For some reason, I’m hearing “bravery” more and more, and it bugs me. It’s so artificial-sounding, like you took an adjective and tweaked it to make a noun. And it’s so inferior to the perfectly good courage.
“schedule” - however you pronounce it, it always sounds wrong.
“Boswelox” - fucking made-up cosmetics swindustry word.
“receipt” - something about this one just irritates the crap out of me.
Incidently, I enjoy the word “visceral.”
Vigilant
Since 9/11 we must all be vigilant. Vigilant this…vigilant that. If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a 1000 times.
Impact used as a verb.
It’s a noun, people. I am not impacting you, I am having an impact on you.
“Literally” when used as hyperbole to mean “not literally.” Argh. I’m all for properly used hyperbole, but for the sake of clarity, can’t we keep a word like “literal” unambiguous :mad:
“masturbate”
“spouse”
“lap” (Only when it’s used to refer to your upper legs. “The cat will lap the milk” is fine, but not "the cat is on my lap.)
These words really bug me.
What if your spouse masturbates on your lap?
Actually, ( 
) I was wondering what he thinks a lap dance is…
Lifestyle
Spiritual (except for the musical genre)
Prolly
Any euphemism for “pregnant,” especially “preggers”
“Uh . . . excuse me?”
“Ciao!,” or worse, “Chow!” (unless you’re yelling from a chuck wagon)
“Like,” as in “He’s like, ‘Get over here,’ and I’m like 'Get away from me.”
May I add Internet to that list? Internet is not a verb! There’s a high-speed ISP commercial that uses the tagline “The fastest way to Internet!” Where the hell did the “the” go? Internet, whether a proper noun or not, is still a noun. Use the indefinite article, it won’t kill you. But I want to.
He must be related to a guy whose (insanely boring) meetings I used to go to. His favorite word was essentially. He said it 19 times during a one-hour meeting. Counting his usage of this word was the only thing that kept me from falling asleep.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all in favor of spouses, masturbation and laps. It’s just the words that irritate me. I don’t know why.
It absolutely drives me up the wall when people use “insure” instead of “ensure”.
One does not take out an insurance policy to make sure that something happens.
I once gave a paper on the history of the word ‘cunt’ and its effect on the English language.
Did you know that Count was replaced by Earl owing to its resemblance to our little friend? Hence, Earl and Countess Spenser rather than the more congruent Count and Countess Spenser.
Now, many people know that, but I wager that fewer know that there’s a similar stroy behind the word ‘rabbit’. Originally, this just meant a young coney (the generic term for the furry creature which tastes like chicken if you boil it long enough and are careful to remove all the little bones). Back in the days of yore, ‘coney’ was pronounced lto rhyme with ‘honey’, thus ‘cunny’. Far too close to our little furry friend. So, what they did was to change the pronunciation to coney as in Coney Island. No good, of course. The damage had already been done. Naughty schoolboys throughout the kingdom would still titter behind their hands and carve naughty pictures on their desks.
So, ‘rabbit’ was promoted from an also-ran (and a hyponym) to the generic word (or superordinate/hypernym).
I hate hearing about how people “better themselves.” What the &*$()& does that mean? Improve themselves? Advance themselves? Become healthier?
Resolve is another Sept. 11-related word that rubs my nerves. “We must have strong resolve.” Our resolve will not waver." These were cliches the first time they were used.
There must be better words to replace these rediculous pieces of trash.
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Sounds awkward pronounced the American way but pretentious pronounced the British way
invariably
typically
apparently
evidently
These words are just fine when used sparingly, but when over used (by a certain neighbor I know) they set my teeth on edge. GRRR.
“Panties”
Something about the word makes me grind my teeth. It sounds so…filthy. The word “underwear” is a perfectly fine substitute.
“Tasty”
Did it taste bad or good?
“Fresh”
Only when used in a certain way. Fresh vegetables are fine, fresh air is fine. What irks me is when “fresh” modifies a verb. “Fresh ways with chicken!” How about I punch you in the face?
I only have one at the moment: fellowship, as used by religious types.
This word is a noun. It is not a verb. It does not describe an action. It is not possible for one to fellowship. A group of people can not be fellowshipping. Last week, they had not fellowshipped.
You can belong to or be part of a fellowship. You can offer a fellowship to someone. But then they will have a thing; they will not be doing that thing.