More annoying Linguistic habits we should break
Posted on July 17, 2007 in My Weird Humor by DM
Another of my “linguistic habits” posts totalled some 32,346 words all on one topic (the movie “Dick”). So, I decided to shorten things up a bit. Here are a few more verbal short-cuts we should eliminate immediately from our daily discourse:
1. Use of the cliche, “as a rule of thumb.” This phrase originally referred to the “rule” (actually a British common law) that the stick with which a man should beat his wife should not exceed the width of his thumb… anyway, since wife-beating went out with the “Alabama Man” commercial spoof on South Park a few years ago, it’s time to retire the phrase.
2. Adaptations of the “If you build it…” line from the movie, “Field of Dreams.” You can, and they might. But not without marketing. Suggested replacement lines: “Don’t throw me down, Clark” from “Christmas Vacation,” or “Sombody’s gotta go back and get a shit-load of dimes” from “Blazing Saddles.”
3. Parodies of the “Got Milk?” campaign. The AdFreak blog compiled a “Top 100″ list of these advertising parasites in 2005, and they’re still breeding. The worst? “Got MLK?” on a t-shirt promoting the Good Doctor. The best: “Got Crabs?” on a t-shirt for Joe’s Crab Shack. Got overused? Yeah, me too.
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This might offend my neighbor and her daughter (a former flight attendant for United Airlines and a current flight attendant for same carrier) but I think one annoying cliche is “friendly skies”–especially in light of delayed flights, full airplanes, airplanes stuck on the ground during times of bad weather and more which have plagued the airline industry around the United States. Oh well, nothing special in the air (with apologies to American Airlines) . .
That’s a lesson in branding, isn’t it, Joel? When the customer’s experience doesn’t match the tagline, something needs to change! ~ J.