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“It Is What It Is”…and Other Irritating Phrases

Zedcars said:
“It is what it is”: Over the last few weeks I’ve been hearing this phrase more and more. I hear it at work, on the radio, on TV. Heck, even my elderly mother used it today! :rolleyes: Every-freaking-where I go…almost every day. Someone somewhere says it. It’s so annoying and pointless! What does it even mean? :mad:

What phrases have you heard that irritate you?
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California is full blown "no worries." I hear this all the time and it makes me cringe. I think, "Umm... no. There's a whole lot to worry about." I worry for people that have no worries! lol.
 
Double Helix said:
No, yeah -- I still occasionally hear it spoken by those from Australia or New Zealand (with all due respect, of course, to those from these two countries--but I do frequently hear F1 drivers say that in interviews)

"I haven't heard that before" -isn't "before" redundant?

"Conversate"
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I know a few people that say those in opposite order: "Yeah... no!" It is absolutely irritating either way.
 
It's interesting to learn of some regional variations where something that grates on ears (or at least sounds wrong) in one region is the standard way to say something in another.
 
bill5 said:
Where have you been :) This idiotic "I've decided to talk and say absolutely nothing" phrase has been around for years now.

And yeah people starting sentences with "So" has been as well and is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

I would add "I know right?" as well.

It's not just the expressions themselves, but how all these mindless sheeple trend whores latch onto them like barnacles on the hull of a ship and mindlessly jump on the moron bandwagon.
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There's a storm coming and you are the chosen one. You must awaken these mindless sleepmutterers before it's too late. The fate of the language is at stake. This is your destiny. Deal with it. It is what it is.
 
Dirtgrain said:
Or it's a person who has detached from expectations and who is on the road to enlightenment.
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Mm! Working on it! (Or am I?)
Dirtgrain said:
This guy at work--any time I see him and say, "How are you doing?" replies, "Living the dream," sarcastically. It hits me like "Sounds like someone's got a case of the Mondays" from Office Space. I've learned to just do the dude nod when I see him and move along quickly.
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I heard that phrase once from the person checking boarding passes at the local airport. I was trained to think that was not quite professional. On the other hand, it could be that she felt comfortable being honest about her experience at that moment (for some reason, strangers seem to open up and share their life stories with me, sometimes at length). "A shared burden is a burden lessened." As for your guy at work, I hope he eventually outgrows that loop.
Dirtgrain said:
Here in Michigan, I've heard "boughten" as an adjective to distinguish store-bought goods from home made. "That tastes just like boughten." Ouch.
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As much as I would like to see old-fashioned book-and-newspaper American English preserved, I appreciate that languages change over time, and I kind of like "boughten" as an alternative to "store-bought" -- it seems respectful of its roots.
Dirtgrain said:
Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure that I have habits of speech that irritate others, too.
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The trick is to hold them in reserve and deploy them at just the right moment. ;)
 
bill5 said:
PS this doesn't quite fit here technically but I think in the spirit of it...people who "uptalk" a lot (inflect their voice higher at the end of a sentence as you would when asking a question, but you're not asking a question). For some reason our HR people and many managers do this in meetings now. It's like fingernails on chalkboard. It's all I can do to resist talking back to them in the same way, exaggerating it to make my point, although I'm not sure even then that they'd get it
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TBH, I think that instead of using indirect mockery, you should mention that generally when one makes a statement in our language, there is a downward cadence at the end of the statement, and if they are uncertain of what they are saying (as indicated by the rising pitch) then perhaps they should wait until they are more sure of what they intend to say.

On the other hand, the rising pitch might indicate the stress and fear they experience as people who might feel trapped and wary as employees who feel they are farther down the pyramidal power structure from some of the people whom they are addressing.
 
Ending sentences with "Asking for a friend" instead of owning up to it.

Using "Also" followed by something witty or sarcastic.
 
Marcus Millfield said:
One thing I really hate at our company is out management telling us over and over again that we have to "challenge" ourselves and co-workers, which means that we have to look at things from multiple viewpoints. In reality it leads to everyone second guessing the other. Can't stand it. Utter nonsense.
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Yeah, when employers or supervisors use the word "challenge" or "challenges" it seems to be in a sense alien to my natural way of being.
 
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