I personally, at this moment in time...

I'm not really in a cheery blog posting frame of mind at the moment, for a variety of reasons that include my deteriorating spine and how that might prevent me from my rice cracker hookup later in the week, and if I wrote about how I was really feeling it might be a bit too profane for my family-friendly little blog. However, this article about the 10 expressions English people find most irritating is giving me a welcome sense of superiority and well-being. In case you can't take the suspense of waiting for the page to load, here is the list:

1 - At the end of the day

2 - Fairly unique

3 - I personally

4 - At this moment in time

5 - With all due respect

6 - Absolutely

7 - It's a nightmare

8 - Shouldn't of

9 - 24/7

10 - It's not rocket science

I don't really see what the problem is with no. 7. A resigned exclamation of "Nightmare!", usually in the context of supermarket or ATM queues, is definitely more prevalent here than in Oz but I've found myself adopting that particular piece of annoyingness.

I heartily agree with no. 1 though. It's right up there with people around the office who say "ramp up" and "on the same page" and [shudder] "synergy/ies". I thought everyone had finally caught on to the uselessness of all that indirect, pointless business jargon, but apparently I was wrong.

I suppose glib top ten lists would fall into some people's idea of irritating too. But it's nice to have something straightforward and concise to refer to, particularly when you're cranky.