Hannah M. G. Shapero asserts:
I can’t believe that you haven’t cited “the perfect storm” as one of the newer more annoying cliches. Ever since the book and movie, writers have been using it to describe a rare or coincidental confluence of factors that make something into far more than it would usually be, whether it’s a “perfect storm” of urban violence or a “perfect storm” of celebrity media buzz.
I’m so glad you brought this up. Some clever news guy described last year’s fires in California as “kind of a ‘perfect storm'”. There’s nothing perfect about it unless you’re Satan.
AMEN! I come across this referenced phrase at least twice a week now. We need to end it’s proliferation! Here’s my latest example (from msnbc.com):
“We have in our schools and communities a perfect storm that will continue to feed the childhood obesity epidemic until we adopt policies that improve the health of our communities and our kids,” Frank Chaloupka, an economics professor the University of Illinois at Chicago, said in a statement.
Enough!