Where is the rest of the interview!!!?? :(

The "Might Be Giants" list targets tiresome , trendy terms and phrases. I am fascinated with the evolution of our ever changing American English. In comparison to the Giants' list and my imaginary lists of slang that will fade and slang that will last. I differ on two phrases:
1. "Phone tag" provides a concise and obvious reference to a new phenomenon.
2. "At the end of the day" is a pleasingly poetic phrase.

Word usage: hopefully (unless it’s actually used properly, as an adverb)

Phrases without evident meaning: everything is everything

Phrases frequently heard on talk radio programs:

Thanks for taking my call.

I’ll take my answer (sic) off the air.

That is an excellent question.

Military talk: Hit the ground running

Repetitive usages: “The logic is, is that….”

The expression that makes me crazy is:

That being said

I mean, come on, everything you say is followed by the next sentence. Is it necessary to point out the obvious?

Without disagreeing with the suggestion that "wow" be added to the list, on a linguistic / etymological note, a friend who has spent time (two Peace Corps stints) in Senegal reports that this expression "comes from Wolof, the main language of Senegal, where 'wiao, wiao,' enunciated sagely, indicates enthusiastic agreement with whatever has just been said." While that is the pronunciation, the actual spelling of the word appears to be "waaw," meaning "yes." The fact that many Wolof people were brought to America during the early years of the slave trade may help explain how this usage came to be adopted here and remained unfamiliar in Europe.

Now hear this: "At this point in time," it's got to go, you know what I'm saying? I mean, like, what's up with that? When you get down and dirty with the nitty-gritty, mom and apple pie got it made.

"Axt" instead of "asked"

"Quite honestly..."

I am so sick of hearing "What happens in ______ stays in _________" First of all, it is used far too often. I hear it constantly and it makes me crazy. Secondly, whatever it is that you did or said wherever you were WILL NOT stay there!! Bad choices WILL ALWAYS have the potential to follow you!

"Going forward", as in "earnings projections going forward."

most industries or professions have their own internal jargon which has been around and in use for a very long time. the problem is when that jargon makes the jump into everyday vernacular and then overused. for example, as mentioned above, "plated" food is a food industry term meaning that the meal is presented to the diner already on the plate, rather than in serving dishes, on the table, family-style. it's when industry insiders use the terminology among lay people to present an aura of exclusivity, which then everyone jumps on, because everyone wants to be seen as on the "on the inside." that's what drives me crazy.

'very unique'
Something is unique or it's not.

What cha got?
Brian are you reading?

I don't care about the words we should no longer use, but I hate it when someone (i.e. Brian) says he's a big fan of the band, when in fact he doesn't even know the names of the the co-founders of the band. It's Linnell bucko, not Lydell or however you hacked up his name.

On the ground

At the end of the day

Bottom line

Hopefully

What's up

Rather than use the word "increase," people saying, "up." As in, "we have to UP our efforts," or "you better UP the dosage."

"Asks" in lieu of requests. As in, "the client has the following "ASKS..."

UGH.

"hearts and minds"

oh please, just STOP trying to win these... and give this phrase a rest...

To # 65 who asks - "Actuality" Is that even a word?!!!

Actuality is a term used in radio for the recording of an news event. For example, the use of the tape during a news broadcast where Mayor Bloomberg calls the reporter a disgrace because the reporter asked about term limits is the use of an actuality.

my favor song i like to listen to is jame.k poke. p.s im bad at spelling.

First of all, I'm a huge TMBG fan. I have been for many years now. I hate any phrase that repeats itself. "It is what it is." "Boys will be boys." "What's done is done." Also, I don't like when people say "cool beans". I do, however enjoy 90's catchphrases like "Somebody stop me" and "groovy baby yeah". My wife doesn't, which is why I use them all the time.

all cliches...period!

"like" is like...HORRIBLE! Why do Americans use this word all the time?!

Why is the audio clip so short? I wanted to hear what Linnell had to say about Europeans who don't say wow.

I'd add 'Uptick'

I never use any of the above, but
I still use expressions like
"cool" or "super" - are these
on the list?
Two 'earthy' expressions I'd ban:
"on the ground", adapted by journal-
ists from military use and, later,
by the general public.
"ground zero", inaccurately used to
describe the site of the terrorist at-
tacks here in NYC, as well as in-
sulting the memory of the
thousands who died at actual
'ground zeroes' in Hiroshima
and Nagasaki.

"I have to say, ..."

as in,

"I have to say, this cheeseburger is quite tasty."

You don't _have_ to say it, and if you do _have_ to say it, say it. But don't tell me about how you're compelled to do so.

Using the word "One" to say goodbye as in:

"Ok I'll talk to you later"

"Aight yo. One"

The next person who doesn't want "to compare apples to oranges" gets it. Perhaps next time they could compare mangoes to kiwis while they're reinventing the wheel.

As mentioned in a previous comment, the
noun to verb (as well as the verb to noun)
conversions in current use are more inane
than the multiple noun constructions of about a decade ago, using a slash in between (e.g.,
jails/prisons) in written communications.
Get a word!
Now, like Dennis said, I'm Outta Here!

What's the dealio?

Something that needs to be seated in a context first.

Rappers talking about "haters" as a way to dodge the natural judgements about what boneheads they are.

actually

it's all good

no worries

exactly!

I add my vote for banning at the end of the day.
and
the bottom line

stepping up to the plate

he or she has a full plate

window of opportunity

"Good job!" exclaimed too often in playgrounds to add unneeded praise that imposes parental approval into the simple fun the child is having.

Also, anything plus "nazi" like soup nazi, hair style nazi, etc.

Some of the phrases that you people are objecting to are stalling devices that people use when they are struggling to connect their thoughts.

Not everybody is gifted at conversation and expressing themselves. I find many of your answers fairly disdainful of people who aren't particularly articulate. The inarticulate do what they can to communicate.

A lot of the other phrases nominated for destruction are either provincial or jargon. It's always sad to hear outsiders complain about insider speak. To them I'd say "build a bridge and get over it."

I despise p.s. said to complete the telling of a story. So Long Island!

"Like" when used to tell a story. "he was like"

"like" when people use like all the time. I make an effort not to use that word when telling a story

People should stop converting nouns to made-up verbs.

For example - when Tyler Florence on the Food Network tells us he is going to "plate" the meal he just prepared (meaning to put it on a plate.)

"Bigot" and "homophobe" -- they're no substitute for real, respectful dialogue.

"dialogue" as a verb
"impact" as a verb ("impacts")
"know what I'm sayin'?"
"promise," when one means "assure"
"no prob'"
"badda bing"

And, online: "lol" or "lmao." Internet-generated acronyms are so pervasive now that my kindergartener (who does not use chat rooms or frequent the internet) affixed a card to a Mother's Day gift that read: "MOM! xo lol" ("Mom! Hug, kiss, laugh out loud"!) I did, indeed, laugh. (In general though, I despise "lol;" it's akin to a sappy emoticon.)

John remarked that "banning" seemed Stalinist; perhaps we might consider "capping and trading." I for one, never got to use "no worries" and kind of like it.

I love this, BUT "It is what it is" doesn't deserve to be banned. It's a statement of the unpredictable, indescribable way of things -- of the fact of circumstance, of the Buddhist notion that we are made up to some extent of seemingly random events beyond our control -- and as such the phrase becomes an elegant expression not only of the fact of life, but of its own existence. And it's far from new: it's an idea as old as belief.

Very Spock.

"Bill and I have spent some time together, we have dinner periodically, and frankly, it's a subject that we avoid," Nimoy said. "It's not a fun subject right now. And I sympathize with him, because I was left out of the 'Next Generation' films. It is what it is."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/cl-et-nimoy11-2009may11,0,5769627.story

"Green", to describe anything even vaguely eco-friendly.

"Not for nothing, but...."

(What the heck does that phrase mean anyway?)

People still use the word "like" in a Valley Girl-ish way. More troubling, one can use it at almost every point in a sentence.

"up-speak" annoys me. That's when someone makes a comment but raises the pitch of his/her voice to imply a question.

"Dude" needs to be banned too.

One word I've been hearing on blogging sites a lot is "Recessionista" and it drives me crazy.

"Recessionista" should refer to our great-grandparents who survived the Great Depression while keeping their kids alive on pennies, not 20-somethings who are now being forced to buy their clothes off the clearance racks at Anthropologie.

I was in a restaurant about a year or so ago. A woman at the next table was loudly explaining that she just heard the best expression. She just loved this new expression. It was so perfect! At this point I'm interested. What's this great phrase? I can't wait to hear. Come on lady, the whole restaurant wants to know: "It is what it is."

BFF and frenemy. Buh-bye!

At the risk of plugging my book, "Slam Dunks and No-Brainer: Pop Language in Your Life, the Media, and Like...Whatever," that's what I'm talkin' about--which is the phrase that is currently driving me nuts.

THE WAY WE LIVE NOW: 5-07-06: ON LANGUAGE; Tautophrases (William Safire, NYT)

It is what it is. This verbal shrugging-off was examined here recently as an example of the use of repetition not for emphasis but for evasion. I called it a tautophrase, a coinage bottomed on tautology, from the Greek for ''redundant.''...

The technique of superfluity can also reflect kindness and generosity: Let bygones be bygones is an adage -- not, of course, an ''old'' adage -- that led to a liberating ''Let Poland be Poland.'' ...

The most famous ''am'' tautophrase is not, as I had it, Popeye's ''I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam!'' Before that, Shakespeare had his Iago say '' I am not what I am.'' In 1611, seven years after he wrote ''Othello,'' the King James Version of the Bible was published. It contained this English translation of Exodus 3:14, quoting God's answer to Moses' request for source attribution at the burning bush: ''I am that I am.'' Subsequent translations of that puzzling phrase include ''I am who I am,'' ''I am what I am'' and ''I shall be as I shall be.'' The sentence is reprised in the New Testament in an epistle (that's a letter) of the apostle Paul, First Corinthians 15:10: ''But by the grace of God I am what I am.''

I announced proudly the finding of an early use of it is what it is dating to 1949. Comes now an ''Aha!'' from Jeffrey Apparius of e-mail-land with this epistle: ''It appears that it (it is, what it is) had also been used (with a comma) in the New York Times 'Topics of the Day' column of Sept. 20, 1851.'' Here it is: ''Whether it is just what it should have been in all its detail The Courier will not say; 'but it is, what it is, and cannot, without destroying it, be made otherwise.' '' Note that quote within a quote; it means that the saying originated before that. We will find it when we find it.

"Step up to the plate" or any other sports reference. "Let's talk offline" while in a face to face meeting

"interesting."

"have a nice day."

"how's everything?"

"Thats so random".

1) metrics (as a way of measuring progress in business)!
2) main street vs. wall street!
3) shovel-ready!

Is there a radio station somewhere with the call letters WTF?

Do NOT say "Kind of"
anymore. Mr Flansburgh.
Please!

" Carbon Footprint "

bitch please ...

"no problem" and show me the money

Regarding one of the callers: "Talk to the hand" comes from the sitcom "Martin" (Martin Lawrence--who also gave us "You go girl!" and "Don't go there!"). He would put his hand in someone's face to stop them from speaking. It's a way of saying "shut up" or "I'm not listening to you."

Talk to the hand comes from "Talk to the hand, 'cause the face ain't going to listen"

The word LIKE as a stutter.

groovy

"...because that's how we got into this mess"

dog trainers have started using "talk to the paw" to describe dogs that blow u off in training

sweet

awesome

whatever

" That is soooo FETCH '

WHEN PHRASES BECOME DRINKING GAMES

When a friend repeats a phrase like "By The Way" or something of that ilk ... before every phrase ...I turn it into a drinking game...fun for all

I Would ban

"That's what I'm talkin' about!"

"creative writing". (redundant) ;-)

"no problem", esp. instead of you're welcome;
also "show me the money"

"the bottom line is..."

going forward

i've got 2:
"effing" - please, either say the swear word or not.
also, "ghetto". self explanatory i think.

I love him/her to death

The world will not miss "the devil's in the details."

My skin crawls when I hear "Not your father's (fill in the blank)______"

"No worries"-wise, in Australia, they sometimes say "no dramas," which I thought was quite funny.

I hate the expression "Not so much" to express disapproval of something.

I loathe 24/7.

i hate "as well too"- how is this even a part of speaking English?

For a certain time - unfortunately - the simple word 'like' has to be banned in all it's definitions due to it's abuse.
At the same time 'you know' should be temporarily banned.
A sentence like 'He, you know, like, never, like even, you know, liked her." could be 'He was never fond of her'

"Right On!" ARGH!

IRW... in the real world

"on the same page"

"Pro-active"

Can't we just be active anymore?

"Long story, short"
and
"Long story, longer"

please get rid of both. i can't even figure out how to correctly use punctuation for that...

and at work - ppl always say - "re-look at" - horifying!

People who say "so, the Reader's Digest version is" AFTER they give you their extended Encyclopedia Britannica version!

"touch base"

White American Guys Calling each Other:

"Bro"

SNORE..!!

If it's not already been mentioned, and I can't imagine it hasn't, how about: "it is what it is." A guy in my office used to say it all the time, and every time, I wanted to knock him out. How defeatist!

Absolutely....Absolutely....Absolutely

sorry brian - I'm tired of "drill down" - it sounds like boosterism for big oil

I hate "on the same page"

and - "it is what it is"

Robust. Enough already.

"That said"

"whatnot"
"this, that, and the other thing"

"sugar rush"

"and...scene!"

and "let's take it to the next level."

please, make it stop!

impact where affect is perfectly good (impact only for extremes)

incentivize

Ban "cool"!

Not a problem.
and
Have a good one.

Also "last and final." So redundant...used to be like third and final...

1) "shovel ready"
2) "metrics' as a way of measuring workplace progress -- when did everyone start using that stupic word?
3) "main street/wall street"

I have three candidates:

- Multitasking
- Back in the day (what day? does anyone know?)
- 24/7

All three of these suck (which should also be banned)

I am tired of "It is what it is"

Ban: "No problem" in response to "thank you." You are welcome would be appreciated.

Ban: The straw that broke the camel's back. Corny!!!

Pushback.

That's just wrong.

On some level....

"no worries"

this is SO annoying!

"You working hard or hardly working"

"Actuality" Is that even a word?!!!

"In these tough economic times."

And I second banning "amazing." Especially when pronounced as "a-MAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY-zing."

Dick Cheney.

[something] "may or may not be"

pretty much covers everything and says nothing

Grok. Don't ever using the word grok

I never had a problem with it before the 2008 election, but I just can't hear the word "maverick" anymore. It's like nails on a chalk board.

Most Important!

"So, ..."
"I mean, ..."
"If you will"
"At first blush"
"At the end of the day"
Anything to do with "the table," on or off.

Run these up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes!

Ban "My bad" especially by an adult!

Let's ban "back in the day" ......... from anyone, but especially from someone who hasn't lived long enough to have a "back in the day."

"AMAZING!"

..this has to be the most casually over-used word I can think of.

"This pasta is AMAZING!" Really? You are actually amazed by the pasta?
"Those shoes are AMAZING!" No kidding?

Maybe people are just more easily amazed these days. Seriously, next party count how many times you hear the word.

Runner-up: "B-T-Dubs" (for BTW)

Anything that shortens a beautiful sound to a blunt one: Guantanamo becomes Gitmo; Alex Rodriguez becomes A-rod…are we really too lazy to say an extra syllable or two?

"Sustainable."

A pseudo-scientific all purpose nothing. Used everywhere from lazy radio reporters to advocates believing that by using the term they inhabit the high moral ground. I can't go a day listening to the radio without hearing it several times. Mostly I don't think it's used with any idea of whether it's accurate in the context or not.

"Impact" is used too frequently in business. I think people use it because they don't know the difference between "effect" and "affect." Meteors have impact not changes in corporate philosophy.

Incentivise - it's not a word
Like
Hopefully - almost always used incorrectly
Actually

Ban, "i'm just sayin" and "boots on the ground"

People (especially on television, not so much on radio) punctuate their sentences with the phrase “you know.” Sometimes it can be used multiple times in one sentence. When that happens I find myself counting the “you knows” and losing track of what is being said.

Amazing! Applied to almost anything. "It's not that big (good, bad, etc.) of a deal. Get rid of the "of'.

"ily"

Short for 'I Love You.' If you really love someone, can't you take enough time to say "I love you." Really, it's only one extra syllable.

If I believed in censorship I would have the term "baby mama" banned!

"Pushing the Envelope"
"Thinking Outside the Box"
"Edgey"

Ban the use of the word "race" as it is not biologically meaningful yet perpetuates the idea that there are absolute group-specific character traits. Along with the word "race," ban the use of "they" and "them" when speaking of any group, for these words are nonsensical -- unless one means what is true for all human beings, without exception -- e.g. "They all breathe and they all die."

Alberta Handelman
Bloomfield, NJ
WNPR Member since 1997

very (absolute unique thing)

very full
very universal
very completed
very unique
very singular
very perfect

there is
highly astoundignly amazingly quite completely remrkably etc etc.

it's all good (when it's really not!)

how are you? ( when you really don't care about the answer)

Impactful...ugh, over reaching at its worst.

"In these dangerous times" as well as any other expression of hysteria and paranoia.

Not to be said:

The word "area"

following a noun

Twenty-Four-Seven!

Five syllables to replace two perfectly servicable terms of three syllables each;
"All the Time" and "Constantly"

moratorium on superlatives, especially "incedibly":

"incredibly healthy"
"worked incredibly hard"

etc.

if it's not credible, than perhaps it should not be alleged...?

I would love to lose what seems to me a relatively new locution:
"That's what I'm talking about!"
used solely to agree with something someone else has said, and the user has not in fact talked about whatever "that" is him- or herself.

"agree to agree"

I know what's banned in the TMBG's "van": Are we there yet?

Not to be said:

The word "area"
when it follows a noun.

Unfortunately, 'like' has to have a period of being banned in all it's definitions due to it's abuse. Also banning 'You know' at the same time would get us back to normal sentences!

STOP SAYING "THE KICKER IS". PLEASE. I BEG YOU.

Omit "whatever" from speech when used to respond dismissively to something that has just been said.

"Contributions to public radio are necessary if we are to have intelligent broadcasting."

"Whatever."

I heart....anything

...at the end of the day. Used to mean, when the issue being discussed has run its course.

in a sentence:

We're excited about the proactive synergy of our company's massively leveraged, pro-consumer life-hack, but at the end of the day, does it get us women?

Sorry, but the word literally has got to go--or at least be put on serious probation. Specifically in the following formulation:

Mr. X wrote the book on topic Y, literally.

And while we're at it, the following deserves banishment as well:

A quick Google search reveals . . .

Still waiting to hear the results of all those slow Google searches.

Irregardless. Not a word, regardless of what other people have told you.

"Bling" (the actual cool people moved on from this about 7 years ago)

and I wish white people would stop forcing themselves to say "Fiddy" when mentioning "50 Cent." It really is okay to pronounce it "Fifty"! (on the off chance you have to reference him at all)

"mafia" (when used as a metaphor, rather than a reference to the actual mafia).

IRREGARDLESS

&

CONVERSATE

Come on people, they are even words!

Anything ending with "the internets" or "the interwebs"

" Its all good '

24-7 drives me nuts.

If I hear "same ol' same ol'" again I'll scream!

"No offense, but..." sort of like "With all due respect", as mentioned above. It excuses the speaker from seeming rude while criticizing but also exposes them as a complete coward!

Dude is number one. Rock as in "rock that dress", baby bump, drop as in "my new CD drops", and two that Brian uses- shout out, and unpack. Oh and tweet.

"how the sausage is made"
"thrown under a bus"

These two started being applied to everything in the news one week! Everything was a sausage factory! From democracy to the media!

I actually kind of like it, but it exploded with overuse.

"Hone in on." Drives me crazy.

Also, "Intergalactic" for any movie or TV story taking place in space. It's ALWAYS wrong. (The galaxies are way too far apart.) They mean "interplanetary" or "interstellar." The Times gets this wrong constantly!

Oh My G, er... where do I begin, irregardless of whether or not I could care less about these expressions...

How about anything that contradicts itself:
"If the team wins tonight then they can control their own destiny"

Excuse me, if they "control" it, then it's not "destiny"

And how about the "walk the talk" all over the place - ?
You Walk The Walk, or else the "talk" is meaningless...

Hey, did Mr. Lopate weigh in on this? I think Ms. Patricia McCann can assist us... ya think?

Hey not my prob!

"Oh, my God". A phrase that seems to be used by everyone, believers or not.

"Pledge Drive"

Blogosphere.

"Doubleyoo-tee-eff" and "Oh-em-gee"

"Meanwhile" any time it is used by news people:

"A Taliban bomb killed 50 people in Lahore. Meanwhile, the Dow dropped 120 points."

Back in the day

I have only three words to add to the list:

1. AWESOME

2. PLANET

3. DUDE

"It's not my job!" such an excuse!

By the way, I'm an architect who used to work with Earl Flansburgh (Jonh's father) back in Boston. Earl would never say that!

"With all due respect."

Any statement starting this way means the exact opposite.

“What happened?”

In Sunset Park, when someone doesn’t understand you, they might say “What happened?” instead of, “Could you say that again?” Drives me nuts.

It would be fun if you asked John and John what music they are listening to and what music has inspired them over the years.

"Its a no-brainer" should be banned from the lexicon.
It's usually used by people with no-brains to begin with looking for an easy way out.

At the end of the day....

Frankly

Using the "f" as an adjective or a filler word. I hear this constantly walking along the streets of NYC. "She f-in went to the f-in store and got some f-in, you know, burger buns." or "I f-in needs some f-in coffee. F!"

You know what the f I mean.

"Oh my god!" by any girl between the ages of 9 and 17.

My sole suggestion:

"Dow 36,000!"

"Dow 36,000" was a book by James Glassman and Kevin Hassett back in the late 1990's; it predicted the Dow would hit 36,000 in the space of a few short years.

I should have every hope that the title haunts them, but I instead have every certainty that nothing haunts people who can write a book called "Dow 36,000".

Maybe if they took a zero off the end, we could make it.

In a perfect world, Glassman and Hassett will end up homeless in Central Park, condemned to shouting "Dow 36,000!" to disinterested passersby.