In the work place, management is frequently doling out mindless catch phrases that they seem to think is going to inspire their employees. I know they are meant to encapsulate and convey an idea in a short, memorable phrase or word but, nonetheless, they can be obnoxious.
For one reason, because they are thrown around so much to the point that they tend to lose their original meaning or emphasis and just seem to become nothing more than a catch phrase. Another reason is because, as with many other phrases we have heard already throughout our lives, careers, etc, they just get down right old. Once a phrase has been over used, everyone has heard them before, and most everyone has already grown tired of them, they become almost insulting. They come across condescendingly as if to imply that no one has ever considered the mundane concepts for which they were supposed to represent in the first place. Most of the concepts behind the phrases really are not anything new anyway. They tend toward nothing more than just basic common sense and the obvious. The phrases themselves would seem to have been created as some sort of kitschy way of entertaining the listener with ear candy as if tantalizing children into desired behavior. This is why these phrases become invariably hated by employees, though most just purse their lips and keep quiet; most of us would like to tell the people that repeatedly utter these trite phrases to, “put a sock in it”. I assure you, if I were to find myself in the position of owning a business of my own with employees, this sort of heresy would be banned as a matter of policy.
Here are some of the phrases that come to mind and are too often used. Feel free to add relevant phrases that have been left out:
“Think outside the box”
“Team Player”
“Work smart, not hard”
“You have to be flexible”
“Climb the corporate ladder”
There are more than just the ones I mentioned, but at the moment, those are the ones that come to mind.
Now in the general public, this monstrosity goes on in its own way. The systematic destruction of the English language goes on with almost thunderous applause. It’s not just the language being destroyed, but an embarrassingly progressive dulling and ‘dumbing-down’ of our lives and our integrity as a people. It looks as if no where in the world are so many people so happily determined to make us appear to be uneducated, dimwitted, superficial dolts than in my own country of the United States of America. People are, for some reason, constantly creating pedestrian words or phrases derived from some kind of bastardization of the English language that make it appear that we have no command of our own language. When the vocabulary already exists and phrases are already available, creating these expressions that appear to be born out of bad grammar, bad syntax, and just plain poor verbal skills, it just gives the impression that one is simply proud and content to parade their own lack of education. I know these phrases are meant to tickle ones funny bone in one way or another by supposedly having some cute origin or reason for the choice of words in the phrase. Or, perhaps, they are meant to be novel because they simply have some sort of a ring to them. But just as other worn out phrases they get down right old and over used. And for many, with some sense of dignity and self-respect, they are just plain embarrassing that they at all become common place.
Some of the phrases that come and go, or just won’t go away are those such as:
“Fail”
“My bad”
“Oh Snap!”
“Keep’n it real”
“Aight”
“Baby daddy”
“Hater” or “Haterz”
“You go girl”
“I’m down with …”
“Homie”
“Fresh”
“The man” – as in, “It’s the man keep’n me down.”
Anything with the addendum “izzle”
“Chief”
“Homie”
“Fresh”
A really, really old and no longer used expression but one that was so bad that it deserves honorable mention, “Happy Camper”
Again there are more, but for the time being this will do. I’m sure I’ll add more later just by commenting to my own blog. Hahaha
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