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.
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”).
“To be honest…”
Does this mean that everything else you’ve said is a lie?
I don’t get your drift.
“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.
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.
@Everybody in the thread – I feel ya, dawgz.
Sooner, rather than later. (Yeah, I think that’s implied.)
“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…
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.
“Mark my words,” in my experience, is usually uttered by a self-satisfied douchebag.
So I don’t care for that phrase so much.
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.
“Read my lips”
“I’m loving it”
Oh no! I’m hating it
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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”.
Sounds like the makings of another “That’s what YOUR MOM said” style comeback.