Most Annoying Word Or Phrase For 2022 Announced: Marist Poll

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — In 2021, for the first time in more than a decade, the most annoying word or phrase was not “whatever,” according to a poll from the Marist Institute for Public Opinion.

“Whatever” was replaced with “Trump” and “coronavirus” at the top of the most annoying list.

For 2022, it’s time to crown a new most annoying word or phrase, the Marist Poll found.

The winner — or loser, if you prefer — for 2022 is “woke.”

More than one in three Americans, or 35 percent, think “woke” is the most irritating word used in conversation, the poll found.

“Whatever” came in second at 22 percent, followed by the phrase “it is what it is” at 15 percent.

Other annoying words or phrase were:

• "Like": 12 percent
• "You know": 9 percent
• "Just kidding": 7 percent

“Woke” united all political stripes, with Republicans (39 percent) and Independents (38 percent) loathing the word more than Democrats (31 percent).

The Marist Poll said, in 2021, respondents were given an open-ended question and were permitted to provide their own responses. For 2022 and previous years, respondents were given specific choices from which to choose.

This survey of 1,312 adults age 18 and older living in the United States was conducted from Dec. 6 through Dec. 8 by the Marist Poll. The margin of error is ±3.5 percentage points.