There is always a girl, or a group of girls, in class that says 'like' and 'you know' five times every sentence. It is, like, so annoying, you know?
But, according to a recent survey, neither of those phrases is the most annoying. The most annoying is 'whatever'.
Marist College's Marist Institute for Public Opinion found that, for 47 per cent of 938 respondents in the United States, 'whatever' is the most annoying word or phrase in conversation, especially in Midwest America, where 55 per cent picked it as the most annoying. This word is more likely to irritate the average American than the words 'you know', which 25 per cent of Americans voted the most annoying.
Eleven per cent would like to ban 'It is what it is' from conversation, while 8 per cent cannot stand 'anyway' and 2 per cent hate 'at the end of the day'.
'Perhaps,' said Director of Interactive Media Systems Mary Azzoli in an e-mail, 'the key takeaways for communicationalists is to be aware, when they travel, that words they might find completely acceptable in conversation may be irritating or insulting to others'.
So, for Americans here - and Young Post readers of course - we carried out a survey of our own to determine what Hong Kong's most disliked words and expressions were.
The poll, in which 91 students from Renaissance College, YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College and King George V School participated, reveals that words and phrases like 'whatever', 'you know', 'it is what it is', 'anyway', or 'at the end of the day' are not the most annoying for local teenagers.