Raise the Hammer
I'm going to stop you right there and clean up your literary wheelhouse so you can get out of the weeds - those tired phrases are done like dinner.
By Trey Shaughnessy
Published December 12, 2017
It's time of the year when wordsmiths spit out their best and worst words and phrases for 2017. What's in, what's out, what's cool, what's not. Let's just get into it.
Number one, Wheelhouse. No, stop this. 2018 is time to put it to rest. Dojo: Yes, watch out for this one to replace wheelhouse. As in, this is my dojo, yes sensei, Cobra Kai. Use for saying you are super confident in something.
While on the martial arts subject, Ninja, anything ninja: not anymore, try replacing with Samurai. American Samurai Warrior? Who knows?
Having-said-that, what's that? Did you just...? What? No. Enough said. That goes for its brother from another mother, After-saying-that.
Want a boardroom show stopper, try I'm-going-to-stop-you-right-there. Be warned, for whatever you say next had better be good, a mother-of-all-bombs good.
Out: any logo or logotype using an 'x' or 'z'. Note to designers: resistance is not futile, but temptation is predictable. Try spelling the word with a 'ck' or 's' - sounds boring but at least it is not overdone like dinner.
By the way, done-like-dinner is done, just done, and so is stick-a-fork-in-it. Councillor Sam Merulla finished that one.
I R3SPECTFULLY approve using a number 3 for a letter E, all R3SPECT.
Calling Toronto The 6ix - yes, still strong. Finally Toronto has a nickname, thanks to Drake, but just so you know, Buffalo has been calling their 716 area code the 6 for longer.
Have I been hearing wicked making a little comeback? Yes, I do believe so, and I green-light that for 2018.
Baby, I'm still good with baby, but in today's climate maybe use sparingly and appropriately. Or as in Fred Flintstone pretending to be boss Mr. Slate, "Whose baby's that? What's your angle? I'll buy that", maybe baby.
Super: still awesome, just as much as awesome is still awesome. Combine the two for double the pleasure.
Be-a-part-of-the-solution: no, I really wanted to be a pain-in-the-ass, it's dead for 2018. Instead, when you want to discuss an issue further, Let's un-pack this: this phrase is going into 2018 with a strong buy and hold position.
Dry-land in 2017 meant for anything traditional or non-digital, formerly called offline. "Our dry-land strategy will be more newspaper ROP advertisements." Let's hope so [see HSR full-page Spec ad]. Dry-land is a go for flight in 2018.
In-the-weeds is still good for getting off-topic or in the morass in 2018.
The Best new phrase award goes to There-there. As in, "see, there I told you." "No, there is no there there." Yes there is. I'm loving that one right now.
On to punctuation. Exclamation marks are forever banned indefinitely until further notice. And never to be used upside down in place of a letter 'i'. Also, semicolons are out. Okay come on, we know you went to university but now you're in the real world, find a way around it.
And the jury is in: Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Still out is Lethal Weapon. Happy 2018.
Handcrafted in the Hammer in a no-robot loading or unloading zone.
By JPDanko (registered) - website | Posted December 12, 2017 at 13:52:02
I LOVE this - what a great read!
Phrases I HATE:
"boondoggle" - a grumpy old guy from Ontario phrase for a government waste of money when trying to sound like a grumpy old guy from Alberta.
"let's unpack this" or "let me unpack that for you" - a pretentious prick assuming you're too stupid to understand what they're talking about so they have to explain it to you in excruciating detail.
"educated" when used in the phrase "X needs to be educated" - you don't agree with me so therefore you obviously need to be re-educated until you do.
"just saying" - no you're not just saying - that's your entire argument, but it's probably a little offensive so you're trying to disguise it like an offhand remark.
"intestinal fortitude" - very 2010 - but still in use for government refusing to make a tough, often controversial decision. Usually used in conjunction with "boondoggle". I have no idea where this one came from but it was weird when it started and it's still weird today.
"due diligence" - lawyer words for job.
By Crispy (registered) | Posted December 13, 2017 at 06:29:30
"intestinal fortitude"
This was used in WWF rants back in the 70's: "Big Bruiser Bill doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to get in the ring with me!"
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