More Retired Phrases

Jackie Mason | June 3, 2005
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Anna Gregoline | June 3, 2005
I hate when people say "ax" instead of "ask." As in, "Lemmie ax you question!"

I'm tired of anything that has "Reality" attached to it.

John E Gunter | June 3, 2005
Far be it from me to claim to have perfect speech, but I can't stand any of the newer words that crop up over the years. Below is a list of the ones I can think of at the moment.

"Ax" - Anna said it all!
"Sto" as in "Lets go to the sto."
"Dawg" as in "Hey dawg, waz up?"
"Waz" see above - Though I do get a chuckle from the commercials.
"My n&**#$"! I won't type the n word as it's an insulting word that shouldn't be used as a term of friendship. I have used the word in the past, but whenever I've used it, I'm not referring to a person's race/color, I'm referring to their mannerisms.

Those are all of the terms I can think of right now. :-D

John

Scott Hardie | June 4, 2005
Not a fan of "dawg" or "whassup," huh John? You probably shouldn't listen to me address certain acquaintances. :-) Anyway, I know quite well who you hear say every single one of those phrases and I can tell why they annoy you.

Coincidentally, Matthew Baldwin published just such a list yesterday in his blog: (link) I still hear the phrases "touch base" and "take it easy" on a daily basis, but the rest are thankfully obsolete in my environment.

Michael Paul Cote | June 4, 2005
The ones that I can't handle are the "izzle"s and their kind. Guess I don't have a rapper's mentality. (and to me this is a good thing!)

Scott Hardie | June 4, 2005
I'm getting tired of reading the Internet referred to in the plural. The trend was started to make fun of people who spell it that way (same with "teh" instead of the), but "the Internets" is starting to enter regular usage. It's time to put that genie back in the bottle.

Kris Weberg | June 4, 2005
I've gradually grown sick of the annoyed or mocking query "What's up with that?" It's just got this sort of condescending, dismissive tone to it, and it tends to be used in place of actual discussion or criticism.

Also, "on the down-low" is getting a bit old, plus, whenever I hear it, I can't help but think of the other meaning of "on the down-low."

Seems to me, from these comments, that there's a growing backlash against phrases that major media outlets or personalities seem to have absorbed from hip-hop. But then, that's always what happens when "the mainstream" -- say, there's another one that might need replacing soon -- coopts or piggybacks on something that starts out as an outsider culture.

Call it the Grunge Effect: The coolness of anything is inversely proportional to the number of entertainment company executives who are aware of it.

Erik Bates | June 11, 2005
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Erik Bates | June 11, 2005
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Scott Hardie | June 12, 2005
It sounds like the psychological need to fill a vacuum in conversation. I'm trying to break myself of occasionally saying "so, anyway..." for the same reason. Denise trained me to accept lulls of silence in conversation when they happen, and I'm comfortable with them now, but evidently they make other people nervous. I was on a date a few years back with a woman who snapped "say something!!" if I fell silent for more than two seconds (literally). Needless to say, there was a mutual understanding that it would be our last date.