over-use of phrases

I cringe when someone says...*Gob-smacked!*...

Ah but where I come from GG we have been using "Alright?" or even "Alright Butt" for a long, long time so I claim it as a bit of Welsh culture. It is not being an opening to a conversation, but a greeting to someone you are passing in the street perhaps, equivalent of "Morning!"
Butt is short for Butty which I think is a version of Buddy (or is Buddy a version of Butty maybe) . In other words "mate".
Where to draw the lines in this wonderfully diverse language of ours, mate. That is the question.

Alright m'duck? was the common greeting when we lived in Nottingham.

Annobel and where I was born and grew up...Northampton...

Does anyone bridle at the free use of first names? (I understand we're not supposed to say "Christian" nowadays, in case in offends Others) I was speaking to a bank employee, who sounded about 15. Her only reply to most comments was "Fantastic", until she asked if she should call me "Sera". My reply? "That won't be necessary, thank you. My name is still Mrs Digit" Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I even help with the local Sunday School, where I was introduced to the children as Sera. More Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I would normally introduce my self as Chris. then I would expect to be called Chris, otherwise I would expect to be called Mr. Pompa and would have no qualms about correcting any over familiarity.

As a social worker I often suggested my clients call me by my Christian name in order to (ever so slightly) reduce the power imbalance between us. As a teacher of course I expected to be more formally addressed. Interestingly my son was in many of the classes I taught and some of his old school friends are still visitors to our house. None of them can bring themselves to call me by my first name as they say it just wouldn't be right.

I'm Helen to anyone who wants to call me Helen. It's my given name whereas all the others are, so to speak, other people's names. I also tell people to use my given name because they struggle to pronounce my Welsh surname. They look at it on the page and think !#?¥?! Many of them make noble efforts and I tell them how to pronounce it but, having seen the arrangement of letters, they just can't believe it's actually easy. So I say: Just call me Helen; everyone else does. That includes my children.

Given names go back a lot further than family names as the way to identify individuals. It's perfectly possible to be polite without having to be formal. I don't think being Mrs, Miss, Ms Somebody adds anything to my dignity or my status. Nor does the use of my first name detract anything from my self-respect. But if people want to call me Mrs !#?¥?! that's also fine. I really don't care. To myself I've always been Helen — that's the name that has belonged to me all my life rather than to my father or my husband — so I might as well be Helen to everyone else.

Except where I'm 'Baggy'

No pompa, anybody can manage the full word - "hiya".

Bit behind with the thread there. Soz. (I bet you hate that.

jangly, love it!

jangly...you remind me of me!

supernana, I sometimes wish I was you when you talk about where you live! (bet you don't get the weather like wot we do in the south tho)

Mind you, its been pretty miserable here just lately!

jangly Right you are! We do not get quite as much settled weather here. Being on the west coast we are open to moisture in the air. However, we also enjoy some remarkably fine, sunny, settled episodes, too. During the winter, we hardly see the likes of snow, thanks to the Gulf Stream. I suppose if one has to have bags of sunshine and little rain then our area wouldn't suit 100% We love the land, sea and people and wouldn't want to be anywhere else on earth. As I look out of the window, the sun is shining brightly and the sea is fairly calm. I hope that all is well with you and that you have a good weekend.

My point was rather that my name is mine to offer, not anybody else's to take, if you follow. I don't harbour any mistaken idea of false glory, or think my identity has been stolen; I just think people should wait for me to say which name they may use.

And I get v e r y cross when they don't!

Absentgrana - please, I wasn't offended. Anyway, even if you had been offensive, 'twould have served me right for barging in (as usual) before I'd lurked for a week or two! Since when has "Cheers" meant "Thank you"? And why is "Thanks" a longer word which will compromise the speaker's urgent need to get back on his wretched "mobile"? One must assume that he means his handheld telephone!

There are 2 women in my office, both over 50, who habitually use the word "cool" in response to statements. It makes me wince!

And another thing! What is it with people in bank contact centres who insist on using the word "yourself", as in "I'll just bring up that information for yourself" ???? Why not just "you"?

And I do wish that they would realise that saying my name umpteen times during the conversation, does NOT constitute building rapport, it is just bloody irritating.

The world must have become a more wonderful place and I didn't even notice. Everything is now 'amazing'. I've witnessed lots of things which I appreciate, or find rewarding or attractive but rarely am I amazed.

I say Cool. Picked it up from hanging around with people in their 30s in NZ.
I know someone (in her 50s) who says "Coolbeans" a lot instead... not sure where she got that one from.
At least I didn't pick up "awesome" as well...

Why is every female pop singer – those who are completely lacking in any talent as well as the good ones – a diva?

I'm going to be pedantic here. I hate it when someone, for example, says 'My name is Mr Smith' I was always taught that 'mr', mrs' or 'miss' were titles given to you by other people. Therefore the correct version is 'My name is John Smith', because his name isn't Mr!!

I also hate when everyone 'goes on a journey' or 'it's been a journey'.

Mispronunciation of the letter 'H' as 'haitch' not 'aitch' also annoys me!

I like that kind of pedantry, janthea.

I hate it when presenters on the radio say "can you just give us a sense of ....."

Oh, and I don't like it when people use the word "myself" when they mean "me". (It is quite possible that someone will come along and say I am wrong there).

Just thought of something else - it irritates me when people refer to Argentinians as Argentines - the Argentine was the country when I was young!