Call me an enemy of free speech if you will, but I propose a total and permanent ban on the use of the word 'journey'.*
* Except where it refers to the departure from one non-metaphorical place in order to travel by car, train, donkey etc etc until one arrives at another non-metaphorical place.
22 comments:
Oh, someone (from our student counselling service) used that on me the other day when I said I was tired of being abused for being (the face of) the white coloniser. He said something about how learning to deal with such comments 'was still part of my journey' (i.e. I'm too thin-skinned --which admittedly I am). Frankly, I feel like I've done enough journeying through abuse as the face of the white coloniser over the past decade.
'Issues' should also be banned.
Eeeeeewwwwww.
Agreed re 'issues'. Has someone on Kath and Kim (it would almost certainly be Kath, I should think; maybe Kel in a pinch) already used 'journey' in this sense? If not, it's only a matter of time.
Oh, oh, oh - can we add the word "connection" as it applies to fancying someone the utterer met on a reality TV programme?
The next time I hear some adolescent vaccum say "we really made a connection" I swear I will put my fist through the screen.
Yes, I think a list of words we'd like to ban is in order. An Index, if you will.
Feel free to contribute.
"seeking closure" - whatever that means
I would like to add the word "pain" to the list, when used in any context other than literal physical pain.
Yesssss. I'm gonna punch a new aperture in the next person who advises I seek closure. Grr, grr!
And, hey, can we have a moratorium (while we're at it) on "at the end of the day"?! Except for those rare and precious crepuscular moments? :)
'Crepuscular', on the other hand, can stay.
(Doorbitch says 'zuchqe', which also ought to be allowed to stay.)
crepuscular is a damn fine word!
so trashed as to be quite meaningless these days are:
inspiration/inspired
fulsome (when they mean otherwise)
lifestyle
and you're spot on with journey.
crepuscular is a personal favourite word.
I'd like to ban all business-speak... eg 'going forward', 'line in the sand', 'on the same page', 'take that offline'... The list is vast.
(My other favourite words are pulchritude, petrichor, schadenfreude and retromingent, but that last one is particularly hard to find a use for...)
I know it was an accident, but I like the concept of a 'baned' list in this context.
I'll happily strangle the next person who "seeks closure"
I've noticed there is a new definition of "devoted to his/her family" - it now means you have been married at least 3 times and have abandoned at least 2 kids to "move on" - "find yourself" and "now realise what fatherhood /motherhood can be and enjoying spending quality time with my (new) offspring"
'Investment' when applied to the cost of something - 'your investment in this seminar...'
oh and 'finding oneself' (I always want to shout, like at a child's pantomime, "Look beHIND you!') and the 'real me'.
what an entertaining thread...
'outcomes'
Truly, 'petrichor' is a Banvillean (as opposed to a Bane-villain) word!
I'm sure, as I type, that the Booker Laureate has used 'ichor' more than once.
But 'zuchqe'? Please explain?!! :) [It's a notable word, with or without a useful definition, as it has just a single hit if you google it... I think there's a game where one looks for queries that result in single hits!]
Oh, and may God strike me dead if I ever use the word 'edgy'.
Chris, I have learned from my new bloggy mates, most of whom are still of an age to be club-goers, that Blogger's word verification thingy is called the Doorbitch (as in 'may or may not let you in if you say the right thing' or so I assume). 'Zuchqe' was what it had to say at that point.
I too abominate 'edgy', which always makes me think of something someone once said about the English Dept in which I used to work -- 'You people are on the cutting edge of the status quo.' We were, too.
Dear All
I agree about "journey" but I am writng about some life story stuff that just keeps wanting me to use journey. Could some one please suggest an alternative...
And may be e-mail it to me at:
cbarker@uow.edu.au
made sure you blog this list, Pav! it's spot on.
I'm getting pretty sick of "at the coalface". god, they're even using it on 2BL, which I like to think of as being the sanest radio station of my aquaintance.
at any rate, it's a glib little meaningless number which should only be applied to coal mines.
Here at the coalface, we're on a journey to address lifestyle issues. We are inspired to connect in a fulsome way, to find ourselves and eventuate our natural outcomes. Your investment in this mission will engage with like-minded Aussie battlers at this time and in this place.
At the end of the day, we need to move on, going forward together to seek closure by literally all reading from the same page.
(How did I do? I'd like to add that the quote at http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=23349 is exemplary.)
Black Knight:
fantastic :) shouldn't you be launching your career in politics?
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