80 Comments
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mary ann h's avatar

Trump

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Bravo.

Dave and I play a lot of games, and it's such a bummer when the card game is based on setting a trump card.

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Mel Joulwan & Dave Humphreys's avatar

When it comes to cards, I've decided to call it the prestige or strong suit.

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Aimée's avatar

Same! Strong suit. But I like prestige suit.

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Courtney Geisendorff's avatar

Haha! Good one

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S Wright's avatar

I find it so hard to say that word at all now.

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Pam Goen's avatar

I call him the idiot

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Dana Earley's avatar

I dislike the word — utilize. Just say use! It means the same thing.

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Elizabeth's avatar

Also “theorize”. Just say “I think”

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Strong agree.

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Nancy Danforth's avatar

SupposeBLY. OK, its not a word but lots of people say the actual word, Supposedly, wrong and it makes my head explode.

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Oh, man. Yes.

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Janet Sarver's avatar

The phrase "It is what it Is". Always strikes me as the person uttering this has given up trying to argue their point, or just can't think of anything intelligent to say.

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Jocelyn's avatar

I agree. Lazy phrasing. Lazy argument.

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Elizabeth's avatar

I strongly dislike the word moist….

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Millie Batt's avatar

Yes, but what about moist cake?

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Elizabeth's avatar

Love the concept, still cringe at the word!! Maybe that’s why I eat pie??

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Cindy's avatar

I have a steadily increasing hatred of a word and a phrase that have been popping up A LOT in book reviews / blurbs/ descriptions lately -- "unputdownable" and "compulsively readable." They should never be used again, and I will die on this hill. (the word "blurb," on the other hand, is super silly and always makes me think of a kid sticking out their tongue. I have no idea why, but I will embrace it. :) )

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Jennifer DAlessandro's avatar

I hate "unputdownable" too! I feel like it's just trying too hard. If someone uses that word, I assume it's a book I won't like and move on.

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anna elizabeth's avatar

I love the word blurb. It does make me think of a precocious, messy faced little kid with sticky hands and a lot to say.

I also second the "ugh" feeling for unputdownable.

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Ericka's avatar

All corporate jargon, like "circle back", "leverage", "pivot", etc.

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Sue Dix's avatar

Pivot cracks me up because of the Friends episode with Ross, Chandler, Rachel, and the mattress.

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Pam Goen's avatar

I can’t hear that word without yelling out PIVOT!!!!!

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Sue Dix's avatar

Exactly!!

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Kathy's avatar

I will get some boos for this but when you listen to a lot of book podcast or read blogs, the word or phrase wheelhouse gets to me every time because it’s overused by everyone. The other phrase gets to me is, it is what it is. I also hate all the isms in phobia words.

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anna elizabeth's avatar

Agree with wheelhouse and all other 'COVID-era-zoom-meeting' office slang; circle-back, touch-base, low hanging fruit, let's all align on this one, united front.

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Kathy's avatar

After a while, it sounds like everyone’s saying it because everybody else is.

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Margaret Allbee's avatar

Moist (unless it is being used to describe cake), cod, and pus. Oh, and panties. Blech!!! I hate all those words.

I also dislike phrases like, "past due" and "tax season" and "I think we should just be friends" but these are probably universal! 🤣

I am late to the party for words I like, because I could not think of any at the time, but I just thought of one: lush. I also like egregious.

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

I almost included pus in my list, but I felt like it was getting too gross ;-) See also: cyst.

On the other end of the spectrum, YES to lush and egregious. I love egregious. The sound, the meaning, all of it.

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Stephanie Looney's avatar

moist, misogyny, patriarchy, the "c" word, panties, slacks, manifest

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Slacks is funny! It's so '70s to me.

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S Wright's avatar

Irregardless

u r

Invalid, in writing, when referring to a sick person, as I always see it as invalid - like a wrong answer. The invalid is invalid.

Words that are spoken with extra or missing letters - like warsh, instead of wash. Woof, instead of wolf, purty instead of pretty. Really hate prolly.

Lol.

But nickname/endearment words, oddly, don't bother me. The hubs, hubby, wifey, kiddos, bestie, mumsie, pops, bro, sis, cuz, unc, auntie, g'ma/g'pa - none of those bug me.

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Jessica's avatar

Ah, warsh! Is it just here in SW / Central PA? Or is that other dialects too?

I grew up with a Grammy who assured me our first president was Warshington. And that I could go keller [color] to entertain myself, before we ran dahntahn to pick something up.

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S Wright's avatar

I grew up in Washington state, and it was from my High School French teacher that I first heard Warshington. It took me years to figure out it was not the En Francais way of saying it. Lol. But the older I got the more I encountered it. A regional thing!

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Terri's avatar

I grew up in Oklahoma. The r is in the word wash a lot there. Interestingly, I grew up using both wash and warsh. Like I wash my clothes. And, I use a warshcloth. Don’t know why. I rarely say warsh anymore…probably because I live in Ohio now.

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Larissa Milne's avatar

“Phlegm” is a yukky word that does a great job of describing something gross. So I can’t put it in my hated words category.

I hate when people use words incorrectly(although I love the word “malaprop”)—particularly with some perceived authority, as in “my head literally exploded when I heard about XYZ”. Um, no, I think you mean “figuratively”.

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Right? Phlegm is both gross and excellent at its job. It sounds like just what it is.

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Larissa Milne's avatar

(Note: 2nd comment) I’ve been mulling this one over for a few days in the context of words that “bum you out”, as opposed to words/usage I just don’t like (my initial interpretation).

The word that bums me out the most is “disappointed.” It implies expectations were not met, so it immediately makes me sad. 😟

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

Oh, I feel that take on disappointed. My dad never raised his voice at me, but if he was disappointed, I was devastated. And now, when I get an email that says someone is disappointed, it still knocks me out.

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Larissa Milne's avatar

Right?! When my Dad said he was disappointed in me I felt like a little puppy with her tail between her legs—SO MUCH more effective than yelling or a lecture! And strong agree on it carrying over to adulthood. I feel it in my gut if I feel I’ve disappointed someone (& it also makes me sad when a person/situation disappoints me).

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Living in the In Between's avatar

If you say hubs (for husband) or spell probably as prolly, I will fight. 🤣

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

If the hubs says his wife is preggers, we'll prolly have a fight.

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Jessica Grosman's avatar

Not a word, but a phrase: “you guys”. I hate it. I was once addressed in a professional setting with “you guys” and nearly called the meeting quits. It’s unprofessional, it’s annoying.

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Aimée's avatar

I have twin teenagers. One of them hates the phrase “gussied up.” As in, “look at you all gussied up for the party”. His sister, of course, abused this until we were all sick of it and discussed the importance of timing in comedy. They agreed that it would be funny once a year, so it’s now on our shared calendar “- is allowed to say the word again”

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Melissa Joulwan's avatar

I LOVE the shared calendar that grants permission to say gussied. Amazing.

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Barb's avatar

Unprecedented! So overused in the last decade. So is anything still unprecedented???

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