Overused Words
OK so this has been a post I’ve been milling around in my head for a while now. If you watch TV enough (especially reality TV) you will notice that people use and reuse and over use the same adjectives. High on that list of over used words is AMAZING. I am beginning to hate that word. Another is AWESOME. Is everything really AWESOME? No of course not.
Now before you all start calling me a hypocrite I will admit to using these words and many others. That is why from this day forward I am going to widen my vocabulary. Only things that are truly AMAZING and truly AWESOME will be given such adjectives. Seriously, my point of this is not to be a grammar Nazi but to point out that words in American culture start to lose their true meaning due to overuse. Love is one of the biggest victims. People LOVE their husband or wife but they also LOVE their car or their shirt or a cup of coffee. I know someone has posted on this before and if I could remember who it was I would give mad props. Nevertheless I urge you all to think about your words. There are so many that we can use and they’re all free and anything free is worth savin’ up for!
So post in the comments what word you think is over used lets fight this thing together! I’ll start off with a little list of my own.
• Amazing
• Awesome
• Sweet
• Cool
• Nice
April 19, 2007 at 7:52 pm
i use
sweet
rockin’
freakin
wicked
awesome
nice
jeeze
OH MAN CHANGE MY VOICE AND IM FREAKIN’ SWEET NAPOLEAN DYNOMITE
April 19, 2007 at 11:03 pm
bling & pimp
If I never hear those words again it’ll be way, way too soon.
April 20, 2007 at 6:05 pm
That post was amazingly sweet dude! HAHAHA.
And I totally agree with you 100%. That’s one of the things I have about expletives, they’re just lazy. Instead of actually describing things people use f’n this or f’n that. We do the same as you say with Awesome and Amazing and degrade the meaning of those words because it’s easy.
My worst is SWEET and AWESOME probably.
I’m a little self-conscious now, I’ll have to go through my old posts and examine what language I use! HAHAHA that should be a good indication.
July 9, 2007 at 8:21 pm
The phrase “Not so much” is annoying the crap out of me almost as much as the over use of the word “Amazing” Especially the long drawn out “Amaaaazzzzzing” that young actresses seem to use all the time….
October 30, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Excuse me but “awesome” and “amazing” are adjectives not verbs. Now that we’ve straightened that out I completely agree these words are overused. Celebs love to use the word “amazing” and this is actually very revealing. Just imagine stars of the past, i.e. Cary Grant, Bette Davis, Jimmy Stewart, using the word ad nauseum like the current crop of stars do.
October 30, 2007 at 6:20 pm
5th Born
Thanks for the grammar lesson. the error has been corrected. Not really sure of the point you are trying to make? What is so revealing about current celebs using them?
January 11, 2008 at 3:44 am
totally
definitely
there really isn’t that much certainty in what i’m typically saying.
thanks for the post.
January 11, 2008 at 4:42 am
A word I use way too often is coincidentally, “word.”
It’s a nasty habit I picked up from my old roommate, just about any time I respond to anything with an affirmative I’ll say, “word” or, more embarrassingly, “word up.”
“Hey, wanna go eat?”
“Word.”
“Wanna go get Taco Bell?”
“Oh, word that the hell up.”
I need to break that before I actually turn into Cameo.
January 11, 2008 at 5:08 am
First.
LOL!
Dude
Pwnd
January 12, 2008 at 1:56 am
LIKE! MY GOD! If you, like, talk to a teenager for, like anything longer than like a minute, you have to like…rethink everything she just said because there were so many like, like’s.
BUT WAIT, THERE”S MORE:
BASICALLY. You’re basically an idiot if you can’t make a statement without using this.
KIND OF. The NPR phrase for pseudo-intellectuals. “I’ve been working on a kind of existential piece. It’s basically a kind of expression of the post-9/11 consciousness.”
May 18, 2009 at 8:00 am
Agree with you 100%.
The word ‘basically’ can be used as often as six times in one sentence!!!!
I think for those in certain places … when they enter primary school they are taught :-
‘now children – the first word that we are going to learn is BASICALLY’. You will use it a lot in your lifetime!!!
BIG PET HATE!!!
February 4, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Personally, I think awesome needs to be used more! It’s one of my favorite words, and not only is it an adjective, but now a noun & verb!!
Okay, I sound like a moron but I do have a preoccupation with the word awesome for some reason. I also like the word Rad, but it doesen’t come to mind as often as awesomeness does.
I do agree that many words are overused though. I almost said “I Love the word Awesome”, but then I thought, I love my wife. I like the word. Haha, neat post.
Garry
February 4, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Hey Gary,
Welcome to the blog. I don’t believe I’ve seen you around here. Thanks for stopping by and for the comments.
You have a nice site as well by the way.
February 5, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Thanks for the welcome. I don’t usually frequent blogs too much, but a friend at work said I use the word “Awesome” too much, so I figured I’d do a bit of scientific research to see if the word is not only overused by me, but by others, and I’m assuming that it is.
In my defense, I’ve been using the word “Awesome” since I was a kid, there’s just something special about the word, it’s hard to describe. It’s almost like an institution all onto itself. Although, after realizing recently that it is indeed such an overused word, I am making an effort to only use it “recreationally” from now on.
We’ll see how it goes!
Garry
February 7, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Thank you so much for this posting.
My pet peeve for the past few years has been the overuse of “amazing” – mostly blurted out by red carpet “commentators” and many a celebrity.
Sometimes I’d like to buy the world a thesaurus.
February 13, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Your very right,how about the most overused word..”need”I have seen
it while reading used about 8 times in the same page…” the plane landed
because it needed fuel”,the grass needs to be cut..Come on!!!!
February 25, 2008 at 1:41 am
I have been comlaining about the word ‘amazing’ and its overuse to the point where my family walks out the room when I start. Tongiht I am watching the Oscars, beginning with the 8 pm red carpet pre-show hosted by the ridiculous Regis Philbin and I’m keeping track of how many times I hear the word – even in the the commercials.
As of 8:41, my count is 4.
March 2, 2008 at 12:17 am
I am so glad I found all of you guys! This has become an issue for me as when I hear the word “amazing”, it makes my skin crawl because I hear it so often. I was beginning to think I was nuts but this is like therapy to see other people are driven nuts by the overuse of this word!
My advice is to pull out a bottle of your favorite hard liquor upon waking up and throughout the day, everytime you hear the word “amazing” you take a shot.
If the word disturbs you like it does me, you hate it a little less as the day goes on! Kidding of course.
March 6, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Thank you!! These words have been irritating the hell out of me for a long time, and you’re the first person I’ve seen who has pointed out their overuse.
March 27, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Dont forget “definitely.” And my favorite phrase of all time- “pretty much”.
This mindless, lockstep language goes hand in hand with all you flip flop wearing, cell phone caressing clones I see every day!
March 28, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Like….whatever!
May 22, 2008 at 10:02 am
Add to the list:
actually
kind of – We “kind of” started an investigaiion. Did you or didn’t you?
sort of – It “sort of” caused the fire.
I mean -has this replaced “you know”
AARGH = and winner is: Amazing!
June 10, 2008 at 2:36 pm
I agree that the word ‘need’ is well overused. “I need new shoes”, “i need ice”, I need this i need that. Most the time we don’t NEED it, we would like it, there is a big difference.
June 15, 2008 at 12:37 am
I’m soooo sickof the word Awesome. I’ve heard it every single day at least 50 times a day since the 80’s. ENOUGH ALREADY! If I don’t say I hate it I hear it, if I say I really can’t stand it, people say it more. aggh
July 22, 2008 at 4:44 am
so……………….
sup?
gangsta
ohmygosh
-overuse of …’s
DRIVES ME UP THE WALL! (and I’m a teenager!)
came across this site because I’m doing my speech on how we overuse the word love. and the rest…!
August 22, 2008 at 1:19 pm
If I hear one more interview of a vacuous Hollywood celebrity in which they repeatedly use the word AMAZING I’m going to….like, kind of, you know, ………….Three words for you my friend: Geysers of vomit.
September 3, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Actually
Basically
Literally
I actually cannot go an hour without someone literally overusing one of these words, basically.
September 12, 2008 at 8:11 am
“Basically” drives me insane. It started driving me insane around five years ago and if five years ago the word “basically” was like a sliding board on a preschool playground, then today the word “basically” is like the entire Disney conglomeration.
And in the written word, using apostrophe s for plurals drives me wonky. I have found that the less common the word, the more likely people are to use an apostrophe s instead of just an s (or es) to pluralize the word.
Examples, seen from a chat room I am in right now: We were in San Diego and we saw giraffe’s at the wild animal park. — I was teasing the horse and the horse kicked me and I had to get stitch’s and now I am taking antibiotic’s. ARRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHH
May 18, 2009 at 8:02 am
Agree 100%
The word ‘basically’ can be used as often as six times in one sentence!!!!
I think for those in certain places … when they enter primary school they are taught :-
‘now children – the first word that we are going to learn is BASICALLY’. You will use it a lot in your lifetime!!!
BIG PET HATE!!!
October 22, 2008 at 3:14 pm
“FAIL”. It was fun for a while, but, enough already. See also “EPIC FAIL”.
December 18, 2008 at 11:51 am
I’ve had it up to here with”Awesome” as well! For whatever reason, it’s the preferred adjective in my office for everything, even if it’s not awe-inspiring (i.e., “that would be AWESOME if you could get those reports over to me by the end of the day”).
I cannot fathom why anyone over 30 would want to use it ad nauseum. The first time I remember it coming into vogue was c. 1982, when Sean Penn (playing Jeff Spicoli, the stoned surfer) in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” commented on the foiled robbery attempt at the My-T-Mart. (”Awesome! Totally awesome!”) Granted, I used to use ‘awesome’, but hearing all my coworkers, including my 50-something boss, use it to the exclusion of nothing else, really chaps my butt.
Additionally, I had a former coworker years back who used it as her favorite adjective of choice (this particular coworker irritated me, so perhaps that what turned me off using “awesome” as a favored adjective.) Now if I were to see an eclipse — that, in my opinion, would be an awe-inspiring event.
Just my .02…
December 29, 2008 at 11:29 pm
The only good thing about “amazing” is that it replaced “incredible” as America’s all-purpose word. It’s not only overused, it’s misused. On TV makeover shows, women are always saying, “I feel amazing!” – as if they’re capable of walking around and amazing people, like magicians.
We’ll know it’s on it’s way out when people start pronouncing each syllable with dramatic emphasis, in order to wring some meaning out of a word made meaningless by overuse. “Incredible” was on its way out when people began needing 45 seconds to deem something “in-CRED-dah-bull.”
The newest television talking head word is “either,” pronounced, “EYE-ther.” When you hear the most idiotic skulls full of mush saying “EYE-ther,” you know it’s a trend, like “amazing.” “EYE-ther” is right up there with “um-peer,” for “empire,” as in “empire waistline.” “Um-peer,” my ass.
As for “awesome,” I’ve heard people use it as an affirmative, and it strikes me as odd.
“Do you want to come over for dinner?”
“Awesome.”
Finally, young men who say “absolutely” instead of “yes” annoy the hell out of me.
“Ab-sah-LOOT-lee.”
Kee-rist. Yes or no, junior.
December 31, 2008 at 11:06 am
IM NOT THE ONLY ONE!!!! I have been saying to people for quite awhile now that the word “amazing” is way WAY overused. It almost makes me disgusted when I hear it used for some of the most mundane things. “Wow, that wall color you used is amazing.” NO ITS NOT!!!! Its so wonderful to know that im not crazy and there are other people out there that feel the same way.
One more thing…when did “absolutley” become the new “yes”? Just say yes for crying out loud. Ugh.
January 8, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Finally – someone has posted how they feel (as well as myself) about the word “amazing”. Good Lord, people – there are other adjectives out there to describe the way you feel about something. I love the Ellen DeGeneres show, but that’s the only word she uses to describe something positive. Just watch and listen next time – you’ll see what I mean.
A few years ago, there was another word that was beaten into the ground, however, I don’t think you hear it as much. The word is “surreal”.
Thanks, again for the posting.
January 11, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Hey everybody,
I’m from Austria and yes, of course – there are also some overused words.
While reading some postings, I noticed that we have hardly any words in German which express that you are thinking about the next words to say: “like, sort of, you know, kind of,…”. We just say “uhmm, ähhh,…”.
Anyway,
HEY ! Instead of listing the words you hate, write the ones which replace them! It drives ME up the wall when I read those postings fulfilled with anger and hate.
And if you have to be that pessimistic, then think at least whenever people say these words “I’m so glad my vocabulary is full of elegance and high-quality words”
PS If these young celebs would say intellectual things, would they then have millions of fans?
January 17, 2009 at 1:10 am
You’ve overlooked the question posed, Liz. We were asked to write about overused words, not about the words with which we would like to replace overused words.
January 20, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Amazing has been utterly used to death. Typically used by chunky built people who watch too much television.
February 14, 2009 at 1:08 pm
“Absolutely” seems to be the latest victim of wordmisuage-itis. Just take a look at the latest Taco Bell commercial:
February 22, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Amazing. If I hear one more person described as “Amazing” I’ll throw up.
From such and such, to such and such. (Usually with no comprehensible link.)
March 4, 2009 at 12:28 am
did you forget the word “basicially”. I hear it soooo much that i actually
despise it! 30 years ago you never heard it used.
May 18, 2009 at 8:04 am
It’s awful … my pet hate!
You can hear it sometimes as much as 6 times in 1 sentence … especially in certain parts of the world!!!
I avoid using it in the correct context because of it’s over use!!!
March 17, 2009 at 7:50 pm
My complaint is people who respond “no problem” when I say “thank you”. What ever happened to “you’re welcome”?
May 18, 2009 at 8:30 am
How about “mad”-ANYTHING, as in your statement from above?:
“…if I could remember who it was I would give mad props.”
Or, “my bad.” That one really makes me cringe.
And back to “amazing”: That word is bad enough, but so often people make it even worse by pronouncing it “uh-may-zeen.” In fact, that’s one of my oldest and most cringeworthy peeves: when people pronounce the “…ing” at the end of a word as “…een.” Get me an Uzi…
May 18, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Apologies for diverting slightly from the subject of over used words.
I think our English language is changing …
how often do we hear such ‘questions’ as:-
‘how cool is that’ or ‘how great is this’
(instead of saying) ‘This is really nice’
(or whatever sentiment you wish to express)
Just one example of how ‘questions’ are being used to replace comments.
I find them very irritating.
Just makes me want to ask in return ‘well, how cool is it – tell me?’
June 13, 2009 at 11:19 am
Amazing job! ; )
I wish more people would take the opportunity to slow down and think about what they say, rather than spouting out crap. Life isn’t an instant message and you don’t get extra points for finishing early.