Some words, it seems, are better than others. And then there are words that have a way of being downright annoying.
For the record, we have one word (well, sort of two words smooshed together) that has been winning the “Most Obnoxious Word Award” for 11 years running.
Whatever.
Ugh. There I said it. We knew a guy who owned a coffee shop in Eaton. He would throw around “Whatever” like a batting machine throws baseballs. Mary thought he was funny. I found him tiresome. Whatever.
There are quite a few words that seem to annoy the majority of Americans. Well, words besides “Trump.” Just for the posterity of things. A sidebar. I will no longer play any card games where I have to ask, What’s Trump this hand? It makes me go off on long tangents trying to explain the unexplainable vortex of negativity where there ought to be a human.
But I digress.
The annoying word list for the past two years?
In 2017:
Whatever: 33%
Fake news: 23%
No offense, but: 20%
Literally: 11%
You know what I mean: 10%
And, for those of you who like to keep score at home, here were the words that annoyed the heck out of Americans in 2016:
Whatever: 38%
No offense, but: 20%
You know, right?: 14%
I can’t even: 14%
Huge: 8%
Thankfully, I do not frequent these. At least, not that I am aware of. As far as I am concerned, there are much better things to do with the English Language than take the easy way out. Yes, those shortcuts. Like cursing. Or declaring something “It is what it is.” Another pet peeve of mine. I guess you could say “It is what it is.” Or not.
The ones that Politician’s often use, those catch-phrases, also get my goat. “At the end of the day….” “Having said that” “Thinking outside the box”
Oh sure. They all might have merit, here and there. I should probably loosen up. Oh, but you see, I am picky about my socks too. Call me fastidious.
The truth is this. Our language is a marvelous thing to use, if we so choose.
Consider this. There is a new word added to the dictionary every two hours.
And sometimes, in that very good dictionary, there are human errors. Misprints and such. They call them “Ghost Words.” Take for instance the word “dord.” It appeared in the Dictionary for eight consecutive years until they caught the error. The Ghost Words mean nothing. But I’ll use one in a sentence anyway.
President Trump is a TOTAL Dord. I mean, what a big dord.
I’m joking, all you Trump Fans. Just playing with you a bit.
Yes, our words.
The shortest sentence, in all of the English Language is…..
I am.
And that is exactly right.
You are. I am too. And because of that, we can make a great difference in this world of ours. If we want. With our words. With our actions. With all we do.
Thankfully, that can always be, the language of us.
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“Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.”
― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
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“I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine.”
― Emily Dickinson
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“The only important thing in a book is the meaning that it has for you.”
― W. Somerset Maugham
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