Basically, This Is Like Really Irritating, You Know?

The end of the year always brings top 10 lists of bests and worst. Some researchers at Oxford University have compiled a list of the top 10 most irritating expressions.

The researchers who compiled the list monitor the use of phrases in a database called the Oxford University Corpus. That's a database that compiles texts (written and spoken) in electronic form. Containing over 200 billion words of 21st century English, it gives evidence of actual and contextual language usage worldwide. The database documents various forms of the English language ranging from literary novels, specialist journals, magazines and newspapers to blogs, chat rooms and emails. It's a way to reveal variations of words, uses of jargon, changes in word form, patterns in closely associated words and the progression of misusages into accepted, standard language.

Jeremy Butterfield, lexicographer, is the author of A Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare which contains the list.

The Oxford top ten most irritating phrases:

1. At the end of the day
2. Fairly unique
3. I personally
4. At this moment in time
5. With all due respect
6. Absolutely
7. It's a nightmare
8. Shouldn't of (for shouldn't have)
9. 24/7
10. It's not rocket science

DVD

I've got a few on my own list that irritate me.

It's not just that I taught English for 25 years, because I know the rest of you also have your lists. My list would include those out of context uses of “ironically” and “literally.” Add to the list people who make everything into a bad simile with "like" plus getting rhetorical for no reason by adding “you know” to sentences. Extra irritation points for "like, you know."

My current most irritating and overused word is "basically." Listen to students, presenters, media celebs and almost anyone and you might hear a string of them - "Well, basically, what we need to do is innovate basically all of the infrastructure." It's more than just a filler word (um, ah). I think it's a sign of the effects of PowerPoint, bullet lists, short form news articles, microblogging, attention deficit disorder, Sesame Street, and a large helping of laziness.

You must have a few of your own, right?  Add a comment.