A word that simply just won’t go away — “Whatever” — was voted the most annoying word or phrase used in conversation in 2012. This is according to research conducted by Marist College. Other favorites included in the survey were “like,” “you know” and “just saying.”
Nine percent of those asked thought that “Twitterverse” was the most annoying word or phrase. A newcomer to the list. Though it’s not a new word in the general lexicon, the Collins Dictionary admitted the word along with other Twitter-isms in 2009.
The survey was conducted via telephone and contacted 1,246 people in the continental United States.
The document breaks down the numbers into an assortment of categories — for instance over-45s were more irritated by “you know” (possibly because over-45s know everything, we can’t confirm) than “like,” and the reverse was true of the under-45 crowd.
Interestingly, the survey shows little discrepency over what males and females are irritated by. The differences in opinion were more based around age, income and education.