I’m sure we all have our pet-peeve of words or phrases that make us cringe whenever spoken, but there’s no need to get all emotional about it and ban words and phrases, is there? Every year since 1975 the wordsmiths at Lake Superior State University have put out an “annual list of words banished from the Queen’s English for misuse, overuse and general uselessness” that is released every New Year’s Day.
They are tired of everything from food to clothing being labeled with the term organic citing it merely to be a marketing ploy to sell products. I don’t disagree with this word choice either, after all, green is the new black and everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. Back in the day had someone said they were going green, I would have assumed they meant they were going postal. About a month ago I was talking to someone on the phone and he asked me to make something pop and after several seconds of trying to figure out how to make it pop, I had to ask for an explanation. I highlighted a few random words from their banned list, the others are as follows:
Authored
It Is What It Is
Give Back
Post 9/11
Surge
Black Friday
Sweet
Perfect Storm
Webinar
Waterboarding
Decimate
Under the Bus
I would like to add the phrase, “I concur” to the list. A group of my friends overuse and abuse this phrase and I hate it. What are some words or phrases that you would like to add to the banned list?
I guess the big entertainment news this week would have to be the pregnancy announcement from 16 year old Jamie Lynn Spears.
My thoughts: The focus here is not really about the pregnancy, that’s what happens when you have sex. Duh. There is always that possibility regardless of the protective measures you put your trust. I don’t know how becoming pregnant came as a shock to Jamie Lynn and her beau either, shocking is “waking up one day and discovering you can get bacon out of your elbow”.*
It does seem a bit hypocritical of people to be overly concerned with the fact that she’s pregnant and not concerned with the fact that she was having sex at 16. It’s okay to have premarital sex, just don’t get pregnant or if you do, make sure it doesn’t become public knowledge. I say don’t be mad with the results, be mad with the steps that got you there.
We’ve all made our share of mistakes in life, sometimes they are made public and sometimes they are made in private. We need to stop looking at these darn entertainers as though they are held to a higher standard of morality. So what they are in the public eye, we are all fallible! Yeah you might HOPE that some might consider their actions because of who they are, but don’t bank on it, you will be disappointed every time. Don’t expect too much, keep your role models within your own home.
I was watching a CNN video today and another video caught my eye about a sperm donor being sued for child support. Good question.
Should a sperm donor who is acting like a father be made to pay child support? He said they had a verbal agreement with the child’s mother and her partner to not have any involvement.
However, he sent money to the mother for the child, signed the birth certificate, sent birthday cards and signed them dad. I don’t know, sounds like this guy has established paternity as the father and is liable for child support. What do you think? I think he’s liable.
Have you ever watched the news or read the paper and asked yourself, what is the world coming to? I used to read 2 - 3 newspapers a day, I watched the news religiously, even taped it when I wasn’t going to be home. Today, however, I no longer have the desire to even crack open a newspaper and I can barely watch a few minutes of the evening news.
Why? Because man has dominated man to his injury. The world is going from bad to worse. People are apathetic towards each other, hateful, intolerant and are only concerned about their own rights and well-being.
Occasionally, I scan the papers or watch the news just to see what I haven’t read on the internet. Today I came across a story in my local paper about an offensive Halloween decoration displayed by one family. The entire community felt that the display was offensive and asked the homeowners to please take it down. No deal. The local police made 3 attempts at getting it removed, even the mayor asked the homeowners to remove it.
Finally, after much unwanted attention, the family reluctantly removed the offensive figure. The homeowner said that she was “not swayed by the complainer’s personal history” and that she should, in fact, “get beyond it or you’re going to make yourself sick.” Okay, we all need to get over something and move on, but does that mean we need to be insensitive to the feelings of others?
Just because we have the right to do something, doesn’t give us the right to do it, is my humble opinion.
To illustrate, let’s say you have a friend who has a problem with alcohol and you invited him or her over to your house for a dinner party. Now you know your friend has a personal history with alcoholism, do you serve liquor or wine at your party knowing this could cause a problem for your friend? Do you feel as if your friend should get over their problem and move on? Now you are within your rights to serve alcohol in your home, but in this case, is it possible to yield to your desires, as a courtesy, and not serve alcohol this time? Sure, it would be an act of kindness.
This family, who were within their rights to decorate their home, could have extended an act of kindness to their community by not displaying a decoration that would cause hurtful feelings. In my mind, and theirs, they knew what people would think because they put a big sign next to it explaining what it was not.
Are we a society that is overly sensitive? Maybe. Could we use better judgment in the things we do and say? Sure. We don’t have to walk around on egg shells around people or be afraid of hurting someone feelings, but when in doubt, leave it out.
On October 10, 2007, Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, announced a new campaign to promote New York City to the tune of $30 million dollars.The new phrase is “This is New York”.This is No Joke! It’s not really the slogan that I have a problem with, it sucks, but it is the spending of $30 million dollars to promote New York City! Who hasn’t heard of New York City, often referred to as the Entertainment Capital of the World or The City that Never Sleeps!
Hey, I love New York, but the Mayor can’t think of a better way to spend $30 million dollars?Does NYC really need to be advertised? I know advertising is an entertaining way to get people to spend money, but there are some things in life that do not need to be advertised, like the $20 bill. That campaign cost $32 million dollars. You don’t have to convince people to use $20 bills, no one is going to say, no thank you I’m trying to cut back. Better idea: Have workers from both mints stand on a street corner and pass out 20 dollar bills, now that’s what I call advertising!
I’m thinking New York City has more pressing issues to deal with than advertising a city that is well-known throughout the world. This is Just Crazy!
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My name is Valerie aka Natural and I will be writing about whatever is on my mind. I love teaching, dialogue, sharing and making people laugh. I never know what I'll share here but this is me, Thinking Out Loud.
