Ten for Tuesday: Words I Hate

It's easy to wax lyrical about the lovely English language, but there are some damn ugly words lurking beneath the surface.

Here are my top 10 hated words:

1. Smear. If you're a woman, this word takes on an additional horror (sorry, men), but even without such intrusions it is a pretty awful word. There's something about the combination of 'sm' with 'ear' that just makes me grimace.

2. Schedule. I don't care how you say it, it's a terrible word. Whoever came up with it should be tethered to a desk and made to copy endless secondary school timetables.

3. Confectionery. I mean, really! What a dreadful, bland, corporate name for such a lovely category of food.

4. Sweetheart. I keep getting caught in the 'th' here.

5. Chortle. You want to chortle? How about I throttle?

6. Detritus. No matter how many times I try, I just can't pronounce this properly.

7. Uncouth. Just plain U-G-L-Y! Nothing more need be said.

8. Peripatetic. Defined as 'a person who walks from one place to another'. Duh! Don't most people do this? Do we really need a word for it?

9. Bulge. Blech.

10. Alot. I'm cheating with this one. It's not a word and that's why it's SO annoying - it seems to creep into text everywhere. Begone, alot!

What are your most hated words?