2005-12-06

The War on the War on Language

Tom, let's hereby declare a war on the following non-sense or illogical phrases (with more to come):

- "Agree to disagree."

- "The fact of the matter is..."

- Using the term "the fact" to refer to a claim that you are disputing, such as: "OJ Simpson cites the fact that he didn't kill his wife as the reason that he got found 'not guilty', when we all know that the jury simply made a mistake."

- Using the non-existant legal term, "innocent," instead of "not guilty."

- "To be perfectly honest..."; "To be honest with you..."; "Honestly,..."; "To tell you the truth...".

- "It is what it is." Very popular now, and desperately in need of outcry.

- Saying, "I don't neccessary like it when you call my mom a whore" when what you really mean is, "I detest your calling my mom a whore."

- Saying, "I could care less" when what you mean to say is, "I could **NOT** care less."

Any objections? What else must we eradicate?

5 comments:

Tom Philpott said...

I've always frowned at "it's a no-brainer."

Unknown said...

Sounds like "language policing" to me.

Unknown said...

If there's one that really bugs me, it's the use of the non-word "irregardless". I just want slap people that say that.

Another is people who cannot pronounce "asterisk" correctly. The most common mis-pronunciation of this word is "aster-RIKS" ARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!

Paul Hue said...

We need language police. I advocate making people embarrassed to speak in this way. Tom, "no-brainer" is bad, but I don't thinks it's illogical ("I could care less what you think!") or nonsense ("it is what it is!"). I know you can do better!

Paul Hue said...

Also:

- ...so to speak.

- ...as it were.