"Membership in the family of God is neither inconsequential or something to be casually ignored. The church is God's agenda for the world. Jesus said, "I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it." The church is indestructable and will exist for eternity. It will outlive this universe, and so will your role in it."
- Rick Warren
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Jared's previous post, plus some recent conversations, inspired this post (although this concept may have been posted on before).
Are there any phrases that bother you? Here are a few of mine:
"At the end of the day"
"It is what it is"
"leverage" - OK when used to describe the physical phenomenon, not so much when used in place of "use to our advantage", as in "Let's leverage our synergies to enhance our core competencies".
Can you tell that I've been exposed to lots of corporate-speak in my time? Thankfully, the leaders at the company I work at now eschew it.
I've got lots more, but they escape me at the moment. I'll put them in the comments when I think of them.
On a side note, Eldest daughter is particularly sensitive to certain one or two-word phrases, such as:
"Raffle"
"Hunker-down"
"Dollop"
She can't really explain why.
What about you? Are there any phrases that bug you?
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Comments on "Phrases That Bug":
2. Bill
- 11/21/2009 8:43 pm CST
Man, you said it on "Main street/Wall street". I hated that for numerous reasons - it was trite, hackneyed, overused, and also was another dreary example of the class warfare that politicians love to engage in.
3. Alex Costa
- 11/21/2009 8:56 pm CST
"I couldn't disagree more."
Most of the time, you actually could disagree more and you're just exaggerating a bit. For instance if I say "Dr. J was the best NBA player of all time," and you say "I couldn't disagree more." That's a bit much, right? (not that I would say Dr. J was the best NBA player of all time). It isn't like I said "Brian Scalabrine is the best NBA player of all-time."
"I could care less"
What you should be saying is "I couldn't [or could not] care less." Saying you could care less implies that you do actually care and should therefore be fairly concerned with whatever the aforementioned [triple word score] subject was. Saying that you couldn't care less means [to state the obvious] that there is no possible way that you could care any less about the subject of discussion. (taken from a friend)
4. Milly
- 11/21/2009 9:22 pm CST
"It is what it is"
My sister started using this phrase in the hospital after finding out about the cancer. I hated it at first but now I have to smile when one of us says it. It seems to have given her a bit of strength and acceptance for her.
5. Bill
- 11/21/2009 9:38 pm CST
Milly - it's good to know that phrase helps here. Of my peeve phrases, "it is what it is" is the one that bothers me the least and that I'm most tempted to say. But I really try hard not to :-)
How about "'Nuff said"? Argh! Despise it :-)
"Sooner rather than later" also lives on in my pantheon of phrases that bug.
More:
"Comfort-zone". I hear this all the time.
9. Shrode
- 11/22/2009 7:26 am CST
I HATE
"I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you."
usually followed by a laugh from the speaker like they just said something really clever and original.
It's stupid, lame, jaded, overuse, expected, and really not that funny.
Maybe it was the first time it was used as a joke when it was actually original. But it's way past joke to cliche now people. It's stupid and not funny anymore. Please believe me when I say that no matter where you say it, everyone else has already heard it.
Not only that, because it isn't funny, I'm tempted to take it literally (yes, I'm using that right) every time I hear it. So I think in my head, "What?!!?!? You'd kill me if I gave someone else your chocolate chip cookie recipe?"
Please Stop!
Another one I hate:
"For the love..."
I almost used it above when I wrote "please stop". What does "for the love" really mean anymore anyway? I think it was originally "For the love of God...", which would mean, "If you love God please do or don't do _______. "
But now people replace God with something else so they don't sound like they are cursing, so now it come out like "For the love of Mike". What does that mean? If I love Mike, I'll _____________ ?
Or other times people just say "For the Love..." and they don't say for the love of what. Again, I think they are just avoiding a "curse" or taking the LORD's name in vain, but what is "For the Love" supposed to mean? For the love of what?
Let the record show that a friend of mine IRL reads this blog and has used that phrase before. If you are reading this friend, please know that I love you and I ain't picking on you. ;-)
Now I wish people would just be honest and say "If you love me you'll or you won't ___________ " Isn't that what they really mean?
10. Shrode
- 11/22/2009 7:27 am CST
Damien, Milly messed us up. Now I won't know when people put phrases if they like them or hate them.
So everyone from now on has to say which it is. 
11. Shrode
- 11/22/2009 7:30 am CST
Another one that needs to die a quick and painless (for me) death...
"My bad."
Ugh.
12. nhe
- 11/22/2009 7:51 am CST
It's just a game
Then why are you playing? If it's a competition with an individual or team that wins or loses, then there are life lessons, leaders emerging, characters developed, and winners and losers - it is NEVER just a game. Competition can be a GOOD THING!
Completely agree with Michelle's first two.......but Michelle - my wife likes it when I call her "hot". However, if I call anyone else hot, I better find a blanket for the downstairs sofa.
14. Shrode
- 11/22/2009 8:04 am CST
OK, nhe, what alternative do you suggest when my eight year old goes ballistic because he lost a game of "Thomas the Tank Engine" to his six year old brother? Or when he starts crying because someone else "stepped out of bounds" during a backyard football game which leads to the opposing team made up of his friends scoring?
I gotta say something to him.
I've tried this one as a variation on an old classic, giving it different meaning:
"It's not whether you win or lose, it's that you got to play a game."
I tell him that when he gets mad about losing a video game to his brother. Playing video games at our house is a limited, highly- coveted privilege. The kid ought to be happy I'm letting him play, not crying because he got beat at a video game.
It is just a game. It's not life. Which is what I think the phrase "It's just a game" means anyway.
Now granted not all games are "just a game". Like in the movies when the main character is at the one game when the scouts are watching from the stands with notebooks, and then he blows it royally, thus losing not only the game for his team, but blowing his chances to go to college, and forever condemning him to working at dairy queen, destroying his whole life. OK, maybe that was more than just a game.
(Yes, I just saw, "17 Again.")
15. Shrode
- 11/22/2009 8:06 am CST
Bill,
I think the business world cliche's have just worn you out dude. I don't blame you! How come you haven't mentioned "out of the box" yet?
Or "paradigm shift?"
or "new component"?
Or "be a team player."
;-)
17. Milly
- 11/22/2009 4:18 pm CST
For the love of Spam Salad someone make it stop! :-}
Getter dun! :-{
I Christian cuss myself so nuff said on that one.
Careful this holiday over eating can make you sick’r ‘n a dawg. :-{
How sick is a dog? And why do we not take it to a vet?
Buy a vowel and get a clue. :-}
Don’t harsh my mellow. :-}
I came up with it and they have stolen it for commercial use.
Darn kids.
18. nhe
- 11/22/2009 5:58 pm CST
Shrode..........I guess when my kids got upset about losing a game, I just took away the game for a day or two - that usually cleared that up.
I think building a healthy sense of competition and sportsmanship is important. Saying "just a game" without using conflict and competition to teach life lessons is a cop out (IMO). I've always fallen on the side of both conflict and competition being a good thing if handled right. I think throwing out a stock phrase like "just a game" neuters a lot of good opportunities.
Your "its not whether you win or lose, its how you play the game" is much better.....cliche....but better :)
19. Bill
- 11/22/2009 7:00 pm CST
I seriously doubt that Shrode meant that phrase as a cop out on the life lessons of competition.
As the father of an extremely competitive and athletic 11 year old, each game has to be put in perspective. His select soccer games are important life lessons. Throwing the football with me in the front yard is a great bonding time but I don't brook excessive competitive frustration from him in those instances because, frankly, he needs to learn perspective and not get so frustrated if the ball's a little slick from the wet weather, making it hard to throw (true story from yesterday). Sometimes it really is just a game. He wants to be the best at everything but needs to keep cool and his head in the game.
There's a spectrum of reactions to competition. Helping our kids become good recipients of the lessons there without becoming sports jerks bent on destroying the competition and sucking all the fun out of every game, no matter how trivial, is a good goal :-)
So I guess is see both sides of the debate. And I think it depends on the kid too.
Or maybe I'm just hedging because I've been using "calm down, it's just a game" a lot recently :-)
20. nhe
- 11/22/2009 7:16 pm CST
It's the coach in me talking - football, basketball, and baseball for the last 12 years (literally hundreds of games)......when I hear "its just a game" (from a parent in particular) you can just feel the life drain out of the team and the goal in front of them.......when I hear it, it is truly nails on a chalkboard......why are the kids out there?.....just for fun?......that's a part of it, but its also to learn teamwork, sportsmanship, goal achievement, conflict resolution.......a lot of cool stuff.
When I hear "just a game" I hear - "we're just here for fun"......that's just to reductionist for me.
23. Milly
- 11/22/2009 7:35 pm CST
Nope I'm cool with it, I don't like to touch chalk but nails on the chalk board are fine.
"It's green" is one that bothers me. Close the word down and still go on about calling yellow green. Honestly!
24. Bill
- 11/22/2009 7:47 pm CST
when I hear "its just a game" (from a parent in particular) you can just feel the life drain out of the team and the goal in front of them
Well, I'm with you on that. My kids were (and our youngest, still active in sports, still is) on some really good teams with some great coaches. But I remember one coach our oldest son had (he hates it when I tell this story - it's not meant to be disrespectful because I do think the coach was a great guy) - in one of the earliest practices the coach told the kids "I'll be happy if we go five and five". Splat . . .
So I'm with you that we should always strive to do our best and win within the rules, especially when you get into the double digit years. But I also think that reacting to a loss or disappointment like it's the worst thing that ever happened (parents do this ALL THE TIME when watching their kids, and they can be huge jerks about games, ref's calls, etc. - I've been guilty of that myself) and also, alternatively, treating every game, no matter how innocuous, like it's a freakin' WAR and the goal is to not just beat but CRUSH the opposition . . . I've seen a lot of these types of people and I think it's unhealthy (very).
Of course, that's not what you're saying. I think we're on the same page. I'm just yapping :-)
25. Bill
- 11/22/2009 8:23 pm CST
Here's a few more:
Feedback - unless you're talking about a sound system problem.
Input - unless you're discussing a computer process.
Historic - unless you're talking about history. Calling something that's happening at the time "historic" can be true but is usually hyperbole. For example, the last election was, in many ways, rightfully termed "historic". On the other hand, calling the latest procedural vote in Congress "historic" is dumb.
There are no right or wrong answers . . . except that, of course, there really are. I especially dislike this in Bible study. Of course there are right and wrong answers.
28. Shrode
- 11/22/2009 8:42 pm CST
nhe, I think I'm reading you clearer now. I think we are all three on the same page of the same playbook. ;-) It depends on the context. You are right. I could see some places where "it's just a game" just isn't appropriate or accurate.
I was just reading through the lense of my experience. As far as opportunities to teach, what I've been saying in those sorts of circumstances to my kids is "Love is not easily angered". Or "be slow to anger". That's probably the most important lesson in any context whether it's throwing a wet football in the backyard with Dad or playing for the little league world series.
36. Karl
- 11/24/2009 8:57 am CST
Missional - I like the sentiment that it intends. We (the church and individual Christians) should be what this overused word suggests. But I'm tired of the word and it's used so often in so many ways that it's kind of lost any specific meaning.
Felt needs. Our new associate pastor is really into them and I wish he'd find another catchphrase to express himself.
37. Manders
- 11/24/2009 12:34 pm CST
The phrase "stand to your feet" drives me nuts. Where the heck else are you going to stand? Your hands? Buh?
Also, whenever someone's praying and they say something like "Lord, be here in this place." Isn't "in this place" just another way of saying "here"? And where else do you want Him to be?
I would also like to take this opportunity to say that nails on a chalkboard don't bother me. I think that makes me a weirdo.
39. damien
- 11/24/2009 6:38 pm CST
what's the difference between knowing squat and not knowing squat?
41. Bill
- 11/24/2009 10:04 pm CST
The most important squat to know is Jack Squat. He's my favorite at least.
Leave a Comment:
I'm not super-sensitive to hearing any one phrase. I'm sure some bother me, but I can't think of them. I really hate political catchphrases like "Mainstreet/Wall Street," "dithering," and any reference to "ordinary Americans."
In the written word, I just don't like clunky sentences. There's a natural rhythm that shouldn't be messed with. One syllable can screw it up. I know it when I see it.