According to a recent poll, Americans find the term “whatever” to be the most annoying word in conversation. Here at Columbia, our irritation stems from lingo of a different species: the pseudo-intellectual. We conducted a brief and very unscientific poll to find which words and phrases Columbia students found most irritating:
“Salient”
“Otherizing discourse”
“Engagement with the text”
“Westernization”
“I-banking”
“CAVA” (as a verb)
And the winner:
“Ascetic ideal”
