It's not just you!

Yvonne, consider the following:
In symple speche as I couthe,
That is lightest in mannes mouthe,
I mad noght for no disours,
Ne for no seggers, no harpours,
Bot for the luf of symple men
That strange Inglis can not ken.
- Robert Mannyng, A History of England
Ye knowe ek, in forme of speche is chaunge
Withinne a thousand yer, and wordes tho
That hadden prys now wonder nyce and straunge
Us thenketh hem, and yet they spake hem so,
And spedde as wel in love as men now do.
- Geoffrey Chaucer, Troylus and Criseyde
The two above 'fuddy duddies' were despairing in the 14th century, too!

In 1962 it was Ogden Nash's turn:
Coin brassy words at will, debase the coinage;
We're in an if-you-cannot-lick-them-join age,
A slovenliness provides its own excuse age,
Where usage overnight condones misusage,
Farewell, farewell to my beloved language,
Once English, now a vile orangutanguage.

I just happened to be reading Language Change: Progress or Decay? by Jean Aitchison (part of 'Cambridge Approaches to Linguistics') when I saw the subject of your thread, Yvonne. I lifted Aitchison's examples 'cause I would never be able to think of any on my own -- not in a timely manner, at any rate!

It's a perfectly fine word, but the usage needs to change back to the original: awesome. This fine word used to mean extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration, apprehension, or fear. Now it means everything. Unfortunately that means that now we don't have a word fitting that definition. Yes, I'm a curmudgeon.

Are you saying that GINORMOUS is a word which has been in use for a long time?
I only recall hearing /reading it for the past decade or so.

When I hear it the meaning is : huge, impressive

Orangutanguage indeed.
IMHO it is cobbled 'street lingo'.

I'm not a fan of the word, but it has been around a while.

Here is a link that might be useful: Merriam-Webster online

It's interesting that ginormous has been in print since 1948, but humongous has been attested to 1967. Of the two, I have heard 'humongous' much more, and, like Yoyobon, I wasn't aware of 'ginormous' until sometime after 2000, probably. I agree that it is overused lately, but I wonder why it really caught on after fifty-plus years.

Siobhan, I'm with you on awesome being devalued to the point of being meaningless.

I'm not fond, either, of how gay has changed meaning -- especially the derisive, dismissive aspect. I have a female cousin whose first name is Gay, but she dropped it after putting up with sniggers from too many young ignoramuses.

Another overused word is popped when describing bright, eye-catching colors -- e.g., The fuchsia shade of her dress really popped. Someone told me that an advert on television for some sort of sunglasses with claims that their product will bring out the colors of nature -- really 'making colors pop' -- probably prompted it. I don't know since I've never seen the ad, but it's plausible that something like that would cause a lot of people from different places to use the same expression. That's one that I would like 'to just go away'.

There is an overload of "Beautiful" on cooking shows which is driving the food forum I am with quite crazy! A piece of steak, a pie etc. is all "beautiful"!

'Gi-normous' is one of those annoying words that seemed to come into use/popularity at the same time as 'fab' (eg of the Beatles 'The Fab Four').
As Frieda says the original meaning of 'gay' has become quite devalued, although I understand in the US many people of that persuasion have gone back to calling themselves queer, which can open up several difficult conversational cans-of-worms.
awesome is seen over here as an Americanism and is used by comedians 'taking-off' those silly CA beach-girls "Ohmygod, it it SO totally awesome".
'Popped' hasn't caught on here yet . . . but give it time . . .

A phrase which bothers me to no end is : "to die for".

i.e. "The cake was to die for. The house was to die for.
Her dress was to die for. " etc.

Ugh.

Someone needs to put it out of it's misery !

Ach! Yvonne, are people still saying 'to die for'? I first heard it at least forty years ago. My flatmates in London were the perpetrators, and I'll admit that it was the perfect shorthand phrase (at the time) for something so outrageously good that dying for it didn't seem too extreme. Of course we were in our twenties then -- if that can somehow explain the absurdity.

Well, Yvonne, if it's any comfort to you, not many go around exclaiming "Far out!" anymore, unless they're channeling John Denver who used it to excess when he was the host of "The Midnight Special" or maybe Cheech & Chong (one or both of them; I never could keep straight which was which). Rather recently I have heard several people under age thirty use 'groovy'. I'm not quite sure if they're being facetious or that dratted word is making a comeback.

To me it's jarring to hear young folk use words that I thought had long been relegated to the ash heap. However, I still use 'the bee's knees' and 'jeepers creepers' -- two phrases with heydays decades before I was born -- so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that the silliest sayings can be reborn.

What are some more of the antique phrases that have gone in and out of use several times? Vee, I had just about forgotten 'Fab'. Knowing me though, now that I've been reminded, I'm likely to use it unwittingly in the near future...and then I'll forget it again.

I think "popped" may have begun with the Fashionistas on TV, e.g. "What Not to Wear", with Stacey and Clinton.

I had never heard or seen "ginormous" until about a month or two ago, and I consider myself very well-read. To me, it sounds like a new, made-up piece of slang.

My father used to constantly say, " I got the dope on such and such", meaning he had information on blank, etc. I always thought it sounded a bit bizarre, even in the 1940's and 50's.

For myself, when I am around younger people, I find it very difficult to avoid picking up some of their slang expressions.

I can't wait to attend the funeral of the phrase "I mean"
at the beginning of each sentence.
And the rebirth of the word "take" would be nice as opposed to "bring" regardless of direction.

leslie, I mean at the beginning of a sentence, especially when said by a BBC interviewer (who should know better) is one of my pet gripes, as is what seems to be a trend among politicians, to answer a question with "Look, so and so" which just appears rude.
I don't like to here sentences punctuated with 'kind of thing' or 'sort of'. We English are very bad at this . . . in fact I wonder if I do it myself without realising it. ;-)

I use a number of words and phrases in my own speech that I wish I did not. When I am paying attention I omit them. Unfortunately I am not always paying attention.

It is difficult not to pick up speech quirks that you hear all around you. After all, that is how we learn our native language in the first place.

Rosefolly

And while we're at it, let's give a GINORMOUS nod to Ina Garten ( Barefoot Contessa) and her GINORMOUS use of the phrase " or what !"

....." Is that amazing, or what?! Is that easy, or what!
Is that delicious, or what!? Is that great looking, or what!?"

Hey, Ina.....Is that 'nails down a blackboard' , or what!?

*sigh*

I've just noticed that just about EVERYONE, when telling a story or giving a resume, glosses over detail with (said very fast): 'bla-bla-bla - bla-bla-bla'. Where did this come from? How is it everyone uses it? I've tried not to follow suit but I know I am going to, even if I don't yet - quite - well, not often. I've met this in Wales, where I live; I've also met it in the south of England when staying with my daughter last month. I've heard it on the radio.

As I say, just about EVERYONE says it. Where did it come from? How did it start? When will it go?

Neither I nor anyone I know uses it in that context.

Although I might be guilty of mumbling it under my breath when my wife is going on about something or other. :)

I'm not certain where it began but I can tell you that the Seinfeld show about " Yada, yada, yada..." made it the cool thing to say thereafter !!

Blah, blah, blah became yada yada yada and suddenly it's less rude and much more hip-sounding.

(or....is "hip" so passe' I just really dated myself !?!??!?)

My 18-year-old grandson begins half his sentences with "So, . . ." I haven't said anything to him--yet. He leaves for college soon; maybe he will pick up some different slang then.

Remember when our English teachers used to warn us ..." Don't so your sentences together !"

I always thought that was rather clever !
Perhaps it was the budding seamstress in me....

When my teenager started saying something that annoyed me, I took it up. That made it immediately uncool and he stopped *g*

More hackneyed, overworked expressions from the US:

way cool
smoking hot
he/she rocks
we are on the same page
totally
in sync
getting vibrations
the bottom line is
he/she plated the food (since when is plate a verb?)
it's Karma
it's a message from the Universe
it was meant to be
he went postal
it's synchronicity
down the rabbit hole
that dawg won't hunt

Mary/Woodnymph, 'plated' reminds me of 'gifted' as in "My husband gifted me with a necklace on Valentine's Day." Is 'gifted' more special than gave? Must be 'cause no one seems simply 'to give' nowadays.

Overuse of words and phrases is a type of verbal tic. Some of these tics are so common in particular regions that they become intrinsically identifiable, and they can almost be viewed with affection. I'm thinking of the 'eh' that many Canadians stick on the end of almost every sentence, the 'man' (mon, mahn) of Jamaicans, the French 'nu?' etc. For a while (and maybe still are), 'like' and 'you know' were prevailing American tics of speech, especially among young Americans. However, I was never able to develop much affection for the American ones, but I've known non-Americans who can imitate the quirk quite amusingly.

"Gifted" is no more special that "gave" but it does add
variety and flavour to speech/writing, as does render and furnish.

Another phrase that comes to mind, "He/She went..as opposed to He/She said.. used to drive me up the wall.

In the past few years I've noticed "at the end of the day" replacing "the bottom line is..."

Rosefolly

I'd like to add a couple:

transition as a verb, as in "We expect to be transitioning to our new format soon."

fun as an adjective, as in "I had a fun time at the party."

It wouldn't help to find out that these go way back in time. They're being very, very much overused now. Enough!

And what about people telling something who can't resist throwing the word "like" in at intervals, as in "When he said that to me, I was like horrified"?

Or "totally"? Change the sentence above to: "When he said that to me, I was like totally horrified."

Here's another .... sick. I'm not sure if you've encountered it but using the term "sick" as a positive descriptor can be quite confusing. As an example: "Hey man, that concert was SICK!" If you just read (or heard) that, would you:

a) understand that the concert was good
b) understand that the concert was not good
c) someone was ill at the concert

If you selected a), then you'd be "hip" to today's lingo. If you selected b) or c), you would be correct in using the English language as it used to be in the mid-2000s.

Suffice it to say that when I first encountered the term, I was understandably confused. I had to listen for the context of the term (and sometimes the context wasn't there!) to comprehend what was being said.

One could also make the same plea for the term "bad" -- depending on the context or the tonal inflection as the word is said, the term "bad" can mean "good" or "not good". As an example, one could say "Dude, that mother was BAD!" (insert hand gestures including punctuating the term with hand gestures comprising pointing one or two index fingers to the ground in front of one's chest) Note that the term "bad" is pronounced "beh-yyd".

If such is the case, then the term "bad" has a positive meaning in that the person referred to (i.e. "that mother") has superlative or at least desirable characteristics. Note as well that the person referred to may be male OR female.

Now, if you use the term "bad" with a shake of the head or a downcast look, then the term is supposed to have the negative connotation.

Of course, there is also that use of the term "bad" when owning up to something that is one's fault or for which one is accepting blame. I refer to that ungrammatical phrase (and phrase it is!), "My bad". As an example, if you spill something on someone, you're expected to say "Ooops. Sorry! My bad."

I think I could explain where the positive connotation of "bad" originates as well as the origin of the term "mother" for any person who has qualities which one may wish to emulate but ... since I'm sure we have quite a few readers with delicate constitutions, I will forego said explanation.

(I should also mention that the term "epic" is also in use as a synonym for "sick" or "awesome".)

If you are now completely confused, befuddled, and, indeed, shocked at all of the above, think of the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind....We are not alone.

(Yes, kids nowadays are aliens... brain-sucking aliens bent on world conquest.)

Of all the irritating, idiotic expressions ever to gain popularity "my bad" has to be one of the worst.

Any votes for "literally" and "actually"?

Here is a link that might be useful: CBC News -- The worst word in the English language

"My bad" irritates me, too.

But I admit to being guilty of using "fun" the way Jwttrans describes. I have done so all my life starting in childhood, so I suspect I will continue.

Rosefolly

I love the use of fun as an adjective !
When my daughter was young and learning to speak she always said " We had a FUN time !" "This is a FUN day !"

So I keep it and use it too !

She also used to say "last day" instead of yesterday.
It made sense to me.
Sort of like last night or last time.

Yoyobon, my daughter used to say "bed night" for midnight, which I also thought made sense.

Could someone explain the d.a. expression "personal best" ?

Personal best=(for example) the best time you have made for a sprint. Not the best time ever for the sprint, just YOUR best ever time.

One that is in constant use by politicians here in Australia is 'going forward' instead of 'in the future'. For example, 'things will improve going forward'. It makes it sound like a football game.

People on our cooking shows don't plate food, they 'plate up'.

I have a tendency to pick up the speech habits of others, so living with a very 'hip' teenager, I have been known to say 'my bad'. So far I have avoided picking up 'mang' which he uses like 'mate', as in 'Hey mang, how's it going?'

But there are two things that really do annoy me. One is the use of 12am and 12pm instead of midnight and midday (if people knew what am and pm stood for, they might not use it). I have been told it is obvious that 12am is midday, but I don't think it obvious at all. After all, at 5 minutes after noon, it is 12:05pm.
The second, which I seem to hear all the time, is the proof is in the pudding instead of the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The first makes no sense at all.

Kath, the pudding one is something I have argued against too but was told it meant the same either way. Of course it doesn't! TV has given the incorrect version a firm hold though! Especially on cooking shows like Masterchef. (Sigh!)

leel...my question was meant to mean the phrase is wrong, I do know what it means.
Surely "HIS/HER" best time" qualifies it as not meaning the best time for the event.

I think "personal best" means doing your very best at something.
Perhaps it's not the utmost or ideal outcome but it is the best for you.
The results surpass anything else you've done in that arena.

Does that make sense??

Maybe i'm a little thick but if a result surpasses anything else i've done before it is "my best".
The fact that it is "personal" is a given.

That was my personal best time for that event.

I think "personal best" means that this is the best that particular person has ever done at a certain something, at any time in his career. It is not the same as doing one's best under the current circumstances. And of course, it may not be the best performance that happened at that event. It comes from the athletic world, where lots of statistics about performance are tracked and compared.

I have walked (never run) a marathon on four different occasions. I know which one was my personal best, but I always did the best I could on that day, every time I crossed the start line. BTW, I haven't done this for several years, and have no plans to do it again.

Rosefolly

One of my pet peeves is "sign off on." Well? Did you sign off or sign on? How about just "approve"?

This isn't exactly a word that needs to go away...more like a sloppiness in speaking that needs to go away.

As I listen to professional broadcasters on the radio I find that there is a lot of "ta" or " tuh" instead of TO.
"He had tah report the issue....."

OR

"duh" instead of THE

And these are supposedly intelligent, educated speakers.

Where has eloquence gone !?

I know, right?

sorry, couldn't resist

The first word that needs to go away in Sweden now is "magical". It's used in every context, for anything, without the least supernatural element. It seems to mean "very good".

The little filler words stick out in all languages even to a non-native speaker and the speaker seems often not to be aware of the meaning. I know very little Italian so I asked an Italian friend what "beh" meant, a word he used all the time, even when speaking English or Swedish. He didn't know but I looked it up and it's short for "bene", good, so it's used exactly like English "well". I know even less Arabic but I spent some time in the Sudan where people would begin every other sentence with "yani". Nobody could explain it and I had long forgotten the word but I was reminded now and googled it. It means "I mean" or "that is to say". The purpose seems mainly to be to give the speaker time to think what to say next, like "er".

So some of this is simply brain static, and difficult for the speaker to filter out (though I suspect, not impossible for most).

I have mentioned the following pet peeve before on RP.

I find it irritating when people, especially those in the media, substitute the word orientate for orient. The two words mean essentially the same thing, but the latter is shorter and more familiar.

My Oxford Concise Dictionary has a whole paragraph listing the many uses of the word orient, including to "settle or find the bearings of". Yet only a few weeks ago I heard a reporter state that newly-arrived athletes were "orientating" themselves in Olympic Village. The word orientate is in no way an improvement in meaning to orient. In fact the former sounds awkward and affected (to me).

In a backhanded way, the above reminds me of the slow death of the perfectly-acceptable noun quotation. You almost never hear someone under 45 use this word, unless they are referring to the title of a specific reference book.

The word quote is now commonly used as a catch-all, to be used both as a verb and a noun. It is now commonplace to hear/read people say/write sentences like: "This is my favorite Shakespeare quote."

I am old enough to remember when there were two specific words (quote, quotation) both of which had slightly different meanings and uses.

Okay, I have to got to lighten up about things most people don't care about.

I listen to NPR all day, until I watch the evening news on TV. NPR has frequent interviews and I am painfully aware of the increasing number of guests who respond to every question with the word "so." Ex: Program host--"John, tell us what you saw at the riot." John: "So I turned the corner and saw......" The word "so" is superfluous and extremely annoying!

Tim's mentioning the use of quote for quotation reminded me of a similar lazy habit over here; the use of invite for invitation. "Have you received your invite yet?" "Your invite is in the post."
Is this found in other countries?

Veer, though I rarely receive an personal invite to anything, I encounter this annoying misuse all the time. I wonder where it came from.

Mudlady, I agree that often so is an annoying verbal tick which doesn't really mean anything, except to buy the speaker an extra second or so to gather their thoughts.