For those not up to speed that is a perfect example of dabbling John, thankyou.

John wasn't dabbling - he was showing that he understood perfectly - as I think, do you, Inky.

The most irratating expressions for me are included in a series of popular book titles: "______for Dummies", "____for Idiots" and "KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid)".

Why does anyone want to buy guide books that assume they are dummies, idiots or stupid? Twenty years ago one of my teachers was saddened by the deliberate systemic "dumbing down" f society. I didn't know what he was talking about then, but now I get it and I hope it stops.

Sharon

I agree Sharon, and was chagrined to discover they really do simplify things that are obfuscated elsewhere.

I hate "TMI" for "too much information." It's a lovely way of humiliating someone who has divulged something personal and delicate. Not to say that it isn't true sometimes, but surely there is a better response.

Others that make me want to drink gin out of the cat dish:
- at this point in time
- due to the fact that
- "download" used to mean giving someone else information verbally
- anyword modified with "shizzle" or "-izzle"
- "bling bling"

>I hate "TMI" for "too much information."

Actually, I hate it whenever people use a TLA, especially when I don't know what it stands for. Best thing to do in that situation is to say "Wait, what does that TLA stand for?" because then THEY have to ask YOU what your Three Letter Acronym means, and that gets you one point.

The votes are coming in for the upcoming annual nonsense word contest, as we speak. On Thursday evening, whilst 'vegging out' in front of the goggle tube (old grey eye) I heard an expert on CSI refer to the "directionality of the bullet". So my entry is "directionality".

directionality sounds like a made up word by someone wanting to sound like an expert..There's that CSI acronym again.

If you had done something about it proactively it wouldn't have impacted your bottom line at the end of the day.

Have you noticed a revolting tendency to put "out" after a verb that does not need it? Examples: "I have to change out this light bulb." "The room would look better if we changed out the wallpaper." I noticed it first on HGTV but now am hearing it elsewhere. Ugh.

Annoying, but not and expression:

Making little quotation marks in the air with one's fingers, as in, "So, how was your little [makes quotation marks in the air with index and middle fingers of left and right hands) DATE with Susan?"

I'm happy to say I have neither heard nor seen either one of these -- yet.

At a recent meeting at the software company where I work, a question was asked of someone in Marketing, who responded: "Let's double-click on that..."

But I have to ask: Arbor, what is gin doing in the cat dish?

"Needless to say" followed by the needless thing being said.

And its variation, "To make a long story short", long, long after the story has been very long indeed.

I've had a vendetta against "impacted" for ages. "The funeral industry has been impacted by this new paradigm." No, prizefighters impact you. End of story.

Rosefiend.

We now are getting into sign language.It galls me when people think it is so cute when they mention the word telephone with the telephone sign;2 fingers up with one near the ear and one near the mouth. My older daughter was trying to use it and got two wrong fingers up. Really funny.

If you're going to start on "impacted," then I will add my gripe: wisdom teeth can be impacted, but everything else has an impact on something else, or receives the "impact" . Meteors may disintegrate upon impact with the Earth, but they don't "impact" the Earth.

"Going forward" is the one that makes me grimace every time.

People who speak in cliches and mixed metaphors (usually because they don't have anything substantive to say and are filling the air with noise). Especially people who use the same cliches all the time -- yet another reason to prefer the company of dogs.

How to you speak to dogs? In dog latin?

The term "vetting" is also really incredibly irritating. It's used to describe the process of testing or evaluating a potential employee, strategy or idea. Example: "We're vetting a new manager to see how he hands internal sales."

The word seems to have been stolen from the process of having a veterinarian examine a horse, dog or other animal for a potential buyer, to make sure there are no hidden health or conformation problems with it.

For some reason, the use of "vet" and "vetting" in regards to humans or human ventures is revolting to me. Perhaps the term is appropriate in the context of describing drug-testing and physical exams required of potential employees... if they happen to be chimps or guard dogs.

Cady -
Your comment on 'vetting' is intriguing. Compare it with expressions like 'doctoring the books' or 'nursing a grievance'. Is it any wonder that idiomatic expressions can so confuse foreigners?
Herb

Herb,

At least "doctoring" and "nursing" are professions practiced humans. "Vetting" is for critters.

Actually, I think "nursing" in the context you provided refers to its roots in breast feeding -- as in feeding and nurturing in the traditional sense, not medical. ;)

Cady - I guess you're probably right about the origin of 'nursing' in that context - it hadn't occurred to me.

Nursing a grievance is not a good thing. Some people would say say it sucks - though that isn't an expression I like either!

Herb

I received a business communication today offering help with my issues. When ever someone asks about my issues I start to head for my stack of old newpapers. I am confused. I guess I need someone to facilitate me!

When I was a kid we had no running water or electricity. We also had an outdoor shed with a hole in the ground. We used to keep a stack of old newspapers in it to deal with our issues.

I thought that those old newspapers were to deal with your tissues...

I HATE "this rocks", "you rock", and one I've heard off and on, "you rock the Casbah". What the heck does that mean anyway ?? And if I hear "you go girl" one more time, I think I'll scream.

Yeah, "I hear ya" (another pet irritating expression).

While we're talking about "girls," I wish journalists and other writers would stop using "woman" as an adjective (e.g. "woman lawyer," "woman senator"). No one says "man nurse" or "man mayor." It seems that those who are not at the top of the power structure (that is, anyone other than an adult male), gets resigned to being an adjective ("child prodigy," "boy wonder," "girl/gal Friday," "woman president.").

Didn't intend to put "girl/gal Friday" on that list, as it doesn't belong there. It belongs on a different list entirely. :)

True, few people say "man nurse" but they do (or used to) say "male nurse". As for "woman" I've often heard "fishwife" and "midwife" but never "fishwoman" or "midwoman". And, when it comes to "landlady" I've never heard of "landwoman" (nor of "landman" for "landlord"). We hear of a man being a "womanizer" but never of him being a "ladyizer". We have barmen and not barwomen or barladies, but barmaids. I even remember that the feminine version of "tailor" used to be "tailoress": It was considered to be quite the equal of "tailor" and a distinct step up from mere "dressmaker".

There must be lots of other examples. What I don't understand is the current obsession with changing them all. I mean it's absurd to drop "cleaning woman" and substitute "cleaning lady" but at the same time to happily use "policewoman" . Ever heard "policelady"?

Hmmm? Personhole cover for manhole cover? That's us, carry everything to the politically correct extreme.

Herb, "wife" actually means "woman" in Middle English ("wif"). So, "wifery" in my book is perfectly okay.

Cady - I've never heard the word "wifery" as such - only in the compound "midwifery". "Midwifery" as a word is fine with me - though when I checked the dictionary, I was surprised to read that it not only means a woman who assists another woman during childbirth, but also includes a man who (in the admittedly rare instance) renders the same assistance.

Coming back to irritating expressions, I heard two on the radio this morning -

"she was like" - meaning she said, or she kept saying- and "you know" . The speaker used these repeatedly - in almost every sentence and many times each minute.

Um...like...I mean, ya know... is probably as old as North American English.

I used "wifery" facetiously, meaning (in my mind) the use of the word "wife" in place of "woman." Maybe "midwifery" is literally the "woman in the middle" between the birthing mother and the baby being birthed.

The use of "lady" instead of "woman" is one of those classist things. Ladies and gentlemen were supposed to be those individuals rendered docile and polite by upbringing. There were expectations for behavior assigned to woman and man in the higher social classes.

Somehow, though, the use extended to the "common" folk such as us. My elementary school teachers exhorted the pupils to "behave like young ladies and gentlemen," meaning that we were expected to adhere to a set of etiquette and behavioral rules in keeping with whatever is considered civil in a democratic republic. :)

It seems, though, that "lady" has gone farther beyond that still. The word is used to pin and corner women into behaving within strictures of etiquette that men (guys, dudes) are not. To be called a lady means that you are expected to be polite, submissive and to know your place. Unless a man is similarly pegged with the term "gentleman," he is not bound to those social expectations.

In other words, "lady" is meant as a status-reducer. Instead of being able to be a thoroughly human "woman," females must maintain "ladylike" demeanor even when it is to their disadvantage.

To be a woman, and to be called a woman, should hold the same status as to be a man, and to be called a man. "You'll be a man, my son." (Kipling) "Walk like a man, talk like a man..." (Frankie Valley). Compare that to "She always knows her place...She's a lady....Whoa-whoa-whoa" (Tom Jones) and "Act like a lady." "She's no lady..."

Bah. Let us just be women.

I wonder what (if any) implications the old (and I think, better) expression for "waitress" carries? I don't like many of the -ess (e.g. laundress, stewardess, hostess) endings simply because they're derived from the French. Instead of "waitress" is there perhaps something to be said for the old expression "serving wench"?

Then, there's the Latin with masculine and feminine forms (e.g. aviator, aviatrix). Maybe we could go that route... "Waitrix, check please!" :)

I was always puzzled by the use of "ess" at the end of big-cat family names to denote females -- lioness, leopardess. A lion is a lion, whatever its sex.

Reverting for a minute to "lady" it used to be considered so gross to use the word "b*tch" - and apparently it's still so, because Garden web refused to accept the full spelling, so I had to use the asterisk - that some people couldn't bring themselves to use it even for a female dog. So they used to refer to them as "lady dogs". (Not, you will not, "woman dogs".) Aren't language conventions strange?

That sounds like a Victorian-era convention. During that period, even such mundane items as table legs were referred to as table "limbs" because the word "leg" was considered too sexually charged. I believe that was because women's legs were covered to the ankle, and thus were treated as objects of mystery and sexuality.

Heh. You're right. Language conventions are odd.

I just think it's cool that a person called Petra doesn't like rock phrases. Get it? Petra = rock? You go! That resonates with me! Mandate that paradigm! Hoo-ah!

*I'm* going to get impacted if I keep this up ....

Once, when young, I used the term lady to refer to a woman and my grandmother arched an eyebrow and asked what exactly was this woman's full title. For that reason, and because of the prissy, pretensious, fake-genteel associations around lady I like using the term gentlewoman. On a good day I am a gentlewoman. Thankfully, I am never, ever a lady.

No one is mentioning the class associations with these words. This is my take, which is of course idiocyncratic:

Lady is what lower, working and middle class girls are told to be when people want to control their behaviour.

Princess is what middle and upper class girls are called by guys who can't get anywhere with them (and who want to control their behaviour.)

Gentlewoman is a term for any female who respects and cares for herself and others

May God bless any of you who read this with amusement or pleasure, or who just plain know they can use any blessing they can get (which is my own usual, grateful response to be being blessed.)

Springcherry

Springcherry, I only mentioned "classist" once, but what you wrote was precisely my point -- class association as a form of behavorial control over women (and men, as "gentleman" has behavioral connotations, too). "Lady" was a title (like "Dame") that carried a burdon of behavior and duty expectations.

Beyond aristocracy, the word was adopted and adapted for a parallel set of expectations for female behavior and "state of being." Ladies of the aristocracy were put on pedestals and bound in class shackels at the same time.

Remember the addage: "Horses sweat, women perspire, ladies glow."

And gardeners stinketh like sh*t.
(Its hard to be lady-like when covered with dirt:-)

Springcherry

Of course, a true lady of the aristocratic world would never, ever "soil" her hands by touching dirt (with or without kidskin gloves). That's what hired gardeners are for.

Though she might sprinkle roses with water from a delicate little watering can.

Oh yeah, and while I'm on the subject, and since we've just had the hottest June on record down here in Southern Ontario, and "I'm lovin' it", here is my latest 'pet peeve' in the expression category.

Are you ready for it?

It's "This is God's Country". It's said when one is referring to a stretch of land the speaker lives in or stakes some kind of claim to belong to etc. Well folks, I've got news for you: I've been damn lucky to have visited (and continue to search out) more places in the world than many people will ever dream of seeing, and all and each of them are capable of being called "God's Country" for many reasons. You may feel you're in "God's Country" because the air is fresh and clean, because you have rivers and wildlife and miles and miles of wide open spaces and you may have a point. But a country is what it is - just a "country". It's all "God's country" really isn't it? And anyway, wherever you are, isn't it the "country of your mind" - the place you live in every second of every day -infinitely more deserving of the expression? I don't know why I mention this but I felt like throwing it in. I have a suggestion for you - next time you have a toast, say "Here's to God's Country" wherever you may be, and get out and enjoy it and quit watchin' TV.

Actually we in the Southern Hemisphere prefer 'Godzone'....

There's no need to squabble. Just go through the 'reconciliation process, reach closure, and get on with our lives.'

Ha!

Dude! Can we, like, ya know, please have some of 2010's most irritating expressions too?

I just found this forum, all I have to say is VFF! Very Freakin' Funny.

Awesome! (Most annoying since 2000. )

Perfect! ..... seems to have largely replaced awesome.

largely replaced

I'm reaching out to you because ........

I know your pipeline is full, but .........

Al