# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/141 "2010-09-19T20:29:57Z")
“For shits and giggles.” I really, really hate this phrase and any variations of it. I actually think slightly less of people who use it. It’s just an ugly mental image. ---
**Author:** ![Bloody\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bloody\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bloody_L)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/142 "2010-09-20T16:47:49Z")
People calling themselves \*psuedo-intellectual \*really _grinds my gears_. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/143 "2010-09-20T17:40:25Z")
" and what not." Hate it!! ---
**Author:** ![fjs1fs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fjs1fs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fjs1fs)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/144 "2010-09-20T17:51:04Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > “My druthers”. No. Fuck off. Anyone who uses that cloying, little-finger-raised phrase should be locked up with no chance of parole. > > Also “I’ll be with you momentarily” means “I’ll be with you for a short time”. Not “I’ll be with you soon”. You can stick your incorrectly used “momentarily” up your arse for nothing, and FUCK OFF while you’re doing it. According to [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com), it can mean either: mo·men·tar·i·ly   /ˌmoʊmənˈtɛərəli, ˈmoʊmənˌtɛr-/ Show Spelled [moh-muhn-tair-uh-lee, moh-muhn-ter-] Show IPA –adverb 1. for a moment; briefly: to pause momentarily. 2. at any moment; imminently: expected to occur momentarily. 3. instantly. Use momentarily in a Sentence See images of momentarily Search momentarily on the Web * * * Origin: 1645–55; momentary + -ly —Can be confused:   currently, immediately, momentarily, now, presently, soon (see synonym note at immediately; see usage note at presently). ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/145 "2010-09-20T17:55:55Z")
> [@Bloody\_L](#): > > People calling themselves \*psuedo-intellectual \*really _grinds my gears_. People call _themselves_ that? ---
**Author:** ![pyromyte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d26b3c/32.png) [@pyromyte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pyromyte)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/146 "2010-09-20T18:00:19Z")
" behind the 8-ball" " get your/my/his/her ducks in a row" to steal one’s thunder… as in “I hope I’m not stealing your thunder here, Bob, but…” to “bird dog” someone or something. I agree with the other person about “I know. Right?” Unfortunately, I recently caught myself saying it. When I heard it, I couldn’t believe it had just come out of my own mouth!:smack: What happened to my filter? ---
**Author:** ![Bloody\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bloody\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bloody_L)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/147 "2010-09-20T18:24:49Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > > [@Bloody\_L](#): > > > > People calling themselves \*psuedo-intellectual \*really _grinds my gears_. > > People call _themselves_ that? I’ve been hearing a lot of pretentious college students saying it lately and it’s driving me mad. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/148 "2010-09-20T18:25:42Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > 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. I disagree about this; It’s essentially the same thing as saying “I don’t know if it’s possible…” Meaning “I have a solution, but I don’t know if we can actually use it.” Hence, the solution…may or may not be possible. Is it excessively verbose? Maybe, but it’s not meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/149 "2010-09-20T18:51:29Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Not really a phrase, but I hate the Twitter-related convention of calling people “@Ravenman.” > > Get that stupid friggin’ @ out of there. I agree that the pronunciation of “at” is annoying. Even if it’s in regards to Twitter. I was watching a show where the host was reading comments from people on Twitter and he read the names like “at ZipperJJ from Twitter says…” WTF? My Twitter username isn’t “at ZipperJJ.” I’m cool with using the @ symbol in digital communication in order to address someone directly, tho. Even if you’re not doing it on Twitter. Not a phrase but I also hate that Twitter is all of a sudden a two-way communication thing. I am almost positive that it started off as just a way to broadcast information. Now I hear businesses and organizations asking you to contact them via Twitter. That does not compute with me at all. To me it feels like asking someone to spraypaint a note on my billboard or something. Anyway, phrases…I’ve complained about these before. “Please advise” and “Yeah, baby!” They both can DIAF. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/150 "2010-09-20T18:57:44Z")
“…money in your pocket…” “…roof over your head…” “…put food on the table…” These folksy cliches make me want to just punch someone. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/151 "2010-09-20T19:51:17Z")
“My bad”. “He/she/I literally (something figurative)” “That’s the story”, mostly because I have a friend who peppers conversations with this as filler words, when it’s actually NOT the story. He does it just like the character in the movie “Crazy People”, who talked entirely in conversations that started and included “Hello” incessantly. My wife calls our pets “fur kids”. Thank Og I don’t hear this phrase anywhere else, because I’d be in jail for assault. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/152 "2010-09-20T19:59:13Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > My wife calls our pets “fur kids”. Thank Og I don’t hear this phrase anywhere else, because I’d be in jail for assault. “fur babies” is worse. 😉 ---
**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 21, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/153 "2010-09-21T00:18:55Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Not a phrase but I also hate that Twitter is all of a sudden a two-way communication thing. I am almost positive that it started off as just a way to broadcast information. Now I hear businesses and organizations asking you to contact them via Twitter. That does not compute with me at all. To me it feels like asking someone to spraypaint a note on my billboard or something. My understanding is that it was basically intended as a cross between a Social Networking “Status Update” and a Text Message, and whilst the ability for two-way communication was always there, it’s only been fairly recently that it’s gaining any sort of recognition (for want of a better word) for that. FWIW, something like 90%+ of Twitter users never actually send tweets; they’re merely signed up to receive them from [del]Stephen Fry[/del] others. ---
**Author:** ![statsman1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/154 "2010-09-21T02:59:30Z")
I just thought of another one today after getting back from eating lunch at a “family restaurant”. I hate this phrase. It always makes me think that the owners are implying that all restaurants without the “family” appended to their names are seedy dens of inequity. It’s as if the owners are making some thinly veiled moral judgment. Actually, in most of the cases where I see it where I live, it’s not thinly veiled at all; it’s right out in the open! The restaurant I went to today has this (paraphrased) notice in the beverage section of the menu: “Because we are a family restaurant, we do not serve alcohol.” Yes, because everyone knows that people who drink alcohol will, if given the opportunity during dinner, corrupt precious children and weak-willed adults and lead them down the path of sin. Better go to the “family” restaurant, where you can be safe from such temptation!! ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/155 "2010-09-21T09:13:29Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > I just thought of another one today after getting back from eating lunch at a “family restaurant”. > > I hate this phrase. It always makes me think that the owners are implying that all restaurants without the “family” appended to their names are seedy dens of inequity. It’s as if the owners are making some thinly veiled moral judgment. Actually, in most of the cases where I see it where I live, it’s not thinly veiled at all; it’s right out in the open! The restaurant I went to today has this (paraphrased) notice in the beverage section of the menu: > > “Because we are a family restaurant, we do not serve alcohol.” > > Yes, because everyone knows that people who drink alcohol will, if given the opportunity during dinner, corrupt precious children and weak-willed adults and lead them down the path of sin. Better go to the “family” restaurant, where you can be safe from such temptation!! Heh. I took 10YO **mudgirl** to a restaurant last week where, not only did I corrupt her by drinking alcohol with my dinner, but I let _her_ order a ‘cocktail’ of her own. It was called something like a ‘Pure Sunrise’ or somesuch, basically a Tequila Sunrise, but without the tequila. And then (this just goes to show how corrupt we are), I let her get a _second_ one! :eek: 😃 Imagine her delight when we went to visit my sister in the hospital, and she got to tell her Aunt B that “We sat in the bar section, and I drank cocktails all evening!” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/156 "2010-09-21T10:43:51Z")
“Family” is probably one of the worst content-free meaningless feelgood adjectives out. See also “family values” (what exactly _is_ a ‘family’ value anyway? Honesty? Hard Work? Patience? Any of those values unavailable to single people?) In that vein, I’d also like to nominate “lifestyle”. Theres a new housing development going up near my old home, and the billboards outside it advertise that they’re building “lifestyle apartments”. So, since “lifestyle” is basically “the way in which you live your life”, these apartments would be “places in which you live your life in the way that you live your life.” :smack: ---
**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 21, 2010, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/157 "2010-09-21T11:01:05Z")
> [@Bloody\_L](#): > > I’ve been hearing a lot of pretentious college students saying it lately and it’s driving me mad. If they’re CompSci students, they might be calling themselves sudo-intellectuals 🙂 ---
**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 21, 2010, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/158 "2010-09-21T11:17:27Z")
> [@dzero](#): > > it’s pronounce “ownage” or “owned” like woot (we owned the other team). Not sure about the “p” - could be [1337 speak (leet speak).](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet) There’s even a [1337 speak converter](http://www.brenz.net/services/l337Maker.asp). The p is intentional misspelling, because o and p are next to each other on a keyboard and typed messages in games or IM are time sensitive so it’s often more worthwhile to send text with a typo than take the time to correct it. Compare “teh” or the common “zindoz” in countries where AZERTY keyboards are the norm (this one hinging on the fact that typing W on an AZERTY keyboard writes a Z in applications hard-coded to QWERTY, such as _Half-Life_). I always took “pwned” to be a bit of self-referential or ironic humour as well, that is to say mocking the kind of people who actually say “owned” in earnest, by implying they’re hopped up thirteen year olds who’re too excited to type. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/159 "2010-09-21T11:32:05Z")
I just thought of another category of phrases that I hate: anything quoting or paraphrasing The Princess Bride. I liked both the movie and the novelization when I first read them. Then I spent college hearing it quoted over and over and over again. Sadly, this also applies to Monty Python, but I’m not quite as vehement about it. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990/160 "2010-09-21T14:52:45Z")
I can’t stand the use of the word “community”. As in, “the Catholic community”, “the Asian community”, “black community leaders”, and so on. It’s lazy journalistic shorthand - what’s wrong with just saying “Catholic people” or whatever? “Community” makes it sound like they all live in blissful harmony in a fucking teepee or something. Cut it out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-you-hate/553990.md?page=9)