LOS ANGELES — Just sayin' "whatever," is like the most annoying word or phrase in English conversation. Seriously.

At least, that's the finding in the latest Marist Poll released Friday. "Whatever" won the contest for the third consecutive year.

In the race to the bottom of the linguistic heap, "whatever" drew 38 percent nationally as the most annoying, beating "like" with 20 percent; "you know" with 19 percent; "seriously" with 7 percent; and "just sayin' " with 11 percent.

Though it is hard to believe, 5 percent of respondents said they were unsure which was the most annoying formulation, a recognition, perhaps, of the English language's abundant number of impediments to the oral exchange of ideas.

It is hard to beat "whatever," in any contest over annoying because the word is so versatile. It can be used as a pronoun, adjective and adverb, making it a triple threat in any conversation.

It is also exceptionally flexible in meaning, running the gamut from indifference (whaatever) to disdain (You think what? Whaaaatever!). There is also the icy, whaateeevere, signifying, well, whatever.

Whatever beats the other parts of speech in all geographic, demographic and other subcategories, according to the poll.

The South, at 40 percent, is most annoyed by the term compared with the rest of the country. Baby boomers, at 43 percent, dislike it more than Gen X, at 37 percent. And 40 percent of women are bugged by whatever, compared with 35 percent of men.