Language is beautiful, in all forms. I find myself thinking in French at times because the English words might not fit the thought. I read 4-5 books a week. I just love words! So why the heck do intelligent, well-read people use such stupid expressions? Share the words that come out of your mouth without thinking - that you wish you could remove from your vocabulary. Two of my top offenses....

* Oh man, that's cool!

* That's awesome!

Sheesh, if it's so great why can't I do better than that?

When I was in high school, my dad's company relocated to a small west Texas town. I met someone, and in the middle of a long (and interesting I thought) conversation, he looked at me intently and asked...............(drum roll).................

"What do you use all them big words?"

Although my written English skills are just fine I am far too fond of using the word f88k when I speak. I am so fond of this word that I will use it as a noun, verb, adverb and adjective - all in one sentence. I like to blame this on my years of working with men but my mum has often told me that I always did have the mouth of a truck driver. :heh:

As for words which others overuse, the word awesome always makes me vomit a little inside my mouth. This must be the most overused word on LBT. :phanvan

Sometimes that word is the only word that fits the situation!

I used to crack up when my mom would call it the f word. Like saying "F word" is so much better than saying the whole word. I

used to tell her, Mom, it's just a word.

I overuse "no worries"....and I do have a cussing problem!

There is a woman in my office who CONSTANTLY uses "irregardless"...and it grates :help: on my nerves.

Another woman is kind of loud and says "ABSOLUTELY!" with gusto :whoo:at least 3-4 times per day.

Margie

I wish the first thing I say in Anger/Surprise/Disgust wasnt so cliche New Yorker. I say "What tha f**k" way too often.

Going to school out of the city made me realize that my WTF bombs were soooo NYCer.

Whoever our next president is, I hope he can say "NU-CLE-AR". Mispronouncing that makes my skin crawl.

Whoever our next president is, I hope he can say "NU-CLE-AR". Mispronouncing that makes my skin crawl.

Haha Funny post. :bounce:

Whoever our next president is, I hope he can say "NU-CLE-AR". Mispronouncing that makes my skin crawl.

I'm sure *SHE* has proper pronunciation techniques!

I have two sons, ages 16 and 12, and I tend to pick up a lot of middle/high school speak that just doesn't sound professional. My two worst offenses, I think, are "retard/retarded" and "gay" as a term of derision. I'm 46, have a master's degree and a responsible job and I know better, but they still creep into my speech anyway -

I hate it when my son talks like one of those gangster rappers, hardly pronouncing his words.

I catch my kids up in this a lot too, and it really is irritating -

I'm guilty of the f bomb. And potty mouth in general. I have made a lot progress.

This isn't cliche so much as pronunciation, but here - especially in the office - I hear:

It should look fermiliar

Can you be a little more pacific?

Do you like my new stripe-id shirt?

I am going to go acrosst the street.

I swear often and proudly...how's that for ladylike?

Also, I tend to say "good times" sarcastically when things are crazy...

I HATE the mis-use of the word disrespect as in...He's disrespecting me..... Oh...skin crawling!!!

Rain

One of my biggest pet peeves is to hear someone mean to say asked, and it's AXE'D.

Skin crawling here, too....

How about if someone goes to the liberry?

Or, here's one I hear in the office daily, and it's like nails on a chalkboard to me.... My boss doesn't CLICK something with his mouse, he CLIPS on it.

EEEEEESH!!

Here in West Virginia, mispronounced words and horrific grammar are a fact of life. We have the lowest college graduation rate in the country and it shows in our speech. I've learned to let it roll off my back. But what really bothers me is when people know the right word, pronunciation, etc and still don't use it. I had a sorority sister who always used "ideal" for "idea" and refused to change despite being corrected by myself and others because she thought it sounded "cute." Sheeeesh! :rolleyes

Whoever our next president is, I hope he can say "NU-CLE-AR". Mispronouncing that makes my skin crawl.

LOL....what Mr Potatoe Head doesn't do that right???

I ditto you...lol..

When mispronounced French words appear in commercials this drives me right around the twist. The advert campaign for the movie Moulin Rouge never failed to make me grind my teeth in fury. (FYI the sound for the French "in" as in Moulin is always pronounced like a nasal an as in the word "and" - and not ever like a nasal on.)

Come to think about it, the campaign behind the movie Chocolat also bothered me big time; the terminal "t" is not supposed to be pronounced, you see.

I have no problems with regular folk mangling language, of course. It is when a multi-million dollar campaign does that I get quite pissed off. Afterall, they've got the dollars to get it right.