# Phrases you hate **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 16, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990 "2010-09-16T18:12:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/81 "2010-09-17T15:25:32Z")
> [@KinkiNipponTourist](#): > > For me, it’s any phrase that begins with the sanctimonious or self-righteous ‘um.’ > > “Um, you do realize that…” > > “Um, I don’t believe that’s what I said” > > “Um, was that really necessary?” > > I hate the false humility, passive-aggressiveness of it. yuck. Similarly – ending a statement with “mmkay?” It manages to convey the fact that the speaker is a snarky jerk without actually adding anything substantive to whatever their position is. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/82 "2010-09-17T15:31:47Z")
I’ve mentioned this before in other threads, but I can’t resist repeating it … the one I really hate is “one of the only” (used to mean “one of the few”). ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/83 "2010-09-17T15:38:35Z")
“To be honest…” Does this mean that everything else you’ve said is a lie? ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/84 "2010-09-17T17:17:08Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > There’s a lot of phrases I don’t like, you know what I’m sayin, and many come to mind, you know what I’m sayin, but the one I hate the most and I mean the most, you know what I’m sayin, I can’t really think of right now, you know what I’m sayin? I don’t get your drift. ---
**Author:** ![Kickback\_Joe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/cdc98d/32.png) [@Kickback\_Joe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kickback_Joe)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/85 "2010-09-17T17:51:41Z")
“Know what I mean?” Arrgghhhh! My wife does this all the time when talking on the phone to others. It drives me nuts to listen to her say it over and over again during a conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/86 "2010-09-17T19:14:43Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I don’t even look at Twitter. Never. If its use were contained to Twitter, wouldn’t care less. I’m seeing it other places and it makes me want to smash things. It’s not contained to Twitter because it’s not a Twitter thing. The convention predates it by far - I’ve picked it up from late 90s IRC channels myself. And you wouldn’t catch me dead on Twitter. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/87 "2010-09-17T19:34:59Z")
@Everybody in the thread – I feel ya, dawgz. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/88 "2010-09-17T19:48:07Z")
Sooner, rather than later. (Yeah, I think that’s implied.) ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/89 "2010-09-17T20:11:31Z")
“Let’s just agree to disagree.” Which is meant to end an argument. Especially in an online situation, the best way to stop a fruitless exchange is just to stop posting in that thread. Or start a new topic. But some people find it a charming way to indicate that they are done with you. And even worse people say (type) it & then continue with all the points that indicate why _they_ are right & _you_ are wrong. But, of course, they’ve already declared the argument ended… ---
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/90 "2010-09-17T20:16:08Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Sooner, rather than later. (Yeah, I think that’s implied.) I sort of like that one but you’re right, it doesn’t really make any sense - or is at least redundant. I’m not sure if I was consciously aware of this or not but several years ago I started using “sooner is better” instead. It can be a little snarky depending on the context but at least it means something. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/91 "2010-09-17T20:19:41Z")
“Mark my words,” in my experience, is usually uttered by a self-satisfied douchebag. So I don’t care for that phrase so much. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/92 "2010-09-17T20:27:05Z")
One phrase that seems to be used in the American South a lot is “if it was up in you, you’d know where it was”. Person1: Now where’s that pencil I was just writing with? Person2: If it was up in you, you’d know where it was. I witnessed my brother saying that to his wife once and I was like, “You talk that way to your wife?”😕 If a husband said that to me, the pencil would now be up in him. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/93 "2010-09-17T20:27:30Z")
“Read my lips” “I’m loving it” Oh no! I’m hating it ---
**Author:** ![Daerlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Daerlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daerlyn)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/94 "2010-09-17T20:37:27Z")
> [@dzero](#): > > > [@Leaffan](#): > > > > Sooner, rather than later. (Yeah, I think that’s implied.) > > I sort of like that one but you’re right, it doesn’t really make any sense - or is at least redundant. I’m not sure if I was consciously aware of this or not but several years ago I started using “sooner is better” instead. It can be a little snarky depending on the context but at least it means something. I find this one kind of useful. To me it means “Not critical, but should be addressed immediately after the things which are, rather than tacked on to the end of your to-do list.” Of course, if I had a manager with a habit of labelling _everything_ ‘sooner rather than later’, it would likely drive me mad as well. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/95 "2010-09-17T20:59:18Z")
I hate “are you sure ?” Usually it goes something like this. Would you like something to drink ? No thanks. Are you sure ? No, I’m not sure why don’t you ask me a few more times since I’m fucking retarded. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/96 "2010-09-17T21:32:25Z")
_What word didn’t you understand?_ That phrase set me off screaming at an IRS agent, when she didn’t let me finish, interrupted me with wrong information, and then interrupted with _What Word Didn’t You Understand?_ Although I think she was in the wrong, I did send a letter of apology for going ape shit. ---
**Author:** ![sundog66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@sundog66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sundog66)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/97 "2010-09-17T21:45:03Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Beginning any sentence with “I feel like…” when the person speaking is not referring to: > > •a statement of his or her health; > •a tactile sensation or a comparison of one’s health to a descriptor (such as “shit” as in “I feel like shit.”); or > •is specifically talking about emotions. > > […] > > I firmly blame the parents and teachers of Generation Precious Snowflake, in which everyone is a winner, everyone gets a trophy or a ribbon, there are no losers, and teachers can’t grade papers with red pens for fear of making a child feel insecure about failure. :rolleyes: This “I feel like” bullshit started somewhere around the mid- to late-90s when this generation was taught that stating a firm strong opinion or a corroborative, provable fact could possibly be offensive to someone else and hurt their feeeeeeeeelings. So we all play this game with bullshit, imprecise language in order to avoid hurting the feeeeeeeeeelings of some precious fucking snowflake. > > But I’m not bitter. Hate to rain on the peeving parade (in fact, I share your distaste), but I’m not buying the Generation Precious Snowflake explanation for this usage. In fact, I suspect that feel–\>believe is a common semantic drift. In Mandarin, for example, the verb ‘feel’ (juede 觉得) can be used to preface opinions. I hear Latin _sentire_ worked the same way. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/98 "2010-09-17T21:54:45Z")
If this was brought up earlier, I don’t see it, but the one that irks me the most is “It may or may not be possible” or other phrases of its ilk. Of course, that is always the case. A very wordy way of saying absolutely nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/99 "2010-09-18T01:07:53Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > If you use, “First they came for the Jews…” when trying to defend your position, I’m tuning you out. My rebuttal to the “First They Came For…” argument/defence is “By the time they come for me, I’ve long since moved to a less fucked up country and have encouraged and/or aided my friends and family to do the same”. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/100 "2010-09-18T01:18:13Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > One phrase that seems to be used in the American South a lot is “if it was up in you, you’d know where it was”. > Person1: Now where’s that pencil I was just writing with? > > Person2: If it was up in you, you’d know where it was. > > I witnessed my brother saying that to his wife once and I was like, “You talk that way to your wife?”😕 If a husband said that to me, the pencil would now be up in him. Sounds like the makings of another “That’s what YOUR MOM said” style comeback. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990.md?page=6)