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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

84 replies

VickyEadieofThigh · 25/06/2020 10:31

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).

OP posts:
AnneLovesGilbert · 25/06/2020 10:40

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 · 25/06/2020 10:42

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

EatsShootsAndRuns · 25/06/2020 10:43

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

FourEyesGood · 25/06/2020 10:43

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 · 25/06/2020 10:43

Pasta is often “hand crafted” Angry

KaronAVyrus · 25/06/2020 10:43

Bespoke.

bluebell34567 · 25/06/2020 10:44

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

AdoptAdaptImprove · 25/06/2020 10:44

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 · 25/06/2020 10:45

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

tectonicplates · 25/06/2020 10:45

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 · 25/06/2020 10:45

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 · 25/06/2020 10:46

"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 · 25/06/2020 10:47

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 · 25/06/2020 10:47

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 · 25/06/2020 10:48

@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 · 25/06/2020 10:51

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

Iwalkinmyclothing · 25/06/2020 10:53

"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 · 25/06/2020 10:54

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

Fishfingersandwichplease · 25/06/2020 10:57

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

Royalbloo · 25/06/2020 10:57

Hand-pulled pork - boak!!!

Justmuddlingalong · 25/06/2020 10:58

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

ChangeThePassword · 25/06/2020 11:01

Airfryers are also a thing.

Honeyroar · 25/06/2020 11:02

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 · 25/06/2020 11:02

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 · 25/06/2020 11:05

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.