What phrase drives you crazy?

[farmgirl]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=857&ncid=757&e=10&u=/nm/20040324/od_uk_nm/oukoe_life_cliches


Cliches, to be honest with you, drive us mad

LONDON (*******) - The fact of the matter is that at the end of the day there is nothing, like, value-added about using cliches 24/7 -- with all due respect it's not awesome, it's annoying.

The Plain English Campaign said on Wednesday it had canvassed people in 70 countries to find the most irritating phrases of all.

"When readers or listeners come across these tired expressions, they start tuning out and completely miss the message -- assuming there is one" said John Lister of the Plain English Campaign.

People who busily "touch base" or talk about "ballpark figures" and "bottom lines" are not "singing from the same hymn sheet," they are quietly driving others to distraction.

"Using these terms in daily business is about as professional as wearing a novelty tie or having a wacky ringtone on your phone", Lister said in a statement.

A particular bugbear is the constant use of "like" as a form of punctuation.

Lister said that they had expected geographical variations, but the same phrases appeared to be universally annoying around the world.

"Gobbledegook jargon and cliches really are no respecter of international boundaries," he told Sky Television in a cliche-riddled interview.

Other named-and-shamed cliches include:

-- blue-sky thinking

-- it's not rocket science

-- crack troops

-- between a rock and a hard place

-- I hear what you're saying

-- touch base

-- bear with me

-- to be honest with you

[gaz]

Personally I think "tired old cliche" is in fact a tired old cliche.


Thanks to Steven Wright for that joke...

[cut]

hmmm, just read this




Campaign's call to ditch cliches

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39957000/jpg/_39957735_gervais_brent203.jpg
Speaking like David Brent is unprofessional, the campaign says


"At the end of the day" has been voted the most irritating phrase in the English language in a survey.
"At this moment in time" and "like", used like a punctuation mark, shared second place and "with all due respect" came fourth.

The Plain English Campaign questioned 5,000 people in over 70 countries.

"Using these terms in daily business is about professional as wearing a novelty tie or having a wacky ring tone on your phone," the campaign concluded.



The problem with cliches is they're things that were once fresh but are now so overused that, as soon as you hear it, your mind shifts your impression of the speaker
Plain English Campaign
Spokesman John Lister says footballers are partly to blame for "at the end of the day" coming top in the survey.

He told BBC Radio Five Live: "I think people find it so irritating, partly because it's so overused. If you've ever hear a football interview it seems to be used in place of a breath or a comma.

"It's also partly because it's so wrong - at the end of the day I go to sleep."

He said it was time for people to start inventing new analogies.

"The problem with cliches is they're things that were once fresh but are now so overused that, as soon as you hear it, your mind shifts your impression of the speaker," he said.

"You're thinking 'Why are they using these phrases that are so old hat? You're not David Brent - he's funny on The Office but you're not funny in real life'."

Outside the box

The Plain English Campaign is an independent group "fighting for crystal-clear language and against jargon, gobbledygook and other confusing language".

The survey was compiled as part of the build-up to its 25th anniversary on 26 July.

In the survey, business phrases, in particular, received the bulk of the nominations.

They included "thinking outside the box", "value-added" and "ballpark figure".

Other terms which received multiple nominations included "singing from the same hymn sheet", "24/7", "I hear what you're saying" and "to be honest".

Mr Lister urged people to follow George Orwell's advice to "never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print".

As Mr Lister said: "These phrases are so yesterday".


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/3563229.stm

Published: 2004/03/24 09:37:35 GMT

[Haiw]

Some people have too much time on their hands... :roll: For christs sake daily talk ain't no movie script, so who cares if there's some cheesy clichés?! Geez...

[cut]

they're going all out on this, you'll need real player for this (http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/video/39959000/rm/_39959627_language13_howard24_vi.ram)

[farmgirl]

Personally I think "tired old cliche" is in fact a tired old cliche.


Thanks to Steven Wright for that joke...


I looooove Steven Wright....
small world... but I wouldn't want to paint it....

can't have everything.... where would you put it?

[farmgirl]

Some people have too much time on their hands... :roll: For christs sake daily talk ain't no movie script, so who cares if there's some cheesy clichés?! Geez...


Nice use of a cliche when writing about the use of cliches, Haiw. ;) I like that.
I find the development of language interesting. I have a couple of books that tell the stories behind commonly used and over used phrases. Some of them are quite interesting. I guess I'm just nerd. I can't help it. ;)

[Haiw]

Some people have too much time on their hands... :roll: For christs sake daily talk ain't no movie script, so who cares if there's some cheesy clichés?! Geez...


Nice use of a cliche when writing about the use of cliches, Haiw. ;) I like that.
I find the development of language interesting. I have a couple of books that tell the stories behind commonly used and over used phrases. Some of them are quite interesting. I guess I'm just nerd. I can't help it. ;)
I hear what you're saying, but to be honest with you; it wasn't on purpose. ;)

[WARPIG]

Cliches are generally only annoying when they get over used. Of course the don't become cliches unless they are in fact over used. Not too much bothers me unless I have to try and carry a conversation with someone that cannot speak without it.
For instance when I have to train recruits and get one that can't speak without saying "Dude" or something like that, I make a game out of it. Every time I hear the word "dude" from anyone in the squad... he does pushups. That seems to effectively sanitize all conversation of the word "dude" by lunch chow.

One pet peeve, and I don't know why is "Rap-slang." I like all kinds of music to include rap but the rap-slang lately makes my friggin teeth itch. Maybe hearing goofy, white-trash, Jerry Springer hopefuls talking about "dubs" and "bling bling" is killing all the street credibility of rap now days.
What ever the reason, pop-culture-gansta-speak seems more painful than zipping up a pubic hair to me.

[NcDeuce]

Ebonics is the shizit. :lol:

[Kenshin]

I always hear this from my boss and its damn irritating:

"You cannot have your cake and eat it too.."

[farmgirl]

Perhaps the title of this thread should have been.... "what phrase drives you up the wall?"

"Annoy you severely. A much older saying is "drive to the wall," and at the time that was thought to be the extremity. John Heywood tells it in his collection of English proverbs (1546): : "That deede withut woords shall driue him to the wall. And fuerther than the wall he can not go." (old Enlgish accounts for the odd spellings in the quote) The intensifying notion that one can be so harried as to be driven up the wall is quite modern."
~From: The Dictionary of Cliches by James Rogers


I find these sorts of explanations to be very interesting.....

[hank]

"irregardless"

think about it and you'll understand

hank

[George W. Bush]

"No, I'm not giving you my number you loser."