[ or let’s don’t ]

Much as we love them, not all words are deserving of use. They aren’t charming or helpful. The truth is, many are off-putting enough to be stricken from the English language altogether. Not necessarily because of their meaning, either, which is usually perfectly innocuous. Some are clankers, some are pretentious, or creepy, or insulting. We all have our particular reasons.

Millions of us reportedly loathe the words ‘moist’ and ‘ointment.’ ‘Slacks,’ believe it or not, was once declared the worst word in the English language in an article by the New Yorker. ‘Dripping’ is another one. And ‘panties?’ Well, that one’s just nauseating, seeing as it’s little more than grown-up baby talk and sounds overly intimate, besides.

In this day and age, there is no need to cutesify underwear or body parts or bodily functions or bathroom fixtures. Let’s call things what they are: a toilet, underpants, sex, boobs. And move on.

Like you, I have a bunch of words I refuse to utter. High atop my list squats ‘utilize,’ a clanking misfit if ever that was one. Uff da!

Utilize is, without a doubt, the dumbest, most overreaching term in the history of communication. In fact, any and all words with –ize tacked to the end — concretize, problematize, operationalize — should be shunned. Along with ‘performative,’ ‘gold standard,’ ‘incent,’ ‘task,’ ‘guttural,’ ‘trump,’ ‘cancer,’ ‘goodbye,’ and ‘grunt.’

bleah, yuk, and ick.

But the words we need to focus on are the destructive ones. The inflammatory lies and hateful rhetoric. Let’s decide to spread hope, instead. It’s contagious, you know. If we spread it far enough long enough, maybe we’ll bumfuzzle the loudmouths into a silent, never-ending pout. It’s worth a try.

copyright © 2023 the whirly girl

11 responses to “[ or let’s don’t ]”

    1. Thanks! You made my day :o)

      Liked by 1 person

  1. The word I can least tolerate is “unprecedented”. We made a drinking game about it during the pandemic. Every time you heard it you had to take a shot. There were a lot of drunk people.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. 🤣 Is anyone still sober and coherent by lunch?

      Liked by 1 person

            1. In that case, let me do all the housework. Except the cooking, you don’t want me around an open flame in the condition I’ll be in. You’re the best :o)

              Liked by 1 person

  2. Yes, I want those destructive ones to disappear. Your post has me reminiscing of a conversation with my friend Susan Sculley during a road trip years ago. Susan was an accomplished artist living in Chicago at the time. A lovely person who became ill and died suddenly before her 50 birthday (not long after our last adventure). She told me she wanted to focus only on good things: true, lovely, pure things. She said she read it somewhere and was holding on to it. Her paintings emulate these words.

    After her passing I came across what she may have been referring to. It’s biblical. I’ve shed most of my religious upbringing, but I have to give this section a thumbs up: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi, Barb! Wow, what a lofty, honorable ambition. I admire folks who can meditate and do yoga and all that. I need to move around when I’m thinking / working, but in winter I’m trapped inside. Frankly, I’m a little stir crazy at this point. Hope all is well with you 🙏

      Like

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