This week I read several news stories about a recent Marist poll of the most annoying words. "Whatever" and "you know" came out on top.I love this survey, but I'm at odds with the results. I don't mind "whatever" or "you know," and I even downright love "at the end of the day," which was also on the respondents' hate list.
But maybe this is because my peeps and I (okay, mostly my brother and I) love to use them for fun and effect. In fact, we regularly use "I know, right?" to make each other laugh and because it's fun to say. Plus it gets your agreement across quite nicely. For instance, one of us will say, "I'm dying for some nachos," and the other will agree with "I know, right?" Instantly the first one knows, yeah, she likes nachos, too, and she's in a fun, playful mood. It's shorthand for "I agree and I'm in a good mood."
As for "whatever," I've instructed my sons to say this to themselves when something annoys them. It seems to me it's a useful mantra when you're prone to fits of high emotion (which would be everyone in my family). I've been imagining an essay I could write titled "Thanks 'Whatever,' " in which I discuss how saying "whatever" to themselves has helped my sons handle their bursts of anger and frustration.
That said, I do hate certain words and phrases. The top of my list has to be "We're sorry for any inconvenience this may cause." Oh my god, just writing it is making my blood run hot.
I'll have to save that discussion for another post.Too annoyed to write now.
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