LAST WEEK, TheJournal.ie reported on an annual poll which asks North Americans to rate five common conversation fillers in order of how much they annoy them.

But we didn’t think that survey was very comprehensive – and it certainly doesn’t reflect the inventiveness of Irish conversation. So we opened the floor to you, our readers.

You duly obliged, flooding the comments section with your most hated words and phrases of 2011. This was your list. Read and seethe.

• “You know that kind of way…”
• Crisis
• “At the end of the day”
• “Kicking the can down the road”
• Amazeballs (lots of people hated that)
• People saying dotcom after things, ie, “Oh – I was out last night and now it’s hangover.com” or “confused.com” or “It’s delish.com” (That was from Billy Edwards)
• Totes
• Totes McGotes
• “The constant abuse of the word ‘literally’” (From Róisín O’Donovan)
• Whatever
• Austerity
• LMAO
• Totally
• Downturn

Spud Byrne:

I hate the word “like”. Not when it’s used properly, eg. “I like cake”, but rather when used a million times in the space of a few sentences, mostly by Americans or teenagers, eg. “And I was like, no. But then she was like, no way. And then he said she was like, like what’s the problem”. Or words to that effect. If you still don’t get what I mean, go and watch Jersey Shore or one of those dreadful programmes.

• Credit Rating
• OMG
• Gross
• Gosh
• Jedward
• Cromulent (from Rónán Ó Conchúir – we think it might just be in his house though)
• “Adding ‘out’ to the end of anything, e.g. happy out, crazy out. It makes no sense as well as being irritating.” (From Super Kario)
• Going forward
• Burn… Bondholders
• “In terms of”
• Dan Delaney not only listed his least favourite phrases but he translated them for us too:

“Let me finish…” (“I like the sound of my own voice.”)

“With all due respect…” (“I think you’re an a**hole.”)

“As it were…” (As what was exactly?)

“If you will…” (eh?)

To which Rommel Burke replied:

“And I’ll finish on this…”

• Adding “Boom!” to the end of a sentence annoyed Laura Murray
• “Just bear with me”
• “I partly guessed” comes from conceited people, said Mary Cullinane
• Treasa Quinn proffered “100 per cent” which LisaJane Dorman insisted was a phrase used by her ex-boss “as a condescending way of agreeing with people he didn’t agree with”.
• “European partners”
• “We are where we are”
• “We have turned the corner”
• Julian Hamish Wyllie was irritated by people using the word ‘roadtrip’ – “Why can’t folk just get in a car and go someplace?”
• Lar Hayden also wanted to tell us that exaggerating the importance of something by saying “best… ever” or “most… ever” is very annoying.
• “These are extraordinary times”
• Budget
• Super – as in “it was super boring” or “I’m super tired”
• Ellen Dillon:

‘Ahead of’ when used in sentences like ‘Michael Noonan pictured ahead of the budget.’ I see a fat man being chased down the street by the budget. Also ‘in advance of’. Didn’t there used to be a word ‘before’ before? That was a useful one. Bring back before, in advance of it’s too late…

• On message
• Woop woop
• “Joined-up thinking”
• Epic and fail
• “‘That’s so random’ does me nut in. To be said in a D4 accent.” (From Wayne O’Driscoll)
• “Working together”
• “The optics”
• Guesstimate
• “Cop yourself on”
• “In all and anyways – it doesn’t even make any sense.” (From Jenny Darby)
• “Inbox me”: Samantha Sherrington wanted to know why people can’t just send a message.
• Wellness
• “Greenshoots of recovery” (Suggested by Rommel Burke who adds that we haven’t heard it in a while)
• Helena Bergin is annoyed when shop assistants ask her, “Are you OK?” She said: “What happened to, ‘Can I help you’”
• NAMA
• Seanie
• Sick (and not in the ‘illness’ sense of the word)
• Banksters
• Savage
• Jealous much?
• For the win
• It’s for true
• Merkozy
• C*nt (this word is getting more common, says Julian King, who also suggests – legend, brainstorm and ruddy)
• “Hit the ground running”
• “I really feel that”
• Soz
• “Left-wing forward”
• S’up
• Haircut (and not for your hair)
• Fraped
• Lefty looney
• Ara now
• Unpalatable
• Basically
• Ledgebag
• Liathroidi
• Absolutely (instead of Yes)
• KKLOL – we don’t know what it means but Melanie Vaughan-Smith said her son has started using it instead of saying Yes.
• Siobhan O’Brien was irritated by people saying ‘correct’ instead of just ‘yes’ in answer to a question.
• Kate Mac Lochlainn: “Next twit to warble ‘And I’m like, YAY!!’ is going to get a smack in the chops, that’s all I’m saying.

We’ll leave it there then.