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03 April 2006

I say "really" too much. Also "totally" and "dude". What are your overused words? Bonus question: which words do others use too much that drive you batshit?
post by: mike9322 at: 11:00 | 60 comments
Internet/text message abbreviations get me. I can deal with "LOL" and the like, and even use them if I actually laugh out loud, but "u r" for "you are" really irks me for some reason.
posted by mike9322 03 April | 11:02
For the past four days I have been saying "sweet" way too much (ie at all except when referring to how something tastes). I was actually just thinking of joining a cult that could break me of the habit. It's loathsome.
posted by Divine_Wino 03 April | 11:03
I use the word "dogshit" a little too much.
posted by Hugh Janus 03 April | 11:03
'Um.' I say it a lot, when I lose my thread in the middle of a conversation, which happens a lot.
posted by jonmc 03 April | 11:03
Like, I use "like" way too much when I, like, talk to people.
posted by sisterhavana 03 April | 11:04
I think any use of language at all is excessive.
posted by agropyron 03 April | 11:05
Dogshit is a great word though.
posted by Divine_Wino 03 April | 11:05
I say "fabulous" a lot.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 03 April | 11:06
I think any use of language at all is excessive.

*bones up on hoof-tapping, encoded grunts and morse code in anticipation of meeting agrpyron*
posted by jonmc 03 April | 11:06
I over use maybe, possibly, and perhaps.

I'm very non-committal, apparently.
posted by cmonkey 03 April | 11:06
TPS, I overuse "fabulous" when talking about you. awwwww!
posted by mike9322 03 April | 11:08
Like sisterhavana, like totally sweet! Like, yeah. It was like that. Like, maybe.
posted by mygothlaundry 03 April | 11:10
If you ever want me to stop calling you dude, just tell me. Please. Otherwise, I will continue to do it.
posted by matildaben 03 April | 11:12
Awwwwwwwwwwww. Watch me melt into a big pool of butter.

P.S. I see you're coming to Mecha Vegas- me too! Yaaaaaay Mecha Vegas!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 03 April | 11:12
That is, like, so awesome. Wicked cool.
posted by initapplette 03 April | 11:13
I am Mecha Vegas, TPS! And I noticed you moved your name to "definite". The world is now a better place.
posted by mike9322 03 April | 11:14
Yes I did. It's one of my goals to go to Vegas before August 2007, and what better group to go with than sexy Mecha motherfuckers? There is no such group.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 03 April | 11:15
He was like, "What the fuck," and I was like, "Dude. That was so random."

See also: "'n shit like that."
posted by heatherann 03 April | 11:17
Y'know

Although its gotten better since I received the transcript of a deposition I just peppered with 'em. Ugh.

("Y'know" passes spellcheck!? and "spellcheck" doesn't?)

posted by StickyCarpet 03 April | 11:21
I have the usual verbal ticks...

"It's like..."
"Basically"
and
"Arghhhhh, get them out, get them out of my head."


I really like it when I catch a new phrase. I'm trying to think what my current phrase is, but I don't think I have one. "Dude" was in there for a while as was the more English "Fellow", but I currently seem to be in some kind of cliche cul-de-sac.
posted by seanyboy 03 April | 11:23
I use 'awesome' ad nauseum. I irritate myself with how much I overuse it, which in some weird way amuses me, so I've given up weeding it out of my vocabulary.

'Hella' is one of the stupidest words I've ever heard and I have to fight the tendency to think someone is uneducated for using it.
posted by Frisbee Girl 03 April | 11:24
Is it?! (as a substitute for 'Really?!')

Yeah, but

You know

OK (don't like it, but I'm too weak to resist)
posted by flopsy 03 April | 11:27
'Hella' is one of the stupidest words I've ever heard and I have to fight the tendency to think someone is uneducated for using it.

Well, that's hella mean!

::uses hella all the time::
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 03 April | 11:30
My biggest weakness is not.
posted by flopsy 03 April | 11:36
TPS, by all means, go nuts! Christ off the cross could use 'hella' and I'd still wince and think it was one of the stupidest words I've heard. I can't help it.
posted by Frisbee Girl 03 April | 11:38
Well hella this and hella that and hella hella hella.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 03 April | 11:40
I hate hate hate that I use "random" to mean "arbitrary."
posted by Zozo 03 April | 11:40
I don't like it when people say "could care less" when they mean "couldn't care less." For a while someone I knew used "boss" when they meant "cool", and that seemed strange. I don't think I'm using any single word too often right now. I don't like using modifiers. If I'm saying something, I hope to say it straight and not spin it.
posted by halonine 03 April | 11:45
Well hella this and hella that and hella hella hella.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 03 April | 11:40

Haha! If you pepper that with a generous dose of 'nigga' you could freely converse with the thuglets that stand on the corner by my apartment.
posted by Frisbee Girl 03 April | 11:45
The drummer for Hella is hella crazy though, you've got to admit.
posted by safetyfork 03 April | 11:50
I've been saying "huge", as in "important". Not sure where I picked it up, but it doesn't seem to be going away, which is huge.

I recently met a guy who said "business" for way too many things. "Cody (his dog) can't stay away from that bone business", "Lemme finish this breakfast business", etc. Pretty annoying.
posted by Hellbient 03 April | 11:50
I say "like" and "totally" way too much. I also get made fun of for saying "rad" a lot. I think not so much because I overuse it, but more because it's getting sort of dated. Whatev.

I hate when people use "anymore" incorrectly. For example, "Anymore I order pizza from Geno's instead of Gerasi's."
posted by amro 03 April | 11:51
I say, "I'm going to rip off your head and shit down your throat," a bit too much. That, and, "No charge for the multiple." I hate it when people say, "I can get it for you next week, I swear!" 'Cause my dry cleaning bill is outrageous.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson 03 April | 11:55
I'm not the biggest fan of MONSTA!
posted by safetyfork 03 April | 12:00
I hate when people use "anymore" incorrectly. For example, "Anymore I order pizza from Geno's instead of Gerasi's."

Is it common? Never heard that done. I can't even work out what it's supposed to mean.

rad? i though you were cool, dude!
posted by flopsy 03 April | 12:02
I say "actually" all the time and I die a little more inside everytime I do.

In fact I tend to start a lot of my sentences with entirely redundant things like "To tell the truth", "In all honesty", "At the end of the day", blah, blah, fucking blah. I really wish I'd just shut up and get on with it.

And I say fuck a lot. But that's cos I'm so fucking rock and roll.
posted by dodgygeezer 03 April | 12:05
/loves that amro says "rad"
posted by mike9322 03 April | 12:07
that anymore thing's a PA thing, huh? I know a few ppl from pennsylvania that all do that.

Like Fris, I say "awesome" all the fucking time. Drives me nuts.
posted by gaspode 03 April | 12:19
Actually, amro, though I myself don't use "anymore" in that way, I get a real charge when I hear it. It means my interlocutor, or whoever taught them to speak, is from a different milieu, or region, or socio-economic background from me. Which means I'm likely to learn something if I listen (well-spoken people are interesting, too, but well-spoken people don't, for example, build giant tunnels under Manhattan for the water to go through).

Anymore hard labor seems to be done by folks less effete than me.
posted by Hugh Janus 03 April | 12:20
fantastic
terrific
awesome

and, halonine! I can't go back there again!
posted by Miko 03 April | 12:21
I say "actually" all the time and I die a little more inside everytime I do.

it's a plague
i've got it
fuck all
posted by ethylene 03 April | 12:22
The word "word" has completely replaced all previously used affirmative words in my vocabulary.

Yes? gone. Sure? not anymore. Okay? I've even forgotten what it means. All affirmations are now "word." I've gotten laughed at for saying it. I'm not sure if it was because I'm white or if it's because I said it rather giddily, like "Word! I'm so excited to go smoke crack!"

Also, I say dude to excess.
posted by shmegegge 03 April | 12:29
Hugh, the people I know who I notice using "anymore" improperly are the friends I made when I lived in Delaware. Generally, they came from pretty much the same socio-economic background that I did. So I'm guessing that gaspode is correct, and that the misuse of that word is much more widespread in the PA/DE/NJ tri-state area than in other parts of the country. But I don't know for sure.
posted by amro 03 April | 12:30
Anymore i'm being called effete.
posted by ethylene 03 April | 12:32
shmegegge: Word. I'm adding that to my list.
posted by mike9322 03 April | 12:33
Thingie (as in, "You know, that thingie over there that I forgot?")
Dude
Hon
Sweetie
Sweet

But I think I get a pass on "dude" because I'm from California.

I absolutely loathe it when my ex begins any sentence with, "That is, to say..." when he's trying to clarify a statement.
posted by TrishaLynn 03 April | 12:33
Frisbee Girl doesn't just say "word". She says "palabra". I think that is cool. But I am way too fucking white to get away with saying anything like that.
posted by matildaben 03 April | 12:40
Yeah, amro, I listed all three (milieu/region/s-e bkgd) because I wasn't sure which, but I still think it's kinda wild.

It's like somebody's converting my native tongue to a foreign language. I love that.

It's funny, growing up in MD I never really heard it.
posted by Hugh Janus 03 April | 12:56
But I am way too fucking white to get away with saying anything like that.

Ay, chinga! No es verdad, mamacita.
posted by jonmc 03 April | 13:02
I hate when people use "anymore" incorrectly. For example, "Anymore I order pizza from Geno's instead of Gerasi's."

I've studied this in my linguistic syntax classes. My syntactician prof was VERY excited about it. Something about how in most varieties of English, 'anymore' can only happen in a negative sentence ("I don't do that anymore" is GOOD, "I do that anymore" is BAD), but the "anymore I order pizza" examples don't follow that rule.

What does it mean, exactly?

Anymore I order pizza from Geno's instead of Gerasi's.

a) I always order pizza from Geno's instead of Gerasi's.
b) Now I order pizza from Geno's instead of Gerasi's (but I didn't used to).

Which is the same? Or is it something else completely?
posted by heatherann 03 April | 13:37
heatherann: (b).
posted by amro 03 April | 13:39
the anymore should come at the end and it denotes "that's what i do any given time nowadays"
posted by ethylene 03 April | 13:57
Oh yes.
I use "actually" all the time too. And it drives me insane.
posted by seanyboy 03 April | 14:02
That (b) "anymore" is definitely a mid-Atlantic regionalism. it does skew somewhat western, though; I've heard it more in central/rural PA and less along the coast.

I'd say you could substitute the words "These days" and get that same approximate meaning.
posted by Miko 03 April | 15:06
Never heard the "anymore" thing.

I am one of the awesomers. I say it waaaay too much. I also have a little squeak noise that I make at random moments. (Have you seen Howl's Floating Castle? Remember the little old dog? Remember the little raspy squeak bark he makes? Yeah. He stole that from me.)

I also swear too much.
posted by Specklet 03 April | 15:12
That (b) "anymore" is definitely a mid-Atlantic regionalism. it does skew somewhat western, though; I've heard it more in central/rural PA and less along the coast.


See, Miko, I thought it was Midwestern and Southern. Huh.
posted by mudpuppie 03 April | 15:15
Most of the folks I've known who use "anymore" that way were from Ohio.

Lately (hey!) I've tried to vary my superlatives. I cycle through "awesome," "excellent," "very cool" and probably a couple others.

I used to say "radicool," which I got off a lame TrapperKeeper folder, because it was so clearly a word some ad exec made up to try to relate to the youth of the Eighties.
posted by me3dia 03 April | 16:39
I don't think I talk enough to overuse any word.
posted by deborah 03 April | 19:02
That (b) "anymore" is definitely a mid-Atlantic regionalism. it does skew somewhat western, though; I've heard it more in central/rural PA and less along the coast.


See, Miko, I thought it was Midwestern and Southern. Huh.


OK, new theory: Because of that Western skew, perhaps this is a usage that wound its way down the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys. That would explain why you hear it more west; it may have migrated east to the mid-Atlantic through PA via the 3 River valley.
posted by Miko 03 April | 19:59
That's consistent with my experience, Miko. I first heard it in southern Indiana.
posted by tangerine 04 April | 00:20
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