Edge of the Financial Cliff
I am not one of the proud sophisticated types that will critique your language in a conversation or while you are trying to express an idea, because we all know how unspecific and bumbling I can be when I am trying to convey an idea. All of us should be humble enough to stay away from correcting people when they speak, unless it is a real mistake and makes them sound like a dyed-in-the-wool dumbass.
I will say, though, that there are several words I despise, for the meaninglessness that they have embodied of late.
- “Nice” is the first one. “Oh, he’s nice.” is probably the most common non-descriptive sentence I hear people utter today. The problem here is that serial killers are nice, else how would they lure you into the woods and cut your head off? Everyone and anyone is or can be “nice.” Those that are not “nice” are likely people you just caught on a bad day. Nice has come to merely mean that someone was halfway cordial in a conversation, and accordingly it is meaningless. “He’s nice, I guess…” You’re an idiot, I guess.”
- “Amazing” is another. Everything halfway cool is amaaaaaaaazing, from waterfalls to athletic performances to Obama’s latest string-of-words-wrought-lies-wrought-speech-wrought-hearts&minds-of-the-sheep. Amazing means “really cool” today, and can be applied nearly everywhere – and is applied everywhere. Its overuse makes it a dead letter.
- “Interesting” is one bloggers and internet writers use. But it is a dead word. WHY is that thing that you found interesting? What makes it of interest? Everything is interesting to someone, but I want to know why this particular thing should interest me. I could just post every link on this website as “hey, check this out, it is interesting!” I am sure that would get old in about 7 seconds of reading through the first post. If there is any value in what I write on here – not saying there is – it is in me being descriptive about why Ben Bernanke is a jackass, therefore “interesting,” or why drones are terrible policy, therefore “interesting.” Would it be less interesting if you didn’t use that dumb word?
- “Gender.” Wow. Just wow. Isn’t there only boy and girl and maybe a VERY rare biological mix? Why do we need to use this sociological construct to be politically correct and make the people that are confused comfortable? Why confuse the rest of us with stupid terms that have nothing to do with actual reality and everything to do with how confused the modern mind has become? The word, boys and girls is “sex.” My sex is male, or boy, or guy, or man. That person over there? Her sex is female, or girl, or gal, or woman. This is hard, isn’t it? What is my “gender”? Well, I suppose that since I am the manliest person ever to walk the planet, I am 99% male and 1% female. Let me go around talking about it just to confound the hell out of everyone and make everyone feel comfortable about how confused they are if they are a girl or a boy. Here is a hint: if you look down, you will be able to tell. And if you think that your “gender” doesn’t match your parts, then I am sorry but there is something the matter, because that is not normal. There is no need to use the word “gender.” It is meaningless. Can you tell that this one gets me really happy?
I best log off now before my head explodes. Whew, that felt good. It’s been a long time since I have posted a rant…
