Whatever is, you know, the word that Americans hate most

[Dennis Baron]

There's a new post on the Web of Language:

Whatever is, you know, the word that Americans hate most

A recent poll finds that "whatever" is the single most annoying word
in English, followed by the common phrase "you know."

The Marist Poll reports that whatever is hated by 47% of those
surveyed, and one quarter of all Americans can't stand you know. It is
what it is, a relative newcomer to the most-annoying category, came in
third, with an 11 share, and 8% of respondents chose "I don't know" --
the poll response, not the annoying phrase. 7% picked anyway, and at
the end of the list, only 2% opted for at the end of the day, a phrase
which was actually marked as most annoying in a thoroughly
unscientific 2008 British list of annoying English.
What makes us hate such common words? Find out on the Web of
Language:  http://www.illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage

____________________
Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron

read the Web of Language:
http://www.illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage

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