Marmite

Brodiej

It has become apparent in my workplace that a new buzz word has entered the vocabulary of our team members when talking about work related topics. The phrase is "its marmite, you either love it or you hate it........."


What vomit inducing phrases have come about in the last 12 months for you? Its stuff like this that makes me look at properties in Portugal for £20k, and think there is another life.

Can you imagine talking to your mate and saying "your girlfriend is a bit Marmite"

....repeat until funny...or discuss

miss annie

'it's all gravy' acually makes me feel physically sick, and I've heard quite enough of 'yes we can'.

checkski

Is this going to be a thread about detested locutions in the modern world. Goodee, if so. You youngsters will find you collect more of them, the older and grumpier you get. Personally, I wish you'd all go back to speaking the way we did in the 50's. My teachers had a similar nostalgia for the 30's, linguistically , if not politically. And so on.

So where shall I start? This will take some thought, and I must get on. I know:

YUMMY, SCRUMMY, and similar infantilisms. CRISPY!! Bugger off, Crispy! Whatever happened to your more dignified parent, CRISP?

Stand by for shovel loads of abuse, Checkski. Plus hopefully a few more delightful prejudices.

Grumpies of the world unite!

Marquis

Can't really stop, just have to throw in 'hubby'. Blargh.

checkski

I don't mind hubby, but don't much care for 'blargh', Marquis. Others will squirm at my 'goodee', above. Keep 'em coming! This is royal fun.

Arkady

‘It’s been a real rollercoaster ride’

David

_literally 110%_ in a myriad of permutations.

miss annie

DH, DD and all of those mummyweb abbreviations. @checkski If you gave lessons in how to speak 1950's English or, even better, 1930's I'd sign up.

Marquis

Here again! I also more or less agree with everything Lucy Kellaway writes in her [columns](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7453584.stm) on business-speak (they are really in the FT but you'd have to sign up to read them). Sorry to have annoyed you, checkski. I thought blargh was a word I had spontaneously made up but after your comment I found it was already on urban dictionary.

Brodiej

*****Stop Press******

Just been in a meeting where someone used the word "tangible-isation". this referred to changing a concept into a prototype. I had to smile.

No need (Mark & Lard style voice)

andy

this is a sick thread

miss annie

I had to ask a teenager to explain the use of 'sick' the first time I heard it in something other than the usual context.

dion

A colleague of mine at work said 'in all seriosity' - I was lost for words.

JBJ

Can we go for pronunciation too? I really dislike "harassed" with the stress on the second "a". It always used to be on the first. I blame Frank Spencer from "Some Mothers do 'ave 'em" - he was meant to be a joke, not a linguistic role-model - and the Americans of course.

missisclack

Not really a made up word, more of a vocal tick, but I really can't stand the way John Humphrys goes 'ahhhhh!' when he thinks whoever he's interviewing has tripped up with some comment or other that Humphrys can challenge or use and debating amunition. Oh, it right winds me up of a morning.

sparkyley

'at the end of the day' a phrase used by the once popular keys and gray duo really pissed me off.

taff bach

a.s.a.p. is butters,'lowit,don't be extra. Miss Annie is buff.

Siolae

"normalcy". Hate the word. It is just wrong on so many levels. Also hate "y'know" and "yeah" when used as punctuation. And obviously "That's so gay." Truly loath when people use acronyms when speaking: LOL OMG BTW. Really just makes me want to punch them. That and if anyone calls me "dear".

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Roy

Things like "dear" can be very regional. There are parts of the country where it is perfectly normal to addresses complete strangers as "love".

My pet hate is people writing "could of", "would of", etc, for "could've", "would've". And the "gay" thing. Neither of those are new within the last twelve months, though.

-roy

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ShaunG

"haitch" is entirely standard among Irish people. And wasn't "normalcy" in a Woodrow Wilson quote? Many of the most irritating offenders turn out not to be very new. In management speak, I'm hearing a lot of "we've got to land the following points...". The sort of thing that most annoys me is the witless repetition of mantras like "we've got to achieve more with less" because it sounds good rather than because the speaker has any notion of how you might actually do it.

Siolae

Oops failed to read the bit that the thread was about new stuff. "Haitch" and "aitch" are one of the key ways to tell if someone is Catholic or Protestant in Ulster. "Haitch" is Catholic and "aitch" is Protestant.

andy

I'm going to make a general appeal against nouns being turned in verbs. Two examples: - Olympic athletes now talk about "medalling". *"It was a great performance out there and she'll be delighted that she medalled."* - At Christmas, there were lots of signs about "gifting". *"This bag of premium coffee, is perfect for gifting"*. Unacceptable.

Roy

@siolae: well, it was originally about new linguistic nasties but it seems to have broadened its remit

@andy: I don't like that second quote either, but I'm sure "gift" is legitimately a verb. I don't think talking about someone gifting something to someone is a neologism, particularly in technical contexts such as taxation.

-roy (now *this* close to being N4)

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andy

Roy - whatever its specialist uses, it is not acceptable on a sign in Starbucks.

Roy

Apropos of nothing in particular, "Gift" is the German word for poison.

Roy

I was trying to Google for the use of the word "gift" as a verb in a context that sounds correct (to my ears at least). How's this:

"India’s first president Rajendra Prasad would never have imagined that land gifted to him in 1940 for starting an educational institution would allegedly be grabbed by the very Congress party of which he had been a member."

To my mind, that paragraph reads perfectly naturally.

I agree that the Starbuck's sign is wrong, but it's more subtle than just using "gift" as a verb, and I can't quite put my finger on it.

andy

I didn't come on this thread to be corrected.

Roy

Hey, I'm not trying to be contradictory - I just find this stuff interesting :-)