To be annoyed by the expression "hand-picked"?

[VickyEadieofThigh]

You get this expression all over the place now, but it's found especially in holiday ads.

Cottages, hotels, "experiences" are "hand-picked". Or worse "curated".

It's taken over from "pan-fried" (what else would you fry something in if not a pan?) as a thing that makes me stabby.

I'm sure others have similar phrases that give them the rage.

(And yes, I know there are worse things in the world, etc but this is AIBU and this thing annoys me).

[AnneLovesGilbert]

Oven-baked gets my goat. And you’re right about curated. You just chose a bunch of stuff, don’t try and sound posh.

[tectonicplates]

Totally agree. Weird how pasta is never described as "saucepan-boiled.

[EatsShootsAndRuns]

Pan fried as opposed to deep fried.
I agree about curated though!

[FourEyesGood]

I queried ‘pan-fried’ with a chef friend a few years ago; she explained it’s as opposed to deep-fried.

But yeah, ‘hand-picked’ is bollocks.

[AnneLovesGilbert]

Pasta is often “hand crafted”

[KaronAVyrus]

Bespoke.

[bluebell34567]

cazoo gets my hairs up at the moment. what a cheap, weird advert.

[AdoptAdaptImprove]

To be pedantic on one point - things could be deep-fried, rather than pan fried. But I agree that in context it’s usually unnecessary, and all the rest of these are also bollix.

[Justmuddlingalong]

Architect designed houses. Surely all buildings are architect designed at some point.

[tectonicplates]

Cottages, hotels, "experiences" are "hand-picked". Or worse "curated".

Well at first it tended to mean "We don't just accept any old thing and we'll only list it if it's of really good quality, if we would use it ourselves" etc. But now just about anyone uses the phrase whether it's actually "hand picked" or not.

[LinemanForTheCounty]

Yeh it's just noise.

Even when applied to things like berries it's redundant - how else would you get a strawberry off a plant?

[MrsMoastyToasty]

"deconstructed", as in a "deconstructed apple crumble". The chef was too lazy to construct it in the crumble in the first place, so it's impossible to be deconstructed!

[tectonicplates]

whatelsewould you fry something in if not a pan?

A deep fat fryer. I think pan-fried is an attempt to make the food sound healthier, but you can still get an awful lot of oil or butter in a frying pan.

[BarbaraofSeville]

YANBU, it's just a meaningless phrase used to imply that they've carefully chosen the nicer versions, so your expectations should be high as it's priced accordingly.

[AdoptAdaptImprove]

@Justmuddlingalong

Architect designed houses. Surely all buildings are architect designed at some point.

As someone working with buildings, I can say that this isn’t the case! Most houses are ‘design and build’, by builders, and might have been across the desk of an architectural technician (viz. draughtsperson) but no architect will have been involved.

[Justmuddlingalong]

Really, Adopt? Thanks for clearing that up. My annoyance will be transferred to something else shortly. 😃

[Iwalkinmyclothing]

"Sourced". It sounds so wanky, especially when it's someone talking about where they got their new lamp or something, but also when businesses do it.

"Authentic" peeves me too, but I'm not entirely sure why. Probably because it's usually a bare faced lie and genuinely authentic things don't need a describing as such, they just bloody are,

[Nutrigrainygoodness]

I hate "in these unprecedented times" it makes me twitch. 🤣🤣

[Fishfingersandwichplease]

Social distancing are my two most hated words at the moment. Feel like they contradict each other!!

[Royalbloo]

Hand-pulled pork - boak!!!

[Justmuddlingalong]

I'm Scottish, so our Covid daily updates regularly include Nicola Sturgeon pronouncing it unpreeecedented. 😡

[ChangeThePassword]

Airfryers are also a thing.

[Honeyroar]

Yes lots of silly adjectives around to con people that something normal is posh!

Pulled pork
Hand tied
Pan fried
Locally sourced
Oven baked
Twice cooked fries

[sashh]

Pan friend, what's wrong with 'shallow fried'?

When did chefs stop buying ingredients and start 'sourcing' them?


Yes deconstructed does my head in too - there is a reason for apple pie and rhubarb crumble - they taste good.

[Fatted]

Pan fried gets my on wick. But that's mainly because a woman I used to work with used to say it all of the time about her dinner. She was very health conscious so was never going to be using a deep fat fryer.

I also object to handcooked on things like crisps. It sounds like they're trying to cover up an industrial accident in the walkers factory.