George Costanza
A Friendly Liberal
Annoying phrases people use all the time which you wish you never had to hear ever again. Anyone on board for this? A couple of examples, to get the ball rolling:
"No problem." A favorite phrase of waiters and waitresses, but often used by just about anyone. Setup: You say "thank you" to someone for doing something that you think is deserving of a thank you. The waiter notices your coffee cup is half empty, stops on his way to another table and fills it up. "Thanks!," you say. "No problem," says the waiter. Yetch. How about, "you're welcome"?
A better example. The waiter is taking your order and you have a special request. Because of dietary limitations, you can't eat butter. So you tell the waiter, "I want to make sure that this fish is cooked in fat free oil, not butter." Waiter: "No problem." No problem? Maybe yes, maybe no. Let's wait until the fish actually arrives to see whether or not there is "no problem." Hint: Most of the time, in spite of the waiter's bland assurances, there IS a problem - a huge problem.
"Sorry about that." This one comes to us from the 1960's television series, "Get Smart," specifically, from the star of that series, Agent 86 - Maxwell Smart. It is the calssic non-apology, because it trivializes whatever transgression has just been committed and makes it clear that the speaker does not consider what he/she just did as anything that it really deserving of an actual apology.
How about you? What are some phrases you find particularly annoying and why?
"No problem." A favorite phrase of waiters and waitresses, but often used by just about anyone. Setup: You say "thank you" to someone for doing something that you think is deserving of a thank you. The waiter notices your coffee cup is half empty, stops on his way to another table and fills it up. "Thanks!," you say. "No problem," says the waiter. Yetch. How about, "you're welcome"?
A better example. The waiter is taking your order and you have a special request. Because of dietary limitations, you can't eat butter. So you tell the waiter, "I want to make sure that this fish is cooked in fat free oil, not butter." Waiter: "No problem." No problem? Maybe yes, maybe no. Let's wait until the fish actually arrives to see whether or not there is "no problem." Hint: Most of the time, in spite of the waiter's bland assurances, there IS a problem - a huge problem.
"Sorry about that." This one comes to us from the 1960's television series, "Get Smart," specifically, from the star of that series, Agent 86 - Maxwell Smart. It is the calssic non-apology, because it trivializes whatever transgression has just been committed and makes it clear that the speaker does not consider what he/she just did as anything that it really deserving of an actual apology.
How about you? What are some phrases you find particularly annoying and why?
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, "He was so like drunk." make me, as a native speaker in a foreign country, want to throttle them. I am not sure what purpose that usage of "like" serves.
