Words I Hate

I'm sure there are others, but here is my first attempt at a list of words or phrases I dislike intensely. I will add new posts on this topic as they occur to me.

Some are pretentious, and some are just plain over-used:

• Enhance -- why not just say improve?
  
• Opine -- a guy I knew at my student newspaper used to use this in news stories as an alternate to "said." It always drove me crazy, and I was only 22 then. Not nearly as cranky as I am now.
  
• Nestled -- every bed and breakfast in a rural setting is nestled. Have you ever noticed that?
  
• Amidst -- Does it really need those last two consonants? Or what about just using "among" -- not fancy enough, I suppose. And not "amongst" either, although that one doesn't bother me as much.
  
• "A wealth of" -- puffery, I say!
  
• A host of -- more puffery! I suppose I should add "plethora of" and the frequently misused "myriad of." Why is this construction so common? Why are so many of us trying to say the equivalent of "a lot of" ?
  

Now, let's see if I can use them all in a single sentence.

"I'm looking for a quaint home, nestled amidst a wealth of oak trees and blessed with a host of high-end features," the overpaid CEO opined.

Gee, I didn't set out to write Realtor® speak, but that's what it became without the least bit of effort. Interesting.