Saturday, November 08, 2008

Phrases that upset.

Today's Telegraph has a list of phrases that upset that has been compiled by researchers at Oxford University. The top ten are:
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 (instead of shouldn't have)
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science

What is interesting is that the article to date has attracted 1477 comments. A lot of people are upset.

My own personal hate is 'fulsome praise'. Most people seem to think that it means extravagant praise when it means quite the opposite. 'fulsome' derives not from 'full' but from 'foul'. 'Fulsome praise' means praise contaminated by a sneer. If you like, it is a snide remark that seems at first to be praising but when you think about it has a rotten core.

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