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Twee phraseology....must be me!

(124 Posts)
TBsNana Sat 27-Dec-25 17:24:21

Arrrrgggghhhh! Sorry - just have to post to get this off my chest. My Dil has just emailed and asked us round to coffee to sample the (very posh) coffee they've been "GIFTED" - I hate this gifted word - where has it come from? Whats wrong with "X has given us some super coffee - would you like to come over and try it?"
It's all unbearably twee these days - I thought we'd be the twee ones by now, not them! must be me, bah humbug!

GoodAfternoonTea Sun 28-Dec-25 17:23:17

What about 'pre-loved'?

SueDonim Sun 28-Dec-25 17:33:38

Lived experience. What other type is there, apart from a second hand experience, which isn’t then an experience anyway?

Oreo Sun 28-Dec-25 18:34:05

Deedaa

Curated is a perfectly good word if it is used for organising a museum. If I invite people for lunch I am not curating the menu for them. Gotten is a perfectly good word. It has just rather fallen out of use in this country.

Things that annoy me are somebody "sharing" their children with the father. It makes the children sound like a bag of sweets! Then there's the constant use of "sweet" in items about the Royals. Prince George's "sweet" gift to his mother. The Queen's "sweet" reply to a question. The "sweet" hat the Princess of Wales was wearing. Are these people six years old!

Could be worse… cute is more common now than sweet.

Wheniwasyourage Sun 28-Dec-25 18:39:09

Aveline

It has not 'survived' but been revived due to American influence via social media and films.

No, Aveline, it has actually survived and has been used constantly in some places.

valdavi Sun 28-Dec-25 18:41:15

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I like using ‘gotten’. Sorry, not sorry. 😂
Also starting a sentence with the word ‘so’.

It must be the rebel in me.

Me too FGT. Love how it sounds.

Gifted as on OP I hate though.

CocoPops Sun 28-Dec-25 20:12:42

I have a teenage GC. When my daughter was pregnant my excited Canadian Son- in- Law phoned me to say "We're pregnant". So the expression, daft though it is, has been in usage a long time.

CocoPops Sun 28-Dec-25 20:17:00

"No Problem" makes me smile because some 20+ years ago after paying for groceries a supermarket checkout girl said " No Problem" to my Mother who replied "I didn't think it would be".

LadyBridgerton Sun 28-Dec-25 20:25:56

Bukkie

Gotten is American. I too hate, " Can I get...." It should be, "Please can I have..."I would like....please"
I hate somebody messaged me or Can you message me.... No I will ring you, text you, email you, I will not message you.

Gotten was taken to America by the pilgrims along with many other words we have forgotten, such as forgotten!

Bukkie Sun 28-Dec-25 21:10:32

I stand corrected on the word gotten. Every day is a school day. I still cringe when I hear it though. Lots of Americanisms have trickled into our language like movies, flyers, math (arghhhhh!) and another recent one is people calling pencil crayons coloured pencils.

Aveline Sun 28-Dec-25 21:34:45

No you're quite right Bukkie. 'Gotten' remains inexcusable in written English.

Casdon Sun 28-Dec-25 21:49:52

Bukkie

Gotten is American. I too hate, " Can I get...." It should be, "Please can I have..."I would like....please"
I hate somebody messaged me or Can you message me.... No I will ring you, text you, email you, I will not message you.

I thought that can you message me was what you say when you are communicating via Messenger? I’m guilty if that’s not the case, because we use Messenger for all our family communications, and would routinely say can you message me to say what time we are meeting, or whatever.

Bukkie Sun 28-Dec-25 23:48:00

I don't know what Messenger is?

Scribbles Mon 29-Dec-25 00:55:30

Sorry, Bukkie, but coloured pencils was what it said on my tin of crayons c.1955. I always thought the term was used to differentiate them from the wax crayons that my mother wouldn't allow me to have.

CabbageWars13 Mon 29-Dec-25 02:07:18

'Gifted' is a word that makes me suspicious: personally I always take it to mean "naff pressie someone gave me so I'll 'gift' it to somebody near at hand because I can't be arsed traipsing round to a charity shop with it........"

Let's be honest/cynical about it. 'Gifted' is a diplomatic term.

FoghornLeghorn Mon 29-Dec-25 02:20:25

Moth62

Curated and reaching out angry

The only people who should reach out are the Four Tops.

hollysteers Mon 29-Dec-25 11:18:28

In a strange town, in a shop I’ll probably never visit again, the ubiquitous “See you later”.
I don’t think so.

JamesandJon33 Mon 29-Dec-25 11:49:47

Nonspaghetti Can you explain that.?

MaggsMcG Mon 29-Dec-25 13:53:44

I thought 6 7 meant confused as in all in sixes and sevens.

Bukkie Mon 29-Dec-25 14:03:22

MaggsMcG - To older people 'At 6s and 7s with yourself' does indeed mean in a bit of a pickle/muddled up. But currently young children laugh their heads off and do a gesture with upturned palms. I was recently told I had said a meme. I told the young girl I didn't know what a meme was.
I wonder if pencil crayons is a Hull thing. I always say pencil crayons or wax crayons but my Geordie friend said she has always called them coloured pencils and have never heard them called pencil crayons until she moved to Hull.

Betty18 Mon 29-Dec-25 14:05:11

People who ‘gift’ unwanted pets to charities . Use the real words. Dump, abandon etc

Diplomat Mon 29-Dec-25 14:14:52

People who have been 'on a journey' and 'reaching out'
But the one that really stunned me recently was when my daughter used one of her husband's (my SiL) work phases and asked 'if I could lead on cooking the meal' !!?? I didn't!

Casdon Mon 29-Dec-25 14:19:31

Bukkie

I don't know what Messenger is?

Messenger is the personal communication system linked to Facebook, although you can use it separately too. It’s a more flexible system than texts, you can send images, and have group chats in writing or in person. Some people use. WhatsApp instead, and would say I’ll WhatsApp you rather than I’ll message you.

mrsmeldrew Mon 29-Dec-25 14:27:30

"Not a problem" when ordering in restaurants, have to bite my tongue as I would like to respond "well I hope not".

Also "oftentimes" another Americanism.

springishere Mon 29-Dec-25 14:38:40

I'll take a risk here! I don't like "passed" when someone has died. I don't tell my American daughter, who uses it all the time.

suelld Mon 29-Dec-25 14:43:02

The word that always gets me is ‘FIT’ … as in IT FIT HIM BEAUTIFULLY. To me … The word should be ‘ it FITTED him beautifully.
This has migrated into masses of novels, both English and US and foreign translations! I just hate it!
As for the disuse of WHOM into just WHO…. don’t get me started!