If I hear Uncle Larry say, “I swear I’m gonna kill him” one more time, I’m gonna rat him out to Tom Ridge.
Although I agree with your point, smam, I’m sorry to say that one of the crutches I hate is this Wayne’s World-like NOT!. Irony should be expressed in a different way.
Here’s one…
“Probably”.
For example, if you’re not going to make it to a party or whatever (oops, is THAT a verbal crutch, too?), some people say, “I’m probably not going to make it.” As opposed to just saying, “I’m not going to make it.” I’m guessing the “probably” is thrown for politeness…I don’t know, I guess I’m weird like that.
Others I can think of:
“Like…” I can’t stand this one. What sucks is, I do this al the friggin’ time. I can’t stand myself…
“Actually…” Gah. This one bugs too. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s cause you don’t really need to say it.
“If you could (fill in the blank), that would be great.” Again, don’t know why this bugs, it just does.
“Look at it this way…”
Honestly verbal crutches don’t bother me unless one particular one is greatly overused by a single person. Anyone that doesn’t use any of the statements mentioned so far, ever, sounds weird to me. And they’re trying way to hard to be correct - to the point that they would bother more than someone who, like, you know, talks like that, or something. Know what I’m saying? 
disclaimer: I’m only talking about conversatin here, not a presentation, official speech, or written document. Then I agree, none of these statements belong there.
One guy at work (as a sort of closing statement) says “right well”
Another coleage says - “How are you?” I reply “fine, and you?” to which he replies “fine. and you?” I am tempted to say “er, still fine” by way of exposing his mistake. but I am a coward.
I grew to loath, loath, loath “like” and “you know” while editing interview transcriptions for a linguistic analysis computer program. Nothing will make you realize how much stupid crap people add to their sentences like having to go through and code every single like, you know, uhhhh, hmmmm and…pause.
I couldn’t get Lisa Simpson’s “Like, you know, whatever” out of my head the entire week I worked on the project.
“Not un-{fill in the blank}.”
Well, I guess that the take home from this thread is that people need to ,like, have a paradigm shift in the way that they utilize language. 
“…at any rate…”
“… ramp it up…”
“… raise the bar…”
“Been there; done that.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Just wanted to give you a heads up.”
Please don’t.
I was going to say that too. Dear lord do I ever hate that.
“I LITERALLY DIED LAUGHING!!!”
Why are you still here bothering me then?
Oh god, that reminds me of another one I hate:
“I just wanted to touch base with you.”
All your base are belong to us!
(Someone had to say it)
Going forward. It’s completely vacuous. Any time I’ve heard it used, it could be left out without changing the meaning of the sentence. “What should we do, going forward?” means exactly the same thing as “what should we do?”
Without “he’s got to step it up” or “he really stepped it up” I think a large portion of call in sports radio shows would be silence.
my bad.
thanks much. accompanied by a crinkled nose
I don’t believe those are crutches, just valley girl lingo.
You folks have got to see Office Space if your really itching to get annoyed by bosses that ‘drone’.
At the end of the day this thread is so not impacting on my verbalisation patterns
Describing a conversation with a third party:
"First she goes, ’ …’ "
"Then I go, ’ …’ "
"So she goes, ‘…’ ’
Continue for a few more lines. It always ends:
"So I just sit there and I go, ’ … !!!’ "
So go, already! (Except if you’re sitting there, how can you go?)
"I’m all about the … "
Ugh. One of those new catchphrases that I’m sick of already.
“Be that as it may.”
I just don’t get this phrase. I understand how it’s used, but I still don’t get it. I find that it’s used by people trying to look smarter than they actually are.
“In and of itself.”
See above. I understand how it’s used, but it doesn’t make any sense.
“Signage.”
“Sign” is already a noun, for crying out loud! If you are referring to more than one, you can say, “signs.” It seems this is used by the same crowd that says “utilize” all the time: people unsure of their verbal skills, who think that using simple, clear words will make them sound stupid. Sadly, the opposite is true.
And another vote for “basically.” I believe it has featured in every single sentence my boss has spoken in my presence.