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Jan
06
I'm so tired of hearing that!
2009 at 10am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
An article in The Guardian tipped me off to this annual list of words that should be banished from our vocabularies. I’m really happy to see that maverick and “wall street to main street” made the list.
Words/concepts that I think should be banished?
INTENSE FIGHTING—I hear this several times a day on the news, in reference to several different wars. I get it, the fighting is intense. What other kind of fighting could there be during war?
CELEBRITY BREAKDOWN/REHAB—Since when is rehab the appropriate place to recover from your anti-Semitic or racist beliefs (Mel Gibson and Isaiah Washington, I’m looking at you), exhaustion (pretty sure that’s what a spa or a good week on the couch is for), and general craziness (hello, Britney Spears)? If you have a mental illness, you go to a mental illness facility. If you are a racist or anti-Semite, you get some exposure and sensitivity training. Rehab is for addictions. And I’m tired of hearing about those as well.
CAYLEE/CASEY ANTHONY—Months before any hard evidence was found, I was already tired of hearing about this case and how speculation continued. I’m tired of seeing the grandparents on the news, waffling between statements about their daughter’s supposed guilt and their conviction that Caylee was still alive. I’m tired of hearing about the “smell of death” in the trunk of the car. Seriously. Can’t we just let the case go to court and worry about it after that?
CELEBRITY CHILDREN—Yes, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have beautiful children. No, I don’t care if Suri Cruise wears a coat or not. How is this news? Isn’t there enough going on in the world for reporters to find something that’s, oh, I don’t know, actually important to talk about?
OBAMA CRAZINESS—Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled about our next president. But let the man have a moment’s peace, please. We don’t need to know what he ordered for lunch (I mean, really) or what he looks like without a shirt on (though it is pretty nice, I’ll say that) or what he has on his iPod. I don’t care in the least. And while we’re at it, can we stop adding clever suffixes to his name to create book titles? Obama Nation, Obamanomics…what’s next? Surely, people who have the time and creativity to write a book can stop slacking when it comes to selecting titles. Granted, putting his name in a title is guaranteed to help you sell, but still.
THE SECRET—There’s something to be said for the power of positive thinking, but come on. The only secret Rhonda Byrne has discovered is that you can prey on people’s sadness/loneliness/weakness/naivete and get them to spend millions of dollars on ridiculous books and tie-in products if you tell them it’s all their fault that their lives are sad/lonely/difficult/unfulfilling.
NUC-U-LAR—The word is nuclear, and it is pronounced “new-klee-er.” ‘Nuff said.
“WE’RE GIVING ONE TO EVERYONE IN THE AUDIENCE!” Whether it’s a book, movie, product, whatever, it drives me nuts to see TV shows (Oprah, The View, Regis & Kelly…the list goes on) doing “giveaways” for the audience. Can’t we just all acknowledge that what they’re doing is advertising/product placement to a carefully targeted demographic? Elisabeth Hasselbeck is not giving you that new CD out of the kindness of her heart.
I’m sure I’ll have more to add when I have time to think about it….for now, tell me: which words would you like to see banished from our vocabularies?
Oh can we please, please, PLEASE banish the news of Caylee and Casey Anthony?! Over break my mom was watching the show of some trashy journalist who was playing the mom’s jailhouse conversations with the grandparents. I got in a bit of trouble for commenting how trashy and voyeuristic the thing was, but I had to take my dinner upstairs so it wouldn’t make me sick.
Ha, I just watched a 48 Hours thing on Caylee/Casey a month ago and had never heard of it. I guess I’m not paying attention! But once was enough.
I couldn’t agree with you more about Obama. This kind of intense scrutiny (of a personal life) isn’t good for anyone. I was apalled by the whole shirt thing. Though I did joke it would have been scandalous had it been Hilary.
Nuc-u-lar, lol, Canada’s Rick Mercer got hate mail for saying that on his show. Called him stupid. And claimed an immigrant cab driver jeered at his accent. He apologized for the mispronunciation. It was really funny!
I would love to banish Warshington…yes, its a d.c. thing…these people on insist on calling it WARshington…its WASHington PEOPLE!
Realtor, when it’s pronounced publicly (as it was by some national figure on TV recently) as “re-la-tor.”
I hate that the word “iPod” is now synonymous with every portable music/video player on the market, regardless of whether or not it actually is an iPod or even made by Apple in the first place.
I don’t have an iPod, but I do have an mp3 player that does everything an iPod Nano does, only it’s half the price of Apple’s overpriced nonsense.
It’s Walkman and Hoover all over again!
Serena, my in-laws are from St. Louis, where words with the “or” sound (i.e. “forty”) are pronounced with the “ar” sound instead….so when you take Highway 44, you’re driving on the Farty-Far. Or you eat carn with a fark. The Warshington thing also happens there, too.
Amy – you listed the one that bothers me the most. My husband can’t say “realtor.” He can only say it “re la tor.” It drives me nuts, but I can’t be correcting him constantly because that just wouldn’t be nice.
The word “outliers” should have been killed in the cradle. It’s too late now.
Oh, I am with you on the Nuc-U-Lar thing. It is one of my biggest pet peeves. I’ve actually refused to vote for politicians who have said it publicly – seriously, you want me to vote for you, but don’t know how to pronounce our deadliest weapon? My husband’s vote would be the phrase “Main Street”, since apparently the journalists who love it don’t actually know what a small town main street is.
Oh yes, celebrity children gossip needs to be banned from any newspapers – even the entertainment sections!
Although if I were the ruler of the world (someday, someday) tabloids and gossip magazines would be the first things to go
[...] week, I also discussed words that should be banished from our vocabularies and refined my best of 2008 list for BTT. And I decided to participate in the [...]