Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I use it with care, if it is a throway American thing I don't give a fig - when I use it, it is in a genuine concerning way!

I was using the expression as a substitute for "goodbye" in the mid-80s. I picked up the habit in London, and carried it on when I moved to Eastbourne, where (it seems) it hadn't been heard before, and was regarded as my "signature phrase". I think I still use it, but you'd have to ask those who I've bade farewell to recently to confirm this.

"Y'all come back now, y'hear?"

[kernelbogey]

Whatever. Have a nice day.

This has now morphed, in shop speak, to 'Enjoy the rest of your day'.

[Pulcinella]

This has now morphed, in shop speak, to 'Enjoy the rest of your day'.

Yes: used after a purchase I made in town yesterday!

[Richard Tarleton]

"...of all time", often used in lists of "greatest pop song/film/football player....", usually for an activity that has only been in existence for 100 years or less.

[gurnemanz]

Absolutely. Phatic utterances.

Re phatic utterance: When I lived in Germany I remember someone once asked me why I kept throwing the word "eigentlich" into my conversation. Its meaning is "actually" and the comment made me realise that my spoken English was peppered with it (coming out as "aksherly" even from the lips of speakers with otherwise punctilious diction) and I was unconsciously transferring it and using it in a way which Germans just don't.

You can often hear something similar from Germans speaking English (eg J. Klopp). They throw in far too many alreadys, because the equivalent "schon" is a very prevalent filler in German speech.

[Pulcinella]

You can often hear something similar from Germans speaking English (eg J. Klopp). They throw in far too many alreadys, because the equivalent "schon" is a very prevalent filler in German speech.

Enough already!

[Pabmusic]

Enough already!

Yiddish, of course, is a German dialect. Plenty of 'alreadys' there...

[french frank]

I use it with care, if it is a throway American thing I don't give a fig - when I use it, it is in a genuine concerning way!

Yes, but its current usage was when it began to be added in some completely non-specific way: whatever you may be doing, now or whenever or wherever you have to do it, do do it carefully. I think when one did feel the need to say this to the near or dear, the natural expression of concern was, 'Look after yourself, won't you?' which sounds much more genuinely concerned than the semi-automatic 'Take care'. I certainly wouldn't take such a bidding as a real expression of concern for my welfare. It is also a 'phatic utterance'. Yes, and 'enjoy the rest of your day' doesn't actually imply the speaker is that much concerned whether you do or not - and if they knew you better they might even wish you a horrible day, may your cat die and may your broadband go down for days on end.

[kernelbogey]

... .wish you a horrible day, may your cat die and may your broadband go down for days on end.

Would there be a succinct version of this, at all?

[kernelbogey]

Yiddish, of course, is a German dialect....

I have friends who would dispute this statement!
(While possibly linguistically correct, it is probably still politically unacceptable.)

[Bryn]

I was using the expression as a substitute for "goodbye" in the mid-80s. I picked up the habit in London, and carried it on when I moved to Eastbourne, where (it seems) it hadn't been heard before, and was regarded as my "signature phrase". I think I still use it, but you'd have to ask those who I've bade farewell to recently to confirm this.

"Y'all come back now, y'hear?"

Orrite Jed. Would want to Crampett your style.

[vinteuil]

.

... if they knew you better they might even wish you a horrible day, may your cat die and may your broadband go down for days on end.

.

Would there be a succinct version of this, at all?

... or an expanded version?

"May he be cursed in living, in dying. May he be cursed in eating and drinking, in being hungry, in being thirsty, in fasting, in sleeping, in slumbering, in walking, in standing, in sitting, in lying, in working, in resting, in pissing, in shitting, and in bloodletting! May he be cursed in all the faculties of his body! May he be cursed inwardly and outwardly! May he be cursed in the hair of his head! May he be cursed in his brains, and in his vertex, in his temples, in his forehead, in his ears, in his eyebrows, in his cheeks, in his jaw-bones, in his nostrils, in his fore-teeth and grinders, in his lips, in his throat, in his shoulders, in his wrists, in his arms, in his hands, in his fingers! May he be damn'd in his mouth, in his breast, in his heart and purtenance, down to the very stomach! May he be cursed in his reins, and in his groin, in his thighs, in his genitals, in his hips, and in his knees, his legs, and feet, and toe-nails!

Maledictus sit vivendo, moriendo, manducando, bibendo, esuriendo, sitiendo, jejunando, dormitando, dormiendo, vigilando, ambulando, stando, sedendo, jacendo, operando, quiescendo, mingendo, cacando, flebotomando. Maledictus sit in totis viribus corporis. Maledictus sit intus et exterius. Maledictus sit in capillis; maledictus sit in cerebro. Maledictus sit in vertice, in temporibus, in fronte, in auriculis, in superciliis, in oculis, in genis, in maxillis, in naribus, in dentibus, mordacibus sive molaribus, in labiis, in gutture, in humeris, in harnis, in brachiis, in manibus, in digitis, in pectore, in corde, et in omnibus interioribus stomacho tenus, in renibus, in inguinibus, in femore, in genitalibus, in coxis, in genubus, in cruribus, in pedibus, et in unguibus."

... from the malediction of Bishop Ernulphus (tr. Lawrence Sterne in Tristram Shandy),

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Orrite Jed. Would want to Crampett your style.

Return of the Jed, I.

[french frank]

Would there be a succinct version of this, at all?

I couldn't possibly comment.

[Serial_Apologist]

Would there be a succinct version of this, at all?

"Mind how you go" - (because I don't)?