Luckily I have never heard this one personally in the wild, but my wife tells me of people in IT using the word “solution” as a verb, as in “We need to solution this problem”. Or even “We are solutioning that process”.
I am not a violent person but if someone said that to me, I would go for their eyes. What the hell is wrong with the word “solve”?
“… just because of the simple fact that…” Is there a reason that only “because” won’t work?
One of my professors in grad school once told me that better writers tend to use fewer words to convey the same amount of information as a poor writer. I think phrases like the above are one of the reasons why.
I want to run screaming from the conversation anytime someone runs out of things to say and switches gears with "any-whooo. . . "
My other hot button isn’t a phrase but the use of pointless adjectives. This is mostly heard on the local news, which I tend to avoid more and more:
"Two people were killed today in a horrific accident on I-79. . . "
There is some other type of accident?
"A terrible shootout in the east end left one dead and two wounded. . . "
This is to differentiate between the terrible shootouts and the really nice, friendly shootouts?
/hijack
My workplace does had one turn phrase I like. They talk about stories. as in, “Joe has a really good story on that.” The good thing about stories is that they encourage people to listen and they encourage the people telling them to have a beginning, middle, and end. It is one phrase that seems to lead to good results.
I hate it when people say “Frex,” meaning “For example.” I’ve never heard this in real life, only seen people type it online, particularly on the SDMB. It fills me with rage, makes me want to reach through the screen and pound whoever thought they were being all cutesy and clever. I just pray they don’t say “Frex” in real life, as somebody may pummel them (although that would teach them, I suppose). “Frell” pisses me off too – I think it’s a made-up generic curse word from some bad sci-fi, but reading it is like the sound of fingernails running down a chalkboard.
I was being trained via conference call/power point with my supervisor and my co-workers. We were being trained by a big client, and the big client’s new client.
Our big client’s client kept using the words, “Action Item”. Every time one of us would ask a question, she would spit it out.
Me: I notice it is asking us to collect the customer’s password. What she we say to the customer if they balk at this? Client’s client: I don’t have the answer to this right now, I will take it as an Action Item and get back to you with updated information. Me…
What the? I had never heard of this phrase. But what really surprised me was that all of a sudden my boss, our Big Client and my co-workers were all throwing it around in the meeting. "Can you take this as an Action Item? I think we can take that as an Action Item. I was like, are you all kidding me?
All of a sudden, I hated that phrase very much. i know it was irrational to hate a phrase instantly, but I did.
I could have sworn this phrase used to be “My bag”.
I am a '80s kid. I grew up with the dawn of hip-hop and I ate and drank it. I went to block parties when Hip-Hop was still cutting its teeth, and I watched the kids break dance and beat box. I absorbed the culture…I was it and it was me.
I loved slang and still do. ‘My bag’ was something I said all the time. It was ‘bag’. With a ‘g’.
Nowadays, I can’t get a single soul to remember that it was ever ‘my bag’! I mean, people who jumped on the rap culture bandwagon a little late; I can understand them not knowing that it wasn’t ‘my bad’. I mean, I assumed they got their slang from movies like “Clueless” and were really not to be considered seriously.
But now I can’t even find a single solitary, dyed in the wool, hip hop culture veteran to validate me. Is it possible that I am wrong??
What? No. If you are willing to give into something you normally would not, you are suspending your belief. See? Your belief is hanging there, like a spider from it’s web.
I say this one all the time. Usually because due to my schedule. I have to say this literally hundreds of times of day, and I’m not usually sure what time it is, so I use “one” instead of “day”, “morning”, “evening”, or “night”. I’m not sure why that’s so offensive.
Yes, there are other types of accidents that are not necessarily horrific. I bump the car in front of me approaching a traffic light at 5 mph. Still might close the road for a little bit, but it wouldn’t be what I call horrific. I can think of several other situations that wouldn’t be horrific.
I am such a pacifist that if you called me a scum sucking whore I would spin it into gold and own it. That’s just how I am. Now, if you dared use “solution” as a verb I would go Rambo on your ass so fast you would not remember your name. That’s just how I am.
No, I majored in theatre, and the idea I got was, in theatre, movies, etc., you let go of your normal disbelief so that you can accept the fabricated story you’re being told.
It may still be wrong gramatically, but that’s the correct phraseology.
A “poster child” used to be a kid on a poster raising awareness about some horrible disease, like HIV or muscular dystrophy. And then there was one time, maybe fifteen years ago, when someone made a joke about having been the “poster child for acne,” or some other minor affliction, it might have been funny. But now, people throw it out all the time for stuff that has nothing to do with diseases or even problems! And it’s not funny!
Someone at work is the “poster child for coming in late all the time.” Or some guy you know is the “poster child for explaining complicated math stuff.” And I hate it!!