# Words In the English Language You Hate For no Reason **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 30, 2002, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332 "2002-08-30T17:55:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/61 "2002-09-02T01:07:17Z")
Down with vB code, as well. D’oh! ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/62 "2002-09-02T04:04:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Oooh! And I hate it when pregnant women are described as being “preggo”. Agh! That’s horrible!!! Yeah, but at least it’s not as bad as “preggers.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![furr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ab992/32.png) [@furr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furr)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/63 "2002-09-02T11:35:59Z")
basically any word that the mass media get there grubby little hands on. most recently the over / mis use of the words “cyber” and “uber” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/64 "2002-09-02T12:48:00Z")
**Extreme** or, even worse **Xtreme**. This 90s catchword has always made me want to projectile vomit. Blech. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/65 "2002-09-03T01:22:42Z")
Hmmm. I hate _uses_ of words, but the words themselves? Never. Even words like “irregardless” and “flammable,” which are largely the products of illiteracy, or silly euphemisms (“preggers”), or empty buzzwords (“synergize”): they work because they express, even if part of what they express is unintentional. (“Preggers” = “I am now going to treat you like a walking babypod. Hope you like that for the next 9 months.” “Synergize” = “We just spent a shitload of other people’s money, especially on ourselves for being so brilliant. Um, this sounds sorta like a reason, doesn’t it? Doesn’t it?”) That’s all a word must do. At least to some degree, English rules the world because we don’t require words to audition first. For that I am thankful. Let a thousand neologisms bloom… ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/66 "2002-09-03T01:36:49Z")
Oh, **scott evil**. There’s a paramilitary armed Basque seperatist group in Spain that is pronounced, at least by BBC Worldservice radio, as “ehtta.” They kidnap little kids.☹ Yet another reason to hate the word. ---
**Author:** ![Pencepon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@Pencepon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pencepon)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/67 "2002-09-03T01:59:23Z")
The closest I come to hating a word for no reason is my feeling against the word “mellow.” It’s a perfectly good word except that for some reason when I hear it, or even see it, it makes me think of sticky, dry lips smacking together… blechhh! Then there’s my hatred for the non-word “normalcy,” uttered in ignorance by president Warren G. Harding. Since then, cuckoo-like, it has forced the real word, “normality,” out of the nest to the point that you hardly see it anymore. What next? Banalcy? Realcy? Fatalcy? (I wouldn’t usually admit to having a concept of “real” and “fake” words, but to me, this one is an exception.) ---
**Author:** ![im2evil4u](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5ac83/32.png) [@im2evil4u](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/im2evil4u)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/68 "2002-09-05T03:46:35Z")
**Gotten** just sucks **wherewithal** speaks for itself And the word that makes me cringe **boon** ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/69 "2002-09-05T15:59:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sublight \* > \*\ ***Dungarees** and **trousers** just don’t sound like something an adult should be wearing. > > There are also plenty of management buzzwords I hate, but the OP asked for ones we hate for _no_ reason. \*\* Interesting choices. If I can digress into reasoned dislikes, I never liked _dungarees_ because to me it implies shoddy, cheap, off-brand jeans. I don’t have a problem with _trousers_ other than that it seems a little quaint. It also reminds me of the phrase _sturdy trousers_, as in what the middle and upper classes used to wear for outdoor activities in the era before jeans came into wide use as casual wear. You know the sort of trousers I mean–just watch any pre-1960 movie that has middle or upper class adults going on picnics, hikes, or campouts. You’ll always see them wearing what look like extra thick khakis, but almost never jeans. ---
**Author:** ![Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/53a042/32.png) [@Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vinnie_Virginslayer)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/70 "2002-09-05T16:44:38Z")
\*\*scivvies premie **(slang for premature baby- it sounds very insulting)** gravitas\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Nordic\_Pacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/77aa72/32.png) [@Nordic\_Pacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nordic_Pacer)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/71 "2002-09-05T18:54:57Z")
**gobbet** Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![mlerose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@mlerose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlerose)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/72 "2002-09-05T19:56:19Z")
**BUTTOCKS** and **moist** _shudder_ oh, and **Gollum** , due to acute childhood terror of the animated version of _The Hobbit_ ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/73 "2002-09-05T21:20:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neutron star \* > \*\* > > That kind of reminds me of flammable/inflammable. Too many stupid people thought “inflammable” meant “non-flammable,” so now all hazardous materials documentation and everything else just uses the word “flammable.” If the stupids can’t conform, we must relent and conform ourselves - to their idiocy. What a crock. \*\* Yeah – but you know what really gets me? Those imbeciles, morons, who say “children.” I mean, what the hell? The plural of “child” is “childer” – any literate person knows that. So what fool comes along and thinks that “childer” is singular and pluralizes it to “children”? Man, but I hate how we relent and conform ourselves to the idiocy of the illiterates. It ruins our language. Daniel PS Oh, I was supposed to mention the word I hate. Two words, actually: “Language” and “elitists.” ---
**Author:** ![JustPlainBryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/57b2e6/32.png) [@JustPlainBryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustPlainBryan)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/74 "2002-09-05T21:34:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DanielWithrow \* > **Man, but I hate how we relent and conform ourselves to the idiocy of the illiterates. It ruins our language.** I couldn’t agree more. The illiterate rabble is ruining our lanuage! It’s up to us to keep the lingual staus quo or we may very well end up with nothing but commoner’s English! [sub]Oh wait, you were being sarcastic. Well, in that case then, so am I. [/sub] ---
**Author:** ![skot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@skot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skot)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/75 "2002-09-05T21:44:15Z")
For some reason the word **lawnmower** makes me cringe (and I actually don’t mind cutting the lawn…) I also hate **spouse** and **pleasant**. ---
**Author:** ![raz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/76 "2002-09-05T22:21:35Z")
I cant stand words like **wrists, wasps, lists** and any other words that have that “double-s” sound thats just hard to say and sounds retarted. And I cannot stand the word **nutsack** ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/77 "2002-09-05T22:46:21Z")
I hate the word pamper. And it has nothing to do with the diapers. In fact that is the only time the word should be spoken. As in “honey, the baby’s out of diapers, go to the store and get a box of Pampers.” Any other time when the word is spoken, I cringe. Last night on some news show, the prez of some pet airline was talking about how the pets were going to be pampered when on the flight. Cute idea for an airline, but stop useing that word. say they will be well taken care of, or anything else besides that word. ---
**Author:** ![Roadwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Roadwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadwalker)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2002, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/78 "2002-09-05T23:11:02Z")
periwinkle ---
**Author:** ![Jello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@Jello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jello)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/79 "2002-09-06T00:38:29Z")
Agitate. One might say the word agitates me. Although I don’t mind it if it’s pronounced wrong, with a hard G, like “aggravate,” which doesn’t bother me at all. Damned if I can remember how to spell it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2002, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332/80 "2002-09-06T09:49:27Z")
Another one I hate: **beverage**. I think it’s a combination of it just sounding dumb, and the first two syllables sounding not unlike the Dutch verb for, errr, cunnilingus. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-in-the-english-language-you-hate-for-no-reason/126332.md?page=5)