The Marist Institute for Public Opinion does an annual survey to determine which word or phrase Americans consider to be the most annoying.
And the winner is … “whatever.”
According to Marist, “For the fifth straight year, Americans consider ‘whatever’ to be the most annoying word or phrase in conversation today. 38% find ‘whatever’ to be the most irritating while 22% report ‘like’ gets on their nerves the most. ‘You know’ irks 18% of Americans while 14% want to see ‘just sayin’’ stricken from casual conversation. Six percent detest ‘obviously,’ and 2% are unsure.”
Source: MaristPoll.Marist.edu