The next challenge is picking the right words to express my thoughts.
We all tend to default to common phrases and cliches. At one time they really helped clarify thinking, but now they just turn people off.
Here is a list of "Americanisms" invading the British vocabulary... and a bit of commentary on how Brits feel about them.
What over-used terms and phrases drive you crazy?
English is not my first language, so I might have not been able to understand all the 50 Americanisms' examples. But there is a word that I noticed people overuse and it drives me crazy, when they say "literally" and not really mean literally. " I literally died, when such and such happened,"
ReplyDelete"Absolutely" is a word that I find extremely annoying these days. I have experienced that word being used prior to my having finished my thought or comment in the service industry. Makes me belive that I am just being patronized.
ReplyDeleteThe 3 terms that drive me nutz are "brainstorm", "out-of-the-box" and "story- boarding". There are so many narrow-minded managers that use these words to appear as if they are "hip" or just like the rest of the organization and really care what anyone has to say. In reality, their "brainstorm" is more like a "brain drizzle", their "box" is their narrow mind and their "story-board" is a story based on fantasy and what they want you to hear.
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ReplyDeleteI myself being foreigner in US, I can relate to some examples mentioned in the article, especially "zee", "deplane". The word that strated annoying me is "google it". Of course it helps to understand quickly about what to do. But it seems little too short cut use of language. One more word which annoys from my workplace is "action items", especially when at each review of this list the most common update is the next due date which is in many cases same as the next review date. We still go to the meeting to review the "action item" list.
ReplyDeleteEveryday: "I was just...." it diminishes the use of ones effort and appears as if they are hidding something or trying to minimize the impact of their actions.
ReplyDeleteIn Business or sports: "ASAP" "AOK" "battle/war" etc. or any other military acronym or saying. What we do is not rocket science or life changing stuff, it is certainly not war: it creates a false sense of urgency and clouds the path to success. These terms and phrases have a place and it is on the battlfield not the boardroom.
I chuckled at this list as it is all too true.I often wonder how people in other countries feel when our culture overflows and begins to impact theirs.
ReplyDeleteI am guilty of using "deliverables" when referring to outstanding issues regarding any projects that I am heading. I will now think twice before using that again!
This may be extremely useful for Paige as I believe her company is UK based.
I am not a fan of the constant use of the word "like" in conversations. For example, " I was looking at the report and, like, I just dont understand how we can raise sales." I feel it is a filler that detracts from the statement. Yet, it is commonly used and I find myself using it in the wrong context at times.
ReplyDeleteI also find it unprofessional when people use texting acronyms (lol, brb, btw, etc.) in thier daily communication, whether it be face-to-face converstaion or in emails. I do not feel these acronyms should be used in such contexts. Yet, I have begun to witness thier increasing use.
Awesome, cool, and awful! These are some words that I think people overuse and it annoys me because there are many alternative words that people never use. In fact, I just happened to see a comic that supports my argument.
ReplyDeletehttp://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lp0ww80LrN1qlg3pfo1_500.jpg
In addition, I don't like it when people use abbreviated words all the time. I often tend to go urbandictionary.com to know that they mean. I am fine with abbreviating some common terms, but don't just assume that everybody knows all the abbreviations you use!
Thank you and I really enjoyed this post!
After going through the list it just made me laugh and didn't really make me angry or drive me crazy. I guess I've grown up in the computer era where I've become accustomed to "online language." Personally, I try to not use these terms and phrases but none of them really get to me.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for me, I probably use all of those words and/or phrases almost everyday. It has to do with the environment I am in. For example, my boss would say “Don’t write a report, just illustrate mathematically the flaws of a circuit, reference schematics and data sheet”. But if it was for me, I would tell the professor, “hey my bad I didn’t do the homework, but I’ll do it in a hot minute”.
ReplyDeleteJust kidding….
I do agree on the incorrect use of words these days but to me it does not bother me.