BGP QOTD: What phrase or widely used term do you hate the most?

[LCDAWGS19]

"needless to say..." or "it goes without saying..."

 

followed by actually saying whatever it is. UGH

[B-Ball-fan]

I often hear people refer to playing golf as "hitting the links". I've never quite known the origins of that phrase, and could never bring myself to say it as it would feel pretentious, and especially since I don't even know what it means.

 

A bit of research tells me this:

 

Why exactly are golf courses known as "links"?

 

Listen to the hackers at your local pro shop, and you're likely to think the term applies to any golf course. Not so, says Rand Jerris, the historian and librarian for the United States Golf Association, who says the term is "widely misapplied." The term "links" is shorthand for a geographic land form found only in Scotland, where the game was invented. Linksland referred to low-lying seaside land, "characteristically sandy, treeless, and undulating." Since the land was poor for farming, Scots found other uses for it--most notably sports, such as archery, bowling, and of course golf. (And to be true links, the land must have all these geographic characteristics and be on an estuary--where the mouth of a river meets the sea.)

 

That means that any time you've referred to a non-Scottish golf course as "links," you've been in error; no American golf course truly deserves the name. If you tell someone you're hitting the links, you'd better be (a) flying to Scotland, (b) on a chain gang, or © eating sausage.

[CincySportsFan]

I still say it, didn't know that bothered anyone. Interesting.

 

First time I heard it was freshman year at UC (about 3 decades ago) in the cafeteria. The ladies behind the counter would say it constantly. At first we thought it was because they were trying to teach manners. :lol2: And it worked in that regard, because after awhile, everyone started putting "please" into their requests. But when they still kept saying it, then it got annoying. It always felt like there should be something following that ("please, could you repeat that", "please, could you say that again", etc.) so you naturally paused, waiting for it...which led to many awkward pauses.

[rjksl]

I can't stand the phrase "assault weapons." I've never seen nor heard of a weapon assaulting anyone. Just a phrase that some seem to use to make an inanimate object sound evil.

[CincySportsFan]

Has to so with the density of folks with German heritage in the area. The German word "bitte" has several meanings, including "please", "thank you" and "pardon?"...so the colloquial use of "please?" is an example of something being slightly lost in translation.

 

A nice tidbit of information that's good to know!

[B-Ball-fan]

"I know, right"?

[Voice of Reason]

I can't stand the phrase "assault weapons." I've never seen nor heard of a weapon assaulting anyone. Just a phrase that some seem to use to make an inanimate object sound evil.

 

Then you probably don't like "muscle cars" (names like Demon, Viper, Cobra, etc.), "bullet train", "fighter jet", "butcher knife", et al?

[rjksl]

Not especially. Names like Demon, Viper, Cobra, etc are actual names, so nothing wrong with those. Subjective terminology to pass off a negative stereotype to me is ignorant and lazy. We all have our opinions though, that is what makes life much more fun.

[B-Ball-fan]

Somewhere about 15-20 years ago the trendy use of the word "awesome" came into play and 99% of time was overused and downright misused, as it often became a casual response to commonplace things whereas by definition it should be applied to something that is truly amazing.

 

If that wasn't bad enough, all these years later it has stuck, and is still very much overused and misused. its meaning was and still is watered down to the point that it barely means anything at all other than just an exaggerated connector response word within a conversation instead of "Uh huh", or "Yeah", or whatever people might say when they're listening to someone speak.

 

To people that I know I don't use the word at all. Sometimes if a stranger is chatting with me in public and I really have nothing to say, I'll inject it to pretentiously make them feel like I'm listening to them, but even when I do it makes me cringe.

[The Professor]

I often hear people refer to playing golf as "hitting the links". I've never quite known the origins of that phrase, and could never bring myself to say it as it would feel pretentious, and especially since I don't even know what it means.

 

A bit of research tells me this:

 

Why exactly are golf courses known as "links"?

 

Listen to the hackers at your local pro shop, and you're likely to think the term applies to any golf course. Not so, says Rand Jerris, the historian and librarian for the United States Golf Association, who says the term is "widely misapplied." The term "links" is shorthand for a geographic land form found only in Scotland, where the game was invented. Linksland referred to low-lying seaside land, "characteristically sandy, treeless, and undulating." Since the land was poor for farming, Scots found other uses for it--most notably sports, such as archery, bowling, and of course golf. (And to be true links, the land must have all these geographic characteristics and be on an estuary--where the mouth of a river meets the sea.)

 

That means that any time you've referred to a non-Scottish golf course as "links," you've been in error; no American golf course truly deserves the name. If you tell someone you're hitting the links, you'd better be (a) flying to Scotland, (b) on a chain gang, or © eating sausage.

 

The golfing world has borrowed the term from the Scottish and tweaked it somewhat, however. Today "links" is also considered a course that is treeless or nearly treeless. I believe Kearney Hill in Lexington is referred to as a links course.

[The Professor]

"Like I said", used about 20 times in in a 2 minute post game interview by some college sports players.

[rjs4470]

"Like I said", used about 20 times in in a 2 minute post game interview by some college sports players.

 

That's one I use way too often. I hate that I say it, and it pops out without me even thinking about it. I have no idea why it happens, but I'm working on not using it.

[sumoroyal]

Whatever!!!!! I hate that when my grandkids use that.

[swamprat]

"Absolutely." (usually in response to a question)

 

There are very few absolutes in life, and what you just responded to is probably not one of them.

 

When I say it, I absolutely mean it.

[THE SHERIFF]

"You're not missing any meals". Might as well just tell them they're getting fat.