phrases or expressions that drive you crazy!

[Polly Fouracre]

"To dis someone"

Apparently came about because american hicks (of no particular color) could not say the word 'disrespect' without getting their tongues twisted ?

Driving through town yesterday another driver tried to force his car in front of my van and I gave a polite toot on my horn(my horn only does polite!) and an angry voice asked "Are you dissing are you ,eh,are you dissing me." "No," I said "I was...." "Are you dissing me,are you f******g dissing me?"
I don't know about "dissing" him,I could have cheerfully lamped him.Yes this is a word that I find annoying!!

[Herbgardener]

Who came up with these ? it's anyone's guess!!

"It's raining cats and dogs". Bullsh*t - has anyone ever seen a cat or dog fall randomly out of the sky? I think not.

An expression (allegedly) based on fact. Middle ages, wattle & daub huts with thatched roofs etc, cats and dogs used to sleep in the roof space (warmer and away from the rest of the livestock, hungry peasants etc). When it rained heavily the roof leaked and they would jump down.. hence raining cats and dogs..

[Alison C]

Can I borrow this? My sister says this all the time in relation to shampoo and drinks and food, it annoys me so much. Is she going to give it back?

[areia]

my mate sent me a text reporting about his new girlfreind saying she might need the spanish archer, hes told this sooooooooo many times and it still takes me a while before i get it,
must admit i do over use "uh huuuuuuuuuuh" alot just to acknowledge i am listening
I find myself saying things my mum used say to me on my son
"like the wind will change and your face will stay like it"

good one for the kids is "i cant right now i've got a bone in me leg" confuses the hell out of them

[valmarg]

"today" being anything after the 60's?

Pretty much.

After that time spelling was not considered important, 'so long as you could get your message across'.

Whereas we had English Literature and English Language classes, today English is lumped together.

In the English Language classes we were taught the parts of speech, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, etc, and how to parse a sentence.

Today, statistics are far more important than how a child can read or write.

English education is going down the sough.

valmarg

[pjh75]

My pet hate is the phrase 'up to' - as in 'up to 30 people were injured'.

Was does that mean? 2? 12? 29? You must have a better idea than that! It is just lazy. If the reporter believes that 20 people were hurt, they could cover themselves by saying 'approximately 20' NOT 'up to 30'.

It is meaningless. but used in all sorts of contexts.

Grrr....

Up to 25%... 50% ... or however much off during sales... don't people realise that up to 50% could mean 1%?

[pjh75]

Actually the original expression was "have your cake and eat it" but no-one understood it. It meant to eat the cake but still have it. Makes perfect sense now?!

I always thought that phrase didn't make sense... and now it does. You learn something new every day.

[terrier]

£1.99, £3.99, £7.99, £9.99, etc. WHY???

[heebiejeebie]

blue sky thinking
thinking outside the box
enabling
facilitator
stakeholders

Fortunately I've moved to a school where they call a spade a spade

[Flummery]

£1.99, £3.99, £7.99, £9.99, etc. WHY???

So it has to go through the till to get change and the shop assistant can't pocket your money. Change and receipt get recorded on till roll. It's to check up on the assistants, not to try and fool you.

[goldwolf]

my old mother used to say "dont stand there looking like chad.? who was chad

[areia]

ugh today my son decided to use the word TECHNICALLY after pretty much every sentance

and i agree what someone said earlier about fatailty " there were many fatalities" why can't you just say died or dead. or they were pronouned dead at the scene meaning no-one is allowed to state the obvious until a doctor has come out to confirm it *was from a lee evans sketch *

[NOG]

my old mother used to say "dont stand there looking like chad.? who was chad

Chad was a WW2 cartoon he was a face looking over a wall and would say "what no...." then you add the ending.

[Paulottie]

'At this moment in time'

'He Goes' instead of 'he said'

or pretty much anything imported from America.

[FoxHillGardener]

"today" being anything after the 60's?

Pretty much.

After that time spelling was not considered important, 'so long as you could get your message across'.

Whereas we had English Literature and English Language classes, today English is lumped together.

In the English Language classes we were taught the parts of speech, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, etc, and how to parse a sentence.

Today, statistics are far more important than how a child can read or write.

English education is going down the sough.

valmarg

Well I went to school in the 80s and we did plenty of grammar, spelling, separate English language and literature and it annoys me when it's all dismissed as "oh it's not like it used to be".