I fear the English language is in trouble.
My old daddy likely said the same thing when us kids used such words as cool, far out, gnarly, bummer, or any number of late 1960s slang.
He didn’t like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, or Led Zeppelin, either.
But I’m not talking about just kids here at the beginning of this new year. Those old saws about 2023 resolutions are all I’ve seen on television this week. I’m glad they won’t go on for months like those slanted political ads that don’t provide all the real information, just the sound bites they want you to remember.
I don’t make resolutions, because I don’t intend to fail. What I do pledge each January, is to do my best in whatever I do, and to never give up.
There are a few things I wish would fade away here in this new year, and the first is my biggest irritation, the abominable word amazing. Unlike the abovementioned slang, this word crosses all ages and genders, and is annoying no matter where it comes from.
A couple of morning ago, I was half-listening to an inane TV talk show and ginning around the house without paying any real attention to the program. Those people with starry eyes and unnaturally white teeth were talking about nothing. But That Word was used a dozen times in less than thirty minutes, referring to makeup, someone’s appearance, a pair of shoes, a movie, a fake celebrity who’s done nothing in her life but be in the news, and the weather.
Annoyed to no end, I switched it to HGTV for background noise. I have an architectural background, and am a serial home renovator, always working on some project around the house, so I occasionally enjoy watching a few of those home improvement shows to get ideas.
I also like to see the results after they bring in a thirty-man crew to work eighteen hours a day for six weeks to finish a three-month project during a one-hour television program.
When the married hosts took their clients through the completed project during the final segment known as “the reveal,” everything was That Word again, only to excess. Someone should have written a better script for these reality clients who feigned excitement and surprise about everything.
They had a limited vocabulary, mostly limited to amazing. The exterior of the house was amazing, the plants were amazing, the living room was amazing.
“This kitchen is amazing!”
“This table is amazing!”
“These chairs are amazing!”
“The fireplace is amazing!”
“This wallpaper is amazing!”
“You two are amazing!”
Tired of reading That Word? You can’t imagine how it makes me feel, and as I like to point out to the eye-rolling dismay of my Bride, if everything is amazing, then nothing is.
How about we lift our vocabulary this year in both writing and conversation, and find another way to express ourselves, or even think about a different way to say something.
The Grand Canyon is stunning, magnificent.
The Grand Tetons in Wyoming are spectacular.
Arches National Park is impressive.
A bright silver color of a 43-pound salmon caught on a flyrod is exquisite.
In my opinion, the overuse of That Word is due to laziness, and society’s increasing inability to think for themselves. It’s watering down the English language.
Oh, and the overused phrase, “You look amazing” means nothing, because when the speaker can’t think of anything original, the result is as familiar as air. It’s reminiscent of an unprepared speaker addressing an audience.
“I, um, well, um, this is great, um, my amazing boss came in the other day and um, he said that preparation is the key to performance and, um, well, that’s amazing, isn’t it?”
Um. Amazing. Is the word filler, or an overused adjective defined as “causing great surprise or wonder? Why don’t we say it’s astonishing?
That tie is astonishing? Or, this room is astonishing.
Is a new paint scheme on a house astonishing? Do the contrasting colors cause a feeling or great surprise or wonder? I doubt it. The viewer may like the colors, but I can’t imagine them making a person giddy.
People say amazing because it requires no thought. For example, during a conversation a couple of months ago a young man felt the need to fill in a pause in conversation by saying, “It’s amazing.”
I couldn’t help myself. “What’s amazing?”
The blank look on his face was explanation enough. The words meant nothing.
Good lord, maybe my daughters are right. Maybe I am a curmudgeon.
While we’re at it, young folks, let’s eliminate the word, literally.
“I literally died laughing.”
No you didn’t.
To be fair, I don’t see “amazing” or “literally” used in print that often, it’s mostly in speech, but there are a few words we can eliminate in print. They’re words that creep in early drafts, and somehow duck, bob, and weave to avoid extraction during re-writes or proofing.
They’re mostly adverbs, but a few that crop up in my own first drafts have no business being there.
Very, just, and really are the worst, in my opinion. And again, properly edited novels usually don’t include these three weeds, but I’ve heard them from newscasters this new year and it drives me crazy. My question, did someone write this copy?
“It was a very terrible accident.”
“In a really horrible incident today…”
Some adjectives are non-gradable. You can’t be a bit dead, or very dead. Something is either finished, or it’s not. It can’t be a bit finished or very finished. A woman is either pregnant or not, she’s not a little bit pregnant.
I know these are usually spoken issues and not written, but when writers develop an ear for misused words or tragically constructed sentences, (as Pee Wee Herman said, “I meant to do that.”) they can improve their own works.
Again, simply choosing the right word is the best medicine.
There are more, but today I’m easily distracted and this discussion reminded me of homophones, which crop up all the time. Thankfully we don’t find them in many released novels, but there are those times when we see:
Here/Hear.
They’re/their/there.
Cite/sight.
It’s/its’/its.
Peak/peek/pique.
Bored/board.
Principal/principle
The old folks here in Northeast Texas used to say that what you do on the first day of a new year is what you’ll be doing for the next 364 days, and it looks like I’m a little crabby, but I write this on January 4, so I missed that blessing…or curse.
So with that rant over, I hope y’all have a safe, fun, happy, and profitable new year.
Jimmy Kimmel used to do an “amazing” count after each episode of The Bachelor. I agree that word is way overused.
Amazingly, I literally couldn’t agree more…
…and adding two/to/too your/you’re/yore homophone irritant list:
– Capital/Capitol….
Happy New Year to you – and all here at TKZ – as well…
g
Oh, no. I left a review for a fantastic dining experience and said the experience was amazing. I wonder if they’ll let me edit it.
Interesting. I guess it depends on what you are seeing/hearing because I don’t hear it get overused so it doesn’t bother me.
When I did magic on the side in college, for spending money,, I called myself Jim Bell, Master of the Amazing.
So there!
I rarely use amazing in conversation. Awesome, on the other hand, I overuse. Something to address in the New Year.
Great post, Rev! Words matter.
The phrase that frosts my flakes is “very unique.” Actually, any qualification of the word, unique, because “unique” is an absolute. There are no grades of uniqueness.
And my high school Latin teacher drilled that into us. Along with ‘free gift’ and ‘earliest beginnings/final completion.’
Let me add “iconic” and “jaw-dropping” to that list of overworked superlatives.
Cue the visual of people with their mouths open wide enough to drive a Ford picku through.
I’m amazed at myself.
If it ain’t “amazing” then it’s any number of other filler words. One of the joys of reading is the author uses more deliberate language than the casual speaker.
In my day job, I despise “big word” emails. I don’t like the use of “utilize” rather than simply “use.” But here is the one that absolutely kills me: using “ask” as a noun. It’s all over the business world and drives me nuts. “The client has a couple of ASKS for us…” Ugh. I want to vomit.
The other night on GHOSTS about a mansion in upstate New York haunted by a bunch of ghosts from different time periods, the ghost from the Colonial period is astonished by how the present-day humans used “bitches” and “bastards” like they are good thing and bemoaned the death of the English language. Things they are a’changing, even our language, whether we like it or not.
Mrs. W: This summer we went to Germany–
Mrs. F: Amazing!
Mrs. W: Yes, and we met the President of Germany–
Mrs. F: Amazing!
Mrs. W: And he gave us a personal tour of Bonn!
Mrs. F: Amazing!
Mrs. W: And what did you do this summer?
Mrs. F: I went to charm school.
Mrs. W: What did they teach you?
Mrs. F: They taught me to say ‘amazing,’ instead of ‘b*** s***.’
I’m right there with you on “amazing.” And it always seems be stated in a very nasal tone. I grew up in Arizona, and people would stop at my dad’s gas station and say, “It’s so hot!” I’d look them right in the eye and ask, “What is?” Their expressions were classic, about the same as when you asked “What’s amazing?” I literally laughed out loud (llol) when I read that!
Hello james
Amazing