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Sunday, September 25, 2011

7 Crutch Phrases you should burn from your vocabulary.

 Crutch phrases are probably one of the most obnoxious things ever.  You're smarter than that, you don't need a phrase that you say repeatedly to make your point.  When you use the same phrase over and over, you're not just annoying me, but probably a bunch of other people as well.   There's tons of them out there--and if you haven't noticed them.. you will now. 


**Remember, annoying crutch phrases include but are not limited to these seven:

"At the end of the day"-- This one really gets me.  Why at the end of the day? Can something be a valid teaching at the beginning of the day? What about the middle of the day? Why can't you make your point at any time of the day and still have it be legitimate?  The end of the day is a good time to reflect, but how about you nix the time frame and just move on with what you were saying. 

"Period end of story"-- How about, you just stop talking?  Rather than saying it's the end, just end.  That's okay too.  An abrupt halt will come across just as strong and you avoid this annoying cliche. 

"It is what it is"-- This little gem is code for "I screwed up, and I don't have a way of fixing it."  So you did your job wrong, and you don't feel like fessing up to it and finding a solution, you just go with "it is what it is."  Guess what? It's also not what it's not.  What's your point?  I find that 90% of the time I hear someone say this it's because they did their job wrong. 

"In all fairness"-- Alright, this one barely even makes sense.  How about we practice always rationalizing in all fairness, this way we don't have to dictate when we are or aren't using fairness in our judgement.  Then, everyone is on the same page and you don't have to say this every time you start a sentence. 

"Needless to say"-- So... if it's needless to say.. then why are you saying it?  It's like that little part in the Declaration of Independence when our forefathers stated "We hold these truths to be self-evident." So self-evident that we had to write them down? 

"I mean"-- This one is especially annoying when a sentence is started out by saying "I mean." So.. I'm just going to go ahead and assume you mean everything you're saying.  And if you don't mean it, how about you don't say it?  "I mean, I really want people to stop using crutch phrases."  Does that add anything to my point that I want people to stop using crutch phrases or would you guys just believe me if I said I really want people to stop using crutch phrases.  If you haven't heard this one used, turn on Keeping Up With the Kardashians for about.. 30 seconds.  Then you'll know what "I mean"

"Honestly?"-- You know when you ask someone a question and before they answer they say "honestly?" Well, I certainly didn't ask you that question so that you could lie to me, so yes, please be honest.  I asked you this question so that I could know what YOUR answer was.  

"You know what I'm sayin'?"-- Why yes, I do think I "know what you're saying."  You can ask every once in a while, but you don't need to end each sentence you say by asking "You know what I'm saying?" I can keep up with what you're saying just fine.  And.. if I can't, why don't I just stop you and let you know? This way you can string more than one sentence together at a time, and I believe I have enough intellect to still know what you're saying.

Keep in mind, these 7 crutch phrases are not the only annoying crutch phrases.  Any phrase you say more than three times in a conversation I'm sure has annoyed the person with whom you're having the conversation.   

Well, that's what I had brewing this time.  Don't forget to follow me on Twitter!  @mkbeer08

5 comments:

  1. How about this one: "I'm not going to lie..."
    So shall we assume everything else you say IS a lie?? Since when do we have to indicate that what we say is the truth-- or that not lying is to be touted as something special?? MMmmm... on second thought, there may be a point there...

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  2. Well done, Meg! Now how can we get this out to a larger audience?????

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  3. Why do they call it a crutch? A crutch helps you walk... the only thing these phrases help you with is looking stupid.

    -- Lauren :)

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  4. Meg, I'm just writing a comment here to test the "comment" area.

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  5. Les just told me you had a blog. I mean, how could I not know? To be honest, I have now subscribed. I'm not going to lie, I really enjoyed reading this. At the end of the day, you're a great writer :-).

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