Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[Bryn]

Enjoyed reading through this thread.

My own personal hate is when people reply to the question 'How are you?' with "I'm good" ...aaaaarggghh ..even saying it to myself makes me cringe.

Even worse are answers like "I'm great / fantastic / wonderful..."

I absototalutely concur.

[ahinton]

I absototalutely concur.

And your absototalute concurrence is clearly not to be misunderestimated.

[Radio64]

And your absototalute concurrence is clearly not to be misunderestimated.

literally.

[kea]

I sometimes like saying "irregardless" even though I know it's wrong.

[Stanfordian]

The BBC with their Radio 3 announcers all seem to he obliterating the word 'the' from the English language. Such as "Welcome to Bridgewater Hall to hear Shostakovich Symphony No. 10." I know I've mentioned this before but it really grates on me.

[Radio64]

We'll be hearing 'Team Radio 3' next.

[Sydney Grew]

1) snuck

2) stomp on

3) sat on - as in "The temperature is sat on twenty degrees."

[jean]

The BBC with their Radio 3 announcers all seem to he obliterating the word 'the' from the English language. Such as "Welcome to Bridgewater Hall to hear Shostakovich Symphony No. 10." I know I've mentioned this before but it really grates on me.

Don't blame the BBC - everyone's doing it, whether they're being broadcast or not.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Don't blame the BBC - everyone's doing it, whether they're being broadcast or not.

Surely that should be: "Don't blame BBC - "

[mercia]

I'm sure we used to go over to The Wigmore Hall but now it's just Wigmore Hall - actually I thought that was a deliberate name change like Kennedy. We still sometimes go over to The Lighthouse though.

[ahinton]

I don't know if this has been cited previously and haven't time to trawl the entire thread to check, but "your call is important to us" is one that's only ever used because, for whatever reasons, whoever it is that one's trying to reach is unreachable; the implication that a digital synthesised voice or even a pre-recorded human one is attached to something capable of deciding whether or not a call that has yet to commence is likely to be of importance to anyone is self-evidently beyond risible...

[LeMartinPecheur]

I'm sure we used to go over to The Wigmore Hall but now it's just Wigmore Hall - actually I thought that was a deliberate name change like Kennedy. We still sometimes go over to The Lighthouse though.

mercia: I trust they didn't really use those capital T's

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

When the recorded messages end and I get a real, live human being, I thank the person profusely for being there, and let him/her know that I was rapidly losing the will to live.

[Stanfordian]

Don't blame the BBC - everyone's doing it, whether they're being broadcast or not.

Hiya Jean, You are so right. I agree that many people seem to be dropping the 'the' but I mention the BBC R3 presenters and those on Radio 4 also as they have a far larger audience than Fred and Doris down the launderette.

[Stanfordian]

I don't know if this has been cited previously and haven't time to trawl the entire thread to check, but "your call is important to us" is one that's only ever used because, for whatever reasons, whoever it is that one's trying to reach is unreachable; the implication that a digital synthesised voice or even a pre-recorded human one is attached to something capable of deciding whether or not a call that has yet to commence is likely to be of importance to anyone is self-evidently beyond risible...

Hiya ahinton,

Whenever I hear 'your call is important to us' I immediately feel that I am being lied to. If a call was important the company would staff it appropriately. They are really saying is ‘your call is not important to us’ otherwise they would have answered it promptly. I find it so predictable how quickly companies, as such as insurance companies, answer calls to their sales department far quicker than their customer enquiry/complaint lines.