Mike Tharp: Life's meaningless words

What's not to like?

Well, in no special order, these dislikes of speech that dumb us down:

"Frankly" or "In all honesty" or "To be perfectly candid." Does that mean all words said before weren't frank, honest, candid? A proven refuge of politicians. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

"Differential." A favorite of sports announcers trying to sound erudite, as in, "There's an 8-second differential between the shot clock and the game clock." Do you mean a "difference"? Yes -- unless you're talking about part of a vehicle transmission.

"It goes without saying." Then don't say it.

"Just to name a few." You're so brilliant you could go on and on, but given your audience's attention span, you'll keep it short.

"At the end of the day." Maybe the most popular time/space filler outside black holes. Do you mean "finally"?

"Only time will tell." "We'll have to wait and see." "Only one thing is clear at this point -- and that is nothing is clear." One of a TV journalist's preferred ways to wrap up his story, trying to sound wise while overstating the obvious and signifying nothing.

"It is what it is." This has become the mantra of athletes and coaches who have no clue what they're talking about.

"Like." Used as an adverb. Use it only if you can substitute "similar to" or "similarly to" in its place. Otherwise, you're talking (heh) like a Valley girl. "Such as" works just fine, as do "as if" and "as though": She acted as if she were a wizard with words, but she was more like a sorcerer's apprentice.

"Different." You mean "separate" or "various" or you don't need it at all. "Seven different groups." Why not, "seven groups"? We know they're different.

"Very." A word very, very much overused by folks who don't use strong enough verbs or vivid enough nouns. If in a linguistic box, use "extremely." Better to use nothing at all and let the action words carry your message.

Speaking of boxes, haven't we all thought outside them enough by now? "Bun" in Taco Bell commercials was cute at first, but we need a new nonbox to think outside of. Rhombus, anyone?

"I could care less." Yes, you could. That means you can care less. You mean you couldn't care less -- no matter what, you just don't care.

"When it comes right down to it." When what comes right down to what? Another way to make it seem as if you're telling us something important when all you're doing is stalling for time until a coherent thought pops up.

"Be that as it may." Same drill -- filling a mental gap with a meaningless phrase.

"When all is said and done." (This one and the previous one often appear in the same sentence.) OK. We're waiting for when all is said and all is done. Then what?

"Between you and I..." D'oh! Somebody trying to sound grammatically savvy and gets it grammatically wrong. "Between," the preposition, takes objective case, "me." Always and forever.

"In today's society." (Or the business variation, "in today's marketplace.") Somebody took too many sociology classes. And don't we host a lot of societies in a nation of 305 million people?

"Results-oriented" (or even worse, "Results-orientated"). The first is cop-out jargon masquerading as profundity. The second contains a nonword.

"Paradigm shift." With this one you leave out the "f" and it describes itself. Have you ever seen -- actually witnessed -- one of these shifts? Was it near Area 51?

"Not to change the subject, but..." But that's just what I'm going to do.

"Best of all possible worlds." This one does appear to have some connection to Area 51. Voltaire got away with it in the 19th century in "Candide" with Dr. Pangloss. But nobody has since.

"Regardless." ("Irregardless," no matter how many times you say it, is never going to be a word.) Try "even so" or "whatever" or "whether." But not "whether or not" because "not" is understood.

"Utilize." Another transparent attempt to sound smart. Just use "use."

John Bremner, the legendary professor of journalism at the William Allen White School at the University of Kansas, always told his editing classes: "Words convey ideas." They do. Words set us apart from orangutans and dolphins. Sloppy speaking and writing show a sloppy mind.

Dr. Bremner used to say that most people speak in paragraphs, a small number speak in sentences and a chosen few speak in individual words. That means you are paying close attention so that you say just what you think.

Applies to both speaking and writing. Hey, if you're going to express yourself, might as well do it right. And with some smarts and flash.

Some of these words and phrases are just plain wrong. Others are cliches. Others do nothing to move an idea from thought to reality.

And, between you and I, they're what's not to like.

Executive Editor Mike Tharp can be reached at (209) 385-2456 or mtharp@mercedsun-star.com.