10 Most Overused Expressions
1. "At the end of the Day" -- never say this
2. "Fairly unique" -- while this is something I'm apparently not, I don't say this
3. "I personally think" --admittedly, I use the vastly superior abridged version "Personally,...."
4. "At this moment in time" -- no.
5. "With all due respect" -- seriously never say this.
6. "Absolutely" -- guilty.
7. "It's a nightmare" -- I usually use this to describe people as opposed to situations ie. "That girl is a c.o.m.p.l.e.t.e. NIGHTMARE"
8. "Shouldn't of" -- how is this even considered an "expression"?
9. "24/7" -- on occasion; no more than anyone else
10. "It's not rocket science" -- what am I? A 50 year old man? NO. [side note: every time I hear someone ELSE say this expression I think of an acquaintance in college who's father was a rocket scientist and her mom was a brain surgeon. This has always struck me as funny....especially since this spawn of genius was an art major (....)]
My immediate reaction to reading the list was one of defiance....I hardly ever say ANY of those things. However, upon further reflection I realized that what she hadn't meant that I necessarily say the exact things on that list; rather, that I have always peppered my speech and writing with certain words and catch phrases. It got me thinking, so below I have compiled my very own 10 most overused expressions:
1. "Amazing" -- usually said as though it were three distinct words (ie. a-maz-ing)...kind of like I'm channeling the part of "gay best friend" in a chick flick.
2. "Obviously" -- also can be found in the form of "obv" or "obvi" and is usually said sarcastically
3. "OMG" -- a clever way to avoid using the Lord's name in vain [side note: I probably say OMG and Oh my God on a regular basis since I'm a product of the 80s. I also say "like" constantly but refuse to add it to this list since I LOATH the fact that I can't kick that habit and am in denial]
4. "Seriously" -- because I, clearly, have many serious things to say and/or have a tendency to embellish my stories and am trying to convince the listener that I am in fact "serious"
5. "Clearly" -- I'm swiftly realizing that I have no substance
6. "As it turns out" -- Usually this phrase is used to highlight an outcome to an action that should have been obvious (and usually is to everyone but me)
7. "Ridiculously" -- can also be shortened to "ridic".... also, while I am, admittedly, the worst speller on the planet my worst fear is when people desecrate this favorite of mine by spelling it "rediculous" or "redic". *gag*
8. "My worst fear" -- this list includes spiders and probably all of your mannerisms
9. "Incidentally" -- I love this word. It makes me think of a story that one of my guy friends told me about when he got pulled over for drunk driving. Knowing he would fail, he refused a breathalyzer so the police took him to get a blood test at the hospital where, according to my friend, he "incidentally faked a heart attack" in an effort to buy more time. The best part was that he said this all-important aspect of the story as though mentioning that his mom had called earlier to catch up. Alas, his efforts did him no good. As it turns out, healthy 28 year olds rarely have heart attacks.
10. "Quasi-", "-ish", "pseudo-" -- I love these for their noncommittal nature because it perfectly pairs with my own noncommittal nature.
10 1/2. When writing, the unnecessary and excessive use of the ellipsis. -- I write like I speak...so I use ellipses to break up my run-on sentences....so what?
Needless to say, this exercise in breaking down my fondness for certain words has been enlightening...because, as it turns out, I seriously need some new material...obvi
Fawk....I nearly called off my engagement after receving numerous emails/text/etc with the word "rediculous"...I finally called him out on this in front of about 20 people and have since not seen this error.
ReplyDeletePS- "..." is obvi my most and fav overused literary expression. Punctuation is a thing of the past.
Nice one-- I've found "sort of" as a replacement for "like." It makes for a... sort of NPR tone, over like a MTV [or something]. I guess instead of "or something," they'd say, "right?" or "am I right?" I don't find myself speaking like Terry Gross very often though-- I think I'm loosing that battle.
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