Margaret Serious

The most annoying language: a list to enjoy and avoid

Author’s note: My fellow blogger D.B. commented here and suggested a list of the most annoying language. My “watch this space” comes true today, with thanks to him.

Challenges — Too often used to mean handicaps or disabilities, not puzzles.

Civil disobedience — Disobeying unjust laws can be done peacefully, without looting. I doubt that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his role model, Mohandas K. Gandhi, would agree to use this peaceful term for the riots and looting of today. If you see a riot. call it one.

Expeditiously — a very slow way to say “quickly.”

Expedite — speed up. It’s a syllable shorter.

Hopefully — I may be backing a lost cause here, but I still say it’s a stage direction. I hope that readers will remember that. Written as diaologue in a play, that could be MARGARET (hopefully): Please, defend this word!

Literal — getting overused. How about “exact” or “precise” at times?

Metaphorically — fine if it IS a metaphor, but if it could be a simile, “figuratively” will do.

That’s an elementary list of my favorite culprits among the annoying words. Feel free to add to it in the comments section.

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Filed under:
Words worth avoiding, Words Worth Defending