Earlier this month Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, from its home base midway between the bright lights of New York City and the state capitol of Albany in scenic Poughkeepsie, surveyed nearly 1,200 adults to find out which word irritates them most.
The winner . . . by a landslide . . . is . . . (drum roll, please) . . . “whatever.”
Its casual use was rated “most annoying” by a whopping 38 percent of respondents.
This victory is not whatever’s first. It is its fifth – in a row.
“The word can be very dismissive and rude,” said Marist media director Mary Griffith. “It’s a putdown to some extent and it can signal to the other person that what they are saying is not important.”
Second on the annoying word list is “like,” which has enjoyed a major rebirth with the popular growth of Facebook. Twenty-two percent despise its slang overuse.
After like, in third place, is the always grating “you know,” followed by one that really bugs me: “just sayin’.” You know was picked by 18 percent while just sayin’ was at 14. I detest just sayin’ almost as much as “no problem,” which I totally despise.
Relegated to fifth position this year, at 6 percent, is a fading star: “obviously.”
The remaining two percent of survey respondents were unsure. I guess the options proved too difficult.
Marist began this end of year word poll five years ago. Since inception the word “whatever” has been the undisputed, undefeated champion of recipient irritation.
The Marist research group provides respondents choices culled from research and prior surveys. The school normally surveys issues dealing with politics, so their annoying word poll proves enlightening – it is their way to maintain the pulse of popular culture.
At the same time Marist pollsters also asked respondents what political word or phrase they would like to see disappear in 2014.
“Obamacare” was a clear winner, picked by 41 percent.
Respondents also would like to eliminate the Washington terms “shutdown” and “gridlock.” Shutdown was runner-up with 30 percent and gridlock was third with 11.
Rounding out the top five were “fiscal cliff” (10 percent) and “sequestration” (4 percent). The remaining 4 percent of respondents were stumped and could not make up their mind.
Words and mannerisms that aggravate us are called “irritators.” The Marist study is a lighthearted reminder that we should always police our use of the language and strike grating words like these from our daily lexicon.
If a word or behavioral habit bugs you, it bugs others too. The dictionary defines 455,000 words. Let’s all enter the New Year committed to using some more and others a heck of a lot less.