Words YOU love to hate

Last week, I put up a (brief) list of words I love to hate, and invited you to send in yours. The response has been very enthusiastic, thank you very much. Not a man to go back on my word, I am putting up the list of words/phrases you said made you wince/cringe.
Revert back

Paradigm

Praxis

Geographies

Mortality audit

Huge funds

Reply back

He wished me on my birthday

On the same wavelength

Timeframe

Clean chit

Since long

Awesome

Enclosed herewith

Comprising of

Anyways

Happening

Rocking

What’s up / Wassup / Wazzzaaa

Out of the box

I am good (in response to ‘How are you?’)

Walk the talk

Counterrevolutionary

Razzmatazz

Schmaltz

Manoeuvre

Dear All (as a salutation in a letter or email)

Best (as a signoff in a letter or email)

Hot

Cool

So. Shall we keep adding to this list? Over to you.

This year’s Man Booker Prize…

The longlist for this year’s Man Booker Prize is out. Have you seen it? In case you haven’t here, it is.

The Children’s Book by A S Byatt

Summertime by J M Coetzee

The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds

How to Paint a Dead Man by Sarah Hall

The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey

Me Cheeta by James Lever

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

The Glass Room by Simon Mawer

Not Untrue & Not Unkind by Ed O’Loughlin

Heliopolis by James Scudamore

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

Love and Summer by William Trevor

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

It’s a safe, solid and good longlist, I think. With Coetzee, Trevor, Byatt, Mantel and Toibin as well as a few left-field choices on it, it looks like a pretty strong one. Admirers of writing from this part of the world (that is to say, India and Pakistan) will be disappointed to see that neither Amit Chaudhuri’s The Immortals nor Kamila Shamsie’s Burnt Shadows is in the reckoning.

More later. For now, here is the prize’s official website. It’s got lots of interesting stuff. And sign up for alerts if you want to stay ahead of the newspapers and TV.

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12 Responses to “Words YOU love to hate”

  1. Kushal Says:

    The word I really hate is Prestigious. Dislike its smarmy, status-seeking connotation.

    And I can’t find The Little Stranger ANYwhere. Even Landmark has let me down.

    [Reply]

    Soumya Reply:

    As much as ‘as is my/her wont’? Or more? Or less?

    [Reply]

  2. Kushal Says:

    No, no I LOVE “as is my wont”. It can be used ironically. Actually, I don’t see how it can be used seriously at all. But I really, really HATE “prestigious”. I guess it can be used ironically too, but I think it’s nasty.

    [Reply]

  3. Hi
    Thanks for giving the prize’s official website. You are right about Kamil Shamsie and Amit Chaudhuri not being nominated. Pretty puzzling….

    [Reply]

    Soumya Reply:

    Well, who can tell with prizes? It’s almost all a matter of luck and consensus. Posh Bongo, Julian Barnes had called the Booker Prize once.

    [Reply]

  4. meena Says:

    Please include “Mind blowing” , “never mind”, “hey dude” , scooty, thats it (very final..no room for any debate…I hate that), period (no more questions). “man’ (used as a slang)

    [Reply]

  5. Soumya Says:

    Why don’t you add those to the list we have and lob it across? I shall put it up… Thanks.

    [Reply]

  6. varsha Says:

    the only words i hate are “moist”, “loins” and “copulate”…totally not inter-connected

    some expressions i hate ( totally random)

    1. gone are the days when…
    2. blindly aping the west
    3. Lets party dude
    4. lets get wasted/ I was so wasted
    5. full-figured girl
    6. she wears the pants

    [Reply]

  7. Parul Bhandari Says:

    I don’t like those words whose meaning I don’t know !!!!!!!

    [Reply]

  8. Soumya Says:

    Would that be a long list? Nothing like a dictionary in that respect…

    [Reply]

  9. Deb Says:

    An addendum if you like: the most annoying or overused phrases or buzzwords in the workplace today (ref. a survey by Accountemps, US) -

    Leverage
    Reach out
    It is what it is
    Viral
    Game changer
    Disconnect
    Value-add
    Circle back
    Socialize
    Interface
    Cutting edge

    [Reply]

  10. Soumya Says:

    Many thanks. Send me the link for the survey if you can.

    [Reply]

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