Uninteresting Speech – Phrases You Want To See Die

It’s a pet peeve of mine. Everyone using the same phrases. I ranted about it once on a video. How to have no friends. I was being driven crazy at the time by everyone saying, “It’s all good”. I wonder what they think these days, lol. I was also sick of people running around telling other people what they need to do.

I think this is a relatively new phenomena. The first overused phrase I can recall was “24/7”. That was 20 years ago and I think it originated in prison. You’re locked up 24/7, see?

Right now, I hate how everyone “stirs the pot”. Oh brother. If I went on a date with a man and he said that, I would be eying the exits in seconds. I just don’t have a lot of patience for people who don’t have their own words.

Mercury is in Scorpio. What overused phrases would you like to see die?

51 thoughts on “Uninteresting Speech – Phrases You Want To See Die”

  1. Anyone describing themselves, or anyone else, as ‘ANAL’. Irks my Libra moon, to no end. Anything to do with anyone’s anus, including psychological attachments, is none of my business !!

    They say ‘anal’, and I think ‘private, filth’. Just can’t bring myself to associate that with anything positive.

  2. “verbal diarrhea,” “brain fart,” and “vomiting of the mouth.” I can never believe that people say those things casually. I find them pretty repellent.

    I also find “no worries” annoying. Lucky you!

    1. lol I at times use old phrases, “old fart”, “an arm and a leg”, “everyone and their grandma” lol not many but a few. cause they sound so funny!! I like funny phrases that sound stupid. “burst your bubble.” “sharpest tool in the shed” I don’t think people use them when they first go on dates though. they would be talking, “my grandparents are old farts” just doesn’t sound good and make a good impression.

  3. I can’t stand it when people refer to their children as “kiddos” and husbands as “hubby’s”.

    This is funny!

  4. Damp Squid book:
    1 – At the end of the day
    2 – Fairly unique
    3 – I personally
    4 – At this moment in time
    5 – With all due respect
    6 – Absolutely
    7 – It’s a nightmare
    8 – Shouldn’t of
    9 – 24/7
    10 – It’s not rocket science

  5. I agree with the “no worries” and “at the end of the day” but truly what gets me is the use of acronyms for everything. EVERYTHING. come on now. If it isn’t important enough to spell out it isn’t important enough to even include it.

    1. Avatar
      Hildegarde's Noviciate

      Personally, I say it and I mean it. For me, it’s either an expression of endearment, affection or compassion.
      I myself use it as a balancer as well. (Libra in Mercury in 1st house). “He can drive me up a wall,bless his heart. But he never got alot of attention from his parents.”
      Admittedly Im Not from the South
      From your experience, I can certainly see where you might get aggrevated. it might be more about the intent Im thinking. The pretense of showing grace but not really meaning it.

  6. I have never heard “Tits up”.

    I hate LOL, BFF, IMO, and acronyms in general. I’m also sick of the following:

    It is what it is
    I’m just sayin’
    hella _____ (hella good, hella tired)

    Anything that ends with “moto” like “happy moto”. That seems to be a new trend where I am.

  7. Thanks for the laugh, PD!!!

    What I hate, everyone and their dog says.

    “I SO want to go to the movies”

    “I SO don’t like him”

    “I SO wish I could blah blah”

    So what! Over it! But it is everywhere and used constantly so (SO!) I will have to get over it:)

  8. I am tired of the words “amazing” and “fabulous.” They are good words, and I use them myself. I recently read a book on fashion, and I swear these were the only adjectives used by the author. I’m challenging myself to find some more superlatively good adjectives.
    How about spectacular, stellar, fucking incredible, stupendous, awe-inspiring . . .
    What are some others?

  9. the marketing of “secrets”

    “the secret”

    I like mystery, not secrets that cost $9.99 from the discount book bin.

  10. Two phrases from work given much emphasis that drive me crazy…’signage’ and ‘transparency’…Do people go around and make up new catch phrases?

  11. Well, in defense of those who use these phrases, maybe it’s a short convo, a short comment, they have limited time or limited something and just can’t get out anything other than a cliche.

    I don’t know. I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. With an illness or physical impairment, if a person is under extraordinary stress, communication is very difficult sometimes. I feel sad when someone judges me because I fall into one of these peeves of theirs. I can’t help it. And when people get all picky on things like this, it feels like “ok, you’re not a fully functional person, so you are not allowed to speak, to socialize, to reach out or even try because it will not be up to their standards”.

    I get tired of this but mostly sad. Everyone does their best I think. Just my perspective.

  12. PixieDust, that’s another one of mine. “I reached out…” “Why don’t you reach out…”

    Where did this come from?

    See, it’s like the Borg or something. Group mind-speak.

    I am sorry, caribou. I probably am less compassionate than you are and appreciate that people like you are around and willing to speak up. It’s just I am geared to the mental in many ways and this stuff scares me. It’s like a person’s voice is not their own. It’s been hijacked somehow.

    Maybe I am stupid or forgetful but I truly don’t remember observing this prior to the early 90’s. It’s like a phenomenon to me.

  13. “It’s all good”.
    “Too blessed to be stressed!”
    “tough times”
    “IDK” (short for I don’t know)
    “I know, right?” or “IKR”
    “That is SOOOO five minutes ago/20th century/etc.”
    “BFF”
    “awesome”
    “better than I deserve” (and any other Dave Ramsey-isms–UGH!)
    “no harm, no foul”

    I’m sure there’s a ton of others I’m missing. I HATE cliches!

  14. Caribou–yes I can relate to this, too! Also as a Canadian, I say “no worries” all the time! The poor Australians, it’s their national catch phrase.

    Anyone who hates “at the end of the day”–don’t visit England. 😀

  15. I understand what Caribou is saying as I’m just emerging from a period of incapacity/illness where it’s been a struggle to communicate anything beyond the basics. And with my friends I’m just too interested in what’s going on in their lives to be sidetracked by the odd irritating phrase. Life’s too short.

    I do agree with Elsa that this strange group jargon-speak is a modern phenomenon. And I am old enough to remember the 1950s!

    1. “And with my friends I’m just too interested in what’s going on in their lives to be sidetracked by the odd irritating phrase. Life’s too short.”

      I agree, mm, and it may help to reveal what prompted this. I am reading high level communications between very educated people right now (30-ish). I am stunned at how the majority of them lack the ability to say anything without adding, “at the end of the day” or whatever. It’s stupefying really and I’m just aware I would bang my head against the wall if I had to date one of these guys.

      It’s like you go to school for an education but come out, cut like a cookie.

  16. “It’s like you go to school for an education but come out, cut like a cookie.”

    UGH!!! Yes! this is why finishing this blasted degree is making me crazy:(

    Not to make anyone feel worse but they want the artists to come out cut like cookies, too 🙁

  17. caribou, me too. I cringe when reading lists, although I do have my own peeves. I had to ask someone to stop talking to me like a guru, and have also admitted that there’s no point in telling me to “be in the moment” when this moment feels like s**t. Where’s a dose of Jupiter/neptune when you need it?

    I felt bad last month, for posting a quote that bugged me, because I know most people mean well.

    All of the sports references bother my mother. we sometimes joke about stepping up to the plate, and hitting things out of the ballpark. “think outside of the box” is another one.

  18. May I nominate, “business as usual” aka “BAU”?

    I don’t think anyone outside my company would be able to adequately follow a meeting or communique. Alllll about the acronymns (we may be neck & neck w the Military in this regard–perhaps ahead)…and what isn’t acronym-ized is peppered with buzzwords. Any meaningful information has to be mined out of the word-cloud. It’s exhausting.

    OTOH [heh], it lends itself to BS Bingo, a saucy little diversion that keeps me ‘on task’ during a day packed full of conference calls.
    (I don’t want to direct link to the ‘naughty word’ site–just search “BS Bingo” if interested)

  19. Very fair point here and definitely not one ivenhought of! I am sooooooo guilty of this and, yes I’ve even got the whole masters degree, magna cum laude, read Beowulf kind of thing going on. :-). I could substitute other words for cool and awesome and bff but I just find that it makes others feel more comfortable with me, that I’m not just some high faluting nerd.

    Ok by my count, I’ve done it again here like 5x. 😉

  20. Hey, Elsa NOW i understand what prompted this. I was worried it was how communication was preferred here. ugh. my brain, my projection i guess? gah. I’m sorry. Given the text you’re reading, I would agree – it ought to be cliche free.

    I want to say to those who related to my earlier comment, thank you so much for opening up and sharing. This feels so much less intimidating now. It’s nice to have company with this problem, even though I wish none of us had the same “issue” 🙂

    Kashmiri…”no worries”…lolol…I’m Canadian too. Did not know that was Australia’s catchphrase. I mean, didn’t remember. Think I used to know but forgot. Oh good grief!

  21. “Epic”.

    I read a hilarious blog on the over/misuse of the word, that said “epic” should only be used when referring to the cosmos, the ocean, or literature. That’s it. Ha.

  22. I would like…
    No worries.
    Hit me up.
    Preggers
    Just calm down.
    Chill dude.
    It’s all good.
    Wuts gewd?
    Thizzle, thizz

    When people say gauges refering to stretched ears or jewelry. Ears are STRETCHED not gauged. You wear TUNNELS or PLUGS in them, not gauges. The gauge refers to the SIZE of the jewelry only.

    A-Rae, Epic is used quite a lot in the gaming community and I’ve noticed recently that it’s run rampant among non-gamers and that drives me crazy. Anything “nerdy” becoming cool bothers me though.

  23. I was reassigned to a new work location last year where the boss uses the phrase “to be honest with you.” I thought it was just his “thing” until I heard one employee after another adding this phrase into their everyday speak. When I say “adding this phrase,” I mean peppering every other sentence with it. It’s an epidemic! Sometimes I feel like an outcast for not using this phrase myself.

  24. Why, thank you, Elsa. I just stumbled onto this webpage. (Ok, I found it while I was looking at various content that is available on the World Wide Web. Yes, I feel as if I have to explain everything I say in detail lest I be judged for typing an unpopular catch-phrase.) 🙂

    Enjoyed the posts so far.

  25. funny lol because when i was doing full time caretaking for a couple months at my elderly parents recently i told people “when i was just there 24/7” and i guess it felt like “prison” since i was doing everything for two elderly with handicap needs /dementia. how so 12th house of me too (imprisonment/sacrifice)

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