# Words you really hate **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 22, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555 "2004-05-22T19:14:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/21 "2004-05-23T04:35:32Z")
_Often_ when pronounced “off-ten.” _Anyways._ _Grow_ as in “grow your business.” ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/22 "2004-05-23T04:37:03Z")
“Orientated” bugs me too. I hate “proactive” and I hate the word “impact” as a verb. ---
**Author:** ![IGJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/igjoe/32/5420_2.png) [@IGJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IGJoe)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/23 "2004-05-23T04:43:46Z")
“Myself.” When it’s used properly, I don’t mind it, but my boss mangles it all the time: “The report was reviewd by Tom and myself.” It’s _ME_, not _myself_!!! _Me_ is a perfectly acceptable word!!! ---
**Author:** ![Salem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Salem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salem)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/24 "2004-05-23T04:51:47Z")
**dude…** Sorry, umm, **Dude**. My daughter went through a dude phase. “So **dude** , like this **dude** went to like talk to this like other **dude** …” I would be reduced to a little drooling ball with bleeding ears by the time I found out how she did on her bio exam. Another little piece of personal hell, brought to me by my children. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/25 "2004-05-23T05:15:54Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > \Utilize\ and \crispy\, a pair of useless, overblown words that purport to replace simple, pleasant words of one syllable (\use\ and \crisp\). FWIW, the word “crisp” reminds me of lettuce and celery, and the word “crispy” reminds me of potato chips. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/26 "2004-05-23T06:36:31Z")
I hate having to say “rural.” It’s like ending up with a mouthful of mush. ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/27 "2004-05-23T07:04:46Z")
\Utilize and use do not have the same meaning. You can use a screwdriver to drive a nail… but you utilize a screwdriver to drive a screw. When something it utilized it’s being used for its designed purpose, its utility, dig? I in no way mean to imply that “utilized”, as used in businesspeke, is being utilized, and not used unecessarily.\ A thing that annoys me about my own writing it the tendency to use “that is”, “therefore”, and “for example” constructs. I.E. ergo E.G. Parenthetical commentary is also rampant… and quotation marks… and gratuitous elipses. The only “words” I could say I _hate_, rather than merely hate listening to other people use incorrectly, is all the SMS abbreviation crap in any context other than SMS… and I’m not terribly fond of it in its natural habitat, either. I don’t mean IMHO, OMG, LMAO, ROFL, FWIW, YMMV, AFK, et al. from IRC… I mean the “Wut do U want 2 do 2day?” type. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/28 "2004-05-23T07:27:21Z")
**Closure** … Hey, it is already over. Get over it. ---
**Author:** ![START](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@START](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/START)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/29 "2004-05-23T07:30:42Z")
> [@if6was9](#): > > **Asked** - just because I CAN NOT pronounce it… comes out assed… instead of trying to pronounce it Asked which comes out as Assed just say Axed…it is so much easier and most people don’t notice that you are saying Axed instead of Asked but the would probably notice Assed. Can’t think of any words I hate except when people over pronounce the word Button and they say say the T’s and the O sound really hard…it;s better to say Butten. Oh yeah and I hate people over pronouncing the G’s on the ends of words like running sounds better as runnin. I will stop now because I went a lil’ off topic. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/30 "2004-05-23T10:15:58Z")
Analogous, because I cannot pronounce it correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/31 "2004-05-23T11:27:22Z")
> [@Fionn](#): > > I hate having to say “rural.” It’s like ending up with a mouthful of mush. That makes two of us. It comes out sounding like ruwoo when I try saying it. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/32 "2004-05-23T11:58:30Z")
Any “sl-” word. Slab, slat, slot, slush, sliver, slob, slither, slit – the sound made by the initial “sl” grates on me. It may be my least favorite sound. Also, most “-sh” words: fresh, mesh, mash, slash – I hate the final “sh”. (As an aside, this makes “slush” especially terrible.) I take pains to use substitute words for “fresh” in my job: uncooked, raw, not frozen. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/33 "2004-05-23T12:08:54Z")
I hate words used in food commercials: Rich Hearty Meal Delicious Nutritious Tender I mean, who the hell says, “Wow, that was such a hearty and delicious meal!”? ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/34 "2004-05-23T12:56:51Z")
Smegma and maggot. They are yucky words for yucky things, but even if they were nice things, I would hate them. If milk was called smegma, I wouldn’t drink it. If kittens were called maggots, I wouldn’t pet them. ---
**Author:** ![nocturnal\_tick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@nocturnal\_tick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nocturnal_tick)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/35 "2004-05-23T13:30:07Z")
> [@picker](#): > > **Althea** really hates the word ‘moist’ as well, and the word ‘panties’ Oh, what’s wrong with the word ‘panties’. Panties is great because it’s like one of those words that sounded naughty but you could say it as a kid, words like phalanges. HEHEHEHE. phalanges. Now knickers, that’s just…wrong. To me knickers = granny pants ---
**Author:** ![Satyricon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f05b48/32.png) [@Satyricon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satyricon)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/36 "2004-05-23T16:47:41Z")
I don’t know if it just me that has this trouble… …but just try saying, “Rural Brewery” I can’t do it. And I hate it. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/37 "2004-05-23T17:05:19Z")
I hate the word bubbly when it is used to describe someone’s personality. I can tolerate bright, enthusiastic, upbeat, or even perky as a personality description, but bubbly should never be used to describe personality. (Unless you are describing a person who has drunk too much champagne.) ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/38 "2004-05-23T17:05:20Z")
I’ve never liked the word “purse.” ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/39 "2004-05-23T17:19:48Z")
> [@Satyricon](#): > > I don’t know if it just me that has this trouble… > > …but just try saying, “Rural Brewery” > > I can’t do it. > > And I hate it. I can say that. But I cannot, absolutely cannot, say “free throw.” It’s always “free frow.” Free frow. I sound like an idiot. And, while watching an episode of Gilligan’s Island last night, I discovered that I can’t say “sea snake.” I tried about ten times and kept saying “snea snake.” Not being able to pronounce the dialoge on Gilligan’s Island has to be the low point of my life. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/40 "2004-05-24T02:47:57Z")
> [@START](#): > > instead of trying to pronounce it Asked which comes out as Assed just say Axed…it is so much easier and most people don’t notice that you are saying Axed instead of Asked but the would probably notice Assed. > > Can’t think of any words I hate except when people over pronounce the word Button and they say say the T’s and the O sound really hard…it;s better to say Butten. Oh yeah and I hate people over pronouncing the G’s on the ends of words like running sounds better as runnin. I will stop now because I went a lil’ off topic. Oh, please, please, please tell me that you just forgot a winky-smiley at the end of that. There’s very little more grating than “axed,” which at best makes the speaker sound utterly illiterate. “Assed” has the virtue of being close enough to a rapid “asked” that my guess is most hearers won’t notice the difference. But “axed” is obvious, and even more obviously wrong. And another thing (praise be to Gilda Radner): I think I hate “utilize” even more than **micah** and **matt** do. **1010011010** , it would appear that you’re following the American Heritage dictionary, which notes: > [@](#): > > A number of critics have remarked that \*utilize \*is an unnecessary substitute for _use_. It is true that many occurrences of \*utilize \*could be replaced by \*use \*with no loss to anything but pretentiousness, for example, in sentences such as _They utilized questionable methods in their analysis_ or _We hope that many commuters will continue to utilize mass transit after the bridge has reopened_. But \*utilize \*can mean “to find a profitable or practical use for.” Thus the sentence _The teachers were unable to use the new computers_ might mean only that the teachers were unable to operate the computers, whereas _The teachers were unable to utilize the new computers suggests that the teachers could not find ways to employ the computers in instruction_. IMHO, “utilize” so badly expresses that distinction that one invariably is better off rewording. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555.md?page=3)