Americans vote 'Whatever' to be the most annoying word for ninth year in a row

Americans have voted "whatever" as the most annoying word or phrase to be used in casual conversation for the ninth year in a row.

Results showed that a third of respondents from the annual Marist College poll released Monday considered "whatever" to be the most annoying word of 2017. "Fake news," a recent addition, came in second with 23 percent, "no offense, but" followed closely with 20 percent, 11 percent found the most grating word to be “literally,” and 10 percent named “you know what I mean” to be the most agitating.

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While it remains a crowd favorite to vehemently hate "whatever," a word that raked in five more percentage points last year with 38 percent, is not as loathed as it once was. According to the poll, people younger than 45 aren't as bothered by the word as their older counterparts are, and it's making a difference.

"Since 2015, we have seen a narrowing between ‘whatever’ and the rest of the list," Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, said. "It has been more than 20 years since ‘whatever’ first gained infamy in the movie Clueless. While the word irks older Americans, those who are younger might not find ‘whatever’ to be so annoying."

The telephone survey was conducted from Nov. 6-9 with 1,074 adults. It has a margin of error of three percentage points.