Alex B Cann column: Words of wisdom?

Tameside Radio's Breakfast presenter Alex B Cann brings his latest unique dose on life in his column for us - including a debate he's been having on air about words or phrases that irritate you...

As the trees shed their leaves and the evenings get darker, it’s been rather welcome to see a hint of light in the sky before I start my Tameside Radio show at 7am following the recent clock change. 

Our parks in Tameside look stunning at the moment, and I’m determined to spend more time pounding the pavements in my mission to lose half a stone before Christmas. 

Join me on Wednesday mornings for the new ‘Wednesday Weigh In’ just after 8.30am if you’d like to share any tips, or maybe even find some motivation!

It’s been another fun week on air, and if you missed it, we had a lively discussion about words or phrases that irritate you. 

Language is forever evolving, but I spotted a post on social media that referred to Tuesday as “hump day eve”.

This irked me hugely, so I started a list with the help of enthusiastic Twitter users. I’ve compiled a list of my favourite five submissions, in a Top of the Pops countdown style.

5) Staycation - this is a hot potato. Does it mean staying at home and doing fun things locally, or does it mean a break elsewhere in the UK? Either way, lots find the word irksome.

4) Famalam - colloquial version of family. Unacceptable on every level.

3) Doggo instead of dog. See fur babies, pup, puppster, and my hooman, all of which got mentioned in relation to our four legged friends.

2) Nom nom nom when expressing enjoyment at a nice meal. Goes right through me!

1) Hun was the most mentioned. Often used in reply to ambigious Facebook updates (“u OK hun?”), this wound more folk up than any other word or phrase.

Hollibobs, Friyay, chillax and chick all narrowly missed out on the upper echelons of our hit parade. 

It’s difficult to complain about modern language without sounding like a dinosaur, but some terms we’ve covered in today’s column sound like they have been concocted on a white board in a marketing ‘thought shower’ zoom meeting.

Countdown Queen Susie Dent is adept at highlighting the beauty of longstanding words and phrases, many of which have fallen out of modern parlance. 

However, she didn’t have the ideal launch for her new book “Word Perfect”, after copies arriving in bookshops in time for today’s Super Thursday were found to be littered with typos. I think I shall stick to Bananarama’s new tome “Really Saying Something”, which is also out today. 

They arrived in the 80s, when yuppies and shoulder pads were all the rage. Not a hump day in sight. Or ‘Friyay’.

• You can catch me on Tameside Radio every weekday morning from 7-11am, plus on Saturday afternoons for the Super Scoreboard Show. Stay warm, and Happy Hallowe’en. 

I guess with us being in Tier 3, I shouldn’t need to sit in the dark and pretend not to be home this year! Instead, I shall sip a Black Sheep chocolate orange stout and watch Rosemary’s Baby, which is on TCM Movies at 9pm on Halloween night. Have a great week.