Phrases That Make You "Cringe"

[Wuggy]

"God moves in mysterious ways."
A lazy cop-out so you don't have to actually think for yourself.

"It's just a theory."
You do not know what "a theory" means in scientific usage of the word.

"I've lost my faith in humanity."
Then you don't know much about humanity, because we're way better off than we have been before.

A couple from these forums:

"Am I the only one [...]"
No. You're never the only one.

"Why all the hate for [...] / Why all the love for [...]"
Because not everyone have the same taste as you. I wouldn't care if these were expressions of genuine curiosity, but most times they are not.

 

[I Have No Idea]

Agreed. Also when people say 'I could of done that.'

They're saying "could've". It's a contraction, look it up.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

"It's all good"
I appreciate that almost any significant event will have its upside and downside, that doesn't mean the downside stops sucking.
Then there's also the point that if all things truly were good then the term would be meaningless.

Wow someone's overthinking things just a little bit. Usually when that phrase is used it's generally situation specific so it's just the same as saying "Everything's fine." or "We're good to go." or even "There's no problem." depending on the situation.

 

[Hollock]

Everything happens for a reason. More like everything happens for a raisin. Right? I don't know, either way the worst one for me is 'that's legit'. Because legit is usually a substitute for anything.

 

[Dr Jones]

[...]Nobody calls donkeys asses anymore unless they're trying to be funny.

And calling them ignorant and imbecilic kinds of implies you are superior to them.

On the contrary, 'ass' only refers to an arse in the American dialect of English, not in others like India, Australia, & so on. I remember that some Canadians say 'arse' & not 'ass', but then of course Canada is also in America so perhaps it should be a surprise that anyone there ever uses 'arse'.

I said that they're ignorant & imbecilic abuses of English using the literal meanings, which you'll find are perfectly appropriate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_bad

just clarifying something. though i understand why you would not like the phrase's.

Ot: i throw my thoughts in with the rest of them who are saying the "could of" argument. i hate that online

I agree that they're idiomatic but that doesn't validate them. If I address someone "A'ight, bitches!" that's actually a better, more fluent use of language than 'My bad' because the structure at least makes sense.

Just watch this. Stephen Fry will teach you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7E-aoXLZGY

The esteemed Mr. Fry is only expressing his opinion. Incidentally I despise Wilde almost as much as I detest Restoration Comedy, but to address Fry's point:
I take no issue with inventions which enrich the language, but I most certainly challenge those which denude its potency. Language is the greatest invention of our species, & to strive for its inferiority is an absolute crime - an unbearable shame of such utter stupidity it genuinely saddens me.

OMG IKR, BEHEAD ALL THE NON ENGLISH BELIEVERS. Seriously mate. Their own version of the language doesen't deviate too far from the original english, there is abseloutely no need to be stuck up about having particular linguistic skills.

 

[Romblen]

I think this has already been said, but the word 'legit'. Legitimate is not so long of a word that it's needs shortening.

 

[Evertw]

"Det er slik"

A phrase from Norwegian, when roughly translated means "it is such" or "it is like this"

Often used by a person, maybe self righteous politician trying to make it look like they are the only ones with the facts.

 

[WolfmanNougat]

So, there's a couple of phrases I just don't get or seem backwards to me:

"Looks the dog's bollocks" = "looks good". I dunno about you, but I've never considered canine testicles to be a particularly pleasant sight. And for some reason whenever I hear the phrase I picture a bulldog. Not sure why.

"Allow that" a la "fuck that". Wouldn't allowing it mean welcoming it?

But the big cringer for me has always been comparing anything unfavourably to Hitler without any indication of irony. And that was long before I'd heard of Godwin's law. I'm pretty sure you're all mature enough to understand why I don't need to elaborate but suffice it to say that you'd have to do a lot of really nasty stuff on an astronomical level to even be considered equal to him, let alone worse. I get the implication but it's just a wee bit extreme, isn't it?

 

[ElPatron]

"I could care less"

It's couldn't you spastic!

He could care less - he replied. If he didn't give a flying monkey's bottom and just look away, then he would care less.

 

[KillKill]

I have 2 that I don't like.

I'm not racist/sexist/homophobic but... [insert racist/sexist/homophobic comment here]

No offence but... [insert offensive comment here]

You might like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGjbmywaKMI

 

[liveslowdiefast]

"the exception that proves the rule" as well its dumb and doesn't make sense. END OF.

 

[xFrankieGirlx]

Agreed. Also when people say 'I could of done that.'

They're saying "could've". It's a contraction, look it up.

Not when they go on the internet and write 'could of'. And I know could've is a contraction, thanks. I already said this in another post, read up.

 

[Febel]

"Same difference"
I'll admit there is a very narrow usage where that does make sense but it's never fucking used that way.

 

[Bambi On Toast]

So, I think everyone has that one phrase or word that makes them cringe. So what is yours? And bonus points if you say it yourself making it even worse.

I'll start with two phrases.

"It was in the last place I looked."
Okay, so I know what people are trying to say when they use this phrase. They are trying to say that they've been looking for something for a while and were running out of ideas. But I know what they are literally saying and I always want to reply, "Why would you keep looking after you found it?" I mean do you think the TV remote you just found in the fridge is your remotes evil twin? Is there a possibility that it came from a parallel dimension? I know that sounds ridiculous, but seriously that phrase bugs me.

"That's an explanation, not an excuse."
Okay, so I say this one from time to time. Some of you may have seen me state this in a few threads here from time to time. It's a great phrase to use to counter crappy defenses against why someone did something stupid or wrong. "Being drunk simply explains your actions, it does not excuse them." So, why do I cringe every time I use it? I adopted this phrase from my mom. Some of you already know what that means. She used it against me a few times. And honestly, there was no counter argument to that. Granted she was right, but remembering how she used it on me every time I use it myself is kind of bitter sweet.

Okay, Escapists. What about you. Any phrases that make you cringe?

Didn't check if anyone beat me to this but: Lee Evans?

I'm pretty sure I heard Lee Evans do a piece on "It's always in the last place you look" which was along the same lines. I'd try and link you the youtube vid but I can't be bothered. It's from a fairly famous stand up gig (In the UK, anyway). I was a big fan of Lee while growing up, he's a good english comic.

I agree with most about the "I could care less" phrase....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7O0MFkmpw&ob=av3e - David Mitchell with his opinion on this.

 

[badgersprite]

"You can do anything/become anything you want, if you just believe in yourself!"

Um, no. What the about years of practice and years of actually working towards your goal it takes to achieve pretty much anything? I'm not just going to sit back, feel really good about myself, and believe really hard and hope that I'll get good marks. I'm going to study and work hard.

I think this is the kind of thinking that leads a bunch of deluded young people into thinking they can or deserve to have a singing or acting career, despite the fact that they've had no training, done nothing to work towards their goal, had no practice, made no effort to foster or nurture any talent they may have, have had no education in music or drama, have never performed a gig or been in a play, are unwilling to lower themselves to doing such things, etc etc etc.

Sure, some people get lucky and get what they want without working toward it, or are naturally gifted, but that is hardly the norm, and, really, is that the kind of person you want to strive to be - a person of mediocre, unpolished ability and no ambition or drive who happened to be in the right place at the right time?

Clearly I think about this phrase way too much.

 

[tjcross]

when some one just adds eriffic at the end of a word this is normally in commercials i don't mind terrorific because it is very close to terrific and a decent pun but i've heard spidderific in a commerecial HOW IN ANY WAY DOES THAT SOUND LIKE TERRIFIC
"same different" i mean it's just people being lazy
"Because i'm in charge" no you mean because you want to
also i can't watch movie trailers anymore because of the oh to often said phrases like "It's the best (insert genre here) in years" it just ticks me off
and finaly "i'm not (sexist, racist, trolling but) yes you are you are just trying to hide the fact poorly (ok sometimes it's true but 9/10 it's false)

"You can do anything/become anything you want, if you just believe in yourself!"

Um, no. What the about years of practice and years of actually working towards your goal it takes to achieve pretty much anything? I'm not just going to sit back, feel really good about myself, and believe really hard and hope that I'll get good marks. I'm going to study and work hard.

I think this is the kind of thinking that leads a bunch of deluded young people into thinking they can or deserve to have a singing or acting career, despite the fact that they've had no training, done nothing to work towards their goal, had no practice, made no effort to foster or nurture any talent they may have, have had no education in music or drama, have never performed a gig or been in a play, are unwilling to lower themselves to doing such things, etc etc etc.

Sure, some people get lucky and get what they want without working toward it, or are naturally gifted, but that is hardly the norm, and, really, is that the kind of person you want to strive to be - a person of mediocre, unpolished ability and no ambition or drive who happened to be in the right place at the right time?

Clearly I think about this phrase way too much.

this too also to add to it some people just can't do things i for example can't learn other languages i've spent probably 100 hours trying to learn french and all i got out of it is how to ask to go to the bathroom now i know 100 hours won't make me fluent but i should of at least retained some important words and phrases

 

[Psychedelic Spartan]

anything with a double negative just makes me want to lecture them in their grammar.

 

[Ryengu]

Probably for different reasons, but "Smells your hair like a boss" just makes me raegface.