Just a short post today as I’m trying to complete the painting of the master bedroom (I cannot tell you how excited I’m going to be to finally move out of sleeping in the lounge!!).
I stumbled upon this a while back on The New York Times website and have been meaning to share…
There are certain words and phrases that send me in to a spin. One being “she cut an lonely/slim/etc figure” – I HATE that. Mostly because it’s used in gossip rags to describe women and also because it just makes my skin crawl.
So I thought this was rather interesting…
When Kurt Anderson was editor at the New York times he compiled a list of “words we don’t say.”
It was a list of words and phrases that he found annoying and didn’t want used in his magazine such as “eatery”, “bigs” and “lifestyle.”
Here’s the list – how many of these words do you use daily or in business? Keep in mind that this list is way over 15 years old so there are plenty of other “new” words that could be added to list…
So, what words do you hate? Leave a comment below with what words you’d add to the ban list…
ps: I’ve been wanting to share this “word crimes” video with you all for ages but never found the right slot for it so – enjoy x
What a great list of words to avoid. I’m a bit of a grammar Nazi so for me, it’s anything where the incorrect word has been used (there, their, they’re). Awesome is another over-used word that’s become meaningless. I can feel a rant coming on! Hope you’ve finished painting the bedroom now…just air the room and you’ll be sleeping in a proper bed tonight!
Word you hate and you should avoid is only an opinion. Every person has a different view about word he or she likes or dislikes.
I think “Zeitgeist” is cool, it’s German like me anyway… 🙂
Rachael – funnily the word that most meets your criteria to me is that word “hate” – such a destructive little word. A little like Andrea mentioned in one of the prior comments I dislike the devaluation of words that is occurring through the simplicity nowadays of getting words out on the internet. I’ll add to the devaled word “Awesome” just a couple – because you asked – “friend” (when used for someone you’ve never interacted with), “superstar” “megastar” “super-mega-star” (when used for someone who just happens to have had a hit record or two or just has an activie publicist) and, my favorite, confusing “serial texting” with “having a conversation”.
and P.S. I too think “Zeitgeist” is cool – in the context of “capturing the spirit of our time”.