Poultry. As with most of the words I hate, the hate has no basis in rationality. Really, I should love this word, as it is closely related to poltroon, a word I highly favor. But there's something about poultry that bugs me. It's a catch-all word that just isn't descriptive enough. Talk about ducks. Or chickens. Or whatever. Just don't talk about poultry. Leaves me cold.
Appreciative. This is a perfectly acceptable noun. But why do I have to be a noun when I can express a verb? I appreciate what you did, versus I'm appreciative of what you did. The noun form, even worse than poultry, leaves me clammy. Appreciative sounds like a man falling down the stairs.
Bully. Used in the proper Teddy Roosevelt sense, I'm fine with this word. But used in the schoolyard sense, well, makes me hate the user's tiny little guts. Why? It's overused. It's the latest buzzword and has gone from meaning the effectual cvreep in the school playground to anyone and everything you don't happen to agree with. Some kid in England, for example, was called a bully for berating -- on Twitter, no less -- an Olympic athlete's performance. Every time I hear the word now, all I can think is of another tempest in a teapot. Once you've co-opted a word that meant something specific to mean everything under the sun, you've diluted the value and impact of that word.
Progressive. Progressive for whom, I have to ask.
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