”. > > As in, “That’s a no-no.” > > Drives me nuts. It sounds so condescending. I think it’s because my mom said it when I was little and doing something wrong, and it sounded condescending to me back then too. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/92 "2011-10-10T18:33:03Z")
And “pop”! Everthing is pop now. “That color really makes the room pop!” Or “The outline on that jacket really makes it pop!” ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/93 "2011-10-10T19:55:19Z")
I’m stealing **colonial** ’s rating terms. (all boldings mine) > [@FairyChatMom](#): > > “_ **The other side of the aisle** _” when referring to the other political party - I want to outlaw that expression and thump all those who use it. Yes, it makes me _ **stabby** _. SUCKS ‘The other side of the aisle’ _AND_ ‘stabby’ The SDMB is the first (only) place I’ve ever even heard that used, and for some strange reason I instantly thought, ‘SUCKS’. > [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Pretty much any euphemism for breasts, ‘_ **funbags** _’ in particular. MEH It depends on the company at hand, as to whether or not I would use it. > [@Arglefraster](#): > > “_ **Reach out to** _” instead of “Contact” or “See how we can help”… SUCKS, SUCKS, SUCKS 'Nuff said. > [@thatguyjeff](#): > > _ **Brain fart** _. MEH When used in the proper context, it’s a pretty good, descriptive, term. > [@Philster](#): > > _ **Don’t go there** _. MEH When used in the proper context, it’s acceptable. > [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > These expressions aren’t _ **how I roll** _. SUCKS, in a very large way. > [@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 don’t get all \ ‘stabby\*’ over it, though it does sound kind of stupid. I think it sounds better to say “I _couldn’t_ care less.” \*(Just thought I would try it out. Yep, it SUCKS.) > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > “Eat shit and die!” If you’re like me, you get tired of people saying this to you all the time. People say that _ **to YOU?** _ _ **All the time?** __ **WTF** _? > [@JessMagic](#): > > Yuck, “_ **going forward** _” is horrible. It’s just filling up space that could otherwise be used for lovely silence. Whenever I hear someone say that at work, I think of the Simpsons episode where the Itchy and Scratchy writers are brainstorming: > > “_ **Proactive** _? _ **Paradigm** _? Aren’t those just words stupid people use to make themselves sound clever? … I’m fired, aren’t I?” SUCKS, hugely. ‘going forward’ Likewise, for ‘proactive’ and ‘paradigm’. > [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > “_ **Who pissed in your Cheerios** _?” AOK In certain company and context. 😛 > [@voguevixen](#): > > Did someone say “_ **prolly** _” for “probably” yet? It doesn’t bother me personally but I know it sends some people into fits of rage… MEH Again, it depends on the company at hand, as to whether or not I would use it. > [@Laggard](#): > > And “_ **pop** _”! Everthing is pop now. “That color really makes the room _ **pop** _!” Or “The outline on that jacket really makes it _ **pop** _!” SUCKS, SUCKS, SUCKS Ain’t never used it, and ain’t gonna start. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/94 "2011-10-10T22:25:30Z")
It drives me nuts when people say, “Well, to be honest…blah blah blah…” Great. Thanks for being honest. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/95 "2011-10-11T00:47:58Z")
> [@saje](#): > > Oh, forgot one: > > “It’s a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ thing, you wouldn’t understand” > > Thankfully it seems to be fading away, because the condescension in it makes me see red. It’s a Jeep thing, you wouldn’t understand I just this weekend scraped that obnoxious shit off the back window of our second (maybe third) hand hard top. I will no longer be embarrassed to be seen driving my own damn vehicle for 6 months of the year. ---
**Author:** ![Orionizer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orionizer/32/4442_2.png) [@Orionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orionizer)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/96 "2011-10-11T11:21:27Z")
> [@congodwarf](#): > > It’s a Jeep thing, you wouldn’t understand > I just this weekend scraped that obnoxious shit off the back window of our second (maybe third) hand hard top. I will no longer be embarrassed to be seen driving my own damn vehicle for 6 months of the year. For that matter, the “Zoom-Zoom” on the back of the Mazda’s - I’d have made them scrape that shit off at the dealer before I signed anything (as well as the dealer logo off of the paint!) ---
**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 11, 2011, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/97 "2011-10-11T12:29:01Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > “Up” and “impact” as verbs. They are not verbs. You don’t “up” revenue; you “increase” revenue. > > […] > > “I feel like” makes me stabby. 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. If you say ‘Between you and I’ or ‘He gave it to John and I’ the implant will just plain electrocute you, but that’s a different rant. And along the lines of ‘I feel like’: I dislike ‘I want to say’ for ‘I think’. ‘Where’s John?’ ‘I want to say he went to the shop.’ What do you mean, you want to say it? You just said it! No one’s stopping you! What on earth are you gibbering about? ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/98 "2011-10-11T14:19:05Z")
I might be in the minority here, but I HATE the term, “we are pregnant”. We are parents, but we were never pregnant. I was pregnant. It is biologically impossible for my husband to be pregnant. I get that the husband supports the pregnant wife, but if a spouse breaks their leg and need help, you don’t say WE broke our leg. ---
**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 11, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/99 "2011-10-11T14:40:14Z")
> [@Ludy](#): > > I might be in the minority here, but I HATE the term, “we are pregnant”. > > We are parents, but we were never pregnant. I was pregnant. It is biologically impossible for my husband to be pregnant. I get that the husband supports the pregnant wife, but if a spouse breaks their leg and need help, you don’t say WE broke our leg. Oh dear God YES. This makes me want to smack us across the head. Or at least say, ‘Both of you? Wow, how’d you do that?’ ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875/100 "2011-10-11T23:37:34Z")
“I resemble that remark.” What they mean: “I represent that remark” as a ‘comical’ substitute for “I resent that remark.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-idioms/598875.md?page=6)