Oxford compiles list of top ten irritating phrases

[luke]

Oxford compiles list of top ten irritating phrases
A top ten of the most irritating expressions has been compiled by researchers at Oxford University.

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."

The top ten most irritating phrases:

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

[seshme]

I like to replace 10 with 'it's not rocket surgery' combining it with 'brain surgery' but it can backfire with people thinking you are just a fuckwit.

[eefanincan]

"Irregardless" is one that drives my husband crazy Someone on tv (I don't remember the character) explained it really well:

"Irregardless? That's not even a real word. You're affixing the negative prefix 'ir-' to 'regardless', but, as 'regardless' is already negative, it's a logical absurdity!"

[faceless]

With all due respect, I personally find that you don't need to think outside the box, or push the envelope, to know that, irregardless of the time, at the end of the day, it's night.

[seshme]

The worst person for that was Glen Hoddle.

When he was England manager I used to sit counting how many time he said 'at the end of the day' during interviews with gritted teeth. The record was over 30 times.

[Skylace]

"Irregardless" is one that drives my husband crazy Someone on tv (I don't remember the character) explained it really well:

"Irregardless? That's not even a real word. You're affixing the negative prefix 'ir-' to 'regardless', but, as 'regardless' is already negative, it's a logical absurdity!"

That one drives me insane as well!

[Twirley]

With all due respect, I personally find that you don't need to think outside the box, or push the envelope, to know that, irregardless of the time, at the end of the day, it's night.

Wow...that's fairly unique!

[faceless]

it's all about not being unaware of which flag runs up which flagpole.

[SpursFan1902]

The worst person for that was Glen Hoddle.

When he was England manager I used to sit counting how many time he said 'at the end of the day' during interviews with gritted teeth. The record was over 30 times.

Don't mess with Glen...he is God!

[pirtybirdy]

We had a director at the job who used to say "In my mind" all the time. "In my mind, we should send all contracts over 100,000 thousand to the President of the company to sign.....blah blah blah". I wanted to scream to her and tell her to use a different phrase, she certainly gets paid enough and went to school longer than the rest of us!