Hands down, no word grates on Americans more than "whatever," a public opinion survey says.
The casual "whatever" was rated the most annoying word by 38 percent of 1,173 adults surveyed in early December by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, based in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. That is up from 32 percent a year earlier, pollsters said. What's more, "whatever" has topped the annoying word charts for five straight years.
"The word can be very dismissive and rude," said Mary Griffith, media director for Marist. "It's a put-down to some extent and it can signal to the other person that what they are saying is not important." (Read more.)
A place for friends to meet... with reflections on politics, history, art, music, books, morals, manners, and matters of faith. A blog by Elena Maria Vidal.
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Monday, December 30, 2013
Whatever
It has become a most annoying word. To quote:
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