Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[Serial_Apologist]

What’s up Chuck? Or the Cornish version Wasson mi ‘ansome? Isn’t ‘up dim’ slowing but getting louder?

Surely that would have to be rallentando though, not diminuendo?

[cloughie]

Surely that would have to be rallentando though, not diminuendo?

Yes I was mixing up my terms and up and dim would actally cancel each other out.

[Serial_Apologist]

"They should just get on with it".

The parrot - sorry, speaker - never explains how, however - probably because he or she has no idea how, hasn't given much if any thought as to the consequences, and possibly doesn't even care.

[Padraig]

It's not a teeth on edge matter but I can't help balking at the phrase 'and nor' when I hear it. I have neither used it myself and nor would I find it comfortable to do so. (That looks/sounds awful to me).
When would 'and nor' be correct?

[Pulcinella]

It's not a teeth on edge matter but I can't help balking at the phrase 'and nor' when I hear it. I have neither used it myself and nor would I find it comfortable to do so. (That looks/sounds awful to me).
When would 'and nor' be correct?

Could it depend on the punctuation?

I would not say it; nor would my partner.
I would not say it, and nor would my partner.

But perhaps your specific concern is the neither......nor construction.

[french frank]

It's not a teeth on edge matter but I can't help balking at the phrase 'and nor' when I hear it. I have neither used it myself and nor would I find it comfortable to do so. (That looks/sounds awful to me).
When would 'and nor' be correct?

If you can replace the 'and' 'with 'furthermore', wouldn't you have a choice between 'nor' and 'neither'?

[Pulcinella]

If you can replace the 'and' 'with 'furthermore', wouldn't you have a choice between 'nor' and 'neither'?

Indeed! I would not say that; neither would my partner.

In fact, he's just told me that he would demur!
But nor would he disagree.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It's the "and" that's unnecessary, isn't it? (Genuine, not rhetorical, question):

"I would not say that; neither would my partner; nor would anyone I know."

Unless you wanted a rhetorical emphasis:

"I would never do that, and neither would my partner, and nor would any decent-thinking person."

(Although even here "and neither would any decent-thinking person" seems more emphatic that "and nor" in that example. In fact, that's what I originally wrote rather than "and nor", which doesn't come "naturally" to me. )

[Padraig]

Thanks everybody. It seems that I am the only one who has heard people - on radio - saying this. You mostly agree that it is not natural or comfortable; 'nor' on its own suffices. Did I imagine 'and nor'?

[kernelbogey]

...what is...

This is creeping into BBC speak

E.g. [made up examples] 'MPs are returning to Westminster in what is the last week before the summer recess.'

'Andy Murray is preparing for what is his final match.'

I listen in vain for what this phrase adds to the meaning.

[Serial_Apologist]

This is creeping into BBC speak

E.g. [made up examples] 'MPs are returning to Westminster in what is the last week before the summer recess.'

'Andy Murray is preparing for what is his final match.'

I listen in vain for what this phrase adds to the meaning.

Perhaps some additional punctuation would improve matters; e.g.:

'Andy Murray is preparing, for what is his last match?'

[kernelbogey]

Perhaps some additional punctuation would improve matters; e.g.:

'Andy Murray is preparing, for what is his last match?'

Well... since emphasis is another for this listener, I'm really unsure whether that would improve matters.

In my first, made up, example, the alternative might be
'MPs are returning to Westminster in the last week before the summer recess.'
But that then lacks the emphasis the writer (for 'tis all written) sought, which I take to be something along the lines of
'MPs are returning to Westminster: it's the last week before the summer recess [and by Jove they've got a lot still too do].'

I heard the phrase a couple of days ago in a weather forecast, but of course can't now remember the exact words.

I'm not sure that my first instinct that it is a redundant phrase is altogether accurate.

Watch this space on what is still a dark morning here.

[Dave2002]

"They should just get on with it".

The parrot - sorry, speaker - never explains how, however - probably because he or she has no idea how, hasn't given much if any thought as to the consequences, and possibly doesn't even care.

Absolutely!

A similar one, which was said to me, “why don’t you just get on and teach us?”. Said by someone who thought teaching was me telling “them” and they would somehow absorb the “facts”, techniques and methods.

[Dave2002]

It's not a teeth on edge matter but I can't help balking at the phrase 'and nor' when I hear it. I have neither used it myself and nor would I find it comfortable to do so. (That looks/sounds awful to me).
When would 'and nor' be correct?

I don’t believe it is incorrect, but then it would not be incorrect to say “not not” as in “you must not not do this”, but many listeners would find it weird or confusing. Any odd number of “not”s would be equivalent to one, and any even number to none, though English, being a complex and odd language might enable some speakers to put extra nuances in such phrases.

Returning to “and nor”, possibly the “and” gives the speaker just a little more time to formulate the rest of the sentence, and the listener more time to absorb it. It seems likely that “nor” by itself should suffice, and in some cases even “and” by itself.

[oddoneout]

Well... since emphasis is another for this listener, I'm really unsure whether that would improve matters.

In my first, made up, example, the alternative might be
'MPs are returning to Westminster in the last week before the summer recess.'
But that then lacks the emphasis the writer (for 'tis all written) sought, which I take to be something along the lines of
'MPs are returning to Westminster: it's the last week before the summer recess [and by Jove they've got a lot still too do].'

I heard the phrase a couple of days ago in a weather forecast, but of course can't now remember the exact words.

I'm not sure that my first instinct that it is a redundant phrase is altogether accurate.

Watch this space on what is still a dark morning here.

Well, accurate or not I tend to agree with you, and would probably have opted for simply 'returning for the last week....', and 'preparing for his last match'. Any emphasis felt necessary can come in a subsequent sentence; I don't think 'what is' fills that purpose.