Words and usages I would like to eliminate

February 04, 2019

Here is a partial, and ever evolving, list. Yes, I’m getting older - BUT - I think we can all agree that these phrases are just bad, imprecise, and make the English language worse:

Saying “I’m here for” this or that. It’s hard to know what this actually means.
The word “Content” used to refer to any piece of anything at all. There hasn’t ever been a more vanilla or demeaning term for an individual’s prized artistic output given in love to the world. Give me the shudders.
Saying something is “Everything.” No it isn’t - and we all know it - so let’s stop saying it that way.
“Yeah, no -” as a weird sort of conjunction to rejoin and respond to a statement, e.g. “Yeah, no - I can’t believe the Super Bowl was so low scoring either.” Perk up your ears for “Yeah, no -” and you’ll start hearing it everywhere.

“Yeah, no -” as a weird sort of conjunction to rejoin and respond to a statement, e.g. “Yeah, no - I can’t believe the Super Bowl was so low scoring either.” Perk up your ears for “Yeah, no -” and you’ll start hearing it everywhere.