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A few days ago, Michelle Pauli in the Guardian's Books Blog asked "Which words make you wince?" (link).

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Originally posted by zmježd:
I am literally laughing out loud, figuratively speaking.

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Don't write silly-soundingly.

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All split infinitives ("to boldly go") which are now entirely acceptable in American English. Another case of the Americanisation of English.

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But the the objec, like in 1984, is to destroy all social and histroic roots. Another example is the concerted media campaign to remove adequate English speaking and replace it with some bastardized Cockney called Esturay 'English'.
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...if adopting a foreign word into our language, we should take the trouble to pronounce it properly. If it is very difficult to pronounce, it would be better not to adopt it.

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In fact teenagers should have their lips stitched together until they have passed a written exam in the correct and appropriate use of English.

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How about tortologies like "reduce down", "past history". Or there the politicians' favourite: "absolutely right".
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Most annoying phrase in the English language......'The Daily Telegraph'. Second most annoying - anything at all that Lynne Truss says.

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Originally posted by zmježd:
That's a strange sentence.

Is it the comma which weirds it? Or is it that I was not speaking, but rather typing?

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Certainly well-written, and it may be folly for non-credentialed amateur slobs such as myself to take up the counter charge, but let me give it a feeble attempt. Indeed, I was aware of the significant history of the usage of "literally" as an intensifier for "figuratively", but I was taken aback by some of the pedigree. Alcott, Clemens, Joyce! (Oh my!) Ultimately, the defenders of this usage "win" by virtue of the democratic nature of language. Usage is what it is, logic be damned. Here is what rubs me the wrong way: we don't have any serviceable alternatives!! What then, shall we use when we mean "exactly as described; in a literal way?" Our language is festooned with intensifying adverbs, many of them quite evocative and colorful, but "literally" in the correct sense (ok, "correct sense") has no substitute. A couple of candidates that come to mind are "really" and "actually." "Really" is obviously useless, as discussed in Sheidlower's essay. While "actually" may be a little more reliable, it has nevertheless been abused in the same way. Meanwhile, the figurative phrases to which "literally" is typically prepended are generally colorful and descriptive on their own, and rarely benefit from the addition--it is a generally superfluous intensifier. (Yes, this is merely my opinion, but show me otherwise! And, yes, I realize that "prepend" is considered jargon, but THERE is a useful coinage!) Those of us who fight the good fight for "literally" do so only to attempt to rescue a precise meaning which is otherwise very awkward to express. We are heirs to the great monastic tradition of the Middle Ages, laboring to preserve civilization against an uncaring, barbaric age. Hyperbole? Perhaps, I apologize, but the issue has me literally pulling my hair out. Or is that "figuratively" pulling my hair out? You'll never know, will you? Exactly.

--wrongainey

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The Daily Telegraph asked the question "What is the most annoying phrase in the English language?" and got like a jillion responses. The responses range from the uninformed: