Unpleasant modern expressions

It's not really a pleasant remark, more an automated response from drill type training from those in restaurants etc.

Why should we "lighten up"? We're having a contented little whinge, to which we are entitled.

"Me time" and "pampering"!! Good grief, what are we coming to?

I don"t think it is an INSTUCTION as such, it is just a pleasant remark. Lighten up!

When we eat with our DD and she has cooked she ALWAYS says enjoy !!

Just oils the wheels IMO

The use of the word 'enjoy' as an instruction, often in a restaurant, annoys me. I will decide whether or not I have enjoyed a meal, I do not want to be told to do so before I've had an opportunity to sample it.

I don't mind 'bless' or 'aww bless' - I see it as meaning 'how sweet' so it's a positive!

I dislike anything that goes along the lines of 'let's run it up the flagpole and see who salutes it'

Anyone who says '110%' to show how much they mean something

And where the heck did 'conversate' come from

"Bless" and "bear with me".

People who "have feelings for" someone and / or who "settle into a routine" - bleearrgh!!

"Comfort zone" makes my toes curl.

Sales people who invite me to "have a nice day" after completing my purchases. Grr.

But languages naturally do 'weaken' over the decades and centuries, in that strong verbs and strong plurals tend to normalise. Thus 'dived' replaces 'dove' (even though 'dove' is retained in American). And I've heard 'mice' being replaced by 'mouses'. And as I mentioned above, 'thrice' became 'three times' a very long time ago.

I don't like it myself, but it isn't all bad. Let's face it, losing most of our old complicated Germanic plurals and replacing them with a simple 's' has simplified our grammar. I do appreciate this simplification, because German is my second language, and its grammar is dreadfully complicated. I only cope because I lived in Austria a while as a young woman, and polished my skill through total immersion in the language.

We will all find some linguistic changes to be intolerable: my favourite hates are saying 'I' when 'me' is correct, and saying 'less' when 'fewer' is correct.

As for business and corporate language;much of it makes me want to scream and run!!

A few people object to the double conditional, but it is simply normal American usage: people learning English as a second language have to learn both, so that they also understand American English. Like someone else on here, I do dislike the use of two times instead to twice, which seems to be going the way of thrice.

I must say that the use of stood or sat, when they mean standing or sitting irritates me - it is now in use by the most respected of newsreaders and politicians. It appears to have become accepted. It must make the teaching of grammar very hard.

I also find the word issue irritating for some reason - it is used to imply problem inappropriately. "We have an issue here." Groan.

I love the way sale rails in some shops are now labelled "Last Chance to Buy".

Oh yes, those news readers who say 'Enjoy the rest of your evening' at 10.30 or 11 p.m.

Tesco's catchphrase 'Every little helps ' ungrammatical, means bu**er all to me.

Letters in names of shop being turned around the wrong way which causes problems for people with dyslexia.

Presenters on the late night news saying 'have a good evening' when I am about to go to bed.

I could go on but won't as The C'wealth Games is taking precedence.

soz instead of sorry
Buy in store now - what happened to shops?

I'm with Ana regarding "Lessons" will be learned" mainly because it's a phrase that's trotted out so frequently and tritely, mostly about some quite serious blunder and it's obvious that lessons have not been learnt. What it really means is "oops we've been caught out, we'd better try harder to hide such blunders in future".

My hate is the way words which we've been using in one context suddenly change their meaning when I'm not looking and become offensive. Such as 'Minx' and 'Spunk'. (Should that be m**x and s***k? - I hope I haven't upset anyone)

"Happy Crimbo" - I am assuming that's a touch of the John Lennons...?

I do !

A couple of friends of mine called everyone [male or female] flower.

They also loved this song as I did,

When you go to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair !

I don't remember women calling each other 'Flower' in the 60s (and yes, I was there!). I think it's been used as a term of endearment for many years in certain regions of the UK though, like 'me duck' etc.

nan you don"t think that had something to do with FLOWER-POWER, which was all the rage in the sixties !!

Chuckle!

MrsPickle what do you think of 'Happy Crimbo' hate it ?

Do you remember in the 60s when women called other women 'Flower' very odd ?

May I join this select band of pedants, please?
I have laughed and commiserated at the posts above and now, going forward, I would like to say what an erudite bunch you all are.

Here are some of mine:

I'm well gutted (as in fish?)
See you tomoz
He was sat down.

I shall aim to think of more whilst cycling along the lanes this arvo... oh, another pet hate.

[Smile]

Yes - I hate that too! Erghh. Or should I say 'Ew'? That's another pet hate.

I also dislike the term 'minger' - I find that very offensive.

I find "suck it up" particularly offensive and unappealing.