From Patrick Harvey:
One that really burns me up: “firestorm of controversy.” I don’t think Congressional debates should be compared with Dresden.
Are we not species?
From Peter Musial
I think you should add “the male species” to your list. Males
or females are not species in themselves. I hate constantly reading
this phrase.
World-class pains
From Ed Geithner
When I was doing PR, I got into an argument with a client who truly
believed that the words “world class” placed before her product (software that helps design semiconductors) added some meaning. She
thought the same about “best of breed,” which I thought was confined to use by the American Kennel Club. Hmm, maybe she meant her software was a dog. She won both arguments when the check cleared.My nominees for banning:
“(Fill in the blank) went terribly wrong.” It probably did,
but I’ll strangle the next TV newscaster who says it.“His life (or something else) was changed forever.” We’ll
never know, since neither the subject nor us will be around to find
out.“A broad/wide range . . .” Ranges must be something else,
if only writers take the time to find out what.
Sporting chances
Dear Tom:
Something for your “I hate cliches” list. When I was in college, a bunch of folks used to get together to watch old reruns of the Bob Newhart Show (the one where he’s a shrink) and play a drinking game called, “Hi, Bob.” Any time someone said “Bob” on the show meant one of the TV watchers had to take a drink. If someone
said “Hi, Bob,” it was two drinks.Anyway, there is an ESPN sportscaster — Stuart Scott — who has inspired a new generation of the “Hi, Bob” drinking game. For want of a better title, let’s call the game “Stuart Scott Sucks.” Scott has developed a whole series of pet phrases, then proceded to overuse them in such a way they’ve become more old and tired than most cliches. While airing the day’s sports highlights, Scott might note that someone “must be better because he’s on a roll,” or “is as cool as the other side of the pillow.”He’s got dozens of these things, including one where he drops into the voice of a revival preacher and says “The Lord says you’ve got to rise up,” whenever a team starts a rally. I recently had some contact with a couple of college campuses and found out there are frats using Stuart Scott’s cliches for a drinking game similar to “Hi, Bob.” When this happens, I believe it’s time to find some new pet phrases.
About the only thing I’ve heard that compares to this, is the bar that played Seinfeld Bingo for the final Seinfeld episode. The bar put together a list of 15 recurring characters (Soup Nazi), 15 pet phrases (New-man), 15 gestures (Kramer coming in a door), 15 guest characters (Keith Hernandez) and 15 episodes (masters of their domains) and gave them all Bingo numbers. They passed out Bingo cards and gave prizes to the players who filled their Bingo cards first as the references appeared in the show’s final episode.
Take care,
Charles Bingham
Juneau Empire sports editorP.S., I don’t know if you can find it, but in 1988 or 89, USA Today ran a story about a left-handed pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies named Don Carman. This guy wrote up a list of about 50 sports cliches — “We’re just taking it one game at a time,” “There’s no ‘I’ in team,” etc. — and gave them all numbers. He posted the list above his locker with a note reading, “You saw the game, pick which ones you need.” When some poor scribe caught up to Carman for an interview, he’d answer the writer’s questions with numbers from his list. At least he had fun with it. I believe this took place before the famous scene in Bull Durham where Crash Davis is teaching Nuke Laloosh his cliches.
Close the book on closure
From Linda Demaree:
I am sick of any phrases using the word “closure“, i.e.,
“they need closure”, “they finally have closure”,
etc, etc.Another fun one is “infrastructure“, which seems
to be the popular byword today. The only problem with it is that
everyone is using it, and using it and using it, ad nauseam- and
largely incorrectly.I am not a member of the media in any way, however, I felt the need
to add a couple of my “pet peeve” phrases to your list of expressions
which should be banned for life!I hope that someone from the media will think to add these to the list, because quite frankly, when I hear them used or see them in print, I have a tendency to shut out the rest.Thanks for letting me vent.
Signed,
A Consumer Victim Who Has Finally Found Closure By Being Allowed to
Vent About The Sad Media Infrastructure Which Allows Such Expressions
To Be Used To Excess!
Non-events
From Mark Gallo:
I still can’t stand orientate, but now computate is popping
up. Hearing it in the US is one thing, but to hear it used at a professional
conference in England was somehow saddening. When did a sale become a sales event? It must have looked good
to somebody: now we have a made-for-television movie event. Shortly
after the weatherman became the chief meteorologist he had to jump in
with tornadic activity event and winter precipitation advisory
event. I swear I am not making these up.There’s probably more of this kind of inane pretense at the local
station level than the national–When Dan Rather leaves they’re going
to retire the trophy–but what’s the deal with the anchor (I prefer
the technical term meat puppet) who says, “And now let’s go to the
newsroom for a live report from WXXX’s Joe Dummy,” a wraps up with,
“Thanks, Joe–great job with that exclusive live report.” How exciting!
A live report from the next room! From an employee of the station who
doesn’t moonlight on other stations! (Where I live the CBS and NBC affiliates
continually claim to be the news leader, and the number one news channel
in the area. The area is #172 in the US TV market ranking; the ABC affiliate
doesn’t even bother to do news programs.)In the background there is a faint humming noise: the sound of Edward
R. Murrow spinning in his grave like a lathe.
Box this up and ship to Siberia
From Don Hewitt:
There are a number of expressions that really annoy me, both in the
media and everyday speech.“Totally”– To add “totally” to something is redundant
and ignorant. Can something be in worse condition than to be
“destroyed?” Could someone be more than surprised? “Totally”
surprised means…….?“Win-Win” situations. What ever happened to “mutually beneficial? “Thinking outside the box”– This has got to be one of the
most ridiculous sayings ever concocted. Do people go sit in
boxes to think? Ah, yes, maybe they sit in Kitty Litter Boxes.
In that case, I would definitely “think outside the box.”“Celebs” and a host of other moronic abbreviations. This
oh so clever expression makes the user sound like an idiot.
Trendy abbreviations communicate nothing more than that the
one using them is so very up to date and clever. Belch.“Goes” — an expression meaning movement away from an object
or person. But it doesn’t mean “says”, as in “He goes, Well
I did not know you were in town.” Duh. How about “He SAYS?”
Off the grid
Tom Lemanski of Kildeer, IL, shares these gridiron groaners:
Your page inspired me to offer some football terminology. I like football
but…The one-foot line: no such thing. One-inch line
is also non-existent.Gutsy: Bold? Couragous? Surprising? Strategic? Innovative?
Heroic? Anything! For a while, some sportscasters went with internal
fortitude. Now Fox has brought us back to gutsy.Adding “a” before every name reference: … a QB like a Brett Favre or a Peyton Manning. Further proof that less is more When they measure for a first down by running the sticks and chain
onto the field, how do they measure in the first place? They eyeball
it. Then make a big deal of taking a closer look when they think
it matters.There should be fines or something. Perhaps fines would support a language abuse police force?
Fashion crimes
From Peter Lynn:
Some words and phrases I’m getting a little tired of:
Killer app.: Unless the technology functionally resembles
the HAL 9000 computer from “2001,” it’s not a killer application.
It’s just a tired phrase.Diva: Being used today to discuss almost any female singer
or demanding star, it should strictly refer to female opera stars.
Elton John is not, and cannot be, a diva — no matter how bitchy he
acts. The term “prima donna” has already been extended to refer
to tempermental, conceited people, so let’s please retain the precision
of “diva”.Fashionista: What a pretentious word! Surely Che Guevara
would roll in his grave at the thought that the “-ista” suffix used
by freedom-fighting guerrillas has been co-opted by those in the fashion
industry, as if their escapades on the runways of Milan are of the
same importance as the struggle for liberty in the jungles of Latin
America.
Been here before
Pat Curry’s all-time pet peeve:
“It was deja vu all over again.” Deja vu is the sensation
that you’ve been, done or said something when you’ve haven’t before
(as so wonderfully described in the Diana Ross song of the same name).
I’m forever seeing stories in which people who did something 20 years
ago reunite and the experience is described as deja vu.