Over the years of appetite fondness of doing analysis work, I have become a very keen observer. Trust me, even the littlest details I notice – from how one's hands move while s/he talks, how one refuses to make an eye contact when talking to a woman, the curving of one's lips when angered, raising of an eyebrow when the topic was rather taboo, dirty fingernails and the list goes on.
Late at night, when silence becomes resounding, I would often indulge myself to serious thinking. Recalling anything and everything that happened to me that same day or sometimes, few days earlier or even rehearsing some possible scenarios in my head. And when really inspired, I would jot down words or phrases that would often strike me – both in a good way and otherwise.
Forgive me if instead of parading words/phrases that struck me in a good way, I’ve decided to be a little different and publish words/phrases that made me cringe or even puke.
Here goes my Top 10:
1. Basically – I would often hear this from speaker/s or those who were trying to explain something but you see, what is basic to the speaker may not be basic to the audience or listener.
2. Honestly – Every time I hear the word comes out of someone’s mouth, I’d be tempted to retaliate with “Does that mean you’ve never been honest?”
3. Sheesh, Man – Two things. I just never liked this sheesh. What does it really mean, anyway? And second, I am not a man.
4. Ma’am – Out of respect, it gives me a certain pride when co-workers would call me Ma’am but when used in a different tone, especially in an argument – being called Ma’am makes me want to strike back with my sometimes-sharp tongue.
5. You know what I mean – I used to hear this from a former boss and every time he would lash these words out, I’d be tempted to answer back with “No, I don’t”. You know what I mean, sometimes make me feel like I look/sound stupid.
6. You get me – For the same reason mentioned above.
7. Truth to the matter – Whatever happened to simplify? KISS? I rest my case.
8. Practically – I used hear this from an insecure, old woman – who includes this word in every sentence. “I practically did everything.” “Practically, this is how it should be done”. And the letter A in the word was continually pronounced as E, thus – “prEcticElly”. Annoying.
9. Three – I heard this word pronounced as tree more than 20x, putting an emphasis on the letter T.
10. Oh my god, Whatever – Sometimes they’re cute to use but when overly done, they're already irritating.
I have 3 Cattleya fillers filled with words/phrases such as the above but since I really don’t want to paint myself a little more edgy than I already am, I’ve decided that those Cattleya fillers and their contents are solely for my amusement. Please don’t get me wrong. I am not a linguistic geek but I just happen to have this “weird” way of observing people and then writing such observations down on a neat, sometimes scented paper.
So there.
