Researchers at Oxford University have identified the most annoying phrases in the English language and compiled a top-ten list of the very worst, the Telegraph in London reports.
Published in the newly released Damp Squid, the most irritating expressions include "At the end of the day" and “24/7."
Particularly despised was "I personally," a phrase the Telegraph calls "the linguistic equivalent of having chips with rice." Author Jeremy Butterfield says most of the expressions on the list start out as annoying office-speak but become gradually intolerable with increased use.
“We grow tired of anything that is repeated too often – an anecdote, a joke, a mannerism,” Butterfield says. “The same seems to happen with some language."
Butterfield named his book after the frequent linguistic confusion between "squid," the sea creature, and "squib," a type of British fireworks.
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