Irritating phrases

There are loads of Americanisms which really make me tense up, especially if you read lots of news sites - my current bete noir is "ousted / ouster" when US correspondents are describing someone who's been sacked. Oh, and I hate "burglarized". The American language is often very ugly; I understand that word use and meanings are fluid, but some usage is really ugly. "Different than" is another one which makes me hunch my shoulders in revulsion. Oh, and using the word "utilize" when you just mean use. I don't mind people being wordy up to a point (I think Will Self just goes too far!) but when you use words to try to make yourself sound more intelligent, it makes me think you're not authentic.

Edit: I forgot to mention anyone who seriously uses the sort of language you see on LinkedIn profiles!

There are loads of Americanisms which really make me tense up, especially if you read lots of news sites - my current bete noir is "ousted / ouster" when US correspondents are describing someone who's been sacked. Oh, and I hate "burglarized". The American language is often very ugly; I understand that word use and meanings are fluid, but some usage is really ugly. "Different than" is another one which makes me hunch my shoulders in revulsion. Oh, and using the word "utilize" when you just mean use. I don't mind people being wordy up to a point (I think Will Self just goes too far!) but when you use words to try to make yourself sound more intelligent, it makes me think you're not authentic.

Edit: I forgot to mention anyone who seriously uses the sort of language you see on LinkedIn profiles!

Some of the worst offenders seem to be US politicians, I watch them on something like Newsnight and it's like one of those difficult questions on University Challenge where I don't understand the words let alone what it's about.

I hated it when they were talking about "coronating" the king, stuff like that, they seem to add word endings that were never intended, possibly because they've a habit of missing link words, like "at" or "in" that give a sentence some structure and direction. Another of my American bugbears is "in back" when they mean "at the back of". 

I've loved Will Self's creative use of language ever since reading one of his restaurant reviews where he described some dumplings as "little b0110cks of flavour".

Groans from me; when people say things such as:

• almost unique
• fairly critical

Low budget documentaries seem the worst offenders.