Several weeks ago a poll from the Marist Institute of Public Opinion — one that was slingshot quickly across the Internet — listed "whatever" as the most annoying of all English words.
Like, you know, it outpolled a whole glossary of other irksome conversational nuts and bolts, such as "like," "you know," and "anyway."
Anyway, this prompted me to dwell on what Japanese terms people here might be snapping their molars over. For while annoyance is a sentiment understood by every culture all around the world, one man's noodle slurp might well be another person's nipple slip.
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