Which Words Are The Most Overworked In The English Language?

[Hill Walker]

Um

[dotti34]

In a similar vein, and I'm not sure if this is just an Australian thing, but I find it annoying when having to give my name (for instance at a reception desk) and the person taking details asks ‘now, what was your name?’ I feel like giving my maiden name and saying ‘that WAS my name, would you like the one that IS my name now?’

For a while ‘going forward’ seemed to come into so many conversations, especially when politicians were being interviewed – didn’t they know you can’t go back? This isn’t said as often now.

[dotti34]

Bespoke.

[Less]

Perhaps as an aside we should also include overworked phrases and examples?

Was watching a science programme about the moon and lo and behold one of the clever presenters revealed that the moon is moving further and further from the Earth, at what rate I hear those of you that might just give a damn asking?

Well hold on to your hats, it's moving away at:-

'The rate our finger nails grow'.

The number of things in nature move, retract, grow, spread apart and erode at this rate proves to me there must be a God but he is lazy, whenever one of his helpers said 'what speed shall we give such and such?' his laid back reply was always, 'well, roughly I'd say, the speed your finger nails grow'.

A new member about to criticise this post!!!

[dotti34]

There is an over-used sentence that accompanies just about every speech a politician over here (usually the PM) makes regarding a new project or scheme, and that is ‘this will create (insert here any number that comes to mind, it’s usually 30,000) jobs’. They never fail to say this and it has become very boring, part of the rhetoric used, just bulldust. How they work out the number of jobs is anyone’s business. When I listen to such an announcement I know these words will follow. It’s a sort of a carrot before the donkey to make it sound good - and if anyone believes it then they really are a donkey.

[dotti34]

On a bit of a different tack - what about some of the inane questions reporters and interviewers ask, for example when an awful thing has happened to a person and the reporter asks 'and how are you feeling?' - how the heck do they expect the person to be feeling...like having a party or something. There are lots of examples of these sort of insensitive questions. I cringe when I hear them.

[Margaret Pilkington]

celebrity...a very over used word.

[dotti34]

Hero. This is a word that is given out too freely. For example, just because someone is extra good at sport does not make them a hero.