> One thing that grates on my nerves is when someone has a habit of saying the same phrase repeatedly in their speech. I don't mean slang such as "I'm like..." but simply normal phrases repeatedly used in their conversation.
>
> The example is a man who taught a sunday school class I attended several years ago. His pet phrase was "at that point in time." Over and over again in his lessons and in his regular conversation he would say this. I'm sure he still does it to this day. Any time I heard this man speak for any extended length of time (which was usually any time he spoke; he was long-winded) I was sure to hear "at this/that point in time" several times.

> Gri"everything is grammatically correct, ain't it?"shny

A few years ago most of the town went out to a park for a hot-air ballooning event. It never happened, really, because of the wind, but the announcer kept up a gust-by-gust commentary. Unfortunately, the only adjective he used in a space of several hours was "marginal." It got to where the crowd would groan audibly at every mention (and so was a fairly constant noise). The announcer was on the short end of jokes for weeks. To this day, that word is tainted for me. I will not use it except to tell this story.

gab"Too windy? Too gusty? Not placid enough? Unsafe? Too strong? Dangerous? Blustery? Risky? There's any number of substitutes..."by