Have you noticed how Americans will take a word and use it to death? Then by the time they’ve finished with it no one can stand to hear it anymore so it gets retired and everyone says, “No one uses that word anymore.”
People need to realize there is a thesaurus. It sounds like a dinosaur and unfortunately has become one in many homes but it is a very useful tool. They even have free online versions of the paper and board tomes.
You don’t have to wear out a word spreading it so thin it no longer resembles its original meaning.
Here are some “for instances” I can hardly stand to hear come out of people’s mouths because they have been used to death:
Space: We no longer have a living room, kitchen, bathroom, house, building or even a church, everything is a space. Home improvement shows have run this one into the ground and broke it off. (I no longer use this word and cringe when I hear others use it.) Give a room a name for God’s sakes everything deserves a name and no matter how small a “room” is it deserves the same respect. Even the tiny walk through between my dining room and garage that holds my washing machine and dryer has a name: Utility Room. See how easy that was. Now go give the rooms in your home a proper christening.
Awesome: This used to have a tremendous meaning but now days can be an exclamation for something as trivial as “dinner is ready.” Surely we can be more inventive with the English language.
Random: There are other words that will work for this one. I’m sure you can find them it’s not hard, really it’s not. Various, different, aimless, unorganized, unplanned or even slapdash (my personal favorite) will work.
Cool: I’ll admit I still use this one quite a bit out of habit but it’s been around for years and trying to replace it with awesome only gives us a new word to cringe at hearing. How about trying words like great, fantastic, terrific, wonderful or magnificent. Originally this word had to do with the temperature of something and if things were truly cool we would need a sweater unless you are warm natured.
Lame: I think this one has finally gone out of fashion and I’m truly glad because I got tired of hearing things needed crutches.
Retarded: This one is offensive on so many levels I don’t really know where to begin. If you don’t realize why it’s considered bad form to use this one then I probably can’t help you.
What are some words you are tired of hearing and wish would retire to the great dictionary in the sky?
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