# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Marsie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Marsie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marsie)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/81 "2004-07-08T06:43:22Z")
“Basically” and “Per”… People are using the word “basically” as a “filler” word. It is a lazy speech habit and I’m gol’ durn tired of it. The minute I see the word “per” used in a memo or letter I automatically write off that person as a pretentious asshole. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/82 "2004-07-08T15:06:31Z")
Synergy is one that I hate with an unrelenting passion. Also, as someone else said, I hate, loathe, and despise all the words used to describe the bodily functions and MOST of the words used to describe body parts—especially the dreaded “C” word. If my darling Marcie hears me use “panties” in any context at all, she beats me severely—she cannot abide that word. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/83 "2004-07-08T17:00:28Z")
_Across_, because I used to put an inadvertent t on the end of it. _Fervent_, just because. _Hegemony_, for its pomposity and _Jingoistic_, for its smugness. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/84 "2004-07-08T17:13:17Z")
> [@Marsie](#): > > The minute I see the word “per” used in a memo or letter I automatically write off that person as a pretentious asshole. I will, however, defend it as something scribbled on paperwork – as in “ok per twicks,” on something that someone verbally okayed that might (i.e., should) be questioned later. (In my job, everything gets initialled and the documentation on a job ends up being a stapled-together mess.) ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/85 "2004-07-08T17:44:55Z")
I’ve always hated **niche** and **clique** pronounced _WITHOUT_ the French accent. It makes them sound like some sort of disease-carrying bug. ---
**Author:** ![Sutremaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sutremaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sutremaine)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/86 "2004-07-08T18:31:26Z")
Femininity. I can’t pronounce it (fenemimaninimu… itity…?), can’t spell it _because_ I can’t pronounce it, and dislike the connotations it carries. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/87 "2004-07-08T19:56:24Z")
**lover** EW. Is it possible to use this word in any context without sounding smarmy (another word I don’t like, but it fits here) and gross? “I don’t want to be your friend…I want to be your lover!” – spoken by some woman on “Days of Our Lives” 20 years ago and it’s been burned into my brain, never to be forgotten. I also hate the Arabic word **mufti** (GAH!), which, thankfully, I don’t run into very often. ---
**Author:** ![Chill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Chill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chill)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/88 "2004-07-09T22:20:53Z")
Nothing tops “Holla”. What the hell is that?! I hate these slang terms. “Holla back, yo, holla back”. Firstly, it’s spelled “holler”. Second, it means to “yell, or to shout”. “Hey! Yell back at me! YELL!” How irritating. ---
**Author:** ![Padmaraga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@Padmaraga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padmaraga)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/89 "2004-07-09T22:34:00Z")
Ditto for me on “pop” and “panties”. I also can’t stand the sound of “grown-up” (it’s _adult_, dammit!) and “boobs” (especially when uttered by women, for some reason). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/90 "2004-07-09T23:58:17Z")
**Penultimate** , when wrongly used to mean the “utmost”, or “super-ultimate”. It actually means the next to last. ---
**Author:** ![Slainte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Slainte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slainte)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/91 "2004-07-10T01:10:35Z")
Another vote for **rural**. I also hate the sound of **gubernatorial** - I think it’s the “goob” part that bothers me. ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/92 "2004-07-10T01:50:01Z")
I don’t hate the word, but I just don’t get the pronunciation of the word **nuclear**. You know how everyone makes fun of Presidents Carter and Bush for their pronunication? You can say the (allegedly) ) different pronunciations to me in person, or type them out phoenetically, and my ear/mind just can’t hear the difference! I don’t even know if the one I hear is the correct or the incorrect version, because they both sound exactly the same to me. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/93 "2004-07-10T02:02:18Z")
My list of words and phrases that make me cringe… Inchoate Nefarious Canker Gonads Jizz, Jism, or Chism for semen (where did this godawful term come from?) I have nothing against French, but I usually don’t enjoy people using French words and phrases (usually out of context and mispronounced) to pepper up their English…as in “savoir faire”, “je ne sais quoi”, “au courant”, and “panache” or even “garage” with a French accent. Maybe once in a great while, but not over and over again. ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/94 "2004-07-11T03:30:43Z")
Seeing as rural has been getting so much hate, I figured I’d pop back in to say I actually like that word. If you actually know how to pronounce it, it flows very nicely 😉 ruuurrrooll ruuuurooll its fun! ---
**Author:** ![Catfood\_Purrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Catfood\_Purrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catfood_Purrito)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555/95 "2004-07-11T20:42:50Z")
[bold]Wordsmith[/bold]. When my boss thinks something needs to be edited and reworded, she ALWAYS says, “let’s wordsmith this a bit.” I swear, next time she does it, I don’t think I’ll be able to control my rage. [bold]Chagrin[/bold]. I don’t know why, I just hate the sound of it. [bold]Nauseous[/bold], as in, “I feel nauseous.” No, you feel nauseated. I don’t care what the dictionary says, and no, it’s not funny to say it just to piss me off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-really-hate/246555.md?page=4)