# Words you hate people using **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 28, 2012, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990 "2012-01-28T14:29:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/221 "2012-02-26T16:18:45Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > **orientated** – Is that even a real word? I think it’s just a weirdism spoken by the uneducatized. I not positive, but I believe it’s the honest-to-goodness British English version of ‘oriented’. Similar to the British “aluminium” vs. the American “aluminum”. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/222 "2012-02-26T16:27:34Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > That’s not what that article says at all. It says that when people hear their own name, it activates particular areas of the brain that aren’t activated when they hear other names. It doesn’t say anything at all about _liking_ it. Which is why when someone uses the wrong form of my first name, I find it intensely annoying. I have one of those first names that people easily use a common nickname for, but which I don’t use or encourage in others, so when you keep calling me by it, it keeps pissing me off. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/223 "2012-02-26T19:40:54Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Around St. Patrick’s Day, businesses sticking an “O’” in front of their names; in a fake Irish brogue, they exhort you to “come down to O’ Greenburg’s Deli” or “St. Paddy’s Day blowout at O’ Paulowicz’s Furniture Store”. I remember having to do that in, I believe, 2nd grade. We had to make nameplates for our desks for St. Patrick’s Day, with a “Mc” or on “O’” stuck in front of our last names. I seem to recall thinking it silly even then. > [@](#): > > Saying, “oh, look at you, all brown” when you get a tan in the summer. I hate that! You get “tan”, not “brown”! I haven’t got a thing against people of color, it just rubs me the wrong way. Allll broooowwwwnnnnn. I always thought the “tan” in “suntan” was a reference to leather tanning, not the color. After all, we also say “sunburn”, not “sunred”. And if somebody “tans your hide”, you don’t turn “tan”. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/224 "2012-02-26T21:07:02Z")
Most of mine have already been added. There are a few that I see on various boards (including this one) that make my teeth itch. Loose (or loosing) instead of lose (or losing). I know it’s counterintuitive with the longer sounding ‘o’ in the latter but it is still wrong. ‘Then’ when ‘than’ is meant. The phrase “Bigger then Texas” makes no sense at all. “Precious Snowflake” even the OP used this. It’s dismissive. If your first response is calling someone names, I wonder how valid your argument could be. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/225 "2012-02-26T21:11:23Z")
Along with the precious snowflake, I was reading a blog by a college professor where she’d call self-esteem, self of steam, in what I can only assume is a dig at her students’ writing ability. At any rate, I decided anyone who purposefully uses that spelling is a dick and not worth reading. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/226 "2012-02-26T21:31:50Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Along with the precious snowflake, I was reading a blog by a college professor where she’d call self-esteem, self of steam, in what I can only assume is a dig at her students’ writing ability. At any rate, I decided anyone who purposefully uses that spelling is a dick and not worth reading. Just reading that once in your post is grating. Ad hominem attacks do more damage to the speaker than the target, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/227 "2012-02-26T21:51:47Z")
expiry Never saw this abomination before the internet. What, taking the time to write out expiration is too hard? ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/228 "2012-02-26T22:26:49Z")
> [@ptr2void](#): > > I am very annoyed by people using the word _utilize_ instead of _use_. Simply unnecessary. I’m on your team. Also, quit referring to human beings in the workplace as “resources”; call them people. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/229 "2012-02-27T02:16:45Z")
One I’ve seen used on here that seems a little too cutesy-poo is when somebody asks for a “Linky?” I don’t know how often that’s actually used, but it bugs me. I remember having a teacher who would say “Alls you’ve got to do…” when telling somebody how to do something. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/230 "2012-02-27T02:22:27Z")
**Hiddy** for hideous. Hiddy is like an annoying brat. Hideous is a perfectly wonderful word. Why do people have to turn it into something cringe worthy? ---
**Author:** ![Horseface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4af34b/32.png) [@Horseface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseface)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/231 "2012-02-27T03:53:08Z")
Brain Fart. What a disgusting and vile word. ---
**Author:** ![MsJinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/278dde/32.png) [@MsJinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsJinx)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/232 "2012-02-27T08:28:02Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > expiry > > Never saw this abomination before the internet. What, taking the time to write out expiration is too hard? Expiry - I see this on passports, hadn’t noticed which country. Now I’ll be looking. I check new hire documents where I work, in the dreaded Human _Resources_, which someone just mentioned. We are just a commodity to be used. Wasn’t it called Personnel a few decades ago? ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/233 "2012-02-27T12:48:52Z")
> [@MsJinx](#): > > Expiry - I see this on passports, hadn’t noticed which country. Now I’ll be looking. I check new hire documents where I work, in the dreaded Human _Resources_, which someone just mentioned. We are just a commodity to be used. Wasn’t it called Personnel a few decades ago? I guess it depends whether you consider people to be resources or whether you think you should hire them so the government doesn’t have to. ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/234 "2012-02-27T15:35:40Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Around St. Patrick’s Day, businesses sticking an “O’” in front of their names; in a fake Irish brogue, they exhort you to “come down to O’ Greenburg’s Deli” or “St. Paddy’s Day blowout at O’ Paulowicz’s Furniture Store”. I hate when people refer to the 17th of March as Patty’s Day Who the eff is Patty?! > [@](#): > > And as mentioned, ‘nice guy’ or ‘nice gal’. What does that mean? I don’t want to meet a bad guy or gal, but ‘nice’…meaning what? Presumably someone who’s not a mental case rapist murder? > [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I remember having to do that in, I believe, 2nd grade. We had to make nameplates for our desks for St. Patrick’s Day, with a “Mc” What for, that would be Scottish, Mac is the Irish version. Jaysus next ye’ll be telling me ye were drinking whisky! ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/235 "2012-02-27T16:05:02Z")
> [@Corcaigh](#): > > What for, that would be Scottish, Mac is the Irish version. Jaysus next ye’ll be telling me ye were drinking whisky! I know, right? And I’m already Scottish on my mother’s side - Mom’s maiden name was “McKinley”. Shoulda gone with that. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/236 "2012-02-27T16:06:03Z")
I do not like “like us on Facebook.” In fact, I despise it. And isn’t it time we stopped saying “www” and “dot com” when giving a website? Don’t people know it after twenty years?? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/237 "2012-02-27T16:28:11Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > expiry > > Never saw this abomination before the internet. What, taking the time to write out expiration is too hard? Sorry, but “expiration” is clearly the abomination here. Similarly, what is this trend for taking perfectly good words, then replacing them with a weird back-formation from an inflected form, thus adding syllables that do precisely nothing. If you’ve been visited by a burglar, you’ve been burgled, not “burglarized”. If you’re having a conversation, you’re conversing, not “conversating”. ---
**Author:** ![WPA-Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WPA-Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WPA-Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/238 "2012-02-27T17:27:49Z")
I have three: 1. Masonary for masonry. There are no such things as masonary screws! 2. Then for than. I like Coke better then Pepsi. NO! NO! NO! 3. Over use of actually. Watch any DIY show: every other word is actually. We’re actually going to use hardwood floors. The bank actually is raising your rates. They are actually going to tear out your old cabinets. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/239 "2012-02-27T17:42:22Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Along with the precious snowflake, I was reading a blog by a college professor where she’d call self-esteem, self of steam, in what I can only assume is a dig at her students’ writing ability. At any rate, I decided anyone who purposefully uses that spelling is a dick and not worth reading. [Here’s where “self of steam” comes from.](http://chronicle.com/article/Do-Them-No-Favors-Tell-Them/128583/) ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990/240 "2012-02-27T18:52:31Z")
“good on you.” Makes no sense, but I’m hearing it more and more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-hate-people-using/610990.md?page=13)