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Overheard a show the kids were watching this morning and some Lego villain said, "Let's finally end this once and for all"
And it perfectly hit on something I've been noticing for a while - we are too hyperbolic with our language.
And it perfectly hit on something I've been noticing for a while - we are too hyperbolic with our language.
My 8 year old uses "literally" too often and without meaning.
I use the word "wonderful" more frequently than I should.
"I mean" shows up in my speech consistently and makes me sound like a valley girl.
I use the word "wonderful" more frequently than I should.
"I mean" shows up in my speech consistently and makes me sound like a valley girl.
It's not for a lack of vocabulary either.
Part of me feels like it's simply laziness and lack of intentionality, but when I notice it in others, it also feels like our language is being corrupted.
Part of me feels like it's simply laziness and lack of intentionality, but when I notice it in others, it also feels like our language is being corrupted.
How often do we hear someone say " I wouldn't trade it for the world"
Do we know what that means?
You honestly would trade the entire world for a night out drinking with your friends?
Do we know what that means?
You honestly would trade the entire world for a night out drinking with your friends?
And it feels like it goes hand-in-hand with our over-dependence on superlatives and exclamations - especially over text communication.
"That was good" reads very differently than "That was incredible!"
And I see how frequently I use the latter because it feels more expressive.
"That was good" reads very differently than "That was incredible!"
And I see how frequently I use the latter because it feels more expressive.
My wife pointed out to me that, in "Anne of Green Gables" one of Anne's mentors is constantly reprimanding and correcting her for her lazy language - faux cursing, unfinished sentences, repetition, and exaggeration.
I don't want to go back to old speaking any more than I want to dress like it's the 19th century.
I do wish we would have built off the intentionality that was manifest in both those methods of communication, rather than letting them degenerate into cargo shorts and "epic"
I do wish we would have built off the intentionality that was manifest in both those methods of communication, rather than letting them degenerate into cargo shorts and "epic"
And of course Orwell said it sooner and better.
DYING METAPHORS. A newly invented metaphor assists thought by evoking a visual image, while on the other hand a metaphor which is technically ‘dead’ (e. g. iron resolution) has in effect reverted to being an ordinary word and can
DYING METAPHORS. A newly invented metaphor assists thought by evoking a visual image, while on the other hand a metaphor which is technically ‘dead’ (e. g. iron resolution) has in effect reverted to being an ordinary word and can
generally be used without loss of vividness. But in between these two classes there is a huge dump of worn-out metaphors which have lost all evocative power and are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves.
