# Phrases/terms that aggravate the hell out of you **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 26, 2020, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894 "2020-10-26T02:04:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/201 "2020-11-06T14:18:18Z")
Going shirtless might be offensive. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/202 "2020-11-06T14:24:18Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > > > As, for example, Georgia Public Service Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald. I get that he might not want to use his real first name on the ballot. But “Bubba”? Makes it sound like he wears overalls with no shirt, and fucks farm animals. > > Sounds like a winning political formula for many counties in Georgia. Folksy sells. > > J. Beauregard Pierpont Morgan the IVth? Not so much It does, yes. He’s served a couple of terms. And I have no doubt he made sure his nickname was on the ballot, to avoid confusion about his gender. But “Bubba” bugs me. It’s so affectedly country, good ol’ boy, jes’ folks. Especially in an adult. I wouldn’t be bothered if he called himself “Joe”, or “Larry”, or even something as country as “Buck” or “Junior”. My father grew up in North Carolina, and told me he hated watching Sam Ervin during the Watergate hearings, because he thought the senator’s folksy, aw-shucks-Ah’m-jest-a-simple-country-from-Nawth-C’lina manner made all Carolinans look ignorant and unsophisticated. “Bubba” has the same effect on me. But that’s only my $0.02. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/203 "2020-11-06T16:29:44Z")
I’m guessing it’s because his first name is “Lauren”. That’s about like a boy named Sue, and he probably picked up the name “Bubba” as a young person in preference to a woman’s name. So when he ran for office, he went by the nickname he goes by, rather than his full name. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/204 "2020-11-06T16:53:20Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > > [@BrickBat](#): > > > > “Ya’ll” in writing/typing. Can’t stand it. > > As a contraction of “you all”, I think it would have to be spelled “y’all”. > > Is it any better when written like that? “Ya’ll” is a contraction for “you _will_”, and is arguably the worst contraction, as we have a “you’ll,” which performs admirably. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/205 "2020-11-06T16:56:00Z")
Can’t say that I’ve ever heard “ya’ll” separate from “y’all” and meaning something different. “You’ll” is the usual and only contraction for “You will” that I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/206 "2020-11-06T16:56:45Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > “Ya’ll” is a contraction for “you _will"_ Cite? (shorthand for “Whatch’all talkin’ 'bout?”) Y’all is clearly “you all”, and even as a Yankee, I appreciate it. We need it because English has no distinction between singular and plural second-person. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/207 "2020-11-06T17:01:51Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > > [@BrickBat](#): > > > > > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > > > > > As a contraction of “you all”, I think it would have to be spelled “y’all”. > > > > > > Is it any better when written like that? > > > > No, I’m afraid it isn’t. It’s not the grammar, it’s the attitude behind it. Flippancy maybe? I can’t really say. It’s just a nebulous pet peeve I have > > Sorry it bothers you, but for a good chunk of us down here in the lower right-hand corner of the country, _y’all_ isn’t an affectation, but the default second-plural pronoun. It beats the hell out of “youse,” which I first encountered IRL from a girl from Chicago I once worked with. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/208 "2020-11-06T17:08:48Z")
> [@digs](#): > > > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > > “Ya’ll” is a contraction for “you _will"_ > > Cite? > (shorthand for “Whatch’all talkin’ 'bout?”) All right, I should have been more clear. My apologies. The existence of “Ya’ll” can only _be defended_ as a contraction for “you will.” ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/209 "2020-11-06T19:17:08Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > [@digs](#): > > > > > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > > > > “Ya’ll” is a contraction for “you _will"_ > > > > Cite? > > (shorthand for “Whatch’all talkin’ 'bout?”) > > All right, I should have been more clear. My apologies. > > The existence of “Ya’ll” can only _be defended_ as a contraction for “you will" I don’t even think that flimsy justification works - there’s no _a_ in _you will_. _Ya’ll_ only maybe works - and I say this with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek - as a contraction of _Yah, well_; as in, “Yah, well, so’s ya mudder!” ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/210 "2020-11-06T19:45:40Z")
> [@digs](#): > > English has no distinction between singular and plural second-person. Technically, it does, but “thou”, “thee” and “thine” (the singulars, for which “you” and “your’n” are the plural) are somewhat archaic. ---
**Author:** ![deltogre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deltogre/32/5041_2.png) [@deltogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltogre)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/211 "2020-11-06T20:41:55Z")
How about nouns turned into verbs? “This is how you breakfast.” Look to Madison Avenue for all the annoying shit. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/212 "2020-11-06T21:01:57Z")
That’s one that especially bothers me. Especially “adulting”. Both the concept and the actual phrase/term annoys me. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/213 "2020-11-06T21:13:32Z")
I wish I could find again the book I read some years ago, in which a dialectician from the Dictionary of American Regional English project argued that American English was evolving a new standard second-person plural pronoun. He figured it would be _you guys_, which has a national usage range. Seems to me though that _y’all_ could fill that role, as well, given how it’s spread out of the South. > [@deltogre](#): > > How about nouns turned into verbs? “This is how you breakfast.” Look to Madison Avenue for all the annoying shit. Madison Avenue didn’t start that process. It’s as old as [Shakespeare](https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/01/morons-verb-nouns-and-so-did-shakespeare/339237/): “Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncles” - _Richard II_. That’s just a sign of English’s tremendous flexibility. As the linguist Steven Pinker put it: “…easy conversion of nouns to verbs has been part of English grammar for centuries; it is one of the processes that make English English.” ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/214 "2020-11-07T01:20:21Z")
Verbing weirds language… … [![](https://playingintheworldgame.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/Verbing-Weirds-Language.png) ](https://playingintheworldgame.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/Verbing-Weirds-Language.png) ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/215 "2020-11-07T09:58:18Z")
“Like a rat abandoning a sinking ship”. To go where, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/216 "2020-11-07T13:57:29Z")
> [@bump](#): > > That’s one that especially bothers me. Especially “adulting”. Both the concept and the actual phrase/term annoys me. Sadly, the word does seem to fill a real need of the 20-somethings (and increasingly 30-somethings) to describe the dreary parts of life they (despite their age) simply don’t get and Do. Not. Want. to be bothered with. Sort of the chronological / generational equivalent of “First World Problems”. As possible words for that issue go, “adulting” is clear, obvious, and short. Despite shaking my head at the need, I vote “Yes” on the term. ---
**Author:** ![deltogre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deltogre/32/5041_2.png) [@deltogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltogre)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/217 "2020-11-07T15:03:17Z")
Madison Avenue may not have started it, but they have ensured it is ever-present in today’s vernacular. I hear all about English’s flexibility from my wife, who has a Ph.D in medieval literature, generally when I bitch about something I hear that irritates me. Presently, that also includes the forthcoming Great Vowel Shift, Part II, as well as the omnipresence of vocal fry as an inflection tool. I am basically a grouchy old man, and I have come to accept that as my role in my orbit; sadly, not everyone is on board… ---
**Author:** ![deltogre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deltogre/32/5041_2.png) [@deltogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltogre)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/218 "2020-11-07T15:04:39Z")
Hobbes with the reasonable response, as usual… ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/219 "2020-11-07T15:48:40Z")
> [@deltogre](#): > > How about nouns turned into verbs? “This is how you breakfast.” Look to Madison Avenue for all the annoying shit. That’s horrible. > [@bump](#): > > That’s one that especially bothers me. Especially “adulting”. Both the concept and the actual phrase/term annoys me. Last night, I had the tv on quietly (background noise), when I actually heard “adulting” on a trailer for _Grown Ups 2_. Arrr! I hope these these kind of terms and phrasing quietly fade away, and don’t keep coming in waves. Oftentimes, people glom onto some stupid shit, so I won’t be holding my breath. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/220 "2020-11-07T16:46:34Z")
> [@saucywench](#): > > Butthurt > > It sounds like something a 5th or 6th grade boy would say, not an adult. Nah, no problem at all with that one. Comes in handy, more often than one would expect. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I think the correct term is “all y’all”. 🙂 > [@bump](#): > > That’s one that especially bothers me. Especially “adulting”. Both the concept and the actual phrase/term annoys me. Agreed. At first I thought that of “parenting”, but I guess I’ve gotten somewhat inured to that one. > [@needscoffee](#): > > I don’t mind “y’all” at all. What I HATE is when fully adult, grownup people use the term “my Daddy” when they mean “my father” or “my dad”. Maybe it sounds fine to other Southerners, but to my Northern ears it sounds infantile. That in bucketloads. Even when “father” is used - not often that rings convincingly for me. > [@deltogre](#): > > How about nouns turned into verbs? “This is how you breakfast.” Look to Madison Avenue for all the annoying shit. Indeed - I yearn to over-size-mallet-bonk such a concept. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894.md?page=12)