Phrases you hate

[Flyingfish2019]

Which are the phrases you hate in a conversation?

Can I get (usually a latte) ... yes, fetch it yourself!
Crimbo. (Shudder)
Personal friends/belongings
Off of
For free (especially when I catch myself saying it!)
Like/basically/literally - especially from middle-aged friends who have picked it up from their children.

I really dislike when people say ‘I could care less’.
It just doesn’t make sense!

I know what you mean! Although I take it to mean I couldn't care more. As in, not bothered.

I always grew up saying still say, I couldn't care less, which also implies that I could care more?!

I don't know..I'm even more confused now! I'm sure there's some sort of equation to it!

'Can I get....' sounds peremptory and quite rude to me.
It's an import from the US and quite unnecessary when we have perfectly acceptable, polite phrases such as 'can/could/may I have...
(Although TBH I have given up the Can I/May I battle).
And it's not a phrase, more a pronunciation thing, but we seem to be losing the correct way to say 'the' before a word beginning with a vowel. More and more I hear 'th' apple' instead of 'thee apple' and it sounds ugly, disjointed and, well, undereducated.
Continuity announcers on the Beeb seem to be particularly afflicted.

What's so rude about "can I get"? It's perfectly normal in this part of Scotland (no, not an American import). To me things like "please may I have" are just over the top.

‘What’s for you won’t pass you’ I hate this expression

As I said, it sounds peremptory, there is quite often no 'Please' anywhere in the request and here in the south it is something that has only become common usage within the last 5-10 years.

Which is why people have noticed it.
As I child I was told it was only polite to say 'may I please' or at a pinch, 'please could I' and that's what I taught my DC too.

I like that one @Halfmanhalflabrador!

I agree with loads of these, especially "reaching out" and its touchy feely context which is the fuck you megacorp presenting as your friend (as per a previous comment about chummy error messages to which I would add the overly familiar bloke on the giffgaff voicemail message) when in reality it is a sockless moccasin stamping on a human face forever.

Also "side hustle" when used by white people in Brighton to describe their fucking Etsy shop.

"Moving forward" in corporate-speak.

Whatever happened to "from now on"? Or "in the future"?

I like 'works do', in a nerdy way. I'm assuming it's not an erroneous plural or apostrophe-less possessive, but rather comes from the days when many more people worked at 'works' (factories etc) and they therefore had a 'works party'. I like that somehow a very particular use has retained this specific vestige.

I wonder if 'can I get' has come from English as an international language? One way of asking for something in (for example, because it's the one I know) German would be literally rendered as 'I get (receive), please...' It's not the politest way in my view, but definitely not regarded as rude. Expressions that to native speakers are mistranslations can be adopted by international speakers and find their way into the language that way. This is another one which, although I don't use it myself because it's not in my natural vocabulary, I can't get worked up about as long as the intent and delivery are polite.

One that irrationally gets on my nerves is 'alone time'. However, I think it has a nuance of different meaning from just 'time alone' - it seems to mean a special, almost ritual spending (and claiming) of time on your own with someone you love or are are close to (cf. threads about MILs wanting 'alone time' with small children) - and so think I need to accept it as a new idiom.

A lot of these supposedly irritating new phrases do actually express things with subtle semantic differences from the 'plain' version.

Like a lot of straightforwardly bad colloquialisms, 'reaching out' and 'side hustle' are definitely American inventions.

This doesn't fill me with joy, I hate the (lazy) British tendency to assume that the Americans have it all wrong where language is concerned, but modern American corporate speak is.... pretty dreadful.

I very rarely hear the word 'problematic'. Hm.

"You do you" definitely
"You're a strong, independent woman"
"bringing it home" - what does that even mean? Asda are guilty of this

Gobsmacked
Much of a muchness
Very much so
Crimbo

"Hence why". Hence means "that is why". You have just said "that is why why".

People who confuse "than" and "then". Grrr.

To those who cannot abide "like" at the end of every sentence, you should try living in Northumberland. On the other hand, we say "cannot" rather than "can't" so we have the moral high ground, like.

“Sleeps” urgh. No, it’s nights. Nights until Christmas not bloody sleeps.

“Did you mean to be so rude?”. It’s not the cutting response people seem to think it is, it’s patronising and sounds stupid.

“DTD/did the deed”. It’s had sex. Quite frankly if you’re too immature to refer to having sex as having sex and need to use a stupid twee expression instead then you’re too immature to be having sex.

Of instead of have “should of”, “could of” etc. And finally “ect” which shouldn’t even be a phrase since the phrase is etc.

Making memories

Living my best life

"As I said, it sounds peremptory, there is quite often no 'Please' anywhere in the request and here in the south it is something that has only become common usage within the last 5-10 years."

...so its the lack of a please that's rude, rather than the "can I get". Asking "can I get x please" is no more rude than sticking the please at the start of the request. 🤷‍♀️

There should be a MN dictionary as many of these words/phrases are only ever seen here.
Can I add 'my little family' to the list, whenever I see it I hear it in the soppiest voice imaginable.

@SlightlyStaleCocoPops
I agree with you and I don’t think so either. I think it’s the use of the word get rather than have. “Can I get” with the word please wherever in the sentence it is is still awful. Not saying please is just rude, but it is the use of the word get which makes it a horrible phrase.

pre-warned
pre-planned
pre-prepare

Why the prefix? There is absolutely no need for it.

Lioness, Cubs, any kind of twee animal association for mums or children!

Loads of these annoy me, but upthread a couple of posters referred to people as 'thickos' for using particular expressions. Horrible word. Nasty and pejorative.

You do you
It is what it is
Makes my teeth itch
You ok hun (with a head tilt)
Oh my giddy aunt - what does that even mean??
An unmumsnetty hug
Boob juice

I have two problems with “can I get” rather than “may I have”. Firstly, is the old difference between, “am I capable of...” vs, “is it permissible for me...”.

The other is the use of, “get” which I dislike but can’t explain why,

Lioness, Cubs, any kind of twee animal association for mums or children!

Typically used by mothers who you'd describe as the loudest, really, rather than spectacularly devoted.

I'm reminded of people who say 'I don't suffer fools gladly' - surely this phrase was never to be used about one's own self? It's really more a warning to others that you are rude/talk too much/have been on Come Dine with Me.