Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Cliches That Need To Go

At the top of my list today is a cliche that was never clever to begin with and I thought had been retired a long time ago but apparently I was mistaken. 'Take a chill pill' just seems to keep popping up lately and really needs to go. I'm convinced that an eighth grader came up with it and thought he was brilliant for finding two words that rhyme, but I keep hearing adults using it. Only adults with no self respect by the way. That's why we need to get together and decide that today is the day it will officially be heard no more.

Next up is another one I've been hearing with increasing frequency: 'it is what it is'. I don't know that there is a more meaningless phrase in use today. It is simply a way for somebody to make noise without saying anything. A way to say, "hey, I don't have anything to say but pay attention to me anyway."

Last on the agenda for the day is not so much a cliche as a double play of buzzwords. The more time I spend in the business world, the more often I hear the words proactive and paradigm. As in, "Excuse me, but 'proactive' and 'paradigm'? Aren't these just buzzwords that dumb people use to sound important?" This is one of my all time favorite Simpsons quotes, one which was immediately followed by, "I'm fired, aren't I?"

1 comment:

The Chuckman said...

You do realize you're just begging your loyal followers to use these phrases on a regular basis now, right? That was an all-time awesome Simpsons quote for sure though. :)