Current Phrases You Can't Stand

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

"I can see your voice."

I don't even know what that means. Does the speaker have synesthesia?

[DiapDealer]

It's the title of a new TV show on Fox that I keep seeing the commercial for.

Each week one contestant will have the chance to win a cash prize if he or she can tell the difference between the good and bad singers, without ever hearing them sing a note. Helping the contestant navigate through rounds of lip sync challenges, hilarious hidden clues and true-or-false evidence will be a panel of celebrity comedians/experts and a musical superstar. In the end, the singers whom the contestants pick will reveal if they are good or bad in a duet performance with the musical superstar, resulting in an amazing musical collaboration or a totally hilarious train wreck.

[arjaybe]

Oh, a pun.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

It's the title of a new TV show on Fox that I keep seeing the commercial for.

That description sure didn't make me want to see the show.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

That description sure didn't make me want to see the show.

Nor I. That, coupled with possibly the stupidest title ever ruled it out for me. But then again, even the more aptly titled "Guess who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket without hearing them sing" wouldn't have convinced me to watch, either.

[BetterRed]

Passing Strange

Why is it popping up so often. I get the impression from some usages that the speaker/writer thinks it comes from a Victorian novel - e.g Austen or one of the Brontë sisters.

It's from Othello

---

Out of an abundance of caution… - when politicians and their toady bureaucrats use it.

BR

[4691mls]

"They" used as a pronoun for a person who doesn't identify as "he" or "she". Before the PC police jump all over me - I DO understand that some people don't want to be called "he" or "she" and I don't have a problem with that. I just think we need a new singular word. The plural "they" is confusing to me.

For example, not long ago I heard a news story on NPR's All Things Considered and I thought the reporter was talking about multiple people. Eventually I realized out they were actually talking about just one person who didn't identify as "he" or "she".

[arjaybe]

The epicene "they" as a third person singular pronoun is regaining acceptance. It was banished by grammar cops in the 19th century after it had been common in English for centuries. Even when I was growing up it was common amongst my peers and had to be trained out of us in school. I'm glad it's making a comeback.

[pdurrant]

I've got a late complaint just come in from the 17th Century:

Thomas Ellwood would like to condemn the “corrupt and unsound form of speaking in the plural number to a single person, you to one, instead of thou, contrary to the pure, plain and single language of truth, thou to one and you to more than one.”
—The History of the life of Thomas Ellwood

[GrannyGrump]

As a contrary comment, one thing that makes me happy is that in the twentieth century, babies and small children began to be referred to by gender, instead of "IT". I find that antique usage very annoying.

[tempest@de]

"you know"

Not sure if this is common or if I just lucked out, I was listening to a podcast and the host and the guest used this expression a lot, it seemed that it was used at the end of every sentenc, by the end it was rather annoying.

[DNSB]

"ummm"

Not a phrase but one talk show my wife had on, the guest used that about 3 times in every sentence. "Ummm, I was in California, ummm, for about 3 months and then, ummm, I relocated to Atlanta, ummm, due to a new role."

[arjaybe]

On a similar note, "and, uh ..." I think it's mostly to hold the floor.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by tempest@de

"you know"

Not sure if this is common or if I just lucked out, I was listening to a podcast and the host and the guest used this expression a lot, it seemed that it was used at the end of every sentenc, by the end it was rather annoying.

It's common in everyday casual speaking, especially with younger people, but it used to be rare among professional broadcasters. However, I've heard it more often from reporters in the last year or so. I find it really annoying.

[GrannyGrump]

@ tempest@de

"You know" is very common in much of the American Midwest -- Wisconsin, Minnesota, northern Illinois --- you often hear it a lot on broadcasts of Chicago sports....