# 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:** 60
**Author:** ![Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/section_maker_jupe/32/1424_2.png) [@Section\_Maker\_Jupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Section_Maker_Jupe)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1187 "2022-10-03T02:22:50Z")
But…there is no gravity, the earth just sucks. Yes we need a better educated populace, also some form of social or military service. Skin in the game. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2022, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1188 "2022-10-03T02:56:01Z")
> [@Section\_Maker\_Jupe](#): > > Yes we need a better educated populace, also some form of social or military service. Kornbluth thought he was writing fiction. I can’t agree with you about requiring military service or even social service. I’ve long felt that if a country needs to force people to defend it, well maybe it’s not all that worth defending. Next, social programs are for the benefit of a certain segment of the population in need. Do you really want them subject to someone who, again, doesn’t really want to be there doing the job? What one can do, on the other hand, is reward people for making the choice to work in those programs and work well. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1189 "2022-10-06T01:06:57Z")
Webinar, and “incent” as a verb. ---
**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:** [October 6, 2022, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1190 "2022-10-06T01:46:06Z")
A number of years ago (maybe two dozen) I developed a strong reaction to “innovate”. The way it was being used sounded like (and was) vacuous bullshit. Sleight of tongue. Even today I have pop an epinephrine whenever I encounter it, to stave off the anaphylaxis. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1191 "2022-10-06T02:35:15Z")
“Learnings” “What learnings did we get from this?” Business speak alternative for a perfectly valid word in His Majesty the King’s English: “Lessons”. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1192 "2022-10-06T02:36:30Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > “Learnings” > > “What learnings did we get from this?” Ewww… ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1193 "2022-10-06T03:31:40Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > A number of years ago (maybe two dozen) I developed a strong reaction to “innovate”. A couple of years ago, my school in Beijing started a “Teaching, Learning, and Innovation” center, which they renamed _Innovation Center_. The posters they’ve produced to motivate and inform the teachers are in English, but the title of the centter at the bottom is a new English word for me: _Inanovation_ Center. I despise jargon like nobody’s business, so that’s one of the reasons I wasn’t on the center’s side when it opened. To teach requires one to communicate. Communication requires one be clear. Jargon obscures the latter and negates the former, IMHO. So, back to the thread topic: Pick any jargon you like and post it. It’ll be aggravating. ---
**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:** [October 6, 2022, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1194 "2022-10-06T15:01:03Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > but the title of the centter at the bottom is a new English word for me: _Inanovation_ Center. I think that typo is so beautifully crafted as to probably be sabotage. Inane-ovation is a perfectly cromulent word for most of the moronic ideas coming from bizidgits trying to ~~change things for the hell of it~~ innovate. ---
**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:** [October 6, 2022, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1195 "2022-10-06T15:05:21Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > “Learnings” > > “What learnings did we get from this?” > > Business speak alternative for a perfectly valid word in His Majesty the King’s English: > > “Lessons”. The intended difference in tone is that “lessons” are taught to unwilling subjects by a boring dictatorial teacher. Whereas “learnings” happen spontaneously to smart engaged workers continuously making everything faster better cheaper. … As long as the workers are not _quite_ smart enough to notice that they themselves gain nothing from working faster or cheaper. Only managers and shareholders gain. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1196 "2022-10-06T18:48:29Z")
What did we learn from this? What new knowledge did we gain from this? What learnings did we…(I’m no longer listening to you. LALALALALALALALALALALAL). ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1197 "2022-10-06T20:26:31Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > What learnings did we…(I’m no longer listening to you. LALALALALALALALALALALAL). Oh, I forgot about that one. I like it and think I’ll use it exclusively on Dopers who disagree with me from now on—with a little Di Niro wedged between, for emphasis. 😉 _LALALALALALALALALALALALA_ _[Taxi-driver]You talkin’ to ME?[/Taxi-driver]_ _LALALALALALALALALALALALA_ ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1198 "2022-10-06T22:48:10Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I think that typo is so beautifully crafted as to probably be sabotage. My first reaction upon seeing it: “That describes so much of what I see in China on a daily basis”. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > The intended difference in tone is that “lessons” are taught to unwilling subjects by a boring dictatorial teacher. > > Whereas “learnings” happen spontaneously to smart engaged workers continuously making everything faster better cheaper. While taking the Cambridge certificate course in Teaching and Learning, I learned that “learning occurs”. Does the student study? Does the teacher teach? But if learning does not occur, guess who’s losing their job. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1199 "2022-10-06T23:23:12Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > My girlfriend in HS used “needs fixed” and the like back in the mid '70s. It irked me a bit, but not to the level of a rankling. > > The one that puts me on edge is "the ". Fortunately, I do not live in southern California, so my exposure to that heresy is minimal. “needs fixed” may be a Pennsylvania-ism - my husband had never heard that phraseology before he met me, and he called me on it. Then we met someone else from PA who said the same sort of thing. I assume you mean “the” as in a highway - e.g. “the 10”. I can always tell when a movie / TV writer has never visited the East Coast, when a character says “the 95”. It’s “95”, dadgummit, or if you want to be formal, “I-95”. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1200 "2022-10-06T23:53:04Z")
When I was a senior in high school, I was part of a smallish group of students that was given the chance to take classes through the local community college. As a prerequisite, we had to take a short course called… **_Learning to Learn_** The intent of the course was to teach various note-taking methods, but in practice it was irritating as hell…you had to complete at least one assignment using each of the note-taking methods, whether you ‘clicked’ with them or not. The backlash to the course was so fierce that it was reduced to about a week or so. ---
**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:** [October 7, 2022, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1201 "2022-10-07T00:41:46Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > “needs fixed” may be a Pennsylvania-ism And your shirt “needs washed”. And your grammar “needs garbage canned”. **Doesn’t someone using such non-standard syntax notice it?** Or realize that most everyone will be confused? I’m from the land of ‘The Bubbler’, but if not in _Mi’waukee,_ I’d say drinking fountain. But my Pennsylvanian roommate would always be surprised that we don’t “red up” a room, or have a “chimbley” for Santa to come down. Oh, or “wanna come with” (but I’ve heard Californians say that, too). ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1202 "2022-10-07T01:00:39Z")
> [@digs](#): > > And your shirt “needs washed”. Ahem. “WARSHED”. Or so I thought until I went to first grade and raised my hand and asked Sister Repugnata why she didn’t put the ‘R’ in the word she had just written on the blackboard. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1203 "2022-10-07T01:09:03Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Doesn’t someone using such non-standard syntax notice it? It’s correct in their dialect, whether they notice or not. And it’s not specifically Pennsylvanian. It’s a general feature of Appalachian dialects. ---
**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:** [October 7, 2022, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1204 "2022-10-07T01:12:26Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I’m from the land of ‘The Bubbler’ I saw a heat map that showed “bubbler” as prominent from about Marinette to Beaver Dam to Racine, toward the lake, and then a small concentration in eastern Rhode Island. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1205 "2022-10-07T01:13:59Z")
> [@digs](#): > > And your grammar “needs garbage canned”. > **Doesn’t someone using such non-standard syntax notice it?** > Or realize that most everyone will be confused? I don’t find phrases like “needs washed” or “needs fixed” to be confusing. They’re just an abbreviated form of “needs to be washed” or “needs to be fixed.” It seems (to be) pretty self-explanatory. ---
**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:** [October 7, 2022, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894/1206 "2022-10-07T01:34:55Z")
Yeah, but when you have to stop and think about what your roommate just said, fill in the extra words, and then realize you’ve missed everything they said after that… that’s frustrating. And then it happens again the next day, and the next, each a “unique” way of so-called communication. So, free advice: If you use a cutesy or folksy patois, pause and think “How should I say this so that other people will understand it?” I’m from Bubbler land, which is also “Odd German Sentence Structure” land. But I try to stop myself when I’m about to say “Hey, I’m goin’ down by the pig. J’want stuff?” I translate it to “I’m going to Piggly Wiggly (or “the grocery store”). Want anything?”, so my listeners don’t have to. I learned that after a friend asked “You’re going BY the store? On your way to somewhere else?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894.md?page=59) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-terms-that-aggravate-the-hell-out-of-you/923894.md?page=61)