Now you're just teasing us. ;)

Oooh, I just thought of one.

"It's a slippery slope."

A friend of mine says "you know" as a weird verbal tic.

I found that if I wasn't very talkative with him, he would start putting more and more "you knows" into his speech -- until, you know, just about every, you know, noun, you know, would give a, you know, opportunity, you know, to work two of them in, you know? I'm not kidding, that is literally how he talks sometimes.

But if I'm really engaged in the conversation, he doesn't do this; in fact he settles down and only uses it very occasionally.

Weird. And it makes conversation tiresome, because I have to stay talkative more than I generally like, or fall into this nasty pit of UNOs.

I have a frequent caller (calls multiple times per day).

Now, I don't have to talk to her ... she's in another county, but there are two staff members who DO speak to her and ruin it for the rest of us. Most of the time she recognizes my voice and just hangs up when I answer the phone.

Every now and again, she tries testing the waters, just in case something has changed.

She doesn't even say "hello." Just leads right off with "Can I ask you a question?"

"No."

Pretty simple really.

One of the guys who does speak to her occasionally starts off by torturing her with the can vs. may discussion, but she's borderline retarded and doesn't get it anyway.

There was a teacher at my kids' school who used "or whatever" almost as frequently as UT's friend with the "you know"... drove me nuts and made her sound stupid to me. The day she told the kids Hawaii wasn't a state and then couldn't find it on the globe confirmed my suspicions...

You are homeschooling now, right?

Yes, exactly.

something ... or lack thereof.

That one bugs me and I can't say why.

:worried: Why, what will happen? Will trench-coated men carrying machine guns appear and start shootin'?

"The beer box is empty"

How about this one:

"Mom, do you have any money? Can I have some?"

Or

"Will you help me with my homework?" (Context: it's 9:30 p.m. and what she really means is "do half of it for me because I'm tired and want to get it over with.")

-grins- Have you got to the "Can I borrow the car?" phase yet, Juniper??

One of the most annoying sayings for me is when I hear anyone telling another person with whom they have conflict to "chill out," "relax," "lighten up," or any variation thereof.

It's most annoying when I can tell the person actually thinks they are giving helpful advice. They are attempting to dictate to another person how to behave, which is always the wrong approach. Nobody wants to be told what to do. Ordering a person to relax will agitate them instead. Also, they are minimizing the feelings of the other person by not acknowledging that what they are feeling might possibly be appropriate. And finally that type of comment usually shows a lack of understanding of the severity of the issue.

If two parties are in conflict, and one party is attempting to calm the other, then acknowledging the feelings of the agitated party is the fastest way to diffuse the situation. Don't have to agree with them to say "I can see that you're mad."

Of course, sometimes people know exactly what they are doing and say "relax" when they hope to wind the other person up even further.

No, she's not old enough to borrow the car - 4 more years. (sigh)

But here's one thing she says that is like fingernails on the blackboard to me: "Rawr." You know, the cat snarl thing, said when someone gets annoyed.

As in:

"I TOLD you, turn off the TV and do your homework!"

"Okay, mom, gosh! RAWR!"

OMG yes, when teenagers learn the art of the dismissive comeback, life as a parent gets dicey. I have to use a lot of restraint to stay cool.