{"id":2543,"date":"2017-08-29T20:16:11","date_gmt":"2017-08-30T02:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=2543"},"modified":"2021-01-04T15:37:13","modified_gmt":"2021-01-04T21:37:13","slug":"a-really-really-awesome-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/effective-writing\/a-really-really-awesome-list\/","title":{"rendered":"A Really, Really Awesome List"},"content":{"rendered":"

We wish to thank newsletter reader Dorothy Rosby for permission to use the clever article she developed after reading our recent posts Worn-Out Words and Phrases: 2017<\/a>\u00a0and its Follow-up<\/a>\u00a0post. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s come to my attention that I use the words\u00a0awesome<\/em> and\u00a0amazing<\/em>\u00a0far more often than my circumstances merit. Recently, GrammarBook.com\u2019s editors published a newsletter containing a list of words and phrases its contributors think are overused. At first, I scoffed at the list. I\u2019ve never used the latest \u201cin\u201d words and phrases\u2014my bad<\/em>,\u00a0chill pill<\/em>,\u00a0cool beans<\/em>\u2014because they very quickly become clich\u00e9s and, as a professional columnist, I avoid clich\u00e9s at all costs\u2014like the plague.<\/p>\n

But then I noticed\u00a0amazing<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0awesome<\/em>\u00a0at the top of the list. I use them interchangeably to describe everything from the Grand Canyon to a quick nap.<\/p>\n

Also on the list were\u00a0really<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0pretty<\/em>, two modifiers I also use far too often, as in \u201cseeing the total eclipse would be pretty awesome\u201d and \u201cthis tapioca pudding is really, really amazing.\u201d\u00a0Absolutely<\/em>, was on the list and I use it almost as often, even though I seldom feel as certain as it makes me sound. And seriously? I absolutely say \u201cseriously\u201d at least once a day. I say \u201csounds good\u201d almost every time I agree to anything, even when it doesn\u2019t sound good at all. And I have not only said \u201cdrop the ball,\u201d I have done it.<\/p>\n

Still, I\u2019m proud to say that there were many words\/phrases on GrammarBook\u2019s overused word\/phrase list that I rarely use. I don\u2019t say \u201cthink outside the box,\u201d and I probably don\u2019t do it much either.<\/p>\n

Nor do I say \u201cparadigm shift.\u201d Over the years, I\u2019ve had a lot of things shift, but I\u2019m not sure my paradigm is one of them.<\/p>\n

And, honestly, I hardly ever say \u201chonestly.\u201d I always figure it\u2019s implied. Besides it brings to mind that Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: \u201cThe louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.\u201d<\/p>\n

I never say \u201cIt\u2019s all good,\u201d because nothing is ever all good. I think people only say, \u201cIt\u2019s all good\u201d because \u201cit\u2019s mostly good\u201d isn\u2019t as catchy.<\/p>\n

And I don\u2019t say \u201cmy bad,\u201d either, mainly because it means \u201cI was wrong,\u201d and I seldom am\u2014honestly.<\/p>\n

Like<\/em>\u00a0made the list, and it does, like, baffle me why some people, like, sprinkle the word\u00a0like<\/em>, as if it were salt and pepper throughout, like, every conversation.<\/p>\n

I was happy to see\u00a0just saying<\/em>\u00a0on the list, because I\u2019ve never understood it. Someone says something dramatic, and then they add \u201cjust saying,\u201d or, more precisely \u201cjust sayin\u2019.\u201d Do they mean, \u201cI\u2019m just saying it because I can\u2019t keep quiet another minute\u201d? Or \u201cI\u2019m just saying it, but I don\u2019t really mean it\u201d? Or \u201cI\u2019m just saying it because I don\u2019t feel like singing it\u201d?<\/p>\n

There were many other overused words and phrases on the list that I rarely use including\u00a0high impact<\/em>,\u00a0low key<\/em>, cutting edge<\/em>,\u00a0it\u2019s not rocket science<\/em>, and\u00a0alrighty then<\/em>. But there were a few that didn\u2019t make the list that I think should have, for example,\u00a0but wait, you also get \u2026<\/em> and its numerous variations. And\u00a0it is what it is<\/em>, always sounds far more profound than it is \u2026 and what it is.<\/p>\n

And\u00a0sweet<\/em>\u00a0is the new\u00a0tubular<\/em>,\u00a0which replaced\u00a0gnarly<\/em>, which came after\u00a0groovy<\/em>,\u00a0which replaced\u00a0keen<\/em>,\u00a0which came after\u00a0gas<\/em>,\u00a0which was once the\u00a0bee\u2019s knees<\/em>\u00a0and the cat\u2019s pajamas<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But I was happy my favorite overused phrases weren\u2019t on the list because I don\u2019t want to stop saying them. I say \u201cyou know\u201d or \u201cyou know what I mean\u201d as often as teenagers say \u201clike\u201d and motivational speakers say \u201cparadigm shift.\u201d But I have a good reason. I say something important\u2014really, really important, then I say, \u201cYou know what I mean,\u201d because I\u2019m not sure anyone does. I\u2019m just sayin\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2014Dorothy Rosby is a syndicated humor columnist. You can read her work at<\/em>\u00a0www.dorothyrosby.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We wish to thank newsletter reader Dorothy Rosby for permission to use the clever article she developed after reading our recent posts Worn-Out Words and Phrases: 2017\u00a0and its Follow-up\u00a0post. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.   It\u2019s come to my attention that I use the words\u00a0awesome and\u00a0amazing\u00a0far more often than my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,12,25,53,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adjectives-adverbs","category-effective-writing","category-humor","category-idioms","category-vocabulary"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2543"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}