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'Like, Whatever': Poll Ranks Words Americans Find Most Annoying in 2012


President Barack Obama jokingly mimics U.S. Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney's "not impressed" look while greeting members of the 2012 U.S. Olympic gymnastics teams in the Oval Office, Nov. 15, 2012.
President Barack Obama jokingly mimics U.S. Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney's "not impressed" look while greeting members of the 2012 U.S. Olympic gymnastics teams in the Oval Office, Nov. 15, 2012.
"You know", "whatever" is a really annoying term - "like" "you know." We're "just sayin'."
When it comes to the most annoying words or phrases used in U.S. conversations, those four top the list in 2012, according to the annual Marist Poll.
"Whatever" headed the list, cited by 32 percent of adults, and next came ``like,'' which 21 percent didn't like.
Runners-up included "Twitterverse" and "gotcha'."
The results mirrored last year's survey when "whatever" topped the annoying words list for a third straight year. "But seriously," named by 7 percent last year, dropped off the list entirely - really.
Marist questioned 1,246 adults in a U.S. nationwide, telephone survey.
Results showed differences by age and regions, with people younger than 45 or in the Northeast especially annoyed by "like," while "you know" offended more of the 45-and-over set.
Men and women gave similar responses overall, but whites were twice as likely as non-whites to find "you know" irritating. And people under 45 were more than twice as likely as those over 45 to be put off by "just sayin'."
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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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