This is my tenth foray into preparing my own list of words and phrases to be banned in the coming year. The fact that many of my previously banned entries are still in popular use has not dissuaded me from giving you ten new ones for 2021.
Every banned words list this year that has a shred of editorial gravitas should include “woke,” even though people seldom agree on what it means. If you’re woke, you supposedly pay attention to social and racial justice issues. As with anything controversial, the meanings of these aspects of justice change depending on your politics. During the 2020 election, pundits on both the far left and the far right hijacked woke for their own purposes. In 2021, wake up, folks, and stop woking!
I’m thrilled to toss into my lexiconic dumpster the catch phrase “tick tock,” the lazy man’s way of saying “the clock is running.” After years of popping up in TV programs, it’s wormed its way into media interviews. Newsflash. The clock is always running. Say what you mean: “We’re running out of time,” because—tick tock—time has run out for using that phrase.
I’m weary of people defending their prognostications and far out opinions by saying “I have a hunch.” As far as I’m concerned, you might as well just say “I have an itch.” Scratch it in private; don’t share it with us. Especially if you have no medical expertise and are publicizing your hunches about what to do during a pandemic.
My next three entries come courtesy of Senator Amy Klobuchar.
The question Who does that? started with Klobuchar and has been picked up by other politicians. We know “who does that,” because you just quoted their objectionable behavior. If you mean no reasonable or sentient being would do that, say so.
Senator Klobuchar popularized the now banned word “receipts” to assure would-be voters she’d accomplished things she claimed to be capable of. “I have the receipts!” became the battle cry of many candidates who felt their CV wasn’t convincing enough on its own. It reached such a frenzy that I expected one of them to actually hold up a fistful of papers. As it turned out, that gesture was co-opted by a certain press secretary, brandishing a handful of affidavits to prove election fraud.
“I see you” is often heard from a politician trying to convince an audience that she’s “woke” when it comes to their concerns. According to the NY Times, actress Jane Alexander refused to use that phrase in the play Grand Horizons that opened in early 2020. Of course you see us if we’re in front of you. And don’t try to get around this ban by substituting “I hear you,” because I don’t feel you on this one.
Dog whistles employ coded language to get a target group to support a certain position while avoiding negative attention and without riling up the opposition. The whistles sound normal to most of us, but they communicate something else to the intended audience. “Defend family values” is a good example. Reverse dog whistles convey something that is not true, but evokes a knee-jerk reaction to a particular phrase or label. Used out of context, “defeat socialism” is one of these. Let’s put a plug in either type of dog whistling.
The phrase “circular firing squad” refers to people engaged in internal conflicts and mutual recriminations that are self-defeating. It must have been invented to describe Democratic primaries and I’d like to retire it once and for all. The only thing more self-destructive would be eating their young, which QAnon actually claims that they do.
Let’s stop using the truism “It is what it is.” Does anyone really think something isn’t what it is? True, something might not be as it appears. But if that’s what’s you mean, better to say so. I don’t expect total compliance on this, because well, whatever will be will be.
I can’t believe it has taken this long for me to jettison CNN’s famous catch phrase “Breaking News.” When all of your news is breaking and you repeat it all day long, pretty soon none of it is breaking. It’s like seeing “sale price” on a grocery shelf for months on end. CNN, if it ain’t breakin’, don’t “Break” it.
As a breast cancer survivor, I’ve been using the phrase “not my first rodeo” since my recent diagnosis with lung cancer. I’m determined to put this in my rear view in 2021, so I don’t plan to need the rodeo phrase much longer. Giving it up now is a small price to pay if Tom Selleck stops saying it in those reverse mortgage ads that carpet bomb the TV. A girl can dream, can’t she?
That’s my list for 2021. I trust I can count on all of you to comply.
Copyright 2021 Business Theatre Unlimited
