Is there a word that really irritates you?
By Jackie Money
@olliesmum (828)
Norwich, England
May 25, 2019 6:43am CST
I went onto Facebook and one of the groups I follow is for people who grew up in the 1950's and 1960's. Somebody asked if anyone had a word that they hated being used.
Some people were on the grammatical trail and didn't like people saying 'can I just get' a sandwich, coffee etc as it should be can I have. I, on the other hand hate some of the modern parlance.
I don't understand how something can be 'sick' when it's wonderful or brilliant. I also don't like people saying 'respect' when someone does something outrageous as they show no respect whatsoever.
But my real bugbear is a new word which seems to have become common at the beginning of the 21st century, and it's 'innit'. I can understand if someone asking 'isn't it' and just shortens it but it seems to be inserted into conversation willy nilly and means absolutely nothing.
7 people like this
7 responses
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
25 May 19
'Can' originally meant 'know' or 'know how [to do something]' or 'be able [to do something]', so the correct kind of response (as my children know only too well) to "Can I have a sandwich?" would be "I don't know! Is your mouth big enough? Do you have a hand steady enough to hold it? Do you mean, 'MAY you have a sandwich'?"
'Just' is acceptable if, for example, you were offered a 'Meal Deal' of a sandwich, a drink and a packet of crisps and you didn't want the drink or the crisps.
As for words which set my teeth en edge: 'Like' used at the beginning and all the way through sentences indiscriminately as a sort of tic; 'Ameen' (for 'I mean') and 'wicked' (meaning 'good', 'excellent').
"Like, ameen, it's, like, just wEEked, innitm like?"
2 people like this
@BelleStarr (61047)
• United States
25 May 19
I can't think of anything right off the top of my head that is irritating but certainly, in textings, lots of the abbreviations annoy me mostly because I have no idea what they mean lol
2 people like this
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
25 May 19
Currently the overused "awesome."
2 people like this
@BloggerDi (3113)
• United States
30 May 19
I can't think of a particular word that bothers me.
So many slang words seem to be generational (sick). Many times, people misuse words purposely when they are trying to be funny (innit).
1 person likes this
