Researchers at Oxford University just released their top ten most irritating phrases. The researchers who compiled the list monitor the use of phrases in a database called the Oxford University Corpus, which comprises books, papers, magazines, broadcast, the Internet, and other sources.

The top ten most irritating phrases:

1 - At the end of the day

2 - Fairly unique

3 - I personally

4 - At this moment in time

5 - With all due respect

6 - Absolutely

7 - It’s a nightmare

8 - Shouldn’t of

9 - 24/7

10 - It’s not rocket science

One thing I noticed is that several of these are not popular here within the US (I’m somewhat relieved…aren’t you?) I would have substituted a few other, more commonly heard phrases from my own personal observation.

Such as:

1. “a whole nother”

2. The abusive overuse of the word “like.”

3. The “umm…(pause) yeah.”

4. “…and what not.”

5. “I could care less.”

6. Near miss. (If it almost missed…then it was a HIT!)

That’s all I can think of right now. Does anyone else have an irritating phrase or two to add to this list? Let me know! Leave a comment with your suggestions and we’ll create our own list here. Thanks!