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-Short Attention Span Theater-
'At the End of the Day' Tops Cliche List
2004-03-25
At the end of the day, it's the most irritating cliche in the English language. So says the Plain English Campaign which said the abused and overused phrase was first in a poll of most annoying cliches. Second place went to "at this moment in time," and third to the constant use of "like," as if it were a form of punctuation. "With all due respect" came fourth.
Well, I consider the list to be fatally flawed, m'self...
"When readers or listeners come across these tired expressions, they start tuning out and completely miss the message — assuming there is one," said Plain English Campaign spokesman John Lister. "Using these terms in daily business is about as professional as wearing a novelty tie or having a wacky ring-tone on your phone."
Only time will tell if they're correct...
Other terms that received multiple nominations included: 24/7; absolutely; address the issue; around (in place of about); awesome; ballpark figure; basically; basis ("on a weekly basis" in place of "weekly" and so on); bear with me; between a rock and a hard place; bottom line; crack troops; glass half full (or half empty); I hear what you're saying; in terms of; it's not rocket science; literally; move the goal-posts; ongoing; prioritize; pushing the envelope; singing from the same hymn sheet; the fact of the matter is; thinking outside the box; to be honest/to be honest with you/to be perfectly honest and touch base.
If we quit using those cliches, it would certainly level the playing field.
Posted by:Fred

#14  My unfavorite is: Drop the dawg it's too old.

Another is : Sang froid, It been done before,

But to be kool you need a Molly Ivins... "Sorry it's been closed since Chapulquatic."
Posted by: Shipman   2004-03-25 9:31:43 PM  

#13  Some just suck. Some usually okay. I guess it's always the context (assuming there IS one, heh)...
-----------------------------------------------
keep your eye on the ball
keep your hand on the tiller
wrapped around an axle
poppin red flags
all hat, no cattle
dance with who brung ya
waste of space (or spittle)
nothing succeeds like success
no way but up
can't get there from here
learn it, live it, love it
you go girl
throw more people at the problem
re-can a can of worms
just a little white lie
chaos is opportunity
time is money
that dog won't hunt
run with it
go for it
just do it
roll with the punches
make it so
make magic
that's an executive decision
back off and take another run at it
when in doubt, whip it out
that won't wash
square it with the facts
maintain an even strain
work smarter
take your time, quickly
Posted by: .com   2004-03-25 7:20:13 PM  

#12  O.P. I was once told 'Dont think outside the box. Blow the box up!'.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2004-03-25 6:18:54 PM  

#11  The one that always gets me is the company that advertises for "someone who thinks outside the box", then fires anyone who does. Guess that's why I can't find a job - I think outside the UNIVERSE! 8^(
Posted by: Old Patriot   2004-03-25 6:15:49 PM  

#10  I begin to think M4D is RBs' Rbs? Arbys! Yes! Never mind.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-03-25 4:46:31 PM  

#9  'User Friendly' is the worse in my opinion. It usually means 'User Hostile'.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2004-03-25 4:44:28 PM  

#8  He never mentioned whether or not correcting these speech flaws was 'doable'. Arrgh. I hate that one; particularly when used by journalists, who should know better. Why not just say that it's possible, probable, or likely -- three perfectly good words found in Websters.
Posted by: GK   2004-03-25 4:04:07 PM  

#7  It's a UK group, so perhaps that affected the choices. They also missed:

Axis of ...
E- (whatever)
I feel your/their pain
As if
Duh
(Baby) boomer
Generation X (etc)
Mother of all of ...

And my absolute favorite,

If elected I will ...
Posted by: Sofia   2004-03-25 3:55:31 PM  

#6  I find the cliches that the author listed to be fairly benign. Sounds like his own personal pet peeves rather than culturally agreed upon abused or overused terms...like Metrosexual. Rantburg posters did better with 2 seconds of thought.

He used "tuning out". Maybe he should put that one on his list. Yawn. What next, he'll start coming up with words he doesn't like? "The" the overused word. "Is", what really is its meaning?

I bet the guy once had a really funny list - several years ago- and now he's struggling to keep his annual list in the headlines. Weak.
Posted by: B   2004-03-25 3:11:03 PM  

#5  Fred - I'll get back to you on that one...
Posted by: Raj   2004-03-25 2:57:49 PM  

#4  the ones i hate are-
taste like chicken, do you want fry with that, no shirt no shoe no service, no pets allower, like wite on rice, i can understand that but, alla akbar, and anything boris say.
Posted by: muck4doo   2004-03-25 2:52:11 PM  

#3  Then there's "Let's take this off-line." ...my wife in particular hated this cliche whenever I used it :)
Posted by: Anonymous   2004-03-25 2:45:42 PM  

#2  I hate it when people say, "You're on deck" to mean wait a minute. I stopped a guy at Home Depot to ask him where something was, and he told me, "You're on deck." No I'm not, asshole, I'm on my way to Sutherlands.
Posted by: BH   2004-03-25 2:33:35 PM  

#1  What about...
Quagmire!
Bush = Hitler!
Bush lied, troops died!
Where's the WMDs?
YEEEEAAAAHHHGGH!!!
Posted by: Unmutual   2004-03-25 2:32:05 PM  

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