Cup of Coffee

January 18, 2023: Turn Of Phrase

91 Comments

Forgive me if I've given this prompt before, but what's an expression that just doesn't sit right with you, one that causes a mental discomfort. For example, saying something "scratches an itch" is on the same level as someone chewing loudly for me.

91 thoughts on “January 18, 2023: Turn Of Phrase”

  3. "You're doing God's work" which is patronizing code for "I know you are underpaid and overworked, hope this makes you feel better!"

          1. “Thank you for everything you are doing for (me/the community/etc.) Is there something — even if that is just a positive review for your supervisor — I can do to support you? Is there something you wish others knew or better understood about your job?”

  4. There are two big ones for me:

    "Needless to say". If it was needless, WHY ARE YOU SAYING IT!?

    Using "said", like "here's a thing. I did something to said thing." Shut up, you're just trying to make what you're saying sound smarter than it is.

    1. “Should go without mention” is a variant on “needless” that I find hilarious because it’s such a passive aggressive scold.

  5. There's not a lot that doesn't sit well with me but I will silently correctly someone who says "verbage" instead of "verbiage" and "who" instead of "whom."

    1. I'm similar with "less" vs. "fewer." It doesn't actually bother me at all, but I can't help correcting in my head.

  6. Irl I’m kinda (in)famous for speaking in turns of phrase. I was in a board level meeting when I described the services offered by a potential design partner as, “soup to nuts”. I drew blank stares from 80% of the room, so I amended my statement to, “they go the full 9 yards” which resonated with about 60% of the room, so finally said, “they’re a one stop shop”.

    I’m a big fan of expressing my displeasure by saying, “we’re putting 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag” and, “we‘re not going to let that camel stick his nose under our tent”.

    Having said all of that, I really, really, truly hate it when people say, “it is what it is”.

    2. I’ll second “it is what it is.” Really hated it as a lazy, useless phrase for a long time. I’ve softened on it, though, as words and energy sometimes fail me.

  7. Here's a fun, slight twist on the question:

    I might have said "To be fair", but Letterkenny has made that phrase one of the funniest things to ever be uttered.

    1. after Chris Traeger, it no longer bothers me when people say "literally" when they mean "figuratively."

  8. I don't know if you know this, but if I go to a restaurant the wait staff asks me, "How is everything tasting?" it's like finger nails on a chalkboard.

    #oldiebutgoodie

    1. You are not alone. For decades I would check with guests exactly as you describe. At least once a year, someone would correct me. I have been working on my staff to avoid that phrase. On another note: At least 5 times every shift I work, a guest will respond to my "enjoy your meal" with "you too". I just give them a raised eyebrow and move on.

      1. I don't know when it slipped into common usage, but it's a very specific ask. Well, it tastes fine, but it's not what I ordered. Or it's cold or, where's that appetizer I ordered? Also, there's a bug in my salad. I didn't taste it, so I'm not sure.

        But, I have ranted about this before.

    2. This one didn't bother me until recently (I blame Game of Thrones). Now I hear it constantly.

    1. I have given up on borrow vs. lend. I almost never hear anyone say "lend" ever. So it's now into the pile with "nip it in the butt" and "chomping at the bit" as just part of our language now forever.

      1. The first time I heard that one, it was directed at me online, and I thought I was being insulted. I didn’t realize it was just a banal thing people were now saying.

  11. Bringing it to Twins baseball, I hate it when Atteberry says, "They left some meat on the bone." I don't know why that phrase bothers me so much, but it does.

  12. Variations on “Impact > Intent” seem to be popular in higher ed. I understand what it is trying to say, but it’s also overly reductive and completely antithetical to how we determine culpability in both everyday interactions and the courts.

    Also, substituting “effect” or “influence” with “impact,” especially when describing trivial or minor ways one thing affects something else.

  13. Ok, at some risk..."thank you for your service."

    It's so rote. (But an improvement over accusing draftees from the Vietnam War of being "baby killers," I guess).

  14. "Prior to" should never be used. The word is "before." Thankfully, no one says "posterior to" for "after."

  15. This is probably considered forbidden zone, but only if we get into a long discussion about it. So, forgive me for saying that I find it ironic when people call other people "woke", like it is a derogatory term. I recently laughed out loud when a friend of a friend said it the other day. End of mini, borderline forbidden, rant.

  16. I've always been bothered with "Let's take this offline" for some reason, though not as much as I used to be.

    The big one for me the past few years has been "learnings." Rather than saying "Please share what you learned" folks say "Can you share your learnings?" Ug.

        1. We can circle back on that when we reconvene, so that we can hang up early and give you back some time.

            1. Seeing this again in the recent letters list, I now think this is the absolute biggest irritant for me on this page. I find it especially infuriating that it only seems to be used by administrative higher-ups who managed to start the meeting 10 minutes late and then spend another 5-10 minutes during the meeting unable to figure out how to use Zoom. We're closing in on 3 years of holding these meetings online. How do you still have no idea what you are doing! Or, at the bare minimum, acknowledge that you don't know what you are doing, and have someone run it instead! How about you give me all that time back! Argh!

              1. my boss says it all the time, but I love my boss, so it's fine. She also says "this is just a friendly reminder" which I also loathe. But again, she's an amazing boss, so it's all good.

    2. My old corporation was embracing “solve” to replace “solution” as I had a foot out the door. “Perhaps that could be a solve for you.”

  17. My mother in law often used the phrase “The thing is, is…” and I had to train my brain not to derail mid-sentence so I could hear where she was going with it.

    I’m now trying to recall if it’s still common with her or if I’ve just gotten used to it.

  18. I struggle to not be distracted by mispronouncing, especially dropping r's in the middle of a word, like "li-bary" vs. library and "fustrated" vs. frustrated.

      1. My grandmother never failed to remind us to warsh our teeth before bed. We always giggled when she said it.

          1. My dad from Iowa was 100% warsh. He also pronounced orange like “oinge,” as in one syllable, with the first sound matching the “oy” in boy.

  19. Filler words. Those with a Bachelor's degree say "Basically,". Graduate degree = "Actually,"'. PhD = "Essentially,".

  20. Not obnoxious but endearing: my Grandmother in MO used to say us'ins (to refer to those at the table), you'ins (those still part of our family, but not at the table), and 'them'ins" (everybody else), all in the same sentence.

  21. This woman I was dating is a English major and we had similar discussions of all the above. Irregardless was one that really grated on her. I told her that I would use it in a sentence and she wouldn't correct me. So one day I texted the following:

    What do you think about ear lobe gauging? Not a big fan, although small gauging is kinda cool. Plus, once one moves on from it, the damage to the lobe is permanent. I think one should protect the look of the ear regardless of the fashion of the times.

    She responded that she felt similar and something about cultural appropriation, etc.

    I then responded: "Read my last sentence out loud." She was both pissed and in awe at the same time.

  24. I’ve always liked ipa, but I really think there is a place in the 8th circle of hell for the juicy ipa.

      1. My local brewery (now a "brewpub" I guess, since they just acquired a pizza oven) has like 8 IPAs on tap currently, out of 11 or 12 taps. Really? I could use a wee bit more variety, please.

      2. My friends down here all give me crap for how annoyed I get with opaque IPAs, so its nice to be here amongst like minded folk.

        THAT SAID, I've been trend hopping on the dry January thing (well, I'm calling it high and dry January) and I think I stumbled on a good use for the haze in non-alcholic IPAs. The haziness helps mask the slight thinness you get and its quite good.

  26. This might be going slightly off the rails, but my two biggest recent ones are both in advertising.

    The first is the use of adjectives as nouns. “Do more awesome.” It was so ubiquitous for a while I feared it was going to become accepted usage.

    The other is for those time-wasting lists by Factinate and Buzzfeed where the hook to get people to click is some variation on “I asked why the kids weren’t allowed in the cellar. Her response made my blood run cold.” Is it too much to make it sound like something a person would actually say, and not some contrived horror movie crap?

    1. For some reason your reference to Buzzfeed just triggered my hatred of "all the feels" and "[fill-in-the-black] is the [blank] that we didn't know we needed"

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