What Did You Say?
While I never considered myself a mental giant I don’t think I fall into the dumber than dirt category either. But I am wondering what is happening to the English language. It seems like people are going out of their way to avoid using common English. Phrases, terms, and words are becoming far more complicated than they need to be.
I started noticing this a few months back during the morning news. The newsperson said if you were going through a certain town to be extremely careful when in a ‘safety sensitive zone’ as the fines would be five times the normal rate. She then explained that a ‘safety sensitive zone’ is a school zone. Half way through my tirade, Char turned off the news.
There are other words and phrases that bother me. How about ‘impervious surfaces’? Why don’t we just say concrete or parking lots? Another one is ‘population density centers’ – I’ve always liked calling them cities and towns. I recently completed a report that asked me to explain the ‘currency efficiency demand’. Explain it? I can hardly say it! It took an hour and a half and three phone calls before someone told me that is where I tell them how we spent the money.
But, the one that bothers me the most happened at a recent conference. The speaker was going on and on about the placement of ‘global coolers’. After awhile I stood up and the conversation went something like this:
Me: Excuse me but what are ‘global coolers’?
Speaker: Oh, I’m sorry. That is our term for trees and shrubs. (There was a fairly larger rumbling across the room; I don’t think I was the only one who didn’t know what ‘global coolers’ were).
Me: Why don’t you call them trees and shrubs?
Speaker: Well, those are not catchy enough words to give them the attention needed. They are outdated terms.
Me: So you’re saying trees and shrubs are no longer sexy?
I’m not sure what his answer was. I was telling the lady next to me, “I’m more like a tree than I thought – outdated and no longer sexy.”
So, what are the words, terms, or phrases that rattle your cage – that means disturbs you?
I started noticing this a few months back during the morning news. The newsperson said if you were going through a certain town to be extremely careful when in a ‘safety sensitive zone’ as the fines would be five times the normal rate. She then explained that a ‘safety sensitive zone’ is a school zone. Half way through my tirade, Char turned off the news.
There are other words and phrases that bother me. How about ‘impervious surfaces’? Why don’t we just say concrete or parking lots? Another one is ‘population density centers’ – I’ve always liked calling them cities and towns. I recently completed a report that asked me to explain the ‘currency efficiency demand’. Explain it? I can hardly say it! It took an hour and a half and three phone calls before someone told me that is where I tell them how we spent the money.
But, the one that bothers me the most happened at a recent conference. The speaker was going on and on about the placement of ‘global coolers’. After awhile I stood up and the conversation went something like this:
Me: Excuse me but what are ‘global coolers’?
Speaker: Oh, I’m sorry. That is our term for trees and shrubs. (There was a fairly larger rumbling across the room; I don’t think I was the only one who didn’t know what ‘global coolers’ were).
Me: Why don’t you call them trees and shrubs?
Speaker: Well, those are not catchy enough words to give them the attention needed. They are outdated terms.
Me: So you’re saying trees and shrubs are no longer sexy?
I’m not sure what his answer was. I was telling the lady next to me, “I’m more like a tree than I thought – outdated and no longer sexy.”
So, what are the words, terms, or phrases that rattle your cage – that means disturbs you?
posted by Ralph at 6:39 PM
7 Comments:
Oh, these are just GREAT!! I love them! I'll have to think on this but I KNOW I can come up with at least a half dozen of these terms.
In my office, what bugs me even more are acronyms. We have to shorten absolutely everything these days to group of letters or at least chopped up words. I work for CorpCom (Corporate Communications) and produce a lot of materials for LPE (Loss Prevention Education). To create these materials, we consult with SMEs (Subject Matter Experts). We exchange proofs in PDF format. (What does PDF stand for anyway?? For that matter, what the hell is HTML??)
All the terms used by airport workers/flight attendants drive me nuts.
"We will begin the boarding process."
Just say, "We will begin boarding."
They have several phrases that just irk me. Just say it simply and normally.
Good post!
My husband comes up with these terms. For example according to him I don't have "temper tantrums," I have "minor outbursts of verbal expression." I kind of like that one, though. *G*
The things that bother me are often teen-related. The gangsta/hip-hop slang drives me nuts. Deliberate misspelling of words sets my teeth on edge. It's not that I don't understand what is meant, as in your example. It's just that it's lazy and promotes ignorance. I'm not talking about people who genuinely have trouble spelling or speaking correctly. I'm referring to those who choose not to because they want to appear cool.
I think maybe I'm just getting old.
A few from work:
Soft Copy: An e-mailed document (rather than a hard copy).
Legacy System: The old mainframe system.
Mom always shortens words. Tom and I actually think that is funny. now we do it all the time and think of Mom and smile. She will say Cukes- cucumbers. Bro-brother. PB&J- peanut butter and Jelly. etc. The term Mac & cheese bugs me. I hate the word MEAL. Most words we speak, if you say them really slow and think about them, sound really lame. The word pimp is thrown around a lot like it is cool. Don't even get me started on trends and trendy words. You just need to think, do I here or see old people doing this, if not, it's because they have matured and they know better. Ralph, you need to not ask questions about what we don't like. It makes me realize how negative I am, and I don't have enough time to be typing all day. Who came up with the spelling of "Enough" anyway?
Couldn't resist Ralph. It was the curlers I guess!
Ralph, I just checked and you already have 4 votes!!
Hey, I'm pulling for ya!
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