# Words you Hate but have resigned yourself they are here to stay **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 2, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311 "2016-06-02T15:06:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/81 "2016-06-03T00:58:07Z")
Cis. It’s a useful word for a useful concept. I just hate the word itself. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/82 "2016-06-03T01:11:23Z")
Another that bugs me but looks like it isn’t going anywhere: I don’t like when sports announcers call an Interception run back for a TD a “pick six”. I can’t even tell you why I don’t like it but admittedly I can’t come up with a short, easy alternative. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/83 "2016-06-03T01:14:42Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Cis. It’s a useful word for a useful concept. I just hate the word itself. [lina lamont] I like it! [/lina lamont] As I’ve said elsewhere, I think it’s underrated as a prefix. We should come up with more uses for it. It gets very little play. But, then again, I have been hanging around a lot in the Roman province of Cisalpine Gaul, “Gaul on this side of the Alps”. As opposed to Transalpine Gaul, “Gaul on the other side of the Alps”. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/84 "2016-06-03T01:20:10Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Can I get you an aspirin? 😃 Nah, get him a Kleenex. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/85 "2016-06-03T02:47:58Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Were you in school during the middle-ages? 😃 Nah, just five years of the seventh decade of the last century for most of elementary school. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/86 "2016-06-03T02:56:58Z")
Oxymoron, as currently used. Not that long ago, it was rarely heard and had an elegant & subtle meaning: the deliberate apposition of contrasting words. Classic examples include “parting is such sweet sorrow” and "faith unfaithful kept him falsely true”. Nowadays, it’s simply a stupidly clever way of saying “contradiction in terms”. Painful. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/87 "2016-06-03T03:16:05Z")
Ask, used as a noun. “I know it’s a pretty big ask” makes me want to punch people. Flow, which is a positive psychology buzzword (and a concept I find asinine.) I have the same objection to App. If it’s not on a phone or tablet, it’s a program or application, not an app. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/88 "2016-06-03T03:40:06Z")
Mega being added to words such as “tough” or “long”. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/89 "2016-06-03T05:34:25Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I would also like to see an end to “you guys” applied indiscriminately to people of all ages, genders, and stations in life. When a waiter walks up to a table of elderly women (of whom I’m one) and says, “What can I get you guys?” I want to stab him with a butter knife. The bigger problem is that English is one of the few languages that fails to distinguish between the 2nd person singular and plural. People who use “you guys” for any 2nd person plural are just filling in this gap with a consistent form. There aren’t really any other options, unless you’re from the South (y’all). In fact, I find myself saying “y’all” lately, even though I’m not Southern. My brain just demands some 2nd pl form. (Maybe it’s because I also speak Spanish. I wonder if anyone’s ever done a study to see if people who speak English and a second language tend to improvise a 2nd pl form more often than others, after controlling for places where “y’all” is colloquially standard.) ---
**Author:** ![trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trapezoidal_jellyfish)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/90 "2016-06-03T05:55:21Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > My GF calls those sleeveless shirts “wife beaters”. I HATE it, but I let her get away with it because she says I look sexy in them. (I don’t but it’s nice that she thinks so.) I had a teacher once who tried to refer to these in a delicate fashion for some reason, saying something like, “You know, those undergarments for men, I think they call them ‘egg beaters.’” I’m pretty sure only about half the class had any idea what he was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/91 "2016-06-03T05:59:02Z")
“Grow the economy.” You can grow radishes and the economy can grow, but you can’t grow the economy. “Mom” and “dad” as synonyms for “mother” and “father,” as in “Three out of four dads agree.” They don’t bother me at all when used as terms of address as in “Hey, Mom, where are the crackers?” ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/92 "2016-06-03T06:10:34Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Incentivized. Um, motivated? It’s still a way better word than “incent.” I also greatly dislike “utilize” when the word “use” would be more appropriate. On my irrational hate list - “comely.” I hate that word. It makes me want to scratch my ears out. Luckily, it’s rarely used and may be dying out, only took 600+ years. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/93 "2016-06-03T06:20:16Z")
I’m not even sure what _cromulent_ means, but I sure like the word and use it whenever I can. I just feel like I know when to use it and _of course_ anyone reading my posts will understand it just as I meant it. However that was. Thus have I embiggened my vocab. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/94 "2016-06-03T08:04:03Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Incentivized. Um, motivated? “Motivated” can work just fine in most cases, I suppose, and be unambiguous. But sometimes you want to specify external motivation, as opposed to internal motivation, and it’s not clear from context. Or, that’s my guess. I don’t think I’ve actually ever seen the word “incentivized” before now. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/95 "2016-06-03T08:20:33Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Ok, so there’s a guy, and he is the biological father of your child. he’s not your husband, not your boyfriend (never was), so what do you call the dude? Baby’s daddy. Or baby’s father. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/96 "2016-06-03T10:02:47Z")
> [@Azeotrope](#): > > Gift used as a verb. Never, ever go to Burning Man 🙂 Me, I’ve resigned myself to creeping Americanisms. I no longer cringe when South Africans say they’re going on vacation rather than a holiday, talk about movies rather than films, or drink soda rather than cooldrink. That’s just globalization, I get it, that’s what you’re exposed to. I will rip your tongue out and feed it to you if you (South African “you”) call robots “traffic lights”, lifts “elevators” or taps “faucets”, though. “throttle” for accelerator or “trunk” for boot will just get you a kicking. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/97 "2016-06-03T10:12:07Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Never, ever go to Burning Man 🙂 > > Me, I’ve resigned myself to creeping Americanisms. I no longer cringe when South Africans say they’re going on vacation rather than a holiday, **talk about movies rather than films** , or drink soda rather than cooldrink. I thought you folks talked about going to the bioscope 😃 … ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/98 "2016-06-03T12:37:52Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Never, ever go to Burning Man 🙂 > > Me, I’ve resigned myself to creeping Americanisms. I no longer cringe when South Africans say they’re going on vacation rather than a holiday, talk about movies rather than films, or drink soda rather than cooldrink. That’s just globalization, I get it, that’s what you’re exposed to. > > I will rip your tongue out and feed it to you if you (South African “you”) call robots “traffic lights”, lifts “elevators” or taps “faucets”, though. “throttle” for accelerator or “trunk” for boot will just get you a kicking. I could say the same thing from the other side of the pond. I’ve noticed a recent trend of pretentious, SWPL Americans using “holiday” instead of “vacation,” or “mum” instead of “mom.” And while most of the other examples you give make sense, the Britishism “holiday” has always bothered me. The word means “holy day.” It originated as a term for a particular calendar day, like Christmas or Easter, that society as a whole commemorates for a particular reason. Morphing it into a generic term for an unspecified period of time off from work, such that going to the beach for a week is going “on a holiday,” seems a stretch. “Vacation,” from a latin word for freedom or absence of something, makes more sense. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/99 "2016-06-03T12:44:38Z")
Not sure if this fits the OP, but using “apples to oranges” to compare two things that are very different when in fact apples and oranges are similar in many respects. As someone else pointed out, saying “It’s like comparing apples to roller coasters” would have been a better expression. Also, I cannot stand the name “Bubba,” and I cannot comprehend why someone would seriously give their child such a name. ---
**Author:** ![Lowdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Lowdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lowdown)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311/100 "2016-06-03T12:46:38Z")
> [@campp](#): > > “Sucks” > > “Dude” Oh man! You and I would never get along! ☹ Hell, “Sucks, dude.” is an observational comment my wife and I use regularly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-but-have-resigned-yourself-they-are-here-to-stay/756311.md?page=6)