To cringe when people say...

[Dalmore30]

Food being described as ‘beautiful’, ‘gorgeous’ or ‘stunning’ makes me wants to vomit.

I have to bite my tongue when people say ‘fry off’ rather than just fry.

And the word ‘secondment’ makes my skin crawl!

Is anyone with me on these?

Fry-off just makes me think of Bake-off, like it should be a new TV show.

Dalmore30

"Lighthearted thread".

Ah yes, "lighthearted". Up there with "banter" and "I'm not being funny, but", in the lexicon of most disingenuous words/phrases.

It basically means: "I'm about to be really snobbish or judgemental but I want you to give me a free pass because its 'lighthearted'".

Sorry, yes I did get out of bed on the wrong side.

@HerselfIndoors

Bloody hell at "hero the asparagus"! Awful! How can they keep a straight face?

Are they using "hero" as a verb?

@AlCalavicci

Pan fry , I always think go on then let's see how you fry something without a pan .

Any time someone says literally when they dont mean it, i literally died , i usuallly reply with well your are doing a lot of talking for a corpse !

It differentiates it from deep fried.

OP what else would you call a secondment?

Most of the 'cheffy' nonsense (and especially 'plate of food') could be eradicated in one fell swoop by removing Gurning Greg from Masterchef. He's not cute and he's not clever.

Thousand being shortened to "thou" when boasting about money is annoying. Amanda on Motherland used it and she is supposed to be a very annoying character so the writers probably find it annoying too!

@BoyTree

Somebody mentioned 'decline' in another context. I've noticed its increasing misuse to also mean 'refuse'. 'My MIL told me to clean her house from top to bottom. I declined.' AIUI, it's 'decline' for something you are invited to do and 'refuse' for something you are asked/told to do.

I always assume that when people are using 'decline' like that it's a nod to the fact that the asker should be making a polite request rather than an outrageous demand.

Yes, this is possible (esp when combined with 'politely' as per the other PP's bugbear), but you see it in other contexts too - I'm sure I've seen it in relation to official/legal requirements.

'End of'.

No love, saying that doesn't mean you've just had the last word / won the argument. It just makes you sound like a close-minded tosspot. 🤯

@lottiegarbanzo I may be wrong but I fry off mince, meaning I quickly sear it allowing some of the fat to escape. It is then added to the pot sans fat and the dish tastes better for it. Likewise I may do the same with chorizo, panettone or bacon. I do not fry off onions or other fat free ingredients they are sweated or sauted before being added to the pot or having other ingredients added to them.

I really like 'lush' although it took a hit from that fucking infuriating ad for chips or something where a mum thanks her son for using it because it's her 'favourite word'. Really? 'Lush' is your favourite word? Over 'dirigible' or 'malcontent' or 'concupiscence'? Or 'Sauvignon'?

@QuizzlyBear

'End of'.

No love, saying that doesn't mean you've just had the last word / won the argument. It just makes you sound like a close-minded tosspot. 🤯

Yes, it’s pretty much like the annoying child in your class when you were seven who’d say ‘You’re a poo times a thousand million and no comebacks!’

You're frying the fat off the mince? Couldn't you say your are searing the mince?

Oops! 'you are searing the mince'.

All that said... a PP mentioned 'unwell' and I do find its current prevalence a bit strange, especially its use for quite serious conditions. It sounds a bit euphemistic somehow.

"All set my teeth on edge"

"Set my teeth on edge" is worse than anything else I've read here!

Apart from several people spelling "divine" wrong and clearly ignoring the auto correct

@IRememberMySpaceBabe

‘Strategic’ is way overused in work-speak to the point of being meaningless.

I also hate hubby or any of the variants, and ‘how many sleeps’.

Hi!

@Longdistance

My mil says broccol eye for broccoli, like it’s an exotic vegetable. Makes my teeth itch.

My husband pronounces it as a 2 syllable word 'brocc-li'.

Love these threads!

• Less instead of fewer when referring to an amount.
• I am sat/stood
• using myself and yourself incorrectly. “When you hand that document to myself”
• ‘Due to the fact that’. “I can’t drink due to the fact that I’m pregnant.” Why can’t you just say ‘because’?
• panini’s and pizza’s. No, just no! Panino and pizza (singular) or panini and pizze (plural)

I can't stand SUPER - CUTE .

@Bahhhhhumbug

This newish craze of putting a 'So' at the srart of every answer to a question. On a quiz show for example 'What do you do for a living?' 'So.... I'm a twat nurse/estate agent/' Host then says 'Oh really..... and what does that entail exactly?'...... 'So.....' grrrrrrr.

I was going to say that! My GP answers my every question with a 'So'. Aaaargghhh. I also hate 'kicked him to the kerb'. Really? 'Smashed it' and 'Nailed it' also make me fume.

[quote Piglet89]@CheetasOnFajitas

My husband is a Scot and, of course, sometimes uses the term “piece” to mean a sandwich. However, I have also heard him use it to mean a dickhead. To pluck a random (but plausible) example from the air: “Jacob Rees-Mogg: he’s a real piece”.[/quote]
In that case it is obviously an abbreviation and there is a silent “of shit” at the end. I hate piece when used to describe an item of clothing e.g “an essential piece for the autumn wardrobe”.

So much of this seems to be about people wanting to police and control the way other people speak because it offends some irrational sense of what is proper (eg not having people speak outside their "class").

Shoot me, but I think a lot of it is plain nasty

I actually find it quite nasty that you feel you have the right to police people’s thoughts and anonymously-expressed views. Have you thought that perhaps by getting these comments off their chests anonymously people are less likely to mention them in real life?

Mumsnet has guidelines in place about personal attacks and hate speech, leave them to do the policing and just step away from a thread if it upsets you.

Along with 'light and airy' I bring you 'deceptively spacious'.

My biggest bugbear is in coffee shops with the dreaded 'Can I get...' - No, you can't get it. That's the barista's job.

@TinySongstress

'Plate of food'

It's said on Masterchef at least half a dozen times an episode and really sets my teeth on edge. "A marvellous plate of food, Marcus" "Oh yes, Monica. A wonderful plate of food"

I don't even know why! Maybe I find it infantile.

I call that 'verbal cotton wool', it's like they have to pad out a sentence with extra words, somehow.

Like using 'super' and 'like'.

People on selling sites describing every item as stunning annoys me. How can a cup be stunning?