Posted on 01/01/2003 5:05:14 AM PST by Sub-Driver
Edited on 04/29/2004 2:01:51 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
SAULT STE. MARIE, Michigan (Reuters) -- Overused cliches, wordy redundancies and hyperbolic phrases -- including the Bushism "make no mistake about it" -- were declared banished Wednesday by the university overseers of an annual list of banned words.
Other favored utterances of President Bush such as "material breach," "weapons of mass destruction," and "homeland security," were the tired targets of the New Year's Day list compiled by the public relations staff at Lake Superior State University.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
And at least the "frozen tundra" isn't in "cozy confines." ;o)
America is a hemispheric location, not a country. All residents from Whitehorse to Guadalajara to Buenos Aires consider themselves 'Americans' too.
My wife's 94-year old grandmother woke up dead one morning. True, she was in reasonably good health and we all thought she'd live forever. But she knew her time was coming soon, and often said so.
OTOH, my friends Paige Hackel and Ruth Clifford, along with Ruth's four-year-old dughter Juliana, died September 11 on Flights 11 and 175.
I would say there was a big difference in the timeliness of these deaths, compared to that of my wife's grandmother.
Ny the way, while we're getting rid of meaningless over-used cliches, how about "African American" and "Native American." Those phrases never fail to raise my ire.
"Gall" versus "Gaul". Rat disruptors who post here have a lot of gall. A lot of Gauls were unable to defeat Caesar.
"Vicious" versus "viscous", or some hybrid thereof. "Viciously attacking" someone is grounds for banning. "Viscously attacking" them does not lead to an attractive mental picture.
"No one" versus "noone". Come, my lord - we shall luncheon at Noone, in Ye Olde Sandwyche Shoppe....
"Amateur" versus "amature" or "amatuer". Nothing says "amateur night" quite like that one...
"For all intents and purposes", and its numerous variations - "for all intensive purposes" is my favorite, I think.
"Wracked" versus "racked". "Racked with guilt". Yeah. Almost as good as a "fit of peak".
</end of rant>
Speaking of which, why is it that nobody seems to understand the difference between "its" and "it's"? "The monkey scratched it's butt." "Its time to go!"
Or there/they're/their? "Their going to be in trouble!"
Or "to" and "too"? "He's been gone to long."
Or "who's" and "whose"? "Who's car is this?" "Let's freep Congress! Whose with me?"
Maybe I should just give in and see if the handle "Unreconstructed Elitist Bastard" is still available ;)
I don't know, commies maybe?
The confusion there started when gasoline trucks would be labeled, "Inflammable."
Some barely educated person decided that the meaning was, "fireproof", so the gas companies started using the label, "Flammable."
The confusion there started when gasoline trucks would be labeled, "Inflammable."
Some barely educated person decided that the meaning was, "fireproof", so the gas companies started using the label, "Flammable."
These are not tautologies, but redundancies; not tautologies at all, rather, they are redundancies, that is, redundancies, not tautologies. Or, in other words, not tautologies at all. Redundancies.
From "The Princess Bride":
Vizzini: He didn't fall! Inconceivable!
Inigo: [looking confused] You keep using that word? I do not think it means what you think it means...
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