We’re not the first to notice… The UK’s Private Eye has been running a small column called ‘Solutions’ for a while now, where readers can submit mentions of ‘solutions’. Last week we have “Disabled Solutions” and Nescafé offering “Coffee Solutions”. This week there are “Sock Solutions” and “Outsourced Vehicle Movement Solutions”, which apparently refers to car deliveries.
But, back to the OP; I can’t think of anything that irritates me except for successful being used as a synonym for rich.
I use it in reference to sexually-related issues. Hey…it’s a cross-over category. 
Decimate :mad:
Say no more.
BTW Dominic *solution * is used to define the top level of organisation of some programming environments. So (while it is horrible) it could be legitimate to describe a project or program as part of a (ahem) solution. Don’t blame the progammers, we have this stuff foisted on us. (Foisted is a word, yes?)
“Sexy”. This graph of soil infiltration rates is pretty sexy, eh Gilbert? What with the Helvetica font on the data labels and the watermark of a ball of humus?
Yeah, Gil. Makes me want to drop trou and get down and dirty all right.
Associate - You need to talk to a Sales Associate.
Teached – They teached me in high school to do that.
Borrowed - Billy Bob Ray borrowed me a hundred dollars.
Special - Billy Bob Ray is a special child.
PC – You know it’s not PC to call someone that.
Snow + Shower – There will be snow showers tonight. Is it going to rain or snow? Don’t explain the term to me, I hate the term.
Just – That is just unfair. Just is being used in a way that it excludes all other possible conditions. In this case the person is saying what happened doesn’t affect them in any other way, when you know it does.
Illegal Alien - The problem in Texas is illegal aliens. The space men have landed.
The last time we had an “El Niño” weather pattern here, every frigging weather report used the term, whether or not it was relevant to the day’s weather. I came to loathe that manufactured non-disaster.
I hate the terms “associate” and “team member,” but only when they’re used in place of the word “employee.” Typically you’ll see this in major chain stores, where the door leading into the back rooms will have a sign saying “Best Buy associates only,” or the manager will announce a special deal and then tell you to see see one of the Target team members for further details.
When did “employee” become a vulgar word that needs euphemisms?
Gourmet and showcase are nouns, period.
“rape” used out of context, only because I had a friend who was raped and she sensitized me to the issue…
As in: “X Company rapes the environment”, “I was raped” in place of “I was ripped off”… ad naseum
The next time the boss says that, she can use the following line. I’ll go in the break room and titerate a solution for you. Do you want cream?
Learning context ie: What was the learning context? What learning context will you use?
AHHHH If I hear that fucking catch phrase one more time I will give someone’s rectum a new learning context!
“Quality” is not a damned adjective. It’s used all the time to mean “good” or “excellent,” as in “a quality car” or “a quality doctor” and it irks the bejeezus out of me. Quality can be good or bad or anywhere in between; it needs to be qualified. Saying “This is a quality cup of coffee” is as meaningless as saying “This coffee is very temperature.”
I knew the battle was lost a few years ago when my roommate, who was studying to be a teacher, had a textbook titled “Quality Learning Initiatives.” If academia is capitulating to stupidity, there’s no hope.
Man, lifting huge steaming cup to mouth: “Mmm, now that’s a quantity cup of coffee!”
A phrase I’ve heard here quite frequently is “revert” to indicate “respond”. As in, “He still hasn’t reverted to my email.” I hate it with a passion.
And while not strictly in the nature of the OP, let me just say that the term “hotted” or “hotting” (the competition is really hotting up, or, she has definitely hotted up since her makeover) should be taken out back and shotted.
Destiny
The Colts can change their destiny! or The Colts are now in charge of their destiny.
NO! Destiny is inevitable or predetermined or inevitable. It is beyond your or the Colts power to change destiny. It is fate.
Sports reporters use this term a lot.
Electrocute and electrocution
A newspaper article the other day told of a man who was electrocuted while at work and was in stable condition in the hospital. Well one of those is not a fact. Electrocution means to kill with electricity.
Recommend me a graduate school to attend. :rolleyes:
Dude (okay to use if you’re under 20)
Here’s a phrase I was tired of in 2002: “It’s all good, man.”
Mispronunciation of “coup de grace.” According to two sources, it should be pronounced graz, not grah. Can anyone verify?
“Normalize” relations with China. What the hell does that mean?
Impact, used by everybody who wants to sound as if they’re dealing with big, portentous life-or-death problems. Nothing impacts in your business unless you manufacture bombs or crash safety devices.
Like, in the context of “I don’t brush my teeth like I should.” The word you want here is as. To say you don’t brush your teeth as you do it, it means you do it, but in a dissimilar manner (going up and down instead of in circles, perhaps). If you don’t do it at all, you don’t do it as you should.
People who don’t know when to use the subjunctive tense bug the crap out of me. If I wasn’t so nice I’d give them a good kicking like they deserve.
Fetish.
A fetish is something that you need in order to become aroused. It’s not just anything that you enjoy.
It annoys me personally to read and/or hear the terms “architecture” and “engineering” and their variants in certain contexts.
Examples:
Some scientists or instructor describes the “architecture of a molecule.”
Or, some sports team coach/GM is the “architect” of a great team.
Or, some quarterback “engineered” a great comeback.
Or, some jerk uses one of those terms as part of a message board username… 
AC