New book highlights the words and phrases we should all avoid

Everyone has words they can’t stand, due to their misuse or overuse. Communications expert, Terry Prone has a rather long list, so long that she made them into a book, says Áilín Quinlan

Strike up a conversation with an Irish person about the words they hate, says author, columnist and communications expert Terry Prone, and you’re liable to be nattering for hours. So when her publisher — “who demands a book from me every 18 months” — knocked once again on her door, Prone decided to take a look at words.

All kinds of words; new, sloppily-used, misunderstood, words crucial to the art of pompous selfelevation, words used to describe new trends, and words which once and for all highlight the ever-widening gap between the generations. A huge fan of American writer and soldier Ambrose Bierce, whose pithy definitions formed the basis of a satirical newspaper series, Prone cast her net far and wide, and came up with a huge selection of misused and abused words and phrases.