Pop Culture
"Mission Accomplished!" ...? What phrase would you retire?
By Adnaan Wasey
April 30, 2008, 17:31 PM
Five years ago, on May 1, 2003, President Bush marked the end of major combat in Iraq with a nationally televised speech from the USS Abraham Lincoln. The Iraq war continued and the giant 'mission accomplished' banner hung from the warship has come to symbolize its opposite. But there are other phrases that have changed in meaning over time and it's time now to stop using them. What phrase or word do you want to retire?
#52 Posted by Stephen J. Charbonneau, May 01, 01:44PM
I would retire "My Bad"
#53 Posted by Zak, May 01, 01:57PM
"Throw under the bus" is one that grinds my nerves raw.
#54 Posted by Mary Elizabeth Williams, May 01, 02:38PM
Any phrase that ends with .... "is the new black."
Is the new black is the new jumped the shark.
#55 Posted by michele rosen, May 01, 03:36PM
Please fine anyone who uses:
"Step up to the plate"
Reinvent [whatever]"
oh, sorry, what is it you're going to takeaway from this [meeting, whatever]?
#56 Posted by Mark Ramsey, May 01, 04:15PM
I would absolutely, positively retire the phrase "Blood and Treasure."
Where did this come from, "Blood and Treasure"? Should we be saluting the Jolly Roger?
#57 Posted by Martha Garvey, May 01, 06:01PM
I would like to put to rest the phrase "has issues with."
I once heard a woman say, "I have issues with full-time employment."
I said, "You mean, you have trouble looking for a job?"
Also: monetize, tasked with, stakeholders, anything 360 (sorry, Kurt A.), Web 2.0, and most especially, millenial. Me, I love the young folks. But that term makes them sound like a bacterial infection.
#58 Posted by Dave, May 02, 09:04AM
Personally, it would really please me if 'The Takeaway' was removed from the NPR/WNYC lexicon, or at the very least, the programming schedule.
#59 Posted by Peter Grote, May 03, 07:04AM
what I have read sofar about TakeAway doesn't at all sound inviting. I too miss Bob Edwards.
Regards,
Peter Grote
#60 Posted by Peter Miller, May 07, 07:40AM
My least favorite phrase of the moment is "You know," especially as enunciated (all too often) by Senator Clinton. A useless, mind-numbing filler, it manages to make even intelligent people sound incredibly brainless and it waters down the message to the level of banality. I realize that even gifted orators should be given a break now and then as they formulate complicated thoughts, but "You know" is ubiquitous in Clintonese. "You know" has become, for me at least, synonymous with the poverty of ideas and the baseless rote accusations at the heart of the Clinton campaign. But beyond that, it is symptomatic of the meaninglessness that characterizes much of contemporary American-speak: "Like," "Um," "Kind of," "It's kind of, like..,"
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#51 Posted by Adam G, May 01, 12:52PM