"Whatever" voted the most annoying word in the English language

The Marist poll results for the most annoying word or phrase in the English language that we've all been waiting for are in, and, like, whatever. For the second straight year, the word "whatever" was crowned the most irritating, followed by "like" and the phrase "you know what I mean."

Out of 1,020 Americans surveyed, the top three accounted for a whopping eighty-two percent of all responses. Marist pollster Mary Azzoli explained, "Perhaps the words are introduced through popular culture, — for example, movies — so they catch on. It has a lot to do with how accepted and how popular they become in everyday speech." The phrase "to tell you the truth" and the word "actually" also got under people's skin.

Perhaps this is why people are still vexed by the memory of Moon Unit Zappa.