It is ironic that so many people are terrified of speaking in public when so many people seem to have the âabilityâ to fill up time by constantly blurting out meaningless phrases in their everyday speech. I'm sure I have distractions in my own talks, such as âuhsâ or unnecessary chuckles, but I do my best to not use clichés, redundancies and the like.
Those of us who are aware of speech and written language habits will perceive different phrases as clichés. I became aware of this while reading Nigel Fountain's book. Many of those he cited I simply had never heard or seen in print. But others I now recognize as clichés but hadn't really thought of in those terms before. These include âget a lifeâ, which I personally used on my ex-wife after tiring of her accusations against me, âmovers and shakersâ, âparadigm shiftâ, âkick assâ, which I have never and would never use, and âbaby boomers.â While I hadn't thought of the latter as a cliché, I detest those later designations for age groups, such as generation X and Millennials. I will now make an effort to not use any of them. In that sense, the book has changed my thinking.
Fountain refers to the âjargon-loving world of business management.â Again, I hadn't thought of it but many of the clichés used today originate with business management. They think that using these terms make them sound clever when in reality they confuse things. These days it is nearly impossible to know what an employer is looking for when a job advertisement asks for someone who is a âself-starterâ or capable of âmulti-tasking.â These are phrases that have become meaningless. Other worthless phrases that companies love to use are âthinking outside the boxâ, âproactiveâ and âbrainstorming.â Similarly, the author refers to the Pentagon as a âfactory of tortured English.â
Fountain is British, and yet has a remarkably good knowledge of American politics, history and language use. His entries cover both cultures as indeed, phrases are known to quickly cross the Atlantic in both directions.
The author includes those acronyms that have become standard for the text messaging crowd. So many of them can have more than one meaning. If one's meaning isn't clear, why use the phrase? I see âOMGâ as referring to God, and hence, the equivalent of using God's name in vain. I would not want anyone to think I was doing this. Why would I use it at all?
I have grown up being aware of clichés used by previous generations. So many of them made no sense to me. âI'll be kiss my footâ is one ridiculous example. This is what made me determined at an early age to never use clichés. One that reached cliché status in the 1960s, âknee jerk reactionâ, I had never thought of the meaning for. It actually refers to the involuntary movement of the knee when the patellar tendon is tapped. Clichés are so annoying to me that I don't always consider what their original meaning may have been.
As a listener to conservative talk radio, I struggle with the forum. Even though I generally agree with the sentiments expressed, I often have to take breaks from listening. I can't understand how otherwise intelligent people can be so dependent on meaningless phrases in their speech, phrases such as âat the end of the dayâ, âabsolutelyâ, âthe bottom line.â If they are incapable of using crisp, fresh, non-repetitive language, I ask myself, how did they make it in talk radio in the first place? I won't mention the name but one radio hostess who interviews Christian authors and organization heads uses speech that is so predictable and corny-sounding that I've pretty much given up listening altogether. Doesn't she realize how insincere she sounds, I ask myself.
Each of us who pay attention to language could write a book like this. Perhaps we should. We each hear and read our own set of speech habits. We each could point out clichés that others may not yet be aware of. English has such a vast vocabulary to choose from that it is a shame that our sentences have so often been reduced to repetitive phrases. I am anxious to read Nigel Fountain's follow-up to this book.
Those of us who are aware of speech and written language habits will perceive different phrases as clichés. I became aware of this while reading Nigel Fountain's book. Many of those he cited I simply had never heard or seen in print. But others I now recognize as clichés but hadn't really thought of in those terms before. These include âget a lifeâ, which I personally used on my ex-wife after tiring of her accusations against me, âmovers and shakersâ, âparadigm shiftâ, âkick assâ, which I have never and would never use, and âbaby boomers.â While I hadn't thought of the latter as a cliché, I detest those later designations for age groups, such as generation X and Millennials. I will now make an effort to not use any of them. In that sense, the book has changed my thinking.
Fountain refers to the âjargon-loving world of business management.â Again, I hadn't thought of it but many of the clichés used today originate with business management. They think that using these terms make them sound clever when in reality they confuse things. These days it is nearly impossible to know what an employer is looking for when a job advertisement asks for someone who is a âself-starterâ or capable of âmulti-tasking.â These are phrases that have become meaningless. Other worthless phrases that companies love to use are âthinking outside the boxâ, âproactiveâ and âbrainstorming.â Similarly, the author refers to the Pentagon as a âfactory of tortured English.â
Fountain is British, and yet has a remarkably good knowledge of American politics, history and language use. His entries cover both cultures as indeed, phrases are known to quickly cross the Atlantic in both directions.
The author includes those acronyms that have become standard for the text messaging crowd. So many of them can have more than one meaning. If one's meaning isn't clear, why use the phrase? I see âOMGâ as referring to God, and hence, the equivalent of using God's name in vain. I would not want anyone to think I was doing this. Why would I use it at all?
I have grown up being aware of clichés used by previous generations. So many of them made no sense to me. âI'll be kiss my footâ is one ridiculous example. This is what made me determined at an early age to never use clichés. One that reached cliché status in the 1960s, âknee jerk reactionâ, I had never thought of the meaning for. It actually refers to the involuntary movement of the knee when the patellar tendon is tapped. Clichés are so annoying to me that I don't always consider what their original meaning may have been.
As a listener to conservative talk radio, I struggle with the forum. Even though I generally agree with the sentiments expressed, I often have to take breaks from listening. I can't understand how otherwise intelligent people can be so dependent on meaningless phrases in their speech, phrases such as âat the end of the dayâ, âabsolutelyâ, âthe bottom line.â If they are incapable of using crisp, fresh, non-repetitive language, I ask myself, how did they make it in talk radio in the first place? I won't mention the name but one radio hostess who interviews Christian authors and organization heads uses speech that is so predictable and corny-sounding that I've pretty much given up listening altogether. Doesn't she realize how insincere she sounds, I ask myself.
Each of us who pay attention to language could write a book like this. Perhaps we should. We each hear and read our own set of speech habits. We each could point out clichés that others may not yet be aware of. English has such a vast vocabulary to choose from that it is a shame that our sentences have so often been reduced to repetitive phrases. I am anxious to read Nigel Fountain's follow-up to this book.
