110 Comments

I hate the saying it is what it is. Meant to appease but just irks the crap out of me. No need to say that. Sometimes silence is golden.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Bill Murphy Jr.

My pet peeve is "at the end of the day." Unfortunately, I work in manufacturing and often have to discuss what needs to be done before it's time to go home and hear myself uttering that phrase more often than I would like. But in my case, I mean it literally.

Which reminds me, I recently heard that the word literally no longer means literally because it's been misused to the point that it now means figuratively, according to Merriam-Webster. Such is evolution.

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I always read the entire email. I mean come on, it only takes about 3-5 minutes out of your day and it makes you think. Isn't that worth 5 minutes?

I've heard Come to Jesus for decades as well as rock star and low hanging fruit. Is there any way to retire some of these phrases?

I look at the patriotism survey with a lot of skepticism. I see a lot of American flags flown in front yards and patriotic bumper stickers. When I see a survey saying we are not as patriotic as we once were I question the motives of the researchers. Did they set out to prove a waning sense of patriotism? What are their objectives and prejudices? God bless America.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Bill Murphy Jr.

Whenever my wife and I hear “at the end of the day” on radio or TV, we repeat it in unison. “Journey” is another we’ll call out.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Bill Murphy Jr.

Poll - Other response regarding length - I’ll use the same word Mel Brooks when asked boxers or briefs (albeit another context): Depends

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Bill Murphy Jr.

I usually read the top and skim the bottom. Not because they aren’t news worthy, but because I’ve already read an article on the subject. If I haven’t then I stop to read it.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Bill Murphy Jr.

Yikes.

It seems that we will likely offend someone somewhere along the way. Did we get too sensitive? Seems when I look at that list there are some I definitely don't like and some that I am guilty of using. When I analyse why I don't like some, it seems to be more related to past events when others overused them or someone I began to disbelieve/dislike/etc. over or incorrectly used them and less about the phrase itself.

Mostly they really work well. In some cases they explain something more succinctly than lengthily verbiage and get the idea across very quickly. I mean try explaining "low hanging fruit" quickly and with meaning without having to explain too much.

Are cliches also often just disguised analogies that get an idea across quickly?

I think I'll have to reduce where I can, but I'll probably still go for the "easy pickings." ;)

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Bill Murphy Jr.

“You’re the best” - you must have a pretty low bar as to what the Best is.

Patriotism - which one are you talking about? The one that supports assault weapons,

the one that wants to support the former president or the one that wants the best for the whole country regardless of sex or orientation or nationality. Most folks who seem to verbalize how patriotic they are seem the be the first two. The folks who are quiet about it but demonstrate their care are the last. But how many really know what’s happening outside the country to know what we’re doing there that deserves our patriotism? Alas…

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Bill Murphy Jr.

“Circle back”, Walk back (where did that come from?), Clap back (what does that even mean?). Probably the one I hate most is “hack.” It used to mean crooks breaking into your bank account or email account. Now it seems to mean a helpful hint, such as “laundry hacks” or “packing hacks.” Makes me cringe every time.

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Personally, I am sick and tired of everyone saying, “Right?” Agreeing with everything in the form of a question is trite and it’s way overused.

I’ll add the phrase 100% when one agrees with another person. Really? Do you agree 100%? And again it’s over-utilized.

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I am from South Africa - and I know that South Africans love to copy the USA lingo... but I don't know where our youth are learning phrases like: "The place was lit AF "

Also, words like 'ideally and essentially' keeps popping up in explanations or answers given by the younger generation.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Bill Murphy Jr.

"To make a long story short"

"Let's circle back"

ACRONYMS... USE YOUR WORDS!!!

"The people in the E suite".

Ugh, there are so many more, but I need to work today.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Bill Murphy Jr.

“Whatever” is annoying. It leaves the topic of the conversation up in the air.

I read the entire email. And I will go to the source of a “7 things worth knowing” item if I want more information.

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Mar 29, 2023·edited Mar 29, 2023Liked by Bill Murphy Jr.

Ooof. As someone who spent a decade adjacent to the Seattle start-up world, these overused phrases make me twitchy! I remember when everyone had something like "I'm a marketing ninja!" in their twitter bio. Coincidentally, I just wrote something about that phase of my career when someone called me a "thought leader" and I panicked because...well...you'll see:

https://jenzug.substack.com/p/someone-once-called-me-a-thought-leader

(beware that I invoke "boss lady" in that post! haha)

These days the new ones I've run into are:

- "Yeah, I want to double-tap on that by saying..."

- "I just want to flag something here..."

I heard these two things a bazillion times a day at the last company I worked for. LOL

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Bill Murphy Jr.

jeeze, louise (I know, don't call you Louise), I read it all! That's a comment for "other" which leads to "YAY" for the kids out exploring on their own!!

& I laughed at some of the now used cliches w/ the adjoining explanations of why not to use (#12 pops to mind w/out rereading them all)

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Bill Murphy Jr.

Is ‘put a pin in it’ the new ‘parking lot that item?’ (…and is this still the correct punctuation usage, even though I still don’t like placing the question mark inside the quotation mark?)

I also don’t love what to me seems like much more often making verbs of words i more commonly think of as nouns, such as ‘surfacing’ and ‘centering’ and such.

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