{"id":5490,"date":"2009-09-02T00:07:37","date_gmt":"2009-09-02T04:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anglicansamizdat.wordpress.com\/?p=5490"},"modified":"2009-09-02T00:07:37","modified_gmt":"2009-09-02T04:07:37","slug":"irritating-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/irritating-english\/","title":{"rendered":"Irritating English"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most irritating phrases<\/a> in the English language:<\/p>\n

There are those who wince and curse whenever a TV pundit or sports spieler speaks the familiar words, “at the end of the day.” This usually announces that what follows will be empty of meaning. Even when the pundit has something of consequence to say, those six words anaesthetize the listener, encouraging them to miss the point. No wonder Jeremy Butterfield’s book, Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare (Oxford University Press), places “at the end of the day” right at the head of the “Top 10 Most Irritating Expressions in the English Language.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is a selection of phrases that irritate me; large companies are fecund breeding grounds for such stinkers:<\/p>\n

On a daily basis \u2013 what\u2019s wrong with \u201cevery day\u201d?<\/p>\n

In a timely manner \u2013 pretentious way of saying \u201con time\u201d<\/p>\n

Failure is not an option \u2013 oh dear, I was <\/em>going to choose it<\/p>\n

Mission statement \u2013 cue for meaningless drivel<\/p>\n

Vision statement \u2013 cue for more meaningless drivel<\/p>\n

Think outside the box \u2013 cue for mental vacuity<\/p>\n

Proactive \u2013 an energetic lady of the night<\/p>\n

Go forward position \u2013 head pointing in same direction as feet<\/p>\n

Audit ready posture \u2013 bent over<\/p>\n

Executive summary – a series of clich\u00e9s intended to pacify illiterate Vice Presidents<\/p>\n

Pursuit of excellence \u2013 thank you, Michael Bird<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The most irritating phrases in the English language: There are those who wince and curse whenever a TV pundit or sports spieler speaks the familiar words, “at the end of the day.” This usually announces that what follows will be … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":3,"footnotes":""},"categories":[132],"tags":[2129],"class_list":["post-5490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","tag-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5490\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}