pat phrases you despise. Here's mine:

[mzteris]

I absolutely fricking LOATHE the phrase "speaking truth to power" :puke:

It's such a crappy piece of phrasing.

[MorningGlow]

1. THANK YOU!!!!

:wtf: does it mean, anyway? I was an English major, I have a master's degree, I've been a writer all my life (and earn my keep from it to this day), and for the life of me, I CANNOT figure out what the phk that phrase even MEANS. Can somebody explain it??

Oh--and another one from me: "At the end of the day..." = useless filler.

[idgiehkt]

3. I think it came from the civil rights movement

but I'm not sure about that.

edit:

this says this:
http://www2.gol.com/users/quakers/living_the_truth.htm

The phrase "speaking truth to power" goes back to 1955, when the American Friends Service Committee published Speak Truth to Power, a pamphlet ii at proposed a new approach to the Cold War. Its title, which came to Friend Milton Mayer toward the end of the week in summer 1954 when the composing committee finished work on the document, has become almost a cliche; it has become common far beyond Quaker circles, often used by people who have no idea of its origins. (One current example: Anita Hill entitled her memoir of her sensational charges of sexual harassment against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, Speaking Truth to Power.)

Don't know anything about the source. I'm sure it was a catch-phrase even then.

[MorningGlow]

16. Thanks for that

The phrase still doesn't make sense (logistically) though...

On another topic, where'd your Fizzgig go?

:hi:

[gmoney]

28. well, it means to be brave enough to speak bluntly to powerful people

Sort of like the kid in the story of the Emperor's New Clothes... everyone was afraid to tell the Emperor the truth because he was so powerful.

The phrase is kind of hackneyed now, but it's still a good thing when it happens, like Michael Moore calling CNN on their shenanigans, or Jon Stewart's calling out Fucker Carleson

[mzteris]

34. KIND OF hackneyed???

Now that, sir or madam, is an understatement.

[MonkeyFunk]

2. yeah, that's an annoying one

mostly because it's so mis-used.

Spouting off on a street corner is not "speaking truth to power". It's just spouting off.

[Taverner]

4. Add Value

Although it does get us to view labor through a Marxist view...

[VenusRising]

5. And I thought I was alone in that annoyance.

Actually, it is more than annoying because it doesn't make sense.

My second hated phrase..."It is what it is"

[vixengrl]

10. It seems to beg the question--

"And? What is it, then?"

[Oeditpus Rex]

30. 'It begs the question'

:hi:

[Danger Mouse]

6. 'Think outside the box'

:puke:

[vixengrl]

11. All of this sort of stuff, really:

http://www.thompsonwriting.com/Overused%20Words%20and%20Phrases.htm

It's like the environment of cubical dust-bunnies and odors of unwiped markerboards have damaged the verbalization skills of a generation.

[Danger Mouse]

12. and that is why i am so so glad i do not have that kind of job.

i would not last long before comitting mass murder.

[Danger Mouse]

13. ah, i see they didn't forget another favorite of mine...

'paradigm shift'...why do all of these cublicle rats talk like each other? has the antlike oppressive conformity crushed their spirits that badly?

[stuntcat]

14. Anyone who utters it..

I mark them off, can't listen to a word they say ever again

[triguy46]

38. And its Siamese twin "Paradigm shift". I've seen so many...

business fads come and go, its laughable. Each one is the latest greatest, "organizational transforming" method. Shit.

Remember: TQM (and CQI)
7 habits of yadda yadda
From good to great

[idgiehkt]

7. "shot across the bow"

only because I can't make heads or tails of it. Are they talking about a cross-bow? Because it seems like of course it would be 'across the bow' if it's a cross-bow. I hate idioms like that that I can't understand.

I wish if someone has a link to a site that explains them they would post it.

[vixengrl]

9. "Bow" of a ship.

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/shot+across+the+bow

a shot across the bow
a warning to stop doing something. The lawsuit is a shot across the bow to businesses that are competing unfairly.
Etymology: based on the military practice of aiming a shot across the bow (= a small explosion in front of a ship) to force it to stop

[idgiehkt]

15. wow, that actually makes sense

I wonder where else you would shoot across, besides the bow, and if the bow is a particularly ominous place to shoot from.

Thanks for that link, it looks like fun. :)

[datasuspect]

8. "i descended from the mountain with my eagle and serpent"

or "i have become that great ocean into which all the defiling streams of humanity course"

[spindrifter]

17. Here's another filler:

That's a really good question.

[mzteris]

18. at this juncture.......

I was on the phone with someone who told me to add that.

I like - I mean - I DON"T like - I mean I like that you added the ones y'all did 'cause I don't like most of them, either!

Ok - maybe I should just shut up and go to bed now. :crazy:

[wildhorses]

19. your concern is noted

you will get ignored, trust me on this.

[mzteris]

21. eh, I'm used to it.

If I'm not getting ignored. I'm getting flamed.

:shrug:



Oh - wait - you were -

oh nevermind.

[wildhorses]

24. my ass is on fire

as i type;)

are you ignoring me:grr:

:rofl:

[mzteris]

36. I thought it was

running around with your hair on fire.

:P

[Aristus]

20. I hate it when news programs report that a certain crime victim will

"break her silence!"

F*****g HATE that! :banghead:

[UrbScotty]

23. What, is she gonna karate-chop it?

[UrbScotty]

22. "We have (a lot of) work to do"

I've noticed that oftentimes when someone uses that phrase, the work they say needs getting done, doesn't get done.

[mzteris]

37. I've noticed that oftentimes when

someone uses that phrase -- "We have (a lot of) work to do" -- when they say "we" they mean "you".

[mulsh]

25. "people of color" as in

"yellow people, red people brown people, white people and people of color" every time I hear someone use this term I think "well there goes a closet racist.
A number or years ago I was at a rally in Santa Cruz where an elderly priest was speaking. He kept saying "colored people" and a younger priest kept correcting him by saying " people of color"

Maybe a life time of living in Oakland has jaded me or perhaps it's the fact that most of family are black people has something to do with this.

[Throd]

26. I always thought that term as racist

as it set "white" as the racial benchmark and everyone else was "of color".

I understand how it correlates to the racial power structure of the United States, but to use the term seems to perpetuate the dynamic.

Then again, if the term is so offensive, the NAACP should change their acronym.

[cloudbase]

27. "as we speak" n/t

[Joe Fields]

29. "at the end of the day"

[WindRavenX]

31. 'when all is said and done...'

:nuke:

[MorningGlow]

32. "Not out of the woods yet"

UGH. I come from a big extended family, and many of my relatives are older, so I'm well acquainted with hospitals, surgery, and various other forms of medical care, and if I hear multiple relations parrot that ridiculous phrase one more time...!

And how come, once the patient is responding well, nobody announces, "Guess what?! Aunt Tillie's out of the woods!"?

[formerrepuke]

33. "There's no such thing as a stupid question." (yes, there sure is!)....n/t

[Parche]

35. Pat Phrases

I cant stand her......



Lip Service
War on Terror
My Bad
Support Our Troops (coming from a Repube)
:puke: :puke: :puke:

[mzteris]

39. hate the sin, love the sinner.

Yeah right.

[triguy46]

40. I'm a uniter, not a divider. The phrase itself is ok, but the a-hole who started it can take a leap.

[Writer]

41. "Blood is thicker than water"

:puke:

[trof]

42. 'That was then. This is now.' Well, no shit.

I didn't need you to explain past and present to me.