Words We Hate

[3_Octave_Fart]

Let's hear them, members and moderators.
For Fart?
It's the word 'basically.'
It's a word that means nothing.
Stop using it.
And it better not appear in print.

 

[YankeeFan]

very

 

[Steak Snabler]

any modifier that appears before "unique"

 

[Mystery Meat II]

"Currently" in almost all circumstances

"Joe Blow is currently the provost at Tinytown College". Well no **** he's currently the provost. The context clue is the use of present tense. "Joe Blow is the provost at Tinytown College." Same statement, one fewer word. There's times where it's appropriate -- a story that bounces between six of his jobs, and you need to set apart the job he has now from all the others to avoid confusion -- but in most cases, it's not.

"New" in many circumstances

"Tinytown College is building a new dorm." As distinct from building an old one? "Jack Blow will be named the new provost at Tinytown College after his brother was arrested for possession of child porn". Can he be named the provost that's already there?

"Like" as a stand-in for "such as"

Like is exclusive, such as is inclusive. It may be nudging toward being a distinction without a difference in common use, but I'll still get buttmad about it.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

You can ****can just about any adverb and it won't hurt the sentence.
They are low protein, and lazy.
Fart once had an instructor who would count them in submitted works.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Each, both or either. Almost always superfluous. Also, Celine Dion.

 

[Amy]

Yummy

 

[dooley_womack1]

Is "nummy" OK?

 

[Amy]

Is "nummy" OK?

It is a shade less disgusting sounding than yummy.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Scrumptious is better than both of them, anyway.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

One of my favorite words is so hated by some I can't even post it here.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

One of my favorite words is so hated by some I can't even post it here.

Sobriety?

 

[dooley_womack1]

One of my favorite words is so hated by some I can't even post it here.

Sobriety?

Coherence?

 

[Jake_Taylor]

I can't post it so I'm just going to punt this one.

 

[doctorx]

"why" after reason

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

I worked for an editor who hated 'nix'.
Which sucked, because it's a concise, short word for a one-column hed.

 

[Buck]

'On the season,' 'on the night' and any other variant.

Pluralizing names as examples, especially great players: '... your Jerry Rices, you Lawrence Taylors ...'

 

[I Should Coco]

Using "grow" in all circumstances, instead of "increase," "expand" or "improve."

It all started with Clinton talking about how he could "grow" the economy.

Now I get city council stories talking about plans to "grow" the number of parking spaces.

Plants, children, waistlines grow. Not parking lots.

 

[HandsomeHarley]

"all" to describe a score. ... 1-all, 2-all ...

There's just two teams. Who the hell is "all?" Put the freakin' number in -- it is at least two characters shorter than "all."

 

[linotype]

The phrase "begs the question" because it is used incorrectly 99 percent of the time.