The most annoying expressions...

"I'm going to give it 110%."

NO YOU'RE NOT! THERE IS NO SUCH THING!! 

OMG! It makes my head spin when people say that! I would, once, love to hear someone say, "I'm going to give it 99%."

The phrase 24/7 really gets on my tits. In the UK, we used to say 24 hours a day when we meant something lasting all day. The use of the suffix 'gate' when refering to a scandal like Iran-gate or Manuel-gate...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scandals_with_%22-gate%22_suffix [nofollow]

I would, once, love to hear someone say, "I'm going to give it 99%."

Hehehe!! I might have to start doing that!

The other one that drives me mad is "each and every one of you." Ugh. I've been hearing it more and more lately, particularly from Gordon Ramsay who can't seem to open his mouth without saying it.

I used to get annoyed by the use of "trolling"  as in "trolling up and down the supermarket aisles for something"  I thought they meant "trawling" but turns out either is used as a method of fishing by dragging a net.   

I saw a report on the news last night regarding this...I thought that's what this post was about. It was called Top 10 Most Irritating Expressions in the English Language and it was researched by Oxford.

Top 10 Most Annoying Phrases
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

I don't find anything annoying about them lol but whatever 

"Shouldn't of" is just plain incorrect - "shouldn't have"

And the rocket science one annoys me!


I do like "with all due respect" - it's a nice way of saying "you are talking absolute rubbish"!

The phrase 24/7 really gets on my tits. In the UK, we used to say 24 hours a day when we meant something lasting all day. The use of the suffix 'gate' when refering to a scandal like Iran-gate or Manuel-gate...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scandals_with_%22-gate%22_suffix

Agreed - as it should really be Watergategate!

Thought I would join in this topic as a Brit living in CA for 14 years.  This is my second post here so I hope I don't rattle too many cages;

burglarized - this word bugs the crap out of me for some unfathomable reason.  The word, my dears, is burgled.

anesthesiologist - another case of the yanks taking a word and making it unnecessarily longer.  Try anaesthetist.

solder - not the term, but the pronunciation.  Every US person I have encountered pronounces it as "sodder".  There is an "l" in that word, and it is not silent.

herbs - pronounced as "erbs" by Americans.  Is this some sort of misguided belief the word is French, and trying to pronounce it with a little French flair?

oregano - we all probably know about that one

Funny!  I grew up in California, so all of these sound absolutely normal to me - with the exception of solder - I pronounce the 'l'. 

I don't get the 'oregano' comment though. 

By the way, it's equally strange for Americans to hear Brits prounounce "h"'s where we don't - herbs being one example, and where ever the letter 'H' is used in an abbreviation being another (like the 'HR' department).  We pronounce the letter 'H' on it own, phoenetically like 'aitch', and here most people say 'haitch'.

By the way, it's equally strange for Americans to hear Brits prounounce "h"'s where we don't - herbs being one example, and where ever the letter 'H' is used in an abbreviation being another (like the 'HR' department).  We pronounce the letter 'H' on it own, phoenetically like 'aitch', and here most people say 'haitch'.

I don't know it's so much "most people" -- you do hear a lot of the "haitch" pronunciation in the UK but there are also many native UK people who do say "aitch" -- I've always said "aitch" even while others in my own region grew up saying "haitch." They had strong London accents (basically cockney) and I always wondered if "haitch" is a cockney-category pronunciation...I'm a Londoner but was raised by parents with other regional accents so I'm a bit confused myself about this one...

Funny!  I grew up in California, so all of these sound absolutely normal to me - with the exception of solder - I pronounce the 'l'. 

I don't get the 'oregano' comment though. 

By the way, it's equally strange for Americans to hear Brits prounounce "h"'s where we don't - herbs being one example, and where ever the letter 'H' is used in an abbreviation being another (like the 'HR' department).  We pronounce the letter 'H' on it own, phoenetically like 'aitch', and here most people say 'haitch'.

Yeah, the "haitch" thing gets me...

DH thinks it cute when I say "erb," I'm trying harder to say Herb, but the old Erb still slips out now and again...

Al-you-min-E-um really annoys me.... DH gives me such a hard time about it, but it will ALWAYS be alooooominum to me!!     I sometimes struggle to understand Fillet.  How can you say "Fill-it" Mignon?  Doesn't "Fillay" Mignon sound better?  I can use "fill-et" with things like fish, chicken, etc., but if it's steak we are talking about, it has to be "fillay," mignon, or no mignon.  Probably all those years of working in steakhouses in Texas.  

There's a certain reluctance on the part of Anglo-English speakers to pronounce anything in the French way (hence garr-idge instead of gar-aaj, and the herb vs erb thing)

There's a certain reluctance on the part of Anglo-English speakers to pronounce anything in the French way (hence garr-idge instead of gar-aaj, and the herb vs erb thing)

They ought to invent their own words for courgette and aubergine in that case!  Hey!  How about zucchini and eggplant?!!! 

Yeah, the "haitch" thing gets me...

DH thinks it cute when I say "erb," I'm trying harder to say Herb, but the old Erb still slips out now and again...

Al-you-min-E-um really annoys me.... DH gives me such a hard time about it, but it will ALWAYS be alooooominum to me!!     I sometimes struggle to understand Fillet.  How can you say "Fill-it" Mignon?  Doesn't "Fillay" Mignon sound better?  I can use "fill-et" with things like fish, chicken, etc., but if it's steak we are talking about, it has to be "fillay," mignon, or no mignon.  Probably all those years of working in steakhouses in Texas.  

I'm a Brit who agrees that the American way of pronouncing " 'erb" and "fill-ay" are actually the closest to correct, because they are in fact French words, and the French pronounce them that way. By extrapolation so should we all, one could argue! I often found it amusing that my fellow Brits, who are closest neighbors to France, insist on turning herb and fillet into their own "take" on those words, yet Americans, further away geographically, respect the original language these words belong to. Must be that ages-old Anglo-Franco enmity (which I don't subscribe to  )

EDIT: just saw your post on "garridge" -- yes!! That too! It really is some kind of stubborness about French pronunciation. On this one I'm with the Americans and wish the Brits didn't do this.

They ought to invent their own words for courgette and aubergine in that case!  Hey!  How about zucchini and eggplant?!!! 

    

I'm a Brit who agrees that the American way of pronouncing " 'erb" and "fill-ay" are actually the closest to correct, because they are in fact French words, and the French pronounce them that way. By extrapolation so should we all, one could argue! I often found it amusing that my fellow Brits, who are closest neighbors to France, insist on turning herb and fillet into their own "take" on those words, yet Americans, further away geographically, respect the original language these words belong to. Must be that ages-old Anglo-Franco enmity (which I don't subscribe to  )

That's funny - I've chatted with my wife about this several times.  England's a lot closer to France than the US is, and so many Brits don't prounounce the French words the French way. 

I have never heard a UK national say 'haitch' rather than 'aitch' other than when taking the mick, or as a cockney from the 1970's, a la 'Steptoe'.

As for french words, I think there is little or no consistency on this.


Vicky