Irritating Phrases in the English Language

Oxford's Top Ten List of Annoying Expressions

Nov 19, 2008 Kendall Hopwood

Oxford University researchers have compiled a list of the top ten most irritating phrases in the English language.

Systematically analyzing global usage of the English language through the Oxford University Corpus, researchers have identified the words and phrases that truly get under people’s skin.

Jeremy Butterfield, lexicographer and author of Oxford A to Z of English Usage, identifies the ten most irritating words and phrases in the English language in his book A Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare.

The Oxford University Corpus

The list of irritating phrases is one of the many byproducts of the Oxford University Corpus, an extensive and dynamic database that compiles texts—both written and spoken—in electronic form. Containing over 200 billion words of 21st century English, the Oxford University Corpus provides evidence of actual and contextual language usage worldwide. The database documents various forms of the English language ranging from literary novels, specialist journals, magazines and newspapers to blogs, chatrooms and emails.

The Purpose of the Oxford University Corpus

Not only does the corpus aid lexicographers in writing accurate and meaningful dictionary entries for words, the database is also scrutinized by a variety of software applications. This software is used to analyze the corpus and see how words are used in context, how new words and trends are emerging, how spelling is changing, how frequently words are used, or to spot differences in English across the globe. Furthermore, the corpus is used to reveal variations of words, uses of jargon, changes in word form (such as two-word phrases becoming single words, including the transformation of some day to someday), patterns in closely associated words and the progression of misusages into accepted, standard language.

The Top Ten Most Irritating Phrases

Though expressions such as “ironically” and “literally” annoy people when used out of context, these two didn’t top the list compiled by Oxford researchers. Neither did the rhetorical question so frequently tacked on to the end of a thought, “you know?” Some of the phrases claiming the ultimate cringe-factor started as office jargon and eventually seeped into standard usage, though many of the expected culprits—such as “win-win situation” or “from a high level standpoint” – still weren’t grating enough to steal the spotlight.

According to the research compiled via the Oxford University Corpus, the top ten most irritating phrases are:

  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

Further Reading

To learn more about the Oxford University Corpus, including its structure, form, history and purpose, visit AskOxford.com. Butterfield’s book, A Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare, further examines the nuances of language through the corpus, using plentiful examples to reveal the nature of the English language.

The copyright of the article Irritating Phrases in the English Language in Literary Culture is owned by Kendall Hopwood. Permission to republish Irritating Phrases in the English Language in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Jeremy Butterfield: Damp Squid, Oxford University Press Jeremy Butterfield: Damp Squid
   
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