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At the end of the day ...
3

At the end of the day ...

At the end of the day ...

(OP)
How many of us use this phrase regularly ?

If so you may be interested to note that it has just been voted the most irritating phrase in the English language by the Plain English Society. It finished narrowly ahead of "at this moment in time".

I wonder of there are lots of other phrases that particularly annoy the engineering community (apart of course from the frequent misuse of the word "engineer" itself to describe virtually any menial job).

RE: At the end of the day ...

No, I never use that phrase. It is not in my book. It is not my cup of tea.

I find those two latter phrases just as irritating.

RE: At the end of the day ...

"Think Out of The Box"

RE: At the end of the day ...

Quote:

"Think out of the box."
Funny how I usually hear that from people who are trying to squeeze too much into a box.

Due to illness, the part of The Tick will be played by... The Tick.
http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

RE: At the end of the day ...

"Living in a techni-color world"
"All said and done"
"It all boils down to..."

Ray Reynolds
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: At the end of the day ...

"See ya on the flip side"
I hear this one all the time.

RE: At the end of the day ...

A particularly important female in my life is fond of saying "to the best of my knowledge" at the start of every question's answer...  Sometimes, for variety, she changes it a bit and says "as far as I know."  Occasionally it's "As far as I know, to the best of my knowledge..."

RE: At the end of the day ...

Perhaps you would you prefer "When all is said and done" over "At the end of the day" ? Both are well worn cliches. But we should remember that "The hardest worked cliche is better than the phrase that fails", which is a quote from Fowler's "Modern English Usage". And to quote Fowler again : "The enthusiasm of the cliche hunters is apt to run away with them". Perhaps the phrases that we should guard against most are those that are on their way to becoming cliches, such as "climate of opinion", "peaceful coexistence" etc.

RE: At the end of the day ...

Since I've manged several musical theatre quotes in this fourm heres another:

"At the end of the day....
...you're another day older."

RE: At the end of the day ...

Can't we all get along?

TTFN

RE: At the end of the day ...

Yeah if you promise not to pummel me.

Bottom line is...  My least favorite right after issue.

"at this moment in time".  My friend, Sanford, maintains there is no such thing because (almost said "since"- see "since, because" thread)time is a continuum and is particularly irritated when politicians use it, proving they don't have a clue about what they are saying -- duu-uh.  Can't argue much with that!  Having said all that, I continue to use the expression but guardedly lest Sanford might overhear.

From original post "...itself to describe virtually any menial job...         When my Dad was a boy, one of his relatives would tell him, "go to school and study hard and maybe you become enionneer yaaniter someday.  This was a Swedish relative.  During the early years of the 20th century, The Janitor tended the boiler which of course required an engineer.

Jesus is THE life,
Leonard

RE: At the end of the day ...

(OP)
NickE

I prefer "At the end of the day ...

...it gets dark"

Of course in this minor-detail-obsessed forum somebody is BOUND to say that is not necessarily true if you're an eskimo, Artic explorer etc.

RE: At the end of the day ...

We have a director here who plugs "at the end of the day" onto every sentence.  A few of us like to reply (under our breath) "we all go home"

Brian

RE: At the end of the day ...

Our VP of Operations loves to use the phrase "I'm not claiming to be an expert, but if I were you, I would..."  That kills me everytime.

Ray Reynolds
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: At the end of the day ...

I think that's the Dale Carnegie approach. I may be wrong, I often am, BUT .....

RE: At the end of the day ...

Managers so love these sayings that we could replace them all with fortune cookies.... at least we would get a variety of trite sayings to amuse us.
"In the current economic climate..." is about as intelectual as they get and usually only as a prelude to a "Good news/bad news" story (good for them, bad for you).
Notice how sayings that might be in your favour never reach the glossary in the management handbook... phrases or terms like "intelectual capital".
0

JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com

RE: At the end of the day ...

My pet peeves: 1) The over use of "basically".  2) People who say "you know" after every sentance.  3) The misuse of regard.  It is frequently used as "with regards to...".  It should be "with regard to...".

RE: At the end of the day ...

"With regard to.." or is it "In regard to..."

???

Ray Reynolds
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: At the end of the day ...

I used to work for a Major Architecture & Engineering firm, and someone put together a 'Bingo' type card with catch phrases in each box.  There were 16 total, and during long meetings (2+ hours) we would hear many of them more than once.  
Some that weren't mentioned already that I can remember:
"Short end of the stick"
"Show me the money"
"S*** hits the fan"
"Don't be a hero"
"Re-/Over- engineered"
"VE'd (Value-Engineered) right out (of the design)"

RE: At the end of the day ...

"Don't work harder, work smarter". Work smarter? By thinking up silly catchphrases? Utter garbage.


One dear to the hearts of the engineering staff at my site: "It will be reflected in your bonus".
The reflection must be in a mirror from a fairground to achieve the amazing reduction that takes place.


And the one about "thinking outside of the box"? Grrr... put the perpetrator in a box and nail the lid on.



-----------------------------------

Start each new day with a smile.

Get it over with.

RE: At the end of the day ...

I think at the end of the day is one of the silliest phrases.

If all this stuff happens at the end of the day, what happens at the end of the week? month? quarter? year? ...

RE: At the end of the day ...

In the military the same phrase was used, but with different words, "More sweat, less blood."  It means to pay attention to your training, and train harder so you don't get yourself killed in a real situation.

Ray Reynolds
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: At the end of the day ...

Another annoying phrase;
LETS RUN IT UP THE FLAG POLE!

Or I don't know how many times I have heard people say;

IRREGARDLESS.....

RE: At the end of the day ...

irregardless is harmless 'cause it's nonuninflammable or is that ...ible?

In every sense of the word.

Jesus is THE life,
Leonard

RE: At the end of the day ...

DO THE MATH.

It is OK when I say it otherwise I don't like hearing this expression.  Am I pigheaded or what?  I really don't use it very often just as I rarely use the word "issue" since it has been oversued recently.

Jesus is THE life,
Leonard

RE: At the end of the day ...

Of course management love such phrases as "golden parachute", "golden handshake", "golden handcuffs"; all as applied to themselves, it doesn't matter how big a pigs ear they make of things, they vare secure.

When it comes to the troops, it is a different story, and other useful phrases such as "recessionary times" "tighten our belts" ccome from their lips.

JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com

RE: At the end of the day ...

So you go after the "low hanging fruit."

RE: At the end of the day ...

This one kills me:

In english, something that can burn is called "flammable".

In french, something that can burn is called "inflammable".

You'd think maybe the two "languages" could have agreed on this one for all of our sake..

tg

RE: At the end of the day ...

trainguy: In fact, in English "inflammable" and "flammable" are interchangeable. When I was young in the UK, the word "flammable" was never used. It is my understanding that "inflammable" has fallen out of favor partly because of safety reasons, since it is argued that non-English speakers do not understand its meaning so readily. This is obviously not true in the case of the French, but then who cares about them, right?

RE: At the end of the day ...

Then why do we say that an "owie" (infection) is inflamed?

RE: At the end of the day ...

I wouldn't think nor expect agreement with the French on most things.  The French government can't even deal with hamburgers

Even the British and Americans can't agree on things; with both a common language and heritage.  

TTFN

RE: At the end of the day ...

....or french fries!

RE: At the end of the day ...

IRstuff : But I think it's true to say that the British agree with the Americans on all the important  stuff. You know - things like "you bomb by day and we'll bomb by night".

RE: At the end of the day ...

I'll concede that point , but what about the really important stuff, like the temperature of beer ...

TTFN

RE: At the end of the day ...

IRstuff: It's a myth that the British know nothing about cold beer. There is a great British WWII movie called "Ice Cold in Alex", which I have never seen on US television. If you do ever see it, you might change your opinion. But the British don't call the cold stuff beer anyway - they call it lager. Remember that if you ever go to the UK.

RE: At the end of the day ...

Now we have arrived at a subject close to my heart - beer! US beer is horrible, only surpassed in its mediocrity by Australian beer which isn't fit to clean oil off my driveway, although it is no doubt suited to this latter purpose.

In England - where is 'Britain'? - beer is a dark, hoppy fluid brewed to ancient recipes and served chilled but never cold. Lager is the continental 'bier' which is served cold; the best examples originate from eastern Europe. In Germany, a laager is where tanks hide.

Budweiser is a crime against brewing.


-----------------------------------

Start each new day with a smile.

Get it over with.

RE: At the end of the day ...

ScottyUK: I can assure you that there are some very fine American beers, although they are a little hard to find, and are admittedly mostly in the locally brewed "boutique" category.

RE: At the end of the day ...

Best beer (ales) in america: Bell's (almost all of them...)

But esp. the Two Hearted Ale

(of course this is michigan beer and only available in the area surrounding Kalamazoo)
nick

RE: At the end of the day ...

Hi EnglishMuffin,

I will admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the beer in 'The Hops' bar & micro-brewery out near the university in Orlando. The food was very good too, and the barmaid was gorgeous.



-----------------------------------

Start each new day with a smile.

Get it over with.

RE: At the end of the day ...

ScottyUK: There are many such micro-breweries in the US. I myself live in Wisconsin where a number are to be found. As someone once said to me, "the only generalization you can make about America is that you can't generalize about America".

RE: At the end of the day ...

To conclude:

At the end of the day it all boils down to getting the beer out of the box?

RE: At the end of the day ...

You can get the beer out of the box, but you can't take the beer out of the Bock's !

RE: At the end of the day ...

Grrreat! I'm heading for the fridge and a nice Carlsberg. Good night - and cheers!

RE: At the end of the day ...

ScottyUK

You said that "Budweiser is a crime against brewing". I am inclined to agree with you, as long as you are talking about the American "Bud".

However, you should try the original Budweiser, which is a Czech "pilsener" beer, brewed in the town of Budweis (hence the name!) since 1265, and is absolutely superb.

I believe that an enterprising American "borrowed" the name when he started his own brewery in America, wanting to produce a lager beer of an allegedly similar style, and this became the famous Budweiser that America (and most of the world) knows today. Now, the American company is even trying to tell the good people of Budweis (who still brew the original drop) that they can't call their beer Budweiser, because they are cashing in on the American company's name and reputation!

RE: At the end of the day ...

JulianHardy is right, the best "Budweiser" is from Czecho and it's laughable that the American company is trying to stop them from using the name.  You would think that they wouldn't bother to press the point since the only people in Europe who drink that American p*#s are Americans over here on vacation or business.  As an American living in Europe, I have listened to several diatribes on this subject and the arrogance of the Americans.  I cannot disagree!  

All the trite phrases mentioned can all be covered by one other I have often heard!  "Round file that" (means throw it in the trash)

RE: At the end of the day ...

(OP)
Fizzhead

In Britain there used to be a satirical polital comedy called "Yes Minister", the everyday chronicles of an idealogical politician fighting against the civil servants.

It's regarded as something of a classic in British humour.

There was one episode in which the politician wrote onto a document "Round Objects" - meaning file in the waste paper bin.

When the head civil servant saw this he returned it to the politician, having annotated "Who is Round - and to what does he object" !!!  

RE: At the end of the day ...

Otherwise known as "Vertical Filing".

JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com

RE: At the end of the day ...

"Put it in File 13."

Ray Reynolds
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

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