[tag]Gawker[/tag] has a hilarious post, “Bad Lingo: Blog-Media Clich s” that includes my personal favorite on the annoying-tic meter:
[Argument], wait for it, [rhetorical flourish].
Where did this come from? Stage direction cues in the theater? No matter, it’s a ridiculous tease and artificial tension builder that’s never worth the wait.
The rest is funny, too. And the comments are bulging with an ever-growing list of hilarious examples.
Uh-oh. I have been guilty of using “um” once in a while, although I don’t think the following words have implied condescension. Rather, I think I’ve used it to imply disbelief. “Um, what?”