The annual Marist Poll has revealed the most annoying words or phrases used in conversation in 2012.

“Whatever” headed the list, cited by 32% of adults, and next came “like”, which 21% didn’t like.

Runners-up included “Twitterverse” and “gotcha”.

The results mirrored last year’s survey when “whatever” topped the annoying words list for a third straight year.

But “seriously”, named by 7% last year, dropped off the list entirely – really.

The annual Marist Poll has revealed the most annoying words or phrases used in conversation in 2012

Marist questioned 1,246 adults in a U.S. nationwide, telephone survey.

Results showed differences by age and regions, with people younger than 45 in the Northeast especially annoyed by “like”, while “you know” offended more of the 45-and-over set.

Men and women gave similar responses overall, but whites were twice as likely as non-whites to find “you know” irritating. And people under 45 were more than twice as likely as those over 45 to be put off by “just sayin”.