I know we have had many threads on annoying phrases and words others say but what about the ones you say? Surely you have some expression you say that’s so bad you cringe after escapes your lips, right?
So here’s my list:
super spectacular
I say this when something’s not just great but greater than great. It’s more than spectacular it’s super spectacular. You can almost hear the trail of exclamation marks that follows it the way I say it, too. It’s embarrassing.
awesome
If you’re wondering who still says awesome anymore, it’s me. Good grief it’s awful and it needs to stop now.
Word?
I say this in lieu of ‘Really?!?’
totally
Now I don’t say totally nearly as much as I used to but it still slips out occasionally. How on earth can you take someone seriously who, at the age of twenty ni–oops, thirty, still say totally. Sheesh.
dude
I say dude but much like the hacking smoker who refuses to quit because he actually likes smoking, I’m not sure I’m ready to give this one up yet.
So, c’mon, 'fess up. Post your list. It’ll be totally awesome, dude!!!
I said this to a little girl who found the “Mr. Clean Magic Erasers” for me at the store yesterday. She looked at me like a side dish she didn’t order.
I don’t think I’ll be able to give it up, though.
And I really need to stop saying FUCK. I say it way too much. I’m considering hypnotism or some other thing to get myself to drop it.
More votes for awesome and totally (and yes, I grew up in the 80’s so that’s my excuse).
Others:
Eh? and **Hey? ** (I’m Canadian and try as I might, these still slip out at the end of some sentences … grrr … I HATE it). Fuck Like
**Wicked ** Seriously Actually
Like, seriously, it’s totally wicked how I often I actually say all of these awesome words in one fucking conversation, eh?
“You know what I’m saying?” I used to say this a lot. When I realized how it annoyed others I realized that I didn’t really like saying it, either, so I’ve pretty much eradicated it from my speech.
“Pretty much” (as in the previous example) is another one I’d like to refrain from using. I prefer to use “virtually” in its place, though this, too, may get tiring if overused.
“That’s the name of the game” and “the bottom line” have been successully purged, but I still catch myself nearly saying them from time to time.
Ugh. That’s another thing I say. When I want people to get to the flippin’ point I say, ‘Just bottom line it for me, OK?’
That has got to go!
And I curse. A lot. But I’m totally cool with that. I curse at the appropriate times and when I do I could make a sailor blush. I like people that curse! People that don’t are strange and weird and worthy of scorn, ridicule and daily public floggings at 10 a.m.
I’m pretty much getting better with the last one. Basically, my daughter uses it more than I ever did, and it’s so revolting that it’s pretty much put me off saying it.
Far out is something I still say. For somebody my age, it’s still the most appropriate exclamation for a given situation.
I’ve caught myself referring to something that was really far out as heavy, but not very often anymore.
I speak to the public for a living, so I’ve pretty much (sorry, dwc1970) abandoned all catchphrases from my daily speech. It sorta goes with the territory.
A word I do say too often is “actually”. Not all the time, or to the point where anybody would get annoyed by it, but I’m aware of it.
Eric Idle: “We’re actually standing in the actual cellar where the actual Rutles actually lived and…oh dear, there’s a rat up my leg.”
Ah, I have lots of these!
Alrighty then!
Absolutely!
Killer! (meaning awesome)
Sweet!
Dude!
Actually … (this one runs in the family)
Mother-fucker
Fuck (and all its other delightful derivatives)
Oh, for crying in the night!
Jesus, Joseph, and Mary
God bless America! (what I say when I start to say “God damn it” and realize I shouldn’t) Stainz, don’t feel bad about the “eh” thing. My husband and I were in Canada for three days and he started saying it too. Contagious, eh? Two summers ago there was a particularly entertaining group of Canadians at a music festival we went to in northern Minnesota who had T-shirts and stickers with the Canadian flag and “The ‘Eh’ Team” on them. I still have one of the stickers.
I am a terrible abuser of “FAN tastic” and “excellent” as general expressions of approval. I need to mix it up a bit more.
Also, I recently realized that almost every time I say, “Thank you,” I add, “I really appreciate that.” It started as an extra acknowledgement for folks who had gone out of their way for me, and turned into a semantically null habit that probably sounds terribly pretentious. I’m trying to train myself to think first and say, “I really appreciate [the actual thing that deserves extra thanks]” when it’s warranted.
