The most annoying expressions...

Oooh, apols!

I, on the other hand, am about to eat my dinner!

 

Vicky

"I'm not being rude, but..."  as a preface to saying something rude.  Plus it seems to be additionally rude to dictate how what is being said should be interpreted.  It's not carte blanche to say whatever the heck you want without offending people.  Um, I'll decide for myself whether you're being rude, thank you very much!!!   

"I'm not being rude, but..."  as a preface to saying something rude.

But Simon Cowell does that, so it must be OK! 

But Simon Cowell does that, so it must be OK! 

But Simon does it as a public service!  That way, while we're ignoring Paula and her happy, dancing unicorns we know to start paying attention again when he says it.  In fact, I think he deserves thanks for it.

what are you like?  (  had to get used to  that one)

Ooh, I love 'what are you like?'

My new one is bunkum. Is that even a word?!

Ooh, I love 'what are you like?'

My new one is bunkum. Is that even a word?!

It is a word! But I never knew its etymology before:

Origin: Americanism; after speech in 16th Congress, 1819–21, by F. Walker, who said he was bound to speak for Buncombe (N.C. county in district he represented).

From www.dictionary.com

Ooh, I love 'what are you like?'

Me too. I think it's sort of sweet/funny.

My new one is bunkum. Is that even a word?!

Quite a lot of people say 'bunkum' in Scotland, i've noticed!

Ooh, I love 'what are you like?'

I use that one a lot but my husband HATES it.

Ooh, I love 'what are you like?'

I like that one too. It reminds me of one of the sketches on the Catherine Tate show.

pelmanism

My daughter had a homework sheet over the weekend titled "Verb Pelmanism".  Besides being a stupid sounding word, what did it mean?  It wasn't in the dictionary.  I googled pelmanism and got all these links to secret-to-success, life-changing sites.  In the end I discovered that in the context of my daughter's homework, the word pelmanism just meant "memory game". Why not just use the words "memory game"?!! 

pelmanism

That's the card game where you have to remember pairs of cards and turn them up. I used to love pelmanism as a child!

That's the card game where you have to remember pairs of cards and turn them up. I used to love pelmanism as a child!

That's what you think.    Google it.

WHAT is this mysterious power of Pelmanism?

What is this great world-wide movement that is Performing so many thousands of apparent miracles everywhere that is enabling such great numbers of men and women to attain undreamed of heights of financial, social and intellectual success?

 

I played the card game myself as a child.  We called it "Concentration".  Maybe in Britain they call it "Pelmanism" but it's an annoying expression to me.

That's what you think.    Google it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelmanism