Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[kernelbogey]

....I don't hold to the view that life is so short and that events move so quickly that one needs to find the fewest number of words/syllables to convey one's thought, cutting, perhaps, a second or two from your utterance and reducing speech to a string of clichés....

But this is a trend.

ManU for Manchester United (four syllables saved there!); Wed for Wednesday ('can we meet on Wed?'); Jan. Feb et al similarly; deffo for definitely. The last, and possibly the previous calendar three, likely derive from text-speak, reflecting the shift from spoken phone calls to texts as a means of communication.

And

A witticism from R4 Now Show: 'the festival is now known as Glasto - because nbury is so hard to say'.

[Nick Armstrong]

'We can take lots of positives from this'

This has become a particular bugbear of mine - having been involved in a small way in the world of motor racing in the last couple of years, in which 9 times out of 10 most of the things that could go wrong do go wrong, there is a litany of 'positive speak' trotted out ("challenging".... "there have been some significant moves forward".... "we know what we have to do to maximise our potential" &c &c) but most of all: "there's lots of positives to take from this weekend" which means "we've had a total and complete shocker of a weekend, but at least no one ended up in hospital"....

[LMcD]

'Your call is important to us'
'We're currently experiencing high levels of calls'

[ahinton]

(Probably been on before)

"We take (x or y) very seriously."

When asked why they have done nothing about x or y up till now.

That's more or less akin to "with all due respect..." (meaning none whatsoever)...

[LMcD]

'We're on a journey'
'It's not just about the medals' (much favoured by athletes)
'There are no real winners here tonight'
'In a way, everyone's a winner here tonight'

[cloughie]

'Your call is important to us'
'We're currently experiencing high levels of calls'

So why not employ more staff to service your calls, you money-grabbing, tight-fisted, multi-national organisation!

[Bryn]

So why not employ more staff to service your calls, you money-grabbing, tight-fisted, multi-national organisation!

" Your call will be answered shortly".

[Richard Tarleton]

" Your call will be answered shortly".

Routine these days:

"Calls will be recorded for your own safety" [e.g. calls to our local surgery]

Or

"All calls are recorded for staff training purposes". The latter is tempting fate - really makes me want to give them a really good case study.

[ahinton]

Routine these days:

"Calls will be recorded for your own safety" [e.g. calls to our local surgery]

Or

"All calls are recorded for staff training purposes". The latter is tempting fate - really makes me want to give them a really good case study.

Yes - perhaps the most elaborate and playing-it-as-safe-as-possible one of these that I ever remember was years ago from an insurance firm / investment house whose outgoing message announced that all calls will be recorded for compliance, monitoring, regulatory and staff training purposes, in our interests and those of callers and to minimise the risk of misunderstandings", before the end of which I imagine that some callers might already have replaced their receivers...

That said, what can be really galling is when a firm claims that all calls to it are recorded and then when one needs to put this to the test by requesting a particular conversation transcript or audio file one finds that this is not in fact the case...

[Wychwood]

"Grow the business"

Now here's a man who's doing just that: the chief executive of Kraft Heinz, quoted in the FT on Saturday:

"We believe we are now in a position to drive sustainable top-line growth from a strong pipeline of new product, marketing and whitespace initiatives that are backed by investments in capabilities for brand and category advantage".

Eh?

[LMcD]

'This one looks like it's going down to the wire'

[Serial_Apologist]

"I'm afraid we're running out of time, you're going to have to be quick!" - always said by interviewers whio have just laid a loaded question foursquarely on an interviewee currently subject to heavy media vilification, (can't think who right now), right at the end of the Today programme

[kernelbogey]

woke

From OED:
2. fig. and in figurative contexts. Originally: well-informed, up-to-date. Now chiefly: alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice; frequently in stay woke (often used as an exhortation).

Not exactly teeth-on-edge - but definitely some discomfort because of its 'wrong' grammar. Maybe I just need to shrug and tell myself that if I ever want to refer to the concept, I can use more words instead.

Provoked by a Guardian opiniion piece today using/coining the term woke-washing (about advertising).

[teamsaint]

I think that one issue around Woke is that there don't seem to be any degrees of it, leading to a danger of its use in rather divisive ways.

[Pulcinella]

Not quite on topic, but Matthew Parris in The Times recently requested contributions for dreaded phrases, giving as his nomination:
Rail replacement bus service in operation.
There has been some follow-up in The Times Letters.
Yesterday we had:
The following piece has been specially composed for the occasion.
Today we have:
Your call is important to us
and
We are experiencing an exceptionally high volume of calls just now
(two different letters).

Worth starting a new thread, or do these qualify as setting your teeth on edge?