Words that make you grind your teeth

[scheherazade_79]

exciting

Over-used corporate adjective, used to introduce anything that's new and slightly crap.

'We do hope you enjoy your exciting new reception layout' - we've installed a couple of potted plants from Ikea.

'We welcome you to an exciting new era of dentistry' - from now on you'll have to pay for your treatment because we don't take NHS patients anymore.

Newspaper headline: 'Gordon Brown speaks of exciting times ahead' - very soon you'll be walking or cycling to work, and your main meal of the day will be locally-grown cabbage soup. Welcome to the 21st century.

 

[scheherazade_79]

challenging

Years ago badly-behaved kids were "little sods" or "louts" or "reprobates" or "yobs" or even plain "antisocial".

These days they just exhibit 'challenging' behaviour...

 

[where]

I love you!

 

[scheherazade_79]

special

I don't get how this has come to mean anyone with a learning difficulty or physical disability.

In fact it's one of those words that's been misused to such an extent that it's developed its own stigma, meaning that very soon another cotton candy word will be snatched and manipulated for this purpose.

And for what it's worth, Mencap recently launched a campaign against the phrase "learning difficulty" and insisted it was more politically correct to say "mental handicap".

 

[scheherazade_79]

I love you!

Trust me, I've only just begun

 

[scheherazade_79]

Hard of hearing

Why is it wrong to say that someone is "deaf" these days? You don't say that people are "hard of seeing" nor "hard of walking", so why "hard of hearing"?

 

[scheherazade_79]

Plenary

Suddenly all meetings, lectures and conferences have to have one of these.

What it really means is that they've run out of things to say and are going to fill the time in by repeating everything they've said so far.

I used the plenary technique in a German oral exam at uni when I was stoned, and it only scraped me 41%. So why do business professionals think it's such a good thing to use?

 

[where]

I don't get how this has come to mean anyone with a learning difficulty or physical disability.

In fact it's one of those words that's been misused to such an extent that it's developed its own stigma, meaning that very soon another cotton candy word will be snatched and manipulated for this purpose.

And for what it's worth, Mencap recently launched a campaign against the phrase "learning difficulty" and insisted it was more politically correct to say "mental handicap".

Usually it's reserved for learning difficulties. I told my daughter a couple of years ago she was a really special person and she hit the roof

People first prefer learning difficulties and that's what I stick with, though it needs clarification Stateside. If Mencap are really saying that, I suspect they will really fuck off self advocacy groups. Handicap has been taboo for years.

Why is it wrong to say that someone is "deaf" these days? You don't say that people are "hard of seeing" nor "hard of walking", so why "hard of hearing"?

You can say some one is Deaf (note the capital) if they identify culturally with being Deaf. In disability rights, hearing or sight impaired tends to be the preferred terms.

I hate it when people say 'at this moment in time'. Makes me feel violent.

 

[scheherazade_79]

Helping the police with their enquiries...

'Last night a 24 year old woman was stabbed to death in her garden. A man was found at the scene and proceeded to attack four officers with a machete, shouting "Come and 'ave it, you f***ing pigs. He is now helping the police with their enquiries.'

What a kind and thoughtful thing for him to do...

 

[scheherazade_79]

Usually it's reserved for learning difficulties. I told my daughter a couple of years ago she was a really special person and she hit the roof

I'm not surprised!

Handicap has been taboo for years.

I don't get why, though. You can have one in golf - why not in life?

I hate it when people say 'at this moment in time'. Makes me feel violent.

I hate the sybillant S that some people use in the middle of "tissue". It makes me want to punch them.

 

[scheherazade_79]

Self-Assessment

It's when managers / relevant authorities are too damn lazy to write a report about you, so they get you to do it yourself.

 

[where]

I'm not surprised!



I don't get why, though. You can have one in golf - why not in life?

Handicap has deeply negative connotations. Now society tends to be moving towards accepting disability is a social construct and form of oppression, words like handicapped, retarded, crippled etc are moving out of the discourse around disability. They are now replaced with more neutral terms and those which place the individual before the impairment so rather than saying someone is wheelchair bound, they are described as using a wheelchair and so on.

I bet you wished you never asked now! I'm probably the only critical disability academic on here

 

[scheherazade_79]

Handicap has deeply negative connotations. Now society tends to be moving towards accepting disability is a social construct and form of oppression, words like handicapped, retarded, crippled etc are moving out of the discourse around disability. They are now replaced with more neutral terms and those which place the individual before the impairment so rather than saying someone is wheelchair bound, they are described as using a wheelchair and so on.

I bet you wished you never asked now! I'm probably the only critical disability academic on here

"retarded" and "crippled" I can understand... and I guess "handicapped" falls into the same category because it implies you can't do something as well as the average person.

But doesn't "disability" imply the same thing?

I'm not wishing I never asked! It's interesting! And I'm glad I found you. You're a wealth of information on this! Thank you

 

[scheherazade_79]

Coloured

I don't think it's used that much any more, but there was a point in time when it was wrong to say that someone was "black" and instead you had to call them "coloured".

It was dropped when black people announced they hated it and would prefer to be called black.

It was a stupid word, anyway, because it always made me think of Joseph's coat, and you'd start imagining someone with green ears, a blue nose, a yellow neck and rainbow coloured eyes.

 

[oggbashan]

Improvement

Our local council has a programme of improvement of our Tourist Information Offices.

That improvement means closing two of them and replacing them with information boards and leaflet stands.

Og

PS. An appendix admits that they save 40,000 pounds a year... and a commercial interest (pub chain) has expressed interest in the building occupied by one of our Tourist Information Offices because it's in the centre of our seafront...

 

[scheherazade_79]

Improvement

Our local council has a programme of improvement of our Tourist Information Offices.

That improvement means closing two of them and replacing them with information boards and leaflet stands.

Og

PS. An appendix admits that they save 40,000 pounds a year... and a commercial interest (pub chain) has expressed interest in the building occupied by one of our Tourist Information Offices because it's in the centre of our seafront...

I guess "improvement" is purely subjective...

That sucks, Ogg

 

[oggbashan]

I guess "improvement" is purely subjective...

That sucks, Ogg

I know. I told them so at a meeting last night. The ruling party voted it through by their block vote.

What is worse is that it is a national initiative supported by Visit Britain. Try contacting a local Tourist Information Office through their website...

I get another chance to rant at them next month. It won't make any difference because they are really short of money. The government expects all local councils in England to make efficiency savings every year, doesn't up their contribution to match the real cost of inflation, and then wonders why services aren't delivering. The savings from the last few years and government underfunding have meant a cut of at least 10% in real terms and continuing. There is also a deliberate shift of funding from the South of England to the North - where are people moving to? The South, from the North. Where are labour costs higher? The South. Where are there more immigrants arriving? The South. What half of England is politically coloured Blue? That's irrelevant.

Og

 

[where]

we had 'improvements' to our little town as well. £150k was spent installing a traffic light and narrowing a section of road, only for it to be removed 4 months later when the congestion became intolerable. The rationale for installing said light was that 'every town should have traffic lights'. I kid you not.

 

[rgraham666]

I don't get why, though. You can have one in golf - why not in life?

Because many people regard life as a race to the finish line with winner take all for the first across the line. A handicap means a person is a lot less likely to do that.

Such people also tend to regard handicaps as a choice, a sign of weakness and stupidity, indeed as a sin.

My own 'words that make me grind my teeth' is 'Human Resources'. Which is what it reduces human being to.

 

[neonlyte]

help, but

when proceeded by 'I would like to...'

Just say no, or piss off! Then we know where we stand.


Any official letter beginning: 'I'm afraid... or We've check our records, but...

... it usually means they've run out of time to do the job they are supposed and are hoping you might go away.

Any first word in a letter from a publisher or agent... I admit I'm prejudice and could be persuaded to change my view.

 

[scheherazade_79]

My own 'words that make me grind my teeth' is 'Human Resources'. Which is what it reduces human being to.

*shudders*

In a way we're resources anyway.

The UK government wants to raise the retirement age - that way you get more work out of people before you have to start paying out to look after them. Also, the closer to death you pension them off, the less money you'll have to pay. It's a killer saving.

And the new anti-smoking, anti-drinking, healthy eating drive... As Hitler once said - "It is your duty to keep your body healthy so that you can serve the Reich..."

 

[rgraham666]

I'm remembering an old Pogo comic strip, where Walt Kelly was making fun of Madison Avenue and the Soviet Union at the same time.

"Oh I hope our noble scientists create a live-forever serum so I can work and work and work and work and work."

 

[tickledkitty]

I despise the phrase if you will. What the hell does that mean, anyway?
Especially if someone does the little "quotes" thingy with their fingers right before it.

The Bungledorf Spa creates a "time out for mommies," if you will, with its state-of-the-art facilities, highly trained personnel, and..."

Bleh.

The real problem with using if you will is that it becomes habit forming rather quickly, especially for middle management types.

 

[Recidiva]

I have an aversion to people who say "super simple."

Too much Food Network and Fine Living Channels, I suppose.

If you watch "Shopping With Chefs" you can build a drinking game around it.

 

[jomar]

"at the end of the day"

this phrase makes me gag