{"id":7853,"date":"2010-01-20T13:00:55","date_gmt":"2010-01-20T18:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=7853"},"modified":"2013-08-14T10:29:35","modified_gmt":"2013-08-14T15:29:35","slug":"linguistic-hit-list-part-iv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=7853","title":{"rendered":"Linguistic Hit List, Part IV"},"content":{"rendered":"

My semi-annual Linguistic<\/a> Hit<\/a> Lists <\/a>haven’t completely <\/em>changed the language – but they’ve made a good start.<\/p>\n

My demands for the extinction of the terms”Bloggy”, \u201dTruthy\/truthiness\u201d, \u201ctake (something) to the next level\u201d and \u201cDee di deeeee”have been largely very effective; most are considered signs of bad breeding today.<\/p>\n

The war on \u201cHel-looo”<\/em> is also proceeding apace; it seems to be on the ropes, although pockets still occur in various hYpStR bars and high schools here and there.<\/p>\n

“It Is What It Is\u201d is a stubborn one – something of a linguistic cockroach, or the Taliban in Helmand Province, it’s actually made a bit of a comeback. I will declare a linguistic surge against this piece of language rot.<\/p>\n

\u201cInternets\u201d is a somewhat troubling case, inasmuch as like most technology-related terms it is easily replaced by other equally noxious forms – “intertubes”, “interwebs”, “interbloggies” or whatever the fine flaming flexible fowl the “I think I sound hip, but I really sound like I lobotomized myself with a drinking straw” crowd comes up with. This will be a long fight, but I know in my heart we will be victorious.<\/p>\n

But while there is a long way to go on some of my previous linguistic hits, we must redouble our efforts.\u00a0 So I am going to add some new terms for 2010:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Processes<\/strong>, when pronounced “prah-sess-EEZ”.\u00a0 A standard oldie-but-goodie of the not-that-bright execu-drone who wants to sound like he’s talking two levels above his pay grade or education level, this phrase actually would justify a new corporate McCarthyism to actively stigmatize its users.\u00a0 Worse, an even more malignant dialect version ,”prO-sess-EEZ”, with a long “O”, is appearing, showing that this term may be undergoing an even more <\/em>pretentious, “one-upping” version.\u00a0 We’ll need to redouble our efforts to scourge this one.<\/li>\n
  2. “Don’t Be That Guy”<\/strong>. Within the past year, this phrase, which started with people who auditioned for “Jersey Shore” but were improbably too stupid and shank-headed to make the cut<\/em>, has made huge inroads into the language.\u00a0 Preferred responses when confronted with it: “No, genius – I’m THAT guy”.\u00a0 Extra credit; sing “Single malt, football, war flicks, THAT GUY,\u00a0 Hot Wings, bratwurst … Is THAT GUYYYYYY – he’s dripping on fresh paint; he’s everything THAT GUY aaaaaiiiiint<\/em>“.\u00a0 It usually shuts them up.\u00a0 This one is going critical, folks.\u00a0 (Note my clever swoop into retro; “going critical” was on not a few hit lists ten years ago.\u00a0 Yes, it is <\/em>a little like playing with old explosives; don’t try it unless you’re a licensed Linguistic Engineer).<\/li>\n
  3. It Is What It Is<\/strong> – I’m putting this cliche, the favorite cliche refuge of the faux-<\/em>zen bizspeaker, back on the hit list for a record second time;\u00a0my goal is that by the end of this year we can look at the phrase and realize it was what it was.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    It’s a short list, but an important one.\u00a0 Let’s keep our language free of this kind of bilge, shall we?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    My semi-annual Linguistic Hit Lists haven’t completely changed the language – but they’ve made a good start. My demands for the extinction of the terms”Bloggy”, \u201dTruthy\/truthiness\u201d, \u201ctake (something) to the next level\u201d and \u201cDee di deeeee”have been largely very effective; most are considered signs of bad breeding today. The war on \u201cHel-looo” is also proceeding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-7853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-language","tag-linguistic-hit-list"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7853"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37832,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7853\/revisions\/37832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}