Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[Pabmusic]

'...bankers on a wonus...

Brilliant!

[rauschwerk]

The use of 'in terms of' as an all-purpose sentence construction aid is so well established (I remember a colleague irritating me with it 20 years ago) that I imagine it often passes unnoticed nowadays. It should surely be followed by a noun, a noun phrase or possibly a noun clause. Very often it is not. I think the reason is that speakers are in too much of a hurry to pause and think of an appropriate preposition.

'Coruscating' when 'excoriating' is meant.

[Richard Tarleton]

'Coruscating' when 'excoriating' is meant.

Gulp, I used that in the ash tree thread the other day. Apologies

[amateur51]

'Affordable housing', meaning low-cost.

Presumably any house is affordable, even if it costs several million pounds. One of the bankers on a wonus will be able to buy it.

Years ago, when these things were discussed frequently and with reasonable intent, the agreed definition of affordable housing was that which cost no more than 20% of net salary.

At a time when Government is trying to raise social housing rents to equal 80% of market rents, the idea of affordability would appear to be old-fashioned in the extreme

[Serial_Apologist]

"Le céteau ou séteau ou parfois langue d'avocat (nom binomial Dicologlossa cuneata, parfois Dicologoglossa cuneata par cacographie ou Solea cuneata), est un poisson plat de la famille des Soleidae. Il atteint une dimension maximale de 30 cm ; c'est un carnivore qui habite dans des fonds marins sablonneux et boueux, entre 10 m et 450 m sous la surface de l'eau. Le céteau est un poisson plat ; sa taille maximale est de 30 cm. Plusieurs caractères permettent de le distinguer des autres Soleidae, notamment des jeunes soles avec lesquelles il est parfois confondu. La taille légale minimale pour la capture de ce poisson est de 15 cm. C'est dans les mois plus froids de l'année qu'on le pêche en abondance. sa chair est blanche, fine et maigre et le consommateur n'a aucune difficulté à enlever les arêtes.
En France, le céteau est une spécialité des ports de pêche de la Cotinière, sur l'île d'Oléron, et de Royan, en Charente-Maritime. Il est très consommé en Andalousie, où on le mange en général frit."

... ah, lawyers and their tongues

Not text from Erik Satie's "Embryons desseches" then?

[Serial_Apologist]

'A big ask', which seems to me a classic example of the infantilisation of language.

Does my ask look big in this?

[cloughie]

Not if I see you first?

or if you're from South Yorkshire 'Not if I see thee first'

Other teeth graters are

things being 'key'

and the abuse of 'so'.

[Flosshilde]

and the abuse of 'so'.

I think this should be 'soooo' - or is that the abuse you were thinking of?

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Transport:

"Arriving into" instead of "arriving at";
"Customers" instead of "passengers" (though it should frequently be "victims");
"The train will terminate at" instead of "The last stop is"

Weather forecasters:

"The rain will march its way across the country" - you can use pretty well any verb here - and they do.
"Organised rain" - (as mentioned above in the thread - I blame the Russians and their cloud-seeding)

The Office
"around" - what's wrong with "relating to" or "about"?

[Flosshilde]

Transport:

"Arriving into" instead of "arriving at";
"Customers" instead of "passengers" (though it should frequently be "victims");
"The train will terminate at" instead of "The last stop is"

"The next station stop will be X, where this train will terminate. Would all customers please look around and make sure that they take their personal posessions with them."

[EnemyoftheStoat]

"The next station stop will be X, where this train will terminate. Would all customers please look around and make sure that they take their personal posessions with them."

Aaaargh!!!!

Actually, I like to take the mickey at that point because they often say "all personal possessions" - a kleptomaniac's dream, no?

[Flosshilde]

On one recent trip to London somebody took my personal posessions & left their own. I did recover them, fortunately.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

On one recent trip to London somebody took my personal posessions & left their own. I did recover them, fortunately.

QED (It wasn't me - well, I don't think it was me....)

[jean]

Aaaargh!!!!

Actually, I like to take the mickey at that point because they often say "all personal possessions"...

On the trains I travel on, they say all your personal belongings.

[cloughie]

I think this should be 'soooo' - or is that the abuse you were thinking of?

That's the one - choose your own no of 'o's