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November 7, 2008 8:31 AM PST

Top 10 Most Irritating Expressions in the English language

by Dave Rosenberg
  • 7 comments

A Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare is a new book by Jeremy Butterfield that "takes a thorough look at the English language and exposes its peculiarities and penchants, its development and difficulties, revealing exactly how it operates."

Top 10 Most Annoying Phrases
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
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science

I'm a notorious pain-in-the-neck when it comes to poor word choice and business-speak. The words above (and so many more) are crutches for weak vocabularies.

My most hated fake/real word is incentivize. Eg. "I will incentivize the staff with a talk titled RIP Good Times."

I also get annoyed when people start statements with "hopefully", as in "Hopefully, someone will read this post and leave a comment that illustrates my genius."

For the record I take no responsibility for my own actions or statements.

Via Wired

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About Software, Interrupted

In "Software, Interrupted," Dave Rosenberg discusses disruption in the software market, as well as the products and services that keep business technology norms in perpetual flux.

With nearly 15 years of technology and marketing experience spanning from Bell Labs to multiple start-up IPOs, Dave co-founded open-source software company MuleSource and now serves as general manager of Hardy Way. He also happens to be a U.S. patent holder and a workaholic. Technology is his best friend and mortal enemy.

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