I’ve been feeling kind of gripey lately. Maybe the cold is finally getting to me. As a native Californian, I think I’ve handled the adjustment to the frigid Midwestern winters pretty well—but we all have our breaking points. The last month or so has seen my inner grouch grow exponentially. This weekend we’re actually looking at semi-comfortable temperatures (the upper 50’s? Break out the shorts!), and my disposition may change, so I’m going to get this list of words that irritate and annoy me off my chest before I cheer up.
Some of the words are slang, some are proper words I just don’t like because they’re awkward and/or ugly to say. Some really don’t need any explanation at all. As always, this list is the sole opinion of The Books of Jobe editorial department (staff:1), and no offense is intended toward anyone reading who actually uses any of these words. Just stop it. And away we go:
Amazeballs
I’m okay with a lot of slang—I even like “trippin’ balls.” But I draw the line here.
Because
I’m talking about the “new” use of because, as in, “I like rock music because guitars.” No.
Chillax
No explanation needed.
Dealio
“What’s the dealio?” has not been funny or cool in 20 years, please stop.
Epic
Everything is not epic.
Fugly
I can appreciate what’s being attempted here by combining two words, but it’s an awkward word to me. There are so many more creative ways to insult someone’s appearance.
Ginormous
I don’t care if it did make its way into the dictionary, I refuse to recognize it as a word.
Hoity-toity
You really don’t hear this very often, but it sounds silly. Don’t like it.
Icky
What are you, twelve?
Jut
Curiously, I like the word gut. Not jut.
Knob
No explanation needed.
Looksee
Does anybody still use this word? When I hear “let’s take a looksee,” part of me dies inside.
Methinks
Since saying I think is so simple? Methinks is one of my trigger words: whenever I see/hear it, I instantly dislike the person using it.
Natch (short for naturally)
I only see this in writing, I assume because anyone who has actually spoken the word was immediately put to death.
Obfuscate
Possibly the ugliest word on the list.
Punt
Um, yeah. No.
Quixotic
This word sucks unless you’re playing Words with Friends. Or Scrabble, if you’re as old as I am.
Ridonkulous
This is up there with amazeballs. People can use it all they want, it still won’t legitimize it.
Super
This one’s just due to overuse. Surely there’s another word people can use.
Thusly
The word that keeps me from being able to completely embrace Alton Brown. If you ever hear someone use this word, don’t think—turn and run, as you’re obviously in the company of a pretentious ass.
Utilize
Say use. Period.
Vitriol
A word that seems to only come up when I read about politics, which is thankfully not too often. Still, an awkward word to say.
Wortle
Not gonna lie—I had already committed to making a list of words for every letter in the alphabet, and had to resort to looking up words that started with W. But say it out loud and tell me I’m wrong.
Xanthan
Don’t think I’ve ever seen this word not followed by the word gum. Luckily, a word no one has to say much unless they work in the food industry.
Yolo
I’m still holding on to a sliver of hope this word will die out and go back to obscurity, with words like tubular.
Zarf
Again, had to look up a word that started with Z. It means ornamental holder for a coffee cup. The more I look at it the more I almost like it, but I’m leaving it on here and moving on before I change my mind.
Well I don’t know about you guys, but I sure feel better. I know there are some word nerds out there (syntax slayers? vocabulary vultures?) who are probably chomping at the bit to add some words to the list, so let’s have it—what are the words that make you cringe like a rake being scraped across a chalkboard while Rebecca Black sings Friday?
Note: I don’t want to sound like a broken record regarding True Detective, but is anybody watching this show? My lord, that last episode was incredible. If you have HBO, you’ve got no excuse. Seriously, watch it!
BooksofJobe.com 
How do you even say the word Amazeballs OR Ridonkulous?? I had some fun trying to pronounce some of these out loud!! I have to agree with you on all of them! Fortunately I do NOT utilize…uh use any of these on any regular basis so, we cool? LOL!
I heard amazeballs for the first time on a reality show and couldn’t believe it was really something people said. Of course we cool!
I can’t help but read “Hoity-toity” in Arnold Rimmer’s voice in my head.
I was hoping to see “adorbz” on the list. 😉
Lol! I was limiting myself to just one word per letter and amazeballs took top priority for me. I agree though, that’s a word only used by the lowest of the low.
Funny… *I* think adorbz is worse than amazeballs.
Don’t ban me from the blog, but I love the word fugly. The F-bomb is sadly my favorite word of the planet. When something if truly ugly — Fugly is the term that comes to mind. I’ll work on coming up with more descriptive words — just for you.
I have never banned anyone from the site! You’re safe. As much as I hate amazeballs, I’d still laugh if James Earl Jones said it in one of those Sprint commercials.
Hilarious list 😉 Some of these words I’ve never heard before, and I want to keep it at this single occurrence ^^ Some of them are just horrible!
This was great! Funny enough – I say a lot of these, Fugly, Epic, and Chillax being the biggest in my vocabulary. I understand though, some words make me cringe as well – having teen/pre-teen girls, “Adorbs” gets used a lot in this house and I want to gag.
It appears that I seriously goofed by not including adorbs on my list, it is a much hated word. Maybe there’s a second edition down the line somewhere.
Oh dear. I have to admit I do tend to use ‘fugly’ and ‘me thinks’ every so often. :O I hope you don’t hate me now. 😦 I am glad there are other people out there who hate yolo too. The worst people are the ones using the word when they don’t like it, so they’re using it in a sarcastic kind of way of jokingly. They’re still using it though. That word really really erghh gets to me. When people use it my respect for them instantly drops by about 80 percent. I definitely understand many of the other words too.
I’ve relented some on fugly, it was more prevalent than I realized. Methinks…nah, I’ll let it slide. All my blogging friends get a pass, of course! I know what you mean about the sarcastic use of words, that’s very annoying indeed.
Ahhh phew! Thank you 😉
The first time someone IM’d me “natch” I was so confused. I got it all figured out, but I’ll never use it. You’re welcome 🙂
I knew I could count on you.