1) Whatever. Recently, I’ve heard people using this twice in a row, as a substitute for et cetera, which is even more annoying. As in, “He was all annoyed with me, but I was all, okay, get over it, whatever whatever.”
2) You know. I use this pretty frequently, I have to admit, but only in sincerity. I say it to my students a lot when they’re starting to get that glazed look. I usually expand it to “D’you know what I mean?” And they nod earnestly and then proceed to do the assignment completely wrong.
3) It is what it is. This is either so obvious it’s brilliant or so obvious it’s not worth saying. I tend to lean toward the latter. It’s a little like saying “Now, then,” only redundant as opposed to contradictory.
4) Anyway. I don’t like that this word is on the list. In this English teacher’s opinion, “anyway” is a legitimate space-filler. What would you rather I use? The French “Euhhhhh . . . “?
5) At the end of the day. I don’t love this one, but it strikes me as something that would be annoying only if overused. I had a boss who used to say “a whole different animal” a lot, and it made me hate the phrase even though it’s pretty innocuous in and of itself.
The disappointing part? The college students who conducted this poll were also the ones who came up with the words. I think they should have allowed write-in votes. Mine would be “sit down.” As in, “We should really sit down and talk about this.” I appreciate the connotation of thoughtful consideration, but there is NO REASON that sitting down will actually help matters (unless you believe Bill Cosby, of course.)
Okay. Any votes for mine? What else did these, you know, college kids miss?
