i HATE spooky. it is a stupid word that annoys me. it sounds like pookie, which is also a stupid word, but that is supposed to be a stupid word so i am ok with it. spooky is supposed to be spooky, and it is not. ghoulish, bone-chilling, frightening... i can handle those words. spooky drives me up a wall.
another word i hate is "finicky." i remember the exact moment i came to hate this word. i was about 10 and i was visiting my dad. he was ordering pizza. i told my dad that i wanted a regular crust. of course my dad hears a deal over the phone (that is like my dad's trademark, he is the dude that would have the door-to-door encyclopedia brittanica kid over for 3 hours, listen to his spiel, sign up, and then cancel it half an hour later). the deal is that we can get 2 pizzas for the price of one, but only if it is thin crust.
of course my dad has to go for the deal. "ok, 2 thin crust pizzas," i hear him say. "noooo!" i wail. "i hate thin crust, dad! no thin crust! please!" my dad turns his attention back to the pizza girl on the phone. "oh all right, no thin crust. finicky kid."
my blood curdled upon hearing this word. finicky? i knew what it meant, but i did not think it applied to me. finicky was meant for people who got pissed if they accidentally got double pepperoni instead of triple. thin vs. regular crust was a serious matter, and no one i knew could compromise on the issue. i was expressing a valid and important preference, and my dad was ignoring me in favor of saving a few bucks. finicky my ass!
to this day i still hate finicky, although i have to say that unlike spooky, it at least sounds like what it means.
other words i hate:
- piddle and/or piddly
- frick (as in "get off my fricking lawn." just say fuck, dammit)
- finagle
- really, like when people say it in the way that is popular now, for example: "i went to the post office and they told me they were out of stamps. REALLY???" i also really used to hate "i know, right?" when people said that all the time. and "my bad" drove me up a fucking wall. generally i think i hate all trendy words/phrases.
- boondoggle (i don't even know what this means, which makes it doubly annoying)
- concerning (as in, "ethel's behavior is really concerning." just say it's bad. i hate when people try to avoid negative words.)
i know a lot of people who hate "moist" but that one doesn't bother me. in fact i may purposely not be annoyed by moist just to be fricking finicky.
reader poll: what words do you hate?
9 comments:
One of mine is 'flustrated' - that's not really even a word
Don't get me started, Liz.
Too late.
As a high school English teacher, I have too many to list.
A few, however, in no particular order:
Redundancies ("ATM machine" and "SAT Test," for example). The worst is "hot water heater." The contraption of which you speak, dear friend, does not heat hot water...it heats cold water. If it's anything, it's a cold water heater. Or we could just call it a "water heater," but then that would just make too much sense, wouldn't it?
If I carried a gun (I don't), I might well shoot anyone who says "supposebly."
A new one: At the school where I teach, I frequently see people use the word "freshmen" as an adjective (as in "freshmen teachers" or "freshmen musical"). Do you say "junior teachers" or "juniors teachers"? "Sophomore advisories" or "sophomores advisories"? It should be "freshman musical" and "freshman classes." Sheesh.
I'll try not to monopolize the space here, Liz, but I may respond again with another couple of dozen examples.
Maverick.
Of actual, legitimate words that spring immediately to mind (never mind the ones that aren't correct words): "clown"; the phrase "oh, snap"; "trouble" as a literary analysis verb (e.g., "Joseph Conrad troubles the concept of race"); and the phrase "teachable moment."
Also "spavin," "cockamamie," and "whippersnapper."
And I agree about redundancies--my most annoying one at the moment is "ISBN number." Ack.
working in a coffee shop for two years, i guess i became kind of a coffee snob and it absolutely makes me cringe when someone says "expresso" instead of "espresso." there's no x! there never was an x! it's the same thing with chipolte vs. chipotle.
the coffee shop i worked at was right next to chipotle. often people would walk into the wrong establishment, and without noticing the big reindeer on the door and the absence of guacamole, they would still try to order burritos from us. it was endlessly funny.
hahaha! people have strong feelings on this topic. i totally agree re: mispronunciations.
redundancies on the other hand do not bother me. i think it is funny to say ATM machine. i better watch my back since this seems to generate so much rage in you guys...
FRUITION - that drives me INSANE!!!! I literally have convulsions!
Also - I hate when people say:
expresso - it's ESpresso
My friend hates when I say:
groshery - he's such a snob - always says "it's GRO-CERY" - ugh! Hyde Park snob! but i love him!
hahahahaha
had I known you didn't like, "I know, right" I wouldn't say it around you all the frickin' time.
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