You’ve probably heard it muttered under teenage breath 1,000 times before, but now it’s official. “Whatever” has been named the most annoying word, in American English, at least.

Marist College in New York polled 938 adults on the words they heard over and over that got on their nerves.

Both sexes, all age groups and income brackets hated the “w” word.

Made popular by the stars of teen flick Clueless in the 1990s, it is still commonly used, usually pronounced “what-ehv-errr” and frequently deployed by teenagers to end an argument.

Fifty per cent of those polled named the word as their least favourite.

The poll found that “anyway” and “you know” also bothered us.

Even the famous footballers’ cliche, “at the end of the day”, featured in some responses.