Words NOT to live by
If you are struggling to find something to give up for Lent, then perhaps I could point you to the long list of words and phrases that readers of the Telegraph find annoying. Last week I listed mine: cringe, hubby, holibobs, Crimbo, interweb, OMG and so on. You had no shortage of suggestions, the most (un)popular of which was “uni”, though using “invite” as a noun was also pretty hated. “At the end of the day” gets right on everyone’s nerves (may I suggest responding with: “it’s night”), as does “fess up” and “man up”, the latter of which is sexist (I think). “Peeps” is heinous. “Nibbles” for canapés
is not on. “Yay” is an absolute no-no (so smug, writes one reader). Someone hated “see you later”, on account of the fact that she most probably wouldn’t. “Sibling” caused offence, as did “partner” when discussing a significant other (though I am sure that also winds many up).
Big thanks to Philip Boon, who pointed out that “OMG”, “FYI” and “BTW” were abbreviations, not acronyms, as I had written. OMG, I don’t know what I’d do without you.