This is the new That

Anyone else getting tired of hearing "(just about anything) is the new (the old version of just about anything)?"

It's getting out of control folks! Stop it! It's almost as bad as public figures, especially sports stars, saying "It is what it is," like it ain't ever been what it weren't. I just hate that mentality of "I heard it once and it was cool, so I'm gonna use it a million times and it will get cooler every time." I can't begin to adequately list these sort of catch phrases that are used where I work. The really bad thing is that they are losing their meaning. I think Dilbert had a whole week of strips dedicated to this type of thing recently, except that might have been in regard to project names. But really it's "a parallel structure" to that idea.

If you want to sound smart, you don't use catch phrases and unnecessarily big words to make your point. Once, I clicked the "Next Blog" button on this screen, and it was about a guy that ranted against the vast ineptness of everyone but him (even though he raved about how low his pay was and how little respect he got at his job). He had one entry that was probably over 1000 words, most of which were the $2 variety, to say "It bothered me that there is so little programming on TV that I found worth the price I pay every month, so I cancelled my cable subscription." But his effort to sound smarter than everyone else made him seem just all the less intelligent.

I know I don't put together the perfect sentences here, mainly because most of my posts aren't planned ahead. Usually I just think of a subject, a funny or ironic title for it, and go from there. But in one of my previous jobs, I was a PR hack, where writing is important. I just get annoyed when I hear/see a verbal/written crutch get ground into dust.

Ok! Rant over... ;-)

Dave