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13 Words Overused Until They Mean Nothing (decimated, Eviscerated)
Brook Adams ^ | May 8, 2020 | Brook Adams

Posted on 10/14/2026 5:07:27 PM PDT by DoodleBob

I love this. I hate that. Really? Is it necessary to exaggerate? If everything is huge or outrageous or unprecedented, then how will we express things that are truly out of the ordinary? Florid language is the enemy of clear, concise speech. Like putting exclamation points and emojis after every sentence, it pervades modern media and makes everyone sound like adolescent twits. I don't dislike the following expressions, nor do I hate them. I detest them with a burning rage that disrupts the very fabric of space and time.

- Amazing/Amazed: People say this when they really like something, but it seems to imply low expectations. Did you expect your $30 hamburger to suck? Did you expect the roller-coaster to be boring? Who do you think you are, James Bond? And finally, 'Amaze-Balls'? What does that even mean?

- Decimated: Used in journalism and elsewhere to mean drastically reduced. The literal meaning is to be reduced by 10%. Well that all depends don't it? If Jeff Bezos' finances were 'decimated', he would go from $140 billion to just $126 billion... Wow, decimated! How about this; "At the barber shop, my hair was decimated".

- Devastated: To be destroyed. I was devastated when Netflicks stopped streaming Buffy Vampire Slayer. Now you can only rent it on disk.

- Eviscerated/Gutted: Gutted, like a fish. Currently used to say that something has been rendered ineffective somehow. I think a term this disgusting and extreme should refer to extreme cases. For ordinary things it seems quite stupid; "my dinner plans were EVISCERATED", "The yard-debris pickup schedule was GUTTED". Oooooh!

(Excerpt) Read more at brookadams.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Society
KEYWORDS: affordability; climatechange; globalist; hyperbole; lowiqhyperbole; neocon

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On a recent thread a few of us were commenting in the use of hyperbole in headlines, which often signaled the opposite of what the writer intended.

Feel free to add your “favorite” hyperbolic word or phrase.

My “favorites” include:

Decimate

Destroy

Annihilate

”truth bomb”

1 posted on 10/14/2026 5:07:27 PM PDT by DoodleBob
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To: frank ballenger; Hyman Roth; Vermont Lt; A_perfect_lady

Possibly ping of interest.

This is gonna be massive!


2 posted on 10/14/2026 5:08:20 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: DoodleBob

Alleged...

Even when there is video evidence!!


3 posted on 10/14/2026 5:08:45 PM PDT by sit-rep (I may be Dumb, but I'm not Stupid!)
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To: DoodleBob

decombobulated

smartilicious

Gnarly


4 posted on 10/14/2026 5:11:09 PM PDT by Bob434 (Time flies like an arrow, Fruit flies like a banana)
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To: DoodleBob

I’m getting annoyed by waitresses, people taking information, or someone otherwise ‘helping’ you in some way referring to every other response as “Perfect.”


5 posted on 10/14/2026 5:11:35 PM PDT by pa_dweller (Projection, prosecution, prevarication and party over country: That's the Democrat brand.)
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To: DoodleBob

Bombshell!


6 posted on 10/14/2026 5:11:44 PM PDT by ConjunctionJunction (Vim vi repellere licet)
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To: Bob434

forgot “Unhoused”


7 posted on 10/14/2026 5:12:07 PM PDT by Bob434 (Time flies like an arrow, Fruit flies like a banana)
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To: DoodleBob

“iconic”

“beloved”


8 posted on 10/14/2026 5:12:12 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: Bob434

Iconic is a word I am so sick of hearing.

If everything is iconic then nothing is.


9 posted on 10/14/2026 5:12:29 PM PDT by wally_bert (I cannot be sure for certain, but in my personal opinion I am certain that I am not sure..)
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To: DoodleBob

Literally.


10 posted on 10/14/2026 5:12:46 PM PDT by Steely Tom ([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
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To: DoodleBob

Literally. This is, literally, one of the most misused/mis-applied words in today’s communication.


11 posted on 10/14/2026 5:13:05 PM PDT by ConservaTexan (February 6, 1911/June 14, 1944)
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To: Steely Tom

19 seconds.


12 posted on 10/14/2026 5:14:16 PM PDT by ConservaTexan (February 6, 1911/June 14, 1944)
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To: ConservaTexan

While watching police videos I have discovered that many people do not understand the difference between the floor and the ground.


13 posted on 10/14/2026 5:16:06 PM PDT by LukeL
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To: DoodleBob

Exponentially


14 posted on 10/14/2026 5:18:35 PM PDT by Rio
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To: DoodleBob

People who use,”electrocuted,” when they mean, “shocked.” In my professional life I’ve had to explain to people who should have known better that, “electrocution,” is a portmanteau for electrical + execution. If somebody is still alive, they haven’t been electrocuted...although I see that Merriam-Webster now also allows for severely injured as well.


15 posted on 10/14/2026 5:19:42 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack
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To: DoodleBob

People who use,”electrocuted,” when they mean, “shocked.” In my professional life I’ve had to explain to people who should have known better that, “electrocution,” is a portmanteau for electrical + execution. If somebody is still alive, they haven’t been electrocuted...although I see that Merriam-Webster now also allows for severely injured as well.


16 posted on 10/14/2026 5:19:45 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack
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To: DoodleBob
Like

Listen to an conversation and you will hear it at least every third or fourth word.Sean Hannity cannot say a sentence without using it. One reason I stopped listening to him.

17 posted on 10/14/2026 5:20:03 PM PDT by Fungi
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To: DoodleBob

1) hot almost nobody is as “hot” as they are described.


18 posted on 10/14/2026 5:20:48 PM PDT by ronniesgal (can FR please get a "like" button and a "block" button? Please.)
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To: DoodleBob

I’ll agree with that list. I learned about the meaning of “decimated” years ago when William F. Buckley pointed out the word’s misuse. I figured if anyone would know, he would.


19 posted on 10/14/2026 5:23:12 PM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican (The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.)
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To: ConservaTexan; DoodleBob

I’ll third the sentiment on the incorrect overuse of “literally”.

I once heard a dental hygienist say, “I literally exploded!”

Really? Then please stop working on my teeth. You shouldn’t even be here. Or maybe that word doesn’t mean what you think it means.


20 posted on 10/14/2026 5:24:11 PM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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