make 2011 the Year of Vocabulary
Jan. 3rd, 2011 02:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
veronica_richI passed a newsstand today with a copy of the local rag in the front window - it contained the phrase "bucket list" and referenced the city council making one for the coming year.
Am I the only person who tires quickly of people's tendency to leap on a new phrase and hammer it to death through repeated use (and misuse)? "Bucket list" is one of those that makes me weary when I see it anymore, mostly because it's so often misued. Sort of like how "outside the box" affected me several years ago, because everybody and their spotted little dog was using it.
I'd just like these people to learn some vocabulary, is all. For example, a phrase I've gotten tired of in fannish discussions online is to "call out" someone on their attitudes, prejudices, etc. Call out people all you want, but could you PLEASE refer to in some other way? Ditto for invoking the word "privilege" (a related term). Either define the specific privilege you're mentioning, or find another word/phrase that means the same thing. Change it up once in a while; people tune out after hearing/seeing the same thing enough times. (Sort of how nobody could hear "My Heart Will Go On" from Celine Dion after 1998 without an automatic gag reflex - it's not like it was played on the radio 869 times every day or anything.) I understand it's easier to use a catchphrase most people already know by definition thanks to popular culture, rather than explaining what you mean each time you want to write/say it, but it's my peeve and it's my journal, so I can be annoyed with it. :-P
What are catchphrases you'd like to see replaced/eliminated?
Am I the only person who tires quickly of people's tendency to leap on a new phrase and hammer it to death through repeated use (and misuse)? "Bucket list" is one of those that makes me weary when I see it anymore, mostly because it's so often misued. Sort of like how "outside the box" affected me several years ago, because everybody and their spotted little dog was using it.
I'd just like these people to learn some vocabulary, is all. For example, a phrase I've gotten tired of in fannish discussions online is to "call out" someone on their attitudes, prejudices, etc. Call out people all you want, but could you PLEASE refer to in some other way? Ditto for invoking the word "privilege" (a related term). Either define the specific privilege you're mentioning, or find another word/phrase that means the same thing. Change it up once in a while; people tune out after hearing/seeing the same thing enough times. (Sort of how nobody could hear "My Heart Will Go On" from Celine Dion after 1998 without an automatic gag reflex - it's not like it was played on the radio 869 times every day or anything.) I understand it's easier to use a catchphrase most people already know by definition thanks to popular culture, rather than explaining what you mean each time you want to write/say it, but it's my peeve and it's my journal, so I can be annoyed with it. :-P
What are catchphrases you'd like to see replaced/eliminated?
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Date: 2011-01-04 05:38 am (UTC)