Disgusting words that are... disgusting.

I posted this long ago on Facebook, but thought I would bring it and a few other posts over.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm obsessively opposed to bad grammar. So here you go- a list of words/pronunciations that I wish were banned from everyday use:

Ginormous: ARGH. Do people who use this word actually like it? I imagine they are filled with self-loathing every time they say it.

Anyways: Fluff. Filler. Annoying.

Guesstimate: Is it that hard to simply say estimate? I hate it enough when two words are combined in cutesy wordplay; all the worse when that word becomes a permanent fixture in the English language.

Orientate: Next we'll be organizating and calculatizing and documentating.

Heighth: Why the tagalong 'h'? It's pronounced 'hite', even when lumped in with width, breadth and length.

Acrossed: It's "across"! You go across the road, not acrossed it!

Athalete: Sloppy.

Excetera: It's spelled with a 't', not an 'x'. See also 'expresso'.

Fermiliar: When people see the word 'familiar', do they not realize that there's no 'r' there??

Irregardless: Apparently 'regardless' doesn't sound important enough.

Libary: This one drives me crazy. It's only cute when a 3-year-old says it. I want to crawl out of my skin when an adult says it.

Methodology: Am I just lazy, or does it seem easier to say 'method'?

Nother: As in "That's a whole nother issue". It's an awkward phrase to be avoided at all times.

Overexaggerate: This is the mother of all redundancies. The 'over' is implied in the word exaggerate. How big does an exaggeration have to be before it is more than just an exaggeration and falls into the realm of overexaggeration?

Realator: I have a thing about extra syllables.

Seen: As in "I seen them out in the field." Cringe!

Dab or smidgen: Nothing grammatically wrong with these words, I just hate them. They conjure up images of someone pinching her fingers together and making a squirrel face.

Supposably: Disgusting!

Random: I don't mind the word in and of itself, but I hate it when it is used as a synonym for funny.

Utilize: Just plain obnoxious, Corporate America.

Paradigm: It's a squishy term so grossly overused that no one really knows what it means anymore.

Verbage: Pretentious AND misspelled!


Finally, contenders for the most repulsive word in the English language:

Chortle: Ugh. Who came up with this word? Chuckle and snicker are right on chortle's heels. Laughing is such a great sound, so why describe it with words that make it sound like a horrid bodily function?

Fecund: Blechh.

Gravitas: Pompous and horribly awkward to say aloud.

Kismet: The use of this word is just a poorly veiled request to be kicked in the money-maker.

Moist: *shudder*

Nugget: I can't even bring myself to say it when I'm ordering at McDonald's. It's a good thing they don't have a 6-piece anything else.

Ubiquitous: How can a word that means "existing or being everywhere" be so scarcely used? Because people tend to avoid saying words that they can't pronounce without gleeking.

Beverage: Particularly obscene when preceded with 'tasty'.

Brunch: Right after tennis at the club with the other WAGs.

Smear: Admit it. You just shuddered when you read it.

Yummy. Yucky. Pew. Curds. Squirm. Corpuscle. Snog. Sandwich. Cheesy.

Any I've forgotten?