A recent poll showed that the most annoying phrase in conversations is “whatever.” Poor whatever. It’s been just so beaten out of shape. What once was a perfectly utilitarian word, a word that could be paired with other words to be part of a full sentence to communicate one thought or another, has, over the years, been ostracized, singled out, pulled out of the lineup of words that work well together, to stand alone. Now it’s not “Whatever happens, I will always love you.” And instead it’s “Hey, you want to go out? “ “Yeah. Whatever.”
I have to say that I’m one of those who is put off by the common off-handedness, the ambivalence, of the word “whatever.” I know someone who thinks that she can use the word “whatever” with immunity simply by following it with a “that’s so-and-so’s favorite expression,” thereby acknowledging the term’s less than shiny reputation, but pushing the blame of busting it out nonetheless on to poor old so-and-so, who, by the way, stopped dropping the W bomb some years ago.
Whatever.
I’m off to hunt down a survey of the most annoying business terms, but for now I’m nominating those words including in the title of this post. Leverage. Metrics. Sustainable. Messaging. PEOPLE! YOU CANNOT SIMPLY CREATE A NEW ACTION WORD BY ADDING “-ing” TO THE END OF A NOUN. Seriously. Stop it.
Most annoying phrase going? “Gifting.” Huh? Whatever happened to the word “give?” As in, “My mom gave me a great Christmas gift?” Now, every ad would have you think you’re supposed to say, “My mom gifted me with a great Christmas gift.” Makes people sound like idiots!
I understand talking about “gifted students,” or being “gifted” in an esoteric area (sports, music, art). But to use it for physical things that we hand one another – PLEASE!!!!
Let’s re-introduce the words “give,” “giving,” and “gave” to common English usage.
Thank you eleven bee AND carol for making a stand where it really counts. This (“gifting”, “messaging”, “imaging”) drives me freakin’ nuts. These abominations are like land mines that blow up a legitimate attempt to communicate. (How’s that for “imaging”?)