Heading the list was the expression
‘at the end of the day’,
which was followed in second place
by the phrase ‘fairly unique’.
The tautological statement
“I personally” made third place –
an expression that Radio 4 presenter
John Humphreys has described as
“the linguistic equivalent of
having chips with rice.”
Also making the top ten is
the grammatically incorrect
“shouldn’t of”,
instead of
“shouldn’t have”.
The phrases appear in a book
called Damp Squid,
named after the mistake of confusing
a squid with a squib,
a type of firework.
The researchers who compiled
the list monitor the use of phrases
in a database called the Oxford
University Corpus,
which comprises books, papers,
magazines, broadcast,
the internet and other sources.
The database alerts them to new words
and phrases and can tell them which
expressions are disappearing.
It also shows how words are being misused.
As well as the above expressions,
the book’s author Jeremy Butterfield
says that many annoyingly over-used
expressions actually began as office lingo,
such as 24/7 and “synergy”.
Other phrases to irritate people are
“literally” and “ironically”,
when they are used out of context.
Mr Butterfield said:
“We grow tired of anything that
is repeated too often –
an anecdote, a joke, a mannerism –
and the same seems to happen
with some language.”
I don’t like hackneyed phrases, neither in English nor in any other language. This book will also be very interesting for foreigners (I am German).
Unfortunately we often talk a lot of rubbish without thinking.
Karin Tollens - November 7, 2008 at 2:38 pm |
None of those cause me to cringe as much as “for free”. Aaaaargh! It angers me to see this expression becoming so widespread that it is now considered accepted usage.
Giff Kucsma - November 8, 2008 at 11:42 pm |
You’re an ass, Giff. I’ll give you that one for free.
Joe Dick - December 18, 2008 at 11:58 pm |
I would like to submit the one I hear more often than I can stand: “having said that…”
RonR - January 2, 2009 at 2:32 am |