Comments on: With All Due Respect, I Personally HATE That!

By: Elaine

Elaine — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:34:45 +0000

I feel compelled to explain why I chose a furry purple character to accompany this post. He’s “Grimace,” a McDonaldland character. According to Wikipedia, “Grimace is a large, purple anthropomorphic being of the “wumpus” species with short arms and legs.”

The fact of the matter is … Grimace was my little visual pun for the day (OK, maybe very little).

By: Cindy H

Cindy H — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:30:57 +0000

How about “lone gunman” (as opposed to what?) or “pre-register” (which I remember writing about when I was a calendar editor of a local weekly newspaper and saw pre-registration notices over and over again).

Also, I really dislike the filler phrase “The fact of the matter is….”

By: gentle reader

gentle reader — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:31:32 +0000

I like Cindy’s above–”general consensus”, which is redundantly redundant, and “to be honest”, which, along with “with all due respect”, and “no offense, but” should be shot.

Also, Anne–rofl!

Which brings up another subject–how about all the abbreviations people use in emails and online, lol!

By: Elaine

Elaine — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 13:45:59 +0000

Thinking outside the box grates on me, too. I always wonder who comes up with these phrases ….

Cliche is not reserved for corporate America. In the public sector, two buzz words are “transformation” and “collaboration.” I always try to catch myself before uttering either one.

I do appreciate a good transitional phrase in when I’m reading someone else’s writing, though. Somehow cliches SOUND worse than they read.

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:04:33 +0000

At this moment in time, I personally and absolutely feel compelled to comment on this blog. Although I’m going 24/7 – and have no time to spare, it shouldn’t be rocket science. However hard I try to come up with something fairly unique, it’s a total nightmare. With all due respect, the words and phrases you site in your blog are my power words, and at the end of the day, corporate America has schooled me in the power of cliche.

You know what? You just shouldn’t have tempted me.

By: Cindy L.

Cindy L. — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:59:04 +0000

One favorite no-no I still recall from journalism school is “general consensus.” And I still remember being scolded for using the transitional phrase, “To be honest,” since it implies that the rest of what I wrote wasn’t truthful

I do like transitional phrases, though. It’s tough to come up with fresh transitions between paragraphs, which is why so many of us rely on cliches and catchphrases.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:58:29 +0000

My current favorite is ‘thinking outside the box’, which has become so trite, I think it should be removed from the lexicon.