Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[french frank]

Similarly ult(imo mense) next month, and prox(imo mense) next month...

Erm ...

[scottycelt]

It's not as bad as when Michael Foot and Denis Healey told us to "think positive".

Hmmm ... the long-established stock answer and last refuge of management scoundrels when they receive some unwelcome negative feedback from the shopfloor.

[scottycelt]

'Lawmakers' ...

The presenters on Bloomberg News (London) no longer refer to British 'MPs'.

Why not? In this country anybody I speak to about politics still seems to call them that.

[french frank]

Except it is now being used as a synonym for history. For example, the violinist James Ehnes spoke in an interview about the interesting backstory (sic) to Bartok's 1st violin concerto; AFAIAM the concerto is not "a history invented for a character in a film or work of fiction that hadn't been thought of when the film (or whatever) was first devised."

It was a draft addition of 2004 to the OED which suggests a new meaning:

back story n. a history or background story; spec. one created for a fictional character or situation, esp. in a film or television series.

I would suggest it means in general the background to something, invented or not. JLW has just used it on the thread about Mahler's 10th, Msg#7. last para. So it may not be invented, but equally it's not so much the history of a specific thing/event because it may be contemporaneous with it. But either 'history' or 'background' would seem to serve, although in this sense it is perceived to have a clear narrative (favouring the fictional use).

I'd never come across it before (and hadn't read JLW's post!).

[scottycelt]

'Lawmakers' ...

The presenters on Bloomberg News (London) no longer refer to British 'MPs'.

Why not? In this country anybody I speak to about politics still seems to call them that.

Right on cue a BBC NEWS presenter has just read out some news regarding 'Cyprus Lawmakers' commenting ... 'I assume that refers to Cyprus MPs' ...

[Serial_Apologist]

'Lawmakers' ...

The presenters on Bloomberg News (London) no longer refer to British 'MPs'.

Why not? In this country anybody I speak to about politics still seems to call them that.

To distinguish MPs from lawbreakers, presumably...

[Wallace]

My English teacher discouraged the use of "very". It could be cold outside but not very cold. He regarded it as a filler word which added nothing to the thought being communicated. My written and spoken English would have been worse without his influence.

He would have been completely devastated and found it absolutely unbelievable to hear the words which are used today to express apparently extreme sentiments about everyday happenings. He would have been truly astounded and had a real and unique sense of foreboding (going forward).

He would have urged linguistic restraint. I remember that at our first lesson he told the class that he would never award more than 8/10 for a piece of work. 9 was reserved for Shakespeare and 10 was in the gift of God (although he was an atheist). I once managed a 7

[Thropplenoggin]

My English teacher discouraged the use of "very". It could be cold outside but not very cold. He regarded it as a filler word which added nothing to the thought being communicated. My written and spoken English would have been worse without his influence.

He would have been completely devastated and found it absolutely unbelievable to hear the words which are used today to express apparently extreme sentiments about everyday happenings. He would have been truly astounded and had a real and unique sense of foreboding (going forward).

He would have urged linguistic restraint. I remember that at our first lesson he told the class that he would never award more than 8/10 for a piece of work. 9 was reserved for Shakespeare and 10 was in the gift of God (although he was an atheist). I once managed a 7

To use the lamentable parlance of these times: that's just, like, way cool, innit.

As a pedagogue, I am a strict marker, too.

[Wallace]

I listened recently to a piece of music broadcast live on Radio 3 composed by someone recognised as a significant composer of the 20th century. It was played by a group of performers whom, I felt, did it justice. I enjoyed the performance. It was however preceded by a short live discussion between the presenter and one of the performers which I did not enjoy as much and which "set my teeth on edge". In the space of just couple of minutes the performer told us that:
1 she felt it was such an amazing work;
2 it was absolutely fantastic;
3 it had such a massive impact;
4 she couldn't help but be completely overwhelmed by it.

The composer concerned composed better works. I wonder if this performer has any words in her vocabulary to describe them?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It sounds just like a televised Prom interval chat.

[Wallace]

It sounds just like a televised Prom interval chat.

I wonder when the everyday use of such language began. It wasn't around when I was a youth. We had other word and phrases for annoying our elders - and I like to think that we used them in a considered way with the intention of creating our own identities and if it aggravated the older folk, so much the better. But these are just filler words used mindlessly - not even with an intention to annoy. But it damn well does. And everyone is at it. Even those who should know better - and women more than men it seems.

[vinteuil]

if it aggravated the older folk, so much the better. :

... "aggravated" would certainly have irritated the older folk when I were a lad

[teamsaint]

The Boat race.

What they mean is A boat race.

[MrGongGong]

The Boat race.

What they mean is A boat race.

[ahinton]

The Boat race.

What they mean is A boat race.

I think that this is somewhat unfair; it may not be "the" boat race - indeed, it cannot be such - but it has been going for 159 years and it between teams from two of the longest standing universities in the world, so it's surely not just any old boat race such as reasonably to warrant the mere descriptor "a boat race", is it?