Comments on: Overused words of 2008

By: Educated Nation--Oxford's Top Ten | Educated Nation | Higher Education Blog

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:48:57 +0000

[...] Joanne Jacobs brought to my attention the funny list compiled by Oxford University researchers: The Top Ten Most Irritating Phrases of 2008. [...]

By: Bart

Bart — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:52:36 +0000

I almost forgot. Gender.

By: Margo/Mom

Margo/Mom — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:03:16 +0000

Incent

By: Mamacita

Mamacita — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:55:38 +0000

How about “impact,” as a verb? Or “anyways?” One of my many, many inept principals used to make time stand still when he said, at every meeting, “to make a long story short,” but of course, he never did.

I was once written up by a principal for promoting alternative lifestyles in my classroom. We were studying homophones. He didn’t know what they were, and made an assumption.

Is anybody else really tired of stupid administrators? I think most of them are sucking out of the Educational Jargon Text Generator. Figuring that out didn’t take no rocket science, neither.

http://www.sciencegeek.net/lingo.html

By: Mrs. Lopez

Mrs. Lopez — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:17:10 +0000

We could all use a few more Mrs. Hoffman’s, Alex.

By: Kate Coe

Kate Coe — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:46:34 +0000

With all due respect, it’s not rocket surgery to come up with these lists, not for me, personally, at this point in time. At the end of the day, we’re all fairly unique, 24/7. I shouldn’t have thought that Joanne’s readers would find this a bit of a nightmare. Absolutely.

By: Alex Bensky

Alex Bensky — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:12:37 +0000

Speaking of mistakes, of course that second line should read “it’s a mistake…”

By: Alex Bensky

Alex Bensky — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:11:51 +0000

I can actually see an occasional case for “I personally,” as in “I personally think it’s a mitake, but the organization has decided to do X,” or “I personally would have left this alone but my wife insisted that I do something about it.”

I am not sure if the plea is “guilty” or not, but I occasionally use “with all due respect,” especially in a courtroom, as a polite way of indicating that the “due respect” is little, if any.

And it has been a while…quite a while…since I was in ninth grade but I remember Mrs. Hoffmann in English class reminding us that “unique” is like “pregnant.” Either you are or you aren’t.

When asked how long an essay or report should be she would reply in both outdated and politically uncorrect terms, “Like a woman’s skirt; long enough to cover the subject and short enough to be interesting.”

By: BadaBing

BadaBing — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 22:09:04 +0000

I am sick of this one and it’s variations:

“oh, don’t even go there.”

By: Diana Senechal

Diana Senechal — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 17:11:55 +0000

“Needless to say,” all of the above suggestions are good.

“Contrary to popular opinion,” a hackneyed phrase does not give comfort or sweetness; it is more like hacksaw than like honey.

At least I haven’t heard “guesstimate” for a while. There is hope!