In my book, Insert Giggle Giggle, Laughing Your Way through Raising Kids and Running a Business, I proclaimed that I hate “trendy” phrases, AFTER I used a trendy phrase because it was exactly what I needed to use (insert giggle giggle), but I wanted everyone to know that I don’t “speak” in this way (yeah, right!)…..oops – “right” is on my list!!!!!!! In the final editing of my book, I mean after two years of editing on my part and five or six rounds of professional editing back and forth, on the FINAL round I changed the word “navigate” to something else in 2-3 instances because I had overused it (I thought) but didn’t see that before in the million times I read the manuscript. It fit perfectly with what I wanted to say. So, to quote Christina Sweeney-Baird, in her book, The End of Men (which I have great quotes from her in my Book Quotes tab on my website), “Sometimes a cliché is a cliché for a reason.”
So below is a list of things I hate to hear (other) people say – obviously not myself (insert giggle giggle!) and in no particular order – I just jotted them down in the Notes of my phone as I heard them. I try to offer a substitute, but sometimes I can’t find an acceptable substitute – therefore the “reason/excuse” I give above for using these words or phrases myself…..I’ll explain more about reason & excuses in a future Giggle Chog…..
Problematic – can’t we just say “this is a problem”.
Weaponized – just stop doing it and then we wouldn’t have to use this word (ugh!!!!).
Navigate – I think I used “problem solve” once when I changed this word in my book, but navigate would have sounded better (insert giggle giggle!).
You’ve got this – we used to say, You can do it or maybe Way to Go!….
Full Stop – just sounds stupid. Just don’t say anything else and the point you wanted to make is the last thing anyone hears.
In this space – just say “in this position” or “in this way”.
Price Point – how did this become a thing? Just say “for this price” or “this is the amount I can spend”.
Tribe – what? Community. Friends. Family. Just say whatever the “group” is that you are identifying. And I can’t believe that this word has been “allowed” to be “appropriated” by trend-setters as not being “offensive”…..I mean, everything else is!
Stay in your lane – what about “do your job” or “don’t do something you don’t know how to do” or “you aren’t authorized to do that”….whatever the situation may call for when you are trying to describe that someone shouldn’t be doing what they are trying to do…..
Out over their skies – just say, “they got ahead of themselves” or maybe “they did something without thinking it through”.
Over my pay grade – what about….”I’m not able to make that decision”.
Debunked – so overused that instead of people acknowledging that a situation or statement has been PROVEN to be untrue, instead, people believe just the opposite and gives no credibility to something being untrue. In fact, it basically proves that yes, it’s actually true but we don’t want you to think it’s true.
Double Standard – same as above. When you are using this phrase, no one believes that your standard is the right one and that someone else did the same thing and got away with it. It just looks like whining.
Optics – a million words can be used to express what something “appears as” besides this word!
Unprecedented – just like Debunked and Double Standard – this word doesn’t mean anymore whatever you are trying to highlight as actually something that is out of the realm of possibility. In fact, in today’s world the “whatever” you are talking about has probably happened numerous times already…..
Beyond the Pale – just say “impossible” or “unacceptable” or “not right”.
Having said that & Right? – these words are so over used in TV and radio that sometimes I have had to turn off an otherwise interesting show or news program because I cannot possibly stand hearing one more of either of these phrases being said AND I can’t imagine that someone hasn’t told these “professional” broadcasters or pundits (or that they don’t feel it themselves the 50th time they have said it in a space of a few minutes or even if they watch themselves afterwards) to get a grip on the over usage of these phrases and just stop!
Speak to – please just say “tell us” or “can you explain” or any number of regular phrases!
Accountable – this word has no meaning anymore. Just delete it from the English language.
And the last one…..
You can’t make this up: instead, you can say “unbelievable”.
What is truly unbelievable is that I have written this Chog on all these words I hate to hear others use but I use them myself. But what is truly “unbelievable” is that I have a whole chapter in my book that is titled “You Can’t Make This Up!” The optics of that is just beyond the pale, right? The fact that I have weaponized this Chog in an unprecedented bid to get out over my skies in a space that I have no reason to be in cannot be debunked, but I won’t be held accountable. Having said that, I have to tell myself that my tribe will not desert me. They will not think that I am out of my lane, but in fact, that I navigated quite well my way through the double standard of allowing myself to do something I don’t like to see in others. I can just hear my readers saying, “You’ve got this!” Certainly, it is over my pay grade to even think I can entertain anyone with this silly Chog, but since I can’t think of an appropriate sentence to use the phrase, price point, I will just end it now. Full stop.
Next up…..What's Your Excuse?
Always remember to insert a giggle giggle (usually at yourself!)…..Kay 😊
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