Literally?
Two words I hate : closure and empowerment.
“Nigger” I live in the backwoods of civlization and this is still used in public. If I’m talking to someone and they say it I will just walk away.
Utilize (why not say “use”?)
Network, as a verb.
All the other corporate buzzwords my father uses.
But the word that really makes me angry is “retard”. Using it makes you sound like one.
I don’t mind the word “retarded” when applied to someone who really is mentally retarded (I use it myself), but please don’t use “retarded” to mean someone/thing who/that is stupid. It’s an offense to brilliant retarded people everywhere (You think I’m joking?)
[Warning! Off-Topic-Poster Alert!]
My daughters are now 6 and 7. Their mother and I have always tried to talk to them with adult vocabulary, and usually with concepts somewhat beyond their years. But now that they are heavily into the school-socialization thing, they have picked up some interesting quirks.
Such as silly embarassment about the human body. Which I take some delight in deflating, from time to time (the embarassment, not the body image).
The other night, the two of them were in the shower. From out of the bathroom, I heard a terrible commotion. Picturing a slip-and-fall, blood-soaked tragedy, I rushed in to render aid.
The explanation, from the six year old? I got some soap “in there” (pointing) and it stings!!
Says I, “You mean in your vagina? Well rinse it out with fresh water from the shower. Here’s a clean washcloth, if that helps.”
The response from both? A look of wide-eyed dismay at the “V-word.” Which left me explaining that, no, it isn’t a bad word. In fact, it’s the RIGHT word. And there’s nothing wrong with saying it. See? “Vagina, vagina, vagina, vagina…”
A little part of me was standing back, watching the scene from a third party perspective, thinking “how weird is this?”
[End Off-Topic-Poster Alert]
I hate:
IRREGARDLESS [How 'bout just plain “regardless”]
ACCESS [It’s a noun. Not a verb.]
AT THIS POINT IN TIME [Oh. You mean “now.”]
GOING FORWARD [Had a double-crossing, slime bucket, thieving business partner that used this one all the time. And no, I’m not bitter. Ok, I’m bitter. But just a little.]
sh
I hate to hear my mother say accept. She always uses soft c’s, so it becomes assept. I know English wasn’t her first language, but I have been trying for years to make her hear the difference, but she can’t. And, it’s one of her favorite words.
From Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary ©1981 by G. & C. Merriam Co., page 7.
Ugh, the two words I absolutley despise hearing are: Bangles (as in bracelets. don’t ask, the word just bothers me for some reason) and clarify. I hate that one especailly because when someone says it, it sounds like they are about to say my name, Clararose. For instance, when I’m in class and I’m not paying as much attention as I chould to the teacher, and s/he says something like “let me CLARIFY blah blah…”, I snap to attention and get all nervous…just thinking about the feeling makes me cringe!
I hate when people call their grandmothers or grandfathers mawmee or pawpee or anything close to that.
Johnny:
Yeah, yeah, I knew someone would post something like that. I may be living in the past, but I still feel like it’s an error that’s become acceptable only because so many people make the same mistake. Sort of like Disco, or polyester clothes.
sh
(p.s. if the “access” noun/verb thing isn’t bad enough, I still feel the same way about “contact.”)
Snausages. 
How could I forget:
Taxes due.
80% chance of snow.
Love snow, just hate grocery shopping when it has been predicted. (is a Alabama thing you would not understand)
Detour.
Why thank you, kind sir! I like you too. And, FTR, I really do like ‘Coldfire’! It sounds soooooo, I don’t know, awesome in a weird, almost scary kind of way.
Another word I absolutely abhor is ::shudder:: Goodbye. So final, so ending, so til we meet in heaven kind of thing, (or Hell, depending). I never say it to anyone I care about. Instead I’ll say ‘see you later’ or ‘later’ or ‘catch you around’ or anything to avoid saying that word. yes, I know I’m a strange duck. Quack.
I don’t know if this is just a California thing or what, but people always say Hecka and Hella. As in
“That was HECKA cool”
“I haven’t talked to you for HELLA days”
“She’s HECKA lame”
They use it every sentence! I swear to God, people here either don’t have a decent vocabulary, or are just plain stupid. Fortunately I have lived here for almost a year and I still haven’t picked up that annoying habit.
It’s not so bad. “Goodbye” is an alteration of “God be with you”. Like “farewell”, or “take it easy”. It’s not like, “I’ll never see you again. This is the end (beautiful friend…)”
Given its origin, is it proper for an atheist to say “Goodbye”? I guess he could always say, “Adios!”… DOH!
Unique. Well - not the word itself, but folks around here always say things are VERY unique. I guess they think unique means ‘unusual’. For some reason, that one annoys me.
A friend of mine in high school hated the word “crust” or any of its variants, or any other word remotely similar to it.
These included:
crusty
crustacean
crustaceous
encrusted
“Hip displeasure” instead of “hip displasia” when talking about a canine disorder.
“Spaded” instead of “spayed”. When I hear someone say, “I spaded my cat,” I think of the poor kitty on the ground. The person has a flat-nosed shovel on its neck, both hands on the handle and one foot on the top of the blade. SNICK! Spaded cat.
Of course the one off-topic post in this thread would have to be about the word that I can’t stand to hear. It has nothing to do with what it means, I just don’t like the sound of it because my roommate was watching Howard Stern one night and he must of said that word about 50 times in one show and every time I hear it now, its in his voice.
This is like when someone says, “You need to leave”. It’s
the person speaking who really needs, and not the “you” of the sentence. I’ve heard this usage of the word “need”
roughly since the early 1990’s. I don’t know why but it seems like an insult to the person being addressed, especially if both people are adults.