Friday morning, early in our 12-hour work day to short-handedly put out both your Friday and Saturday papers — don’t mention it — I asked a question of city editor Karen Petersen.

“You know what phrase I’m really getting tired of?”

“Yes, I do,” she confidently. “‘Gone viral.’”

“Close,” I said, applauding how she had in fact reached the neighborhood. “I’m tired of that one too, but the one I was thinking of is a related one: ‘YouTube sensation.’”

“Yeah,” she said.

“‘Going viral’ really is putting us in touch with our inner biologist, isn’t it?” I asked.

“It really is,” said Karen, who in fact has a biology degree. “Of course, you have people using it who couldn’t possibly tell you what it actually means from a biology standpoint.”

Those two phrases we were discussing, of course, are from the only ones that have ever driven me nuts. Years ago, for example, I got really tired of hearing people say they “had issues” with one thing or another. I also grew weary of people saying “hello” as a substitute for, roughly, “what are you talking about” or “are you kidding.”

Other terms, though, never bothered me. For example, “my bad.” Heck, I still say that all the time, though my desk neighbor, news editor Kim Jackson, doesn’t like it; likewise, he tends to use “Say what?”, which to me always conjures up images of “Good Times” or “The Jeffersons.” Whatever.

Then there’s “really?” Like if you’re in the middle of something, and there’s some sort of inopportune interruption, and you give an incredulous look and say, “really?” I’m perfectly cool with that.

Also, “not so much.” As in, “I love drinking all kinds of beer, as well as Jack Daniel’s, but wine? Not so much.”

Any words or phrases that you either really like or really don’t like?