JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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Why do some celebrities self-destruct due to substance abuse?
( 15 )
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What do you think are the main reasons why U.S. car sales are so low in Japan?
( 35 )
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What can be done to ease escalating tensions between the West and Iran over its nuclear program? And should Japan join sanctions against Iran?
( 14 )
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What do you think of the revised plan to realign U.S. forces in Japan by sending some Marines to Guam, and rotating others to Australia, the Philippines, Hawaii and possibly Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture?
( 17 )
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Why are there so many deaths due to snow-related accidents (people falling off rooftops, for example) in Japan this winter?
( 15 )
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- Financial Advisor
- Select Asset Management KK, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥100,000 ~ ¥999,999 Paid Training Commission Based
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- Corporate Business English Trainers
- ACT Systems, Inc.（株式会社アクト・システムズ）, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥269,500 ~ ¥280,000 / Month
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- English Instructor (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe)
- Berlitz Japan, Inc. (ベルリッツ・ジャパン株式会社), Kansai
- Salary: ¥125,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month
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154 Comments
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0
hellhound
Sea Urchin
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smartacus
My top three pet hates are as follows:
No. 1: I could care less, when it should be I couldn't care less.
No. 2: My bad (a bizarre Americanism), instead of My mistake, or I'm sorry.
No. 3: Looser instead of loser, which many JT readers seem to be guilty of.
0
Dewaashita
Meaningless corporate slang terms. New ones every year. "Going forward, forward thinking, pro-active..." Souless and perfunctory phrases. I would rather hear 10 minutes from a poet than 30 seconds from a corporate-drone-Alan-Greenspan-wannabe.
0
Altria
Stop
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RogueFive
Sorry, I already have a boyfriend.
0
fragmental
whatever
0
sk4ek
Lately I find the phrase "it is what it is" superbly annoying, and overused. It combines an attempt to avoid responsibility with a defeatist expectation that completely takes the wind out of the listener's sails.
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ca1ic0cat
whatever.
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LostinNagoya
the F word some people speak every two words.
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tarento
Not if you were the last man on earth.
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MeanRingo
"Don't...Stop" It is sooooo ambiguous.
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societymike
hahaha!! good one!
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bamboohat
um, no it shouldn't. As pointed out by linguist Steven Pinker in his book "The Language Instinct," the phrase "I could care less" is sarcastic, and obeys the rules of grammar as applied to sarcasm. If you were to stress the "could" then it wouldn't be sarcastic, but in the sentence "I could care less," the "care less" is the stressed phrase.
Interesting book. He spends a whole chapter debunking so called "language experts" criticisms such as this one. Fairly enlightening, and a fascinating read for those interested in language and the true nature of grammar.
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30061015
Like, like... LIKE.
.
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nandakandamanda
LOL. Devastating question. Now if you asked me not one, but the top 100 most irritating cliches, we'd be in business. At the end of the day, it's basically laziness, innit.
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Madara
"you know"
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perspective
well, like, I think, like 30061015, is like right about the word like.
0
Altria
PWNED!
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TSRnow
I was going to... or I was just going to...
0
Okinawamike
Whaaaaazzz's Uuuup!
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kokorocloud
"I know, right?" -- Even I use this and it still irritates me every time, haha.
0
Foxie
In British English, adding 'Love' whilst addressing people at the end.
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one2one
"shall we"
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some14some
"eco-friendly" and "friendly-fire"!
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bamboohat
Obama is making "unprecedented" go up on my list
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one2one
"the sky is my limit"
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m5c32
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFZrzg62Zj0
It is what it is ;)
0
XXXXX
irregardless, women(instead of woman), 'hey man'
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SiouxGirl
overdraft
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mrsynik
When Tennis commentators report someone has been "Bundled Out", "Bowed Out" or "Crashed Out". The sporting cliches annoy me.
American English terms such as Gas Pedal (accelerator pedal) and spelling words with out a 'u' (such as colour) irritate me. It is after all 'English'.
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Gregebre
Let's
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pamelot
The overuse of the new keychain phrase: That being said, bla bla bla... Enough, already!
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stirfry
not tonight, i have a headache
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tarento
color with a "u". and saying "football" instead of "soccer". British English is for museum archives. Let's face it, American English is just cooler.
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ho_hum
tarento, you're just, like, soooo right. American English is way, way cooler. I love the way all Americans now sound like 14-year old Valley girls. Well done! As for most annoying word or expression; "Fair and Balanced"
0
DickMorris
tarento; Football is the official and correct name for the sport. Colour is the correct English way of spelling.
American English is simplified English , which is a shame.
I have 3 pet hate words, which are used by the lazy; cool, awesome and gay (in meaning something bad).
0
wawawasuremono
"INNIT!"
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seijichuudo9sha
As a progressive I think the expression I hate most are ones like 'We the People" or 'Dont Tread on Me."
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Triumvere
"mature" when pronounced with a hard "T"
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seesaw
A few: Hey you, Sup kiddo, yeah, yeah, whatever, and asking for a favour without saying the word 'please'...
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sk4ek
The media's use of hyperbolic, vaguely violent verbs such as "rip", "blast", and "slam" to describe criticism by or of public figures.
The use of windy modifiers to explain why a person is being quoted anonymously ("...because he was not authorized to speak on the matter...", "...because negotiations were confidential...", etc. When did this trend start???).
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LoveUSA
The words "I love you" are very annoying when it is obvious the man saying them is lying.
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LoveUSA
lol you have been refused a lot it seems
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yabits
"Thank you for continuing to hold. We appreciate your patience. Someone will be with you shortly."
(Repeat 125 times.)
0
Azrael
"This is Japan" uttered as the ultimate cultural barrier to keep a foreigner from polluting Japan with their foreign ways of thinking.
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irishosaru
"post 9-11 world"
"the current economic climate"
"going forward"
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Good_Jorb
Let's see at this moment it would be "sweat equity". I close second/third blogosphere and webinar.
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Triple888
"by virtue" "American president"
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IvanCoughalot
It gets on my wick when politicians say "mistakes were made" or "there are issues we have to address", when what they mean is "Oops, you caught us lying and stealing".
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mrsynik
I find this statement an annoying English expression.
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DeepAir65
don't go down the west counrey then because it will change to "lover"...
My pet hate - "let's touch base" and in Japan when talking to officials to try and get something changed "well you're not Japanese..."
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Okinawamike
When a gals says "No that's not a blister! I bit my lip the other day"!
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Okinawamike
When a friend who has been drinking says "Hey, boys, watch this"!
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kochikameme
One that has had me baffled and annoyed recently is "I could care less" What is that supposed to mean? It's "I couldn't care less"!
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lostrune2
unpatriotic
it's not you; it's me
irregardless
dumb blonde (what's dumb got to do with it?)
0
Sarge
hellhound: "Sea Urchin"
Har!
The English word ( in this case an adjective ) that is most annoying to me is "off-topic."
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Altria
'objectiveness' and 'accountability'
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dbung10
The casual and every day use of the word 'gay' as an insult would probably annoy me a lot if I was gay.
People using words in such a way that clearly shows they dont actually understand the word that just dribbled out of their mouths, and everyone listening that also doesnt understand that word thinking that the speaker is intelligent (I think you can watch any interview between a celebrity and a Fox news reporter for examples of this).
0
cleo
I could care less. (I couldn't!!)
one of the only....(few!!)
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IvanCoughalot
"Second of all" is another quick way to identify yourself as a halfwit.
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yokomoc
"Boy", "sure", "swell", "dang" and other such hokey expressions.
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yokomoc
Actually it's Association Football. The "u" in colour, fervour, rumour, clamour etc. gives the word an abstract feel and distinguishes it from objective nouns like motor, rotor, doctor etc. The words are poorer without it. [This is where someone posts the exception to make me look stupid :) ]
Ahaha, kind of like katakana then.
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yokomoc
Oh, almost forgot Cockney rhyming slang. Please, enough already.
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dbung10
Worse than cockney rhyming slang is middle and upper class half-wits that want to be seen as 'one of the lads' and feel the need to speak in an exaggerated local accent whenever they are in the company of other guys.
Example - Jamie Oliver.
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cactusJack
"my bad" ...seems to me to mean "It was my fault, I suppose, but now EVERYTHING IS FINE!"
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nightvision
'...like,...' 'Duh!' 'You know what I mean?'
(I can just imagine Nihonglish slang: "E, like, betsu ni...")
"Konnichiwa!!! There is rackless japanese&english site desu! Nihongo&English mix chanpon de Go desu. Please yoroshiku!"
(From that old blog site, Nihonglish! Japanese and English is as bad a mixture as ice cream and soy sauce.)
0
nightflesh
organic
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IvanCoughalot
'We Japanese"
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seijichuudo9sha
As a progressive I also find "personal responsibility" and "self reliance" incredibly jarring and offensive.
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m5c32
Color, favor, humor, etc. only have "u"s in them cuz you copied the French cuz you had to try and nuzzle up to the King Williamses and try to speak their tongue.
It's more like we're removing the Normal yoke off for you.
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5SpeedRacer5
I like it all. Words can be revealing or misleading. Even if I had the power, I would not make any word illegal. Everybody plays with words. Most people let it affect how they think, however, which is not good.
I guess phrases like MOST UNDER-RATED or MOST OVERLOOKED are about as meaningless as THE LAST THING ON MY MIND. They are pretty bad. Hyperbole should be saved for special occasions. Meaningless expressions need to be pointed out more often.
0
dejaboo
People who say "Ya think?" after someone says something obvious.
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sabiwabi
Latte.
I hate it when they take a word from another language and change its meaning. I witnessed years ago some Americans at a restaurant in Italy getting quite upset when the waiter brought them a pizza with peppers as topping; seems they asked for pepperoni pizza...
I wonder how many Americans get upset when they order a "latte" in Italy and are served a glass of milk!
"Genre" also bugs me, and the way they mispronounce "coup de grace".
0
sabiwabi
"Nucular" (the way Bush and others pronounce "nuclear")
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Azrael
c.c; Why is suddenly broken English considered 100% American as opposed to proper English being considered a British prerogative? I don't think all Americans speak slang only. I have read quite a few technical texts from American authors and they were not written in slang. As for spelling and grammar - hello, languages evolve. Slang will always be... slang, though. As far as I know Latin obscenities scribbled over Greek ruins by ancient tourists are not taught in Latin classes nowadays. In that sense, only scholars get to understand obscenities of the past! How ironic.
Anyway, yes British English and American English are different and so what? Do you have any idea how different Spanish gets in all the dozens of countries that speak it? And yet, we do have a universal dictionary and an institution that oversees all versions of Spanish to compile said dictionary reflecting the wealth of Spanish language... and we are not at each others throats about local differences. I have to admit though I always thought Argentinian Spanish is weird but everyone has an odd cousin somewhere, I suppose.
Asides from "This is Japan" as I mentioned before, hm... eco suffixed to merchandise names annoys me: eco-whatever. Most of the time it's just a marketing gag.
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Sarge
"the way they mispronounce "coup de grace"
Yeah, I hate it when people pronounce it any way other than "coop de grayce."
"Nucular" ( the way Bush and others pronounce nuclear )"
"Nuclear" ( the way some pronounce nucular )
0
JustyH
'Climate Change' when people say it as if it has never happened before in Earth's history.
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Blue_Tiger
"I'm fine, and you?" when spoken by children in onotone, robotic rfashion, as they have learned from their eikaiwa and elementary school "English 'teachers'". QWhen I turn and ask them what their favorite flavor of ice cream is, they are completely lost....
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fleetwood77
"Whatever" ."Way to go!" What in the name of God are those supposed to mean??
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CandleStickPark
Recently, people around me have started to copy the SNL made popular, "Really..." for when something happens that is somewhat unbelievable, ridiculous, just out-right stupid . Like, "Santa Clause sets fire to Cleaning Company" - people would say, "Really, a guy in a Santa Clause suite". Emphasis on the word "Really". "Really, the cop was filming the girls underpants." - OK, I guess that's not so unbelievable ;-) Another example is your iphone stops working - "Really, iPhone, you just broke on me!" etc etc...
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norinrad21
Best tarento, best jeanist, best skritist and i could go on and on
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XXXXX
'as it were'...'it is too'(in a yes/no argument)...'peace out'..
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amerijap
I would say, "right?" Some academic professionals from Northwestern Univ. like to use this word frequently while they're talking really fast.
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Monkeyz
I'm gonna agree with Blue Tiger. "I'm fine thank you and you?" spoken with no pause, as if it's the correct answer to the tough question, "How are you?" is prettttty obnoxious.
And then after that, I'd say ... anything spoken as if it were written in katakana.
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waynegrow
Whatever= I really don't care what you are saying and way to go= good job. Really means you are shocked it happened. Different places in America pronounce words in a different way depending where you live here. I'm from Boston so we have a way of saying things; pak ya ca in havad yad = park your car in Harvard yard. People in the Midwest have their own saying, as do people down south and on the west coast. Bush pronounces nucular because he is from Texas and that is how they talk. I'm sure people in northern Japan talk a little different then people in southern Japan. If I go to places down south to visit in America, there are times I have no idea what they are saying and the funny thing is they are speaking English.
If you understood the meaning behind the word or phase, you would not have a problem with it. You have to come here and listen how the word or phase is used in a sentence to have some kind of understanding. Listening to MTV you will never get it and trying to learn from someone in the Midwest is a lost cause.
May peace be with you in life, I’m leaving now = peace out.
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waynegrow
As you were (not as it were) is a military saying meaning, go back to what you were doing. It is too; is said when someone is lying about something or they don’t believe what you are saying. It is not used in a yes or no argument; it is used more as a reply to a topic of discussion.
0
bicultural
"so called"
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IcingDeath
These two words spoken together make me cringe: "Rush Limbaugh"
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zurcronium
Republican. Insures failure of some sort. Racism too, not quite the same but linked.
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Farmboy
I don't like the use of the word "troop" to mean soldier. This is an oddity that have become more popular over the last ten years or so. "Fifty troops were killed" sounds like a lot more to someone who thinks of a troop as a group of soldiers. Still, so far, if you ask someone in the military what they do, nobody says, "I'm a troop."
0
Makun
"Where you at!?" "Terrorism" "Oishii so~~~"
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Makun
Haha wups that last one is not english, but drives me up the wall...
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alphawolf
People at may work say "whatever" It seems to be a sign of insecurity because they say it after you tell them something they didn't know but need to know. Rather than say thanks.. and accept the fact that they aren't as smart as their ego makes them believe, they lock in that knowledge and walk off saying "whatever"... trying to insinuate that it wasn't important.. aw
0
IcingDeath
Oh I tell ya what actually does drive me nuts. The phrase "You only did this because I am (insert ethnicity here)". Makes me grind my teeth every time I hear it from any ethnic group.
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SebastianFlyte
"American Intelligence" has no meaning for me.
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alphawolf
IcingDeath.. what grinds my gears is when guys like you get their gears ground, but are so politically correct they can't say what ground their gears.. what ethnicity are you refering to.. don't worry, you're boss won't know it's you and you won't get fired.. aw
0
kupapa
... don't forget his speechwriter's other high frequency word: 'BOLD'
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waynegrow
Most of these phases have nothing to do with American, its more what you don't like about Americans. I would say half of you never been here or even talked to an American. Oh I forgot Japanese women are hot.
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Arkamedes
the phrase F***ing A. Who made that up??? they should be impaled by something dull
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Arkamedes
also "Naah mean" , and 'Know what Im saying' knowhutimsayin?
0
nandakandamanda
British English, American English, both full of annoying words and expressions. It's not the words or the expressions so much as the shadows of the sheeple who mindlessly pick them up and use them.
Mispronunciation of French words in English is excruciating. 'Lonjerry' or 'lawnjerry' for lingerie, and 'Moolon' for Moulin both get my goat.
Recently there is a huge usage of 'If I would of been there, I would...' which contains two pet hates. One is, for people who haven't yet spotted it, the use of 'of' in place of 've (have). The other is the grammatically incorrect past conditional, which should be 'If I had been there, I would ...have wrung their necks.' (One glaring example of this by a JT poster today.)
0
nandakandamanda
Anon: "If bush would have said the same thing on a similar matter..."
See previous post. This should be: "If Bush had said the same thing on a similar matter..."
Unfortunately this usage is spreading like wildfire, and with the general dumbing-down of English it is sure to be recognized as 'correct' usage within a few years, sadly.
0
Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land
The misspelling of 'lose' to become 'loose' has become really common on the internet and irritates me a great deal.
As in, "Shut up, you looser."
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waynegrow
I don’t like how people from California can replace everything with dude.
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Equality
What bugs me is when people overuse the phrase, "I get it", as in "I get it that people get annoyed with the overuse of the phrase, 'I get it'!!"
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Equality
Oh yeah, and "lol". Are people really 'laughing out loud' as they write? If so, then they either have a hyperactive sense of humor or are completely moronic!
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Farmboy
Dude!!
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IvanCoughalot
I never understood "Oafuf Uxache"
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SixDOF
It pains me that the majority of posts have nothing to do with the subject and just refer to American Hate...pretty lame. As for my answer: "Get 'er done!" pains me to no end. Ugh!
0
Sanatan22
The word "cheers" at the end of messages to replace other ways of greeting like Best regards, or something similar.
In Japan the word "Close" on shops instead of "Closed" - I always have the urge to take a marker and write "but no cigar" under it.
"Can I help you?" instead of saying hello, here in Japan. This seems to be the only English phrase most Japanese can handle.
The word "menu" at hair salons, massage parlors and other places instead of price list.
0
kumasan1969
Whatever the words people try to say slowly assuming that I need them to.
I have a college degree from the college in U.S., and my English is far from perfect, but not that bad either.
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Sarge
"With all due respect"
As in, "With all due respect, you're crazy."
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XXXXX
'Can I help you' is friendly and positive, no?? IvanCaL: what?? I like dude/dudette :) I still use lol/cheers Xb Happy Xmas and a Merry New Year
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IvanCoughalot
"Catch you later" makes the interlocutor sound like herpes.
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USARonin
'No problem.'
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sf2k
let's say you're 100 pounds overweight, you trashed the car, you're in bankruptcy or debt, ran over a cat but hey, "It's all good" as if to absolve every and any personal responsibility.
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sf2k
Bad punctuation. I'm reminded of a sign in Kyoto (it might be gone now) but the Japanese reads that smoking is not permitted, but the English below it read: "No, smoking" (as if so say no really, go right ahead).
another was an ad that read: "Be. Yourself." as two separate words. I found that painful.
0
SpanishEyez37
The word wassup.
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OssanAmerica
...If you will. .(if I will WHAT??)
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IvanCoughalot
"You guys", meaning "you". Even worse when spoken by a non-yank desperately labouring under the misguided notion that to assume american characteristics makes them cooler.
You know, the ones who say "Charidee" instead of "Charity", and "layder" when they mean "later". Anyone who says D instead of T is a complete dwad.
0
cleo
Oh come now Ivan, that's a bit harsh. I agree with you that anyone who says D instead of T sounds like a complete dwad (!) and if they do it deliberately for the phantom coolness factor they are a complete dwad, but it isn't always because they think it makes them sound cooler. My first teaching position in Japan included a couple of classes who for the previous two years had been taught by a Yank with a very strong accent. They all spoke like they had a T-less speech impediment, not because they thought it was cool, but because it was what they'd been taught.
It took me six months to fix them. And to give them all a proper set of vowels (so that they no longer confused cut/cat/cot or hut/hat/hot). And they learned to say bath instead of bayth.
"Oafuf Uxache" ??
0
USARonin
'po-lice'
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USARonin
'axe'
As in, 'Axe me anythin', an' I tells ya'... homie.'
0
sf2k
viewer discretion is advised... as compared to the other channels?
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sf2k
Ivan, that's german (trinken = drink) also Canadian word sounds use d instead of t, budder (butter), or just drop the t altogether. With thousands of similar words to German, English tends to mix the sounds just as much. That's accent, not a critique on English words/expressions per se.
how about per se then?
0
XXXXX
no problemo. politically correct. free size.
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IvanCoughalot
"I myself, personally..."
How self-obsessed do you have to be before spouting out your half-baked opinions?
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flatearther
@IvanCoughalot- Spot on with that last annoying expression. Not only does it sound incredibly self-absorbed, it's redundant as well.
"I myself, personally.."
Really?
Who else PERSONALLY could you be speaking for, m'dear?
It's one of my top linguistic pet peeves as well.
0
catiano
The train announcemets: "The next stop is ***. The doors on the right side will open. Please change here for ***-line, ***-line, ***-line and ***-line."
"Please switch off your mobile phone near the priority seat. For the other areas, please set it to the silent mode and refrain from talking on the phone."
I don't like those expressions (and the accent) I hear on the trains in Tokyo.
0
yokomoc
Ivan:
Been to Glasgow much?
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yokomoc
"It's a big ask" (instead of "it's a lot to ask")
This seems to have emerged in football circles recently.
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DeepSpace
Ya know , like ya know !
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davestrousers
"Don't do the crime if you can't do the time"
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