annoying sayings

[penslinger]

I hate "What's More..."
and "Do the math..."
And my ex used to drive me nuts with "that's not going to happen due to the fact..."
Why can't she just say because??

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by penslinger

I hate "What's More..."
and "Do the math..."
And my ex used to drive me nuts with "that's not going to happen due to the fact..."
Why can't she just say because??

Don't see what's wrong with "what's more..." ...."Do the math" pisses me off. I can't help myself, I hear it and my mind fills in the missing 's'.

Annoyingly, this insidious little phrase has wormed its way into my consciousness and I find myself saying it from time to time. Grrr.

Welcome to the Cellar by the way *smiles*

Oh hey, Cic, you might want to add "God doesn't give us more than we can cope with" to that list.

HLJ 'not to mention' is something that gets used a lot in the UK. I think it's a fairly British style if phrase. Like the phrase "not inconsiderable": on the one hand it means the same as 'considerabe', but it has a different emphasis and tone. Likewise 'not to mention' is a way of throwing a particular emphasis or focus onto the thing you are about to mention.

[dar512]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Like the phrase "not inconsiderable": on the one hand it means the same as 'considerabe', but it has a different emphasis and tone.

I use "non-trivial" a lot. It's in the same boat.

[Cicero]

Much like, "Everything happens for a reason".......

"It's all for the best."

You can combine both of them and be a real trifle twit.

Someone that was close to me died and that's what I was told. It isn't a good catch-all.

Once it was repeated over and over, I lost it, and began to describe why it wasn't "all for the best".


It's also All for the best if I beat you if you say that, one more time.

Yea. Knee jerk. Major.

That just pisses me off all over again. Carry on!

[bluecuracao]

"You'll have plenty of time to sleep when you're dead."

Said to me by a temporary co-worker some time back, after I complained how tired I was, while working 14 hour days in the midst of the busy season.

Since he wasn't full-time, he was allowed to leave by 5PM. But I couldn't say anything smarmy back to him, because he had a debilitating illness that kept him from working more than six or seven hours a day anyway. So I had no other choice except to run off screaming into the night.

[HungLikeJesus]

Here are two:
* Not to mention...
and
* Let me explain...

Why do people say, "not to mention," and then they mention what ever it is?

[dar512]

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

Why do people say, "not to mention," and then they mention what ever it is?

"not to mention" translation: The previous argument is sufficient on its own. However, I now intend to give you additional reasons.

I don't have a problem with this one.

[Cloud]

"Did you find everything all right?"

No, you moron, that's why I'm standing here spending $250 at the fucking Target, because I didn't find everything!

and if you say "no," they ignore you anyway.

[Cloud]

oh, and "[whatever] is go gay/ghey" used as an derogative. Pisses me off royally everytime. Me and Hillary Duff agree.

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by Cloud

oh, and "[whatever] is go gay/ghey" used as an derogative. Pisses me off royally everytime. Me and Hillary Duff agree.

What's your position on "festive?"

[HungLikeJesus]

My goal is to start dropping these sayings into various posts around The Cellar.


Or do you think that that's too gay?

[Juniper]

I'm sorry, then - I am one of those annoying people who do say things like "everything happens for a reason," or "something good will come of it," because pollyanna that I am, I believe it. I can think of a few situations that are just flat-out awful beyond redemption, but most everyday problems do indeed have "silver linings."

Like losing your job and discovering that wasn't the right career path to fulfill you anyhow. Or not getting the job your really wanted, but then getting a better one down the line. Or getting dumped by a guy you really loved, then meeting someone better.

Sometimes those things aren't as obvious. For example, when my father had a stroke and died a year later, I was (of course) devastated. I quit my job because my parents had been my kids' daycare and paying for a sitter for two of them would wipe out my paycheck. I'm so glad I had that opportunity to be a full time mom, even though we were really poor. And when he died, it really got me thinking about how short life was - I started doing what I should've been doing long ago, writing and submitting and getting published, because I thought if life's so damn short, I don't have the luxury of being timid about it! My mom died. Inheritance = college tuition + motivation to honor her memory by doing my best at it!

That doesn't change the fact that it was purely awful to have my parents die. But if life gives you lemons...really, trite or not, you can choose to wallow in self-pity, or you can choose to find what actually might be good about the situation, even if that's nothing more than a challenge for personal growth. Life may not also give you a pitcher of water, ice and sugar -- getting them is up to you, and if you sit around waiting for them to be delivered to your door, I guess you're right -- if it did happen for a reason, it was lost on you.

So there.

The sayings that tick me off the most are malapropisms and mixed metaphors. Like the ones I can't think of right now.

Oh, and let's see...."that's random," used by tweens and teens who don't seem to know what "random" means.

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by Juniper

The sayings that tick me off the most are malapropisms and mixed metaphors. Like the ones I can't think of right now.

Exactly, like the ones on the tip of your tongue but, never mind, drift.
That's part of the "skating on wet ice" problem for me. The physics of skating is that the extreme pressure under the blade of the skate causes the ice to melt locally so you are always skating on wet ice. Not to mention (hahahahahahneeneneerennnnernenenrnernerner neener) that the expression is SKATING ON THIN ICE which is inherently dangerous! helleaux??? and lastly, even if the ice were covered with a thin pool of water it wouldn't really be an issue if you were skating and not falling on your ass.

but whatever, it is what it is, life gives you lemons and you grab it by the horns, is what I always don't say.

[Cicero]

Originally Posted by Juniper

I'm sorry, then - I am one of those annoying people who do say things like "everything happens for a reason," or "something good will come of it," because pollyanna that I am, I believe it. I can think of a few situations that are just flat-out awful beyond redemption, but most everyday problems do indeed have "silver linings."

When someone said something like that to me at the way wrong time, it was what she thought was the best outcome for her. Because she's a nutbag that was glad her ex was out of the way of her life finally, and she was now the person that gained the financial profit from the loss. The ex is dead and can't see the kid anymore and I can move on with my new boyfriend and all this cash!! Damn right she thought it was all for the best. Which is why I have the knee jerk.

The feeling of loss went:
Who are we to understand the mysterious works of god and question that now that it has worked out for the best for me? woo-hoo!! We are going to Disneyland! This works well because I lost my job as a child psychologist for trying to kill my own. Now I have been given all this money and don't have to worry about the ex visiting the kid so much.....It's "all for the best". You'll see. My boyfriend won't have to worry about the ex hanging around, and be uncomfortable anymore. No more daily visits! See ya sucker, thanks for the cash. It's all for the best!

[Treasenuak]

I think the main point, Juniper, in people's complaints about such phrases as "everything turns out all right in the end" or "It will be okay" isn't so much the phrases themselves, as the lack of thought/consideration of the person uttering them, the knee-jerk reaction that causes utterance of such phrases, and how trite those phrases have become.