What I'm reading: Tripwire, by Lee Child
First -- the "after shot" taken one day after yesterday's photo from Colorado Springs. We had quite a variety of weather conditions over our 5 day visit.
As I start thinking about editing my WIP, I found this a timely tidbit:
Oxford University complies list of top 10 irritating phrases:
"I personally" made third place – an expression that BBC Radio 4 presenter John Humphreys has described as "the linguistic equivalent of having chips with rice." Also making the top 10 is the grammatically incorrect "shouldn't of", instead of "shouldn't have". The phrases appear in a book called Damp Squid, named after the mistake of confusing a squid with a squib, a type of firework. The researchers who compiled the list monitor the use of phrases in a database called the Oxford University Corpus, which comprises books, papers, magazines, broadcast, the internet and other sources. The database alerts them to new words and phrases and can tell them which expressions are disappearing. It also shows how words are being misused.
And here they are:
1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science
4 comments:
The one I hate the most that's used over here is "hotting up". Followed closely by the use of "obviously". If it was obvious, I wouldn't be asking!
I have to add the word RANDOM to this list - when used as, "That was random," something teenagers seem to say a lot these days. Drives me nuts!
#8 pushes my buttons because it's just plain WRONG. "of" does not equal "have" no matter how you pronounce either word.
Hadn't heard 'random', Dara--but then, I don't hang with teens. (Thank goodness???)
I use 24/7 because it is shorthand. I know that 5. is shorthand for I don't respect you. Here I've heard "At this POINT in time," a phrase I can't wait to see abandoned. I guess cliches are like vulgarities, substitutes for a thoughtful vocabulary.
Ray
Post a Comment