TOP-10 Phrases and Clichés that NEED to RETIRE in 2016
10: “In...
TOP-10 Phrases and Clichés that NEED to RETIRE in 2016
10: “In other news…” When the topic has been about weather, trivia/entertainment, or human interest, the phrase should be, “…and in the news.”
9: “Torrential rain” is tired. Try “downpour,” “deluge,” “cloudburst,” “inundation,” “monsoon,” or just plain “rainstorm.”
8: Also, during floods, “Turn around, don’t drown” can make the audience feel like you’re talking down to them. Not everyone is seven years old, and kids don’t drive.
7: “LOL.” Can we just let this one go? No one is actually laughing at that lame joke.
6: “Blockbuster Movie” — this ain’t the ‘80s. A film may be breaking records at the box office, but the present term should be more like, “Campout Show.” Also, the “block” has become a large Cineplex parking lot.
5: “Think outside the box” — exactly, where is this box, and can we burn it? If the box is in our head, we likely can’t think outside of it without suffering a brain hemorrhage.
4: What about the great American “melting pot?” Need I say, “We’re not making people fondue here?”
3: “Terrorist threat” is an oxymoron (two contradictory terms); it’s redundant.
It’s also confusing. Is the threat “to” or “from” the terrorist? For my twisted mind the threat is “to” the terrorist, as in “Hey, Mr. Terrorist, come to my house, I have a bullet with your name on it.”
2: “Synergy” is overused. Can’t this just be “cooperation” or “unity?” When did we become so evolved that we can share personal energy?
…And the NUMBER ONE PHRASE that SHOULD be RETIRED AFTER 2015:
1: Shop our (seventeenth) “Final going out of business sale! Everything must go!” - Puuuhlease… Shut the darn thing down already. Nobody wants to buy that stuff anyway.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
“Boots on the ground”! Why not just say “ground support” or “ground force?” Two or three syllables beat four any day. —Steve Weldon
“Actually” I mean, like, if they did it, they actually did it, and there’s no reason to like, say actually. “Like” is another useless word, in case you, like, didn’t notice. —Buddy Sadler
“Literally” I’m literally sick of hearing the word “literally.” —Ranger Wordsmith
“Politically Correct” This has become mockingly derisive for use by anyone grasping for language justifying pompous departures from standards of civility. —Derrill Holly
“On fleek” — if you’re over age twenty-five you have no licenses to use the term “on fleek.”
WISHING a HAPPY and LINGUISTIC 2016 to ALL.
