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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

“Wait, what?”

132 replies

BaDumShh · 26/10/2017 15:02

AIBU or is this the most overused phrase in tv and film at the moment?

I can’t watch a single tv show (mainly American) without this phrase being uttered at least twice per episode. It’s starting to drive me batty. It’s utterly lazy writing.

Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?! And yes, I’m aware that this is a very petty AIBU. But I’m currently on sick leave, watching a lot of Netflix and if I hear this accursed phrase one more time I will kick the tv.

OP posts:

Finsbury · 27/10/2017 16:15

"I'm done", instead of "I've finished".
"All good", when asking how someone is.
Aaarrghhh ...

Sweetpea55 · 27/10/2017 16:28

Watching people being interviewed on tv and they start off with,,'Well basically..,,and then proceed with a long drawn out tale that full of irrelevances and not bloody basic at all,,!!!!!

Bluebell878275 · 27/10/2017 16:51

I'm sick to death of hearing how 'super' everything is - hate it!! Americans use it a lot which, to me, sounds fine. Just seems to suit the accent. I get super angry and super irritated that it's now become a 'thing' to say.

I hate following the crowd trends - I'm now avoiding 'super' even when it would make sense in a sentence.

SenecaFalls · 27/10/2017 16:59

I really hate 'can I get...' too. To me it just doesn't make sense in the context. I used to work in a pub and when people used to say 'Can I get a pint of Tetley's?' the automatic reaction was to say 'Well, no, I'll have to get it; we can't have customers behind the bar'... (I never actually said it but it was on the tip of my tongue every time) Surely 'have' and 'get' don't mean the same thing.

"Can I get" is grammatically correct. The only thing that one can quibble with grammatically in "can I get" is the use of "can" rather than "may." The definition of "get" is "to come to have or hold (something); receive". So "can I get" is as correct as "can I have." "Get" does not have some sort of built-in reflexive as so many posters on MN seem to think.

SenecaFalls · 27/10/2017 17:08

I'm pretty sure they've just mixed up 'piece of cake' and 'walk in the park' and it makes me shout and throw things at the TV.

No, they haven't. Cakewalk refers to a dance (with some unfortunate antecedents) and also to a carnival game that was perceived as being easy.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cakewalk

amicissimma · 27/10/2017 17:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PrettyLittleBrownEyedMe · 27/10/2017 17:50

That's really interesting, and I see that you're right about the definition. However, there must be a reason why it grates so much and sounds so odd; it certainly seems to me to be a recent construction. I think it's because it does have connotations of 'fetch'; 'get me a pen', 'get the washing in', 'I'll get it'.... An example: if my child said 'can I get a chocolate bar?' I wouldn't think he was asking me to go for it, I would think he literally meant 'can I fetch it?'.

I've left the can/may thing aside for now in my irritation - as someone whose parents never failed to say 'I know you can, but may you?' I do understand that distinction and also know where my pedantry has come from!

PrettyLittleBrownEyedMe · 27/10/2017 17:52

x-post with amicissimma: I see we agree about the fetching!

Sorry, took me ages to write my post

StealthPolarBear · 27/10/2017 17:57

haveagobletofblood, the sorts of questions she was using it for were closed though - the ending to the example I gave was "... not".
She would get to what she thought was the end of her question and sort of look at me with raised eyebrows which I eventually realised was my cue to fill in the blank

SenecaFalls · 27/10/2017 18:06

But in today's usage 'get' implies an action, rather like fetching, whereas the person who asks 'can I get' actually wants the other person to do the 'getting' (in today's sense).

But it certainly doesn't always have that connotation, especially in the US. It is often used in the sense of "receive" and that is one of its meanings, even in the UK. But many British people think that it is a grammar error, which it is not.

AndNoneForGretchenWieners · 27/10/2017 18:15

I get irritated by people who miss verbs out. For example "needs gone" instead of "needs to go". I don't know if it's an Americanism or just lazy speech but I really get annoyed hearing or reading such examples.

NameChangeFamousFolk · 27/10/2017 22:34

Gotten. Unless you're actually American, it sounds lame and grating.

Clarioncall · 27/10/2017 23:05

"Am I right?" Usually spoken as "amirite?" and repeated several times in a querulous manner. "I can't even" ... what, finish your sentence? And endless "life hacks" on tricky activities such as peeling hardboiled eggs, however did people manage without them?

Blerg · 27/10/2017 23:33

Gretchen yes! Hate ‘needs gone’. Sounds so dense. I’ve also heard ‘needs bought’ and ‘needs brushed’.

claraschu · 28/10/2017 00:19

AndNoneForGretchen We are guilty of many things, but no American ever says "needs gone". That is a very British, and a very irritating, construction!

Whenever my son says "literally" I say "figuratively". I am annoying.

Greenandcabbagelooking · 28/10/2017 08:45

Brits calling it a drugstore. It's a chemist/pharmacy or Boots or whatever.

Flowerbot · 28/10/2017 09:07

I emailed an online shop yesterday to ask when my item would be dispatched. They replied thanking me for ‘reaching out’ to them

CaoNiMwahaha · 28/10/2017 09:27

I don't like it when clients ask me if I have the "bandwidth" to take on a piece of work. As if I'm a transistor radio!

Halsall · 28/10/2017 09:35

Are we not mentioning 'So' at the beginning of sentences because it's now a completely lost cause?

20nil · 28/10/2017 09:45

OMG yes, all the ‘reaching out’ makes me want to reach for a gun.

‘Thank yourself’ is priceless.

iwasyoungonce · 28/10/2017 10:16

I have a colleague who cannot report any kind of conversation without everyone involved spinning around. i.e:

I turned around and asked DH what he wanted for dinner, and he turned around and said "steak", and so I turned around and said "we haven't got any steak". So then DS turned around and said "can we have chops?"

So strong is my urge to punch her in the face, I find it hard to even look at her when she does this.

NameChangeFamousFolk · 28/10/2017 10:26

Are we not mentioning 'So' at the beginning of sentences because it's now a completely lost cause?

It seems that way, doesn't it. Keep fighting the good fight.

justabouthangingintheretoday · 28/10/2017 10:28

So, obviously, we have been on quite a journey... but I'm good. Grrrr!!! No, it's not "obvious" nor have you been on a "journey" and ffs, you are not good - you are either well or not!

ChinkChink · 28/10/2017 10:34

And speaking of 'so', since the advent of mobile comms and the www it's one of the few words that have actually grown in length.

'I was soooooo emosh'. They are sooooooooooooo lush.' 'I turned round and told him he was sooooooooooooooooooooooooo wrong.'

On a similar note, do people not realise that when they type, 'looooool' they are saying 'laugh[ing] out out out out out out out loud'?

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 28/10/2017 11:51

The ones I really don't like are:
"My bad" - just no.
"Cray-cray" - urgh.
"Like" being used as punctuation.
"24/7", or worse, "24/7/365" - just say all day, every day ffs!
Any spurious addition of "ise" (or "ize") onto the end of a word to create a verb.
Using "impact" as an active verb - "how will this impact you?" the correct answer would be "into a small crushed shape", usually. I always think of bowel impaction. Or cars being crushed.

I have no doubt there are others.

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