It Takes A Lot Of Sh*T To Make A Garden Grow: Rant #1: Talking Sh*t
As a die-hard wordsmith I’ve always been sensitive to language—certain key words we say to express stuff. Lately I’ve become more and more aware of the over-use of some of the same ways of defining things; many (“most!”) of which I am also guilty of saying A LOT: Seriously. OMG. Are you kidding me?
I’m throwing out a bunch of my hugely overdone-beaten-to-a-pulp favorites right now. This is not a tremendous annoyance or mountainous challenge compared to the extraordinary stories featured in my book, It Takes A Lot Of Sh*t To Make A Garden Grow. I’m just talking about certain words and phrases that are being over-said. I liken them to a compost pile that, once recycled, can ultimately transform communication into something richer, more exciting, more colorfully intelligent. Think of how eloquently our forefathers expressed themselves. But today we speak in a kind of short hand, texting, half-sentence, sound-bite zaps in non-communicative ways of (not) talking to each other. The trickle down of these words and expressions have become trendy—kind of a lazy fallback to boring-speak. It’s time to shovel out some of these tedious utterances and plant new gardens of expression to make a point. Bottom line, I don’t have a solution, but maybe you do. Here goes:
“Iconic…”
“Note to self…”
“At the end of the day…”
“Back in the day…”
“So yesterday…”
“Helloooooo….”
“Just sayin’…
“Wrong on so many levels…”
“Yeh, NO…”
“No problem…” (uh, what happened to “you’re welcome?”)
“That being said…”
“So to speak…”
“Be that as it may…”
“Having said that…”
“That said…”
“What you don’t understand…”
“Not gonna lie…”
“Whatever…”
“Meh…”
“What you have to remember…”
“Bottom line…”
“Are you kidding me…???”
“After all is said and done…”
“It remains to be seen…”
“Amaaaaaazing…”
“Give it up for…”(instead of “let’s applaud”)
“Put your hands together for…” (ditto previous rant)
“Per se…”
“I want to say…”
“Breaking news…”
(used to be said only when there was really breaking news)
“Really?”
“Gotcha…”
“Wait…what?”
“Seriously…”
“Wait for it…”
“I know. Right?”
“Trying to wrap my head around it…”
What are your favorites? I’d LOVE to hear them!!!!!
Really. I kid you not. No lie….!!!!
The simple fact that…
I do agree that the English language as we use it has gone downhill fast lately. I think that we have to accept that it is an evolution of our language which has never stayed the same and will continue to change. It has gotten more complex since the inception of speech, seemed to peak sometime around the 1500-1800’s (debatable) then has continued into a simpler form.
It is sad really that in this information age we have the ability to learn so much more and really expand our knowledge and vocabulary yet it seems like we are learning less. We are learning a little about a variety of things instead of a lot about one subject. Maybe this abbreviated style of knowledge is translating into the way we communicate.
I do believe language as an art form is dying. I do not see the next Shakespeare any time in our future, or maybe that art form has evolved into music. Lately I have been amused by hip hop/rap artists. Their plays on words and thoughtful language structure are the closest thing I’ve seen to modern day Shakespeares. …but I digress. 🙂
Erica, can you believe I only just now found your commentary to my January blog on “Talking Sh*t”? So sorry it’s taken me this long to get back to you, but I really enjoyed your perspective, and I do agree quite whole heartedly. And yes, hip hop and rap just might be the new way to play on words. But there are other beautiful lyricists who have contributed and continue to contribute to some of our most wonderful ballads, rock and pop, country tunes and of course, Broadway musicals. So many of them are true writing works of art. Thanks so much again for your thoughts!