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.

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

Results showed differences by age and regions, with people younger than 45 or 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.'"