Words and expressions you overuse

Discussion of natural languages, or language in general.
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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by Ser »

English: by the way, anyway (so much that people tend to notice it and tell me)

Spanish: ahí ahí ahí ahí ahí

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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by Mecislau »

"Fair enough". Definitely that.

Also "whereas", which I use in speech far too much. I suspect that's interference from Russian, though, where "а" ("whereas") is a basic conjunction just like "и" (and) or "но" (but).

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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by Magb »

I probably overuse the semicolon too, but it's not my fault that it's the best punctuation mark.

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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by Bristel »

I've been using "the" as a crutch word too often lately...

It seems that when I get nervous, I'll say "the" as if to start a sentence, so I can break the silence. :?
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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by Nortaneous »

Bristel wrote:I've been using "the" as a crutch word too often lately...

It seems that when I get nervous, I'll say "the" as if to start a sentence, so I can break the silence. :?
Yeah, I do the same thing.
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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by Chuma »

Irma Grese wrote:I overuse the semicolon.
You can never have too many semicolons.

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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by Skomakar'n »

dunomapuka wrote:I start too many sentences with "I." I worry that it makes me seem egocentric. There, I just did it again!
I tend to omit the word (in Swedish) as much as I can, so... Maybe you come off as less sloppy, at least.
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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by Zhen Lin »

Overuse of colons, "clearly", "obviously", "indeed", "moreover"... (Yes, I'm a mathematician.)
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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by TomHChappell »

Zhen Lin wrote:Overuse of colons, "clearly", "obviously", "indeed", "moreover"... (Yes, I'm a mathematician.)
Therefore, QED, with respect to, such that, absurd, clear, clearly, obvious, obviously.

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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by Zhen Lin »

TomHChappell wrote:
Zhen Lin wrote:Overuse of colons, "clearly", "obviously", "indeed", "moreover"... (Yes, I'm a mathematician.)
Therefore, QED, with respect to, such that, absurd, clear, clearly, obvious, obviously.
I don't use "QED". Lately, however, I've been gleefully putting little squares at the end of each exercise... I don't use "absurd" either, and I rarely write "contradiction". Instead there are a bunch of rotated hash marks. I do use "such that" and "with respect to", but I always write it as "s.t." and "w.r.t.".
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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by TomHChappell »

Zhen Lin wrote:I don't use "QED".
Actually I think I usually say "which was to be shown" or "which we were to show"; or, if I'm feeling formal, "which is what we were required to show".

Zhen Lin wrote:I don't use "absurd" either, and I rarely write "contradiction".
I think I usually say "but that's silly".
Zhen Lin wrote:Instead there are a bunch of rotated hash marks.
Huh. Show me? I can't picture what you mean.

Zhen Lin wrote:I do use "such that" and "with respect to", but I always write it as "s.t." and "w.r.t.".
So do I. Doesn't the fact that we need abbreviations show that we say those phrases a lot?

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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by Izambri »

*Today we are cancelling the Apocalypse*
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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by Chuma »

TomHChappell wrote:
Zhen Lin wrote:Overuse of colons, "clearly", "obviously", "indeed", "moreover"... (Yes, I'm a mathematician.)
Therefore, QED, with respect to, such that, absurd, clear, clearly, obvious, obviously.
Some of those, me too. But "QED", in speech? That's really bad. :P

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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by TomHChappell »

Chuma wrote:
TomHChappell wrote:
Zhen Lin wrote:Overuse of colons, "clearly", "obviously", "indeed", "moreover"... (Yes, I'm a mathematician.)
Therefore, QED, with respect to, such that, absurd, clear, clearly, obvious, obviously.
Some of those, me too. But "QED", in speech? That's really bad. :P
Well, I don't use it a lot. But in retrospect any use is overuse.

I left out "similarly". I probably overuse "similarly", at least in writing.

I want to start overusing "ceteris paribus". Too many people overuse "mutatis mutandis" instead, as if it's some kind of synonym, either to "ceteris paribus" or to "similarly". I find that annoying. I'd rather annoy them for a change.

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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by sarcasmo »

Magb wrote:I probably overuse the semicolon too, but it's not my fault that it's the best punctuation mark.

This. It has such flair; such panache; such ingenious daring; I love it!
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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by MosMus »

one phrase I often use in my armenian is "you understand" - it's become a bad habit I need to get rid of.

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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by zuben »

'y'know', I say it all the damn time, I probably use it as a filler even more than er or erm. 'I had a great time, y'know, and it was, y'know, just really good. In fact I had this, y'know, thing, right, which was, y'know, great.' Effing annoying.
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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by Echobeats »

When writing essay etc. I overuse "however" as the first word of sentences.
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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by Culden »

I use 'like' as a crutch word, and for some reason I reflexively say 'I don't know' at the start of almost every sentence... even if I do know. I'm desperately trying to break that habit because it just sounds weird.
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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by Niedokonany »

some, in case of, as, seem

I often find myself trying to replace "use" with something, too...

As for Polish, nothing is coming to my mind ATM.
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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by linguofreak »

Indeed, however, actually.

Since learning German, I've also started beginning English sentences with "Also, ..." (using the German pronunciation) where I would have used "So, ..." before.

Oh, I also tend to use "Say" alot, either as a means of getting someones attention, "Say Joe..." or as a means of introducing a question, "Say, do you think you could blah blah blah".

One of my friends has taken to interpreting that "say" as an imperative. Thus;

Me: "Say Ben..."
Him: "Ben."

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Re: Words and expressions you overuse

Post by Bedelato »

I tend to use "tend to" a lot when writing about language stuff. In general I tend to use circumlocutions a lot.

Other phrases I tend to use when describing stuff in general are "and stuff", "in general", and "or something".

In writing my frequently abused initial words include "now", "however", "but".

For internal monologues and private thoughts and stuff, my stock phrases include "okay", "let's see here...", and "so then".

For crutch words/phrases in conversation, I have "like" "um", "uh", and others that I can't think of right now. But those are the ones you'd hear from me most.

Also in speech: "also", "actually", "just", "I mean", "okay".
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