Sideswipe: March 15: Smokefree sponsored corner

Phrases that irk

Radio 4 in the UK have identified the words and phrases that really annoyed their listeners, like irrationally so ... are these any of your favourite verbal irritants?

1: Some people still use 'thinking outside the box' ... which is an inside box phrase.

2: Shall we take this offline?

3: My bad

4: It is what it is

5: Reach out to

6: Can I get (instead of may I have)

7: Sharing the journey

8: Using 'super' as an adjective ... "Oh, he is super hot /cupcake is super nom nom"

9: The moment someone tells me they are "passionate about" ... *cue eye-roll*

10: Absolutely nothing is worse than hubby unless it's hubster.

You're good when ...

For an objective person, it's sometimes hard to know if you are a good person. But there are small things that suggest you probably are ... You treat everyone equally, regardless of the other person's status and if somebody is getting talked over, you actively make sure the person gets to say what they wanted to say. You can accept when you are wrong about something without getting angry or defensive. You ask follow-up questions when talking to someone, rather than just switching straight to your own answer. When you meet someone with some disability you treat them no different from anybody else. And you return your shopping trolley.

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Census on topic

"The Census question that your correspondent Mike queried was not to test if you were silly enough to not realise that you needed glasses," writes Alan Currie.

"But to find out how many people have macular degeneration, glaucoma or the host of other debilitating eye problems that cannot be fixed by getting glasses.

"And that is a useful statistic for DHBs deciding whether to fund more eye surgery rather than hip replacements, not for High Street opticians that only sell glasses."

Bad Europop Album Covers

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Women were jailed for having STDs…

Known as Chapter 205, which permitted "the isolation and quarantine" of persons "to prevent the spread and dissemination of disease dangerous to the public health." It was originally passed during World War I to protect soldiers from syphilis, but lingered for another 25 years as a tool for local police.

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