View Full Version : The Overdone Grouse
Been watching much too much mainstream tv, and I'm about marinating in the emulsion du cliche. If I hear one more person needs to Take It To The Next Level, Give It [Over 100%], or that Failure Is Not An Option, I'm considering rolling over and drowning. Any new-style cliches you particularly despise?
When I first saw the title to this thread, I thought you might have found a new whiskey... :laff:
They're not new-style, but I'm really developing an aversion to the phrase "You won't believe [...]" as well as the words "amazing", "Kardashian", "Jennar", "Duggar", and "Trump". As soon as I hear one of those, I'm outta there.
I was hoping this was a recipe thread. For future reference, wrap grouse in bacon.
Bacon, butter, garlic and chocolate. The foods for which all other foods are simply vehicles.
Stunning. The person who could be stunned by a chicken breast is not someone I'd want on my side.
Williamsmith
9-9-15, 5:27am
It is what it is.....
i have spent some of my most memorable and spiritual days afield, hunting grouse.
rodeosweetheart
9-9-15, 7:15am
It's not new at all, but I absolutely hate "giving back to the community."
As though all these years, the community has just been stuffing money in your pocket, and now gee, it's time to "give back," and the poor unfortunates who you are helping? Well, the community never wanted to give them anything, as they were obviously not as worthy as you were.
Ugh.
In business I get tired of:
"Let's level-set"
"Peel back the onion"
"Change the paradigm"
"Get on the same page"
"Think outside the box"
"We're all in the same canoe. If you don't want to row, get out."
More recently:
"It's in my wheelhouse"
Other phrases I'm sick of:
"Keep calm and…"
"Awesome!" (although I'm an offender of overusing that one. I'm working on switching to "fantabulous" :)
IshbelRobertson
9-9-15, 8:55am
'At the end of the day...' (It's like chalk on a blackboard for me!)
i don't like 'love' such as loving every little thing instead of relationships. the overblown adjectives of upworthy articles, 'this will change your life' are bugging me, and work speak, vision and mission! argh, great at a higher level and yet often not fitting the setting
I don't even know what a grouse is.
I have been hearing the word "curated" here lately applied to everything from home decor to what drinks are offered at a trendy cocktail bar. As if it is a museum collection. It sounds pretentious to my humble ears. At work, I hear "bringing up to scale" quite a bit as if no enterprise is worth pursuing unless it can be done on a very large scale. Awesome still makes me gag. Absolutely as a response is also overused IMO. It is interesting to notice these words and phrases cycle through their use.
iris lilies
9-9-15, 10:27am
I am so very tired of "too much on my plate" to represent too much to do.
A character in Downtown Abbey used that phrase and it jarred me.
I complained on IMDB about this anachronism, and was soundly spanked. It seems that the Downtown Abbey production team uses linguists to verify appropriate speech.
Who knew that "too much on my plate" was in use back in the 1920's, and among upper class English people.
iris lilies
9-9-15, 10:33am
I don't even know what a grouse is.
I have been hearing the word "curated" here lately applied to everything from home decor to what drinks are offered at a trendy cocktail bar. As if it is a museum collection. It sounds pretentious to my humble ears. At work, I hear "bringing up to scale" quite a bit as if no enterprise is worth pursuing unless it can be done on a very large scale. Awesome still makes me gag. Absolutely as a response is also overused IMO. It is interesting to notice these words and phrases cycle through their use.
For some reason I find "awesome!" funny.
i am hearing "curate" a lot now.ugh.
edited to make sense about "curate"
"One and done."
I curate garbage. Endlessly, thanks to our ever-more-complicated refuse rules.
Thought of one: "deserve" - as in "I work hard, I deserve that" or "they don't deserve those bad things". Nobody deserves anything. Sometimes stuff just happens, and otherwise life is just what you make of it. I bought coffee because I decided to; not because I deserve it. (Then I spilled it on my laptop - which I probably deserved. ;) )
I love "We're all in the same canoe. If you don't want to row, get out."
I am perhaps too literally-minded; I have so much fun imagining the speakers trying to row a canoe (with no oarlocks! and their hands too close together!) to feel the sense of challenge usually intended.
I like "at the end of the day," too, if it occurs while I am sitting on a couch with a book to read.
Jane 2.0, I am still laughing at the garbage curation. My sympathies!
iris lilies
9-9-15, 1:30pm
I was hoping this was a recipe thread. For future reference, wrap grouse in bacon.
this post reminds me of my humiliation last week. Our neighborhood is full of good cooks and at a potluck, DH reported that they served stuffed quail breasts and grilled peaches wrapped in bacon. Wow, those are nice dishes.
i sent a jello dish with DH as his contribution. Pedestrian jello. Someone there commented to DH "oh yum, jello! My wife won't make it for me."
my face is red, it's hard to beat those two dishes. I will say that it's a good jello dish, though, full of unnecessary sugar. :~)
IshbelRobertson
9-9-15, 2:19pm
Another one
'At this moment in time'.
this post reminds me of my humiliation last week. Our neighborhood is full of good cooks and at a potluck, DH reported that they served stuffed quail breasts and grilled peaches wrapped in bacon. Wow, those are nice dishes.
i sent a jello dish with DH as his contribution. Pedestrian jello. Someone there commented to DH "oh yum, jello! My wife won't make it for me."
my face is red, it's hard to beat those two dishes. I will say that it's a good jello dish, though, full of unnecessary sugar. :~)
That's a great story!! I'd love for that to happen to me/DH, since DH is really a food snob and great cook, and I am not at ALL. He just came back from an endoscopic procedure last week so I made him jell-o, and I was thinking how good it was! Especially with Redi-Whip! Mmmm...
When I first saw the title to this thread, I thought you might have found a new whiskey... :laff:
My first thought was, "That sounds like an Edward Gorey title!"
Back on topic: I've never liked "unpack" meaning think about or analyze, as in "there's a lot in this statement to unpack."
Also can't stand all the clickbaity language. You Won't Believe How Misleading This Headline Is!
rodeosweetheart
9-9-15, 4:24pm
repost
rodeosweetheart
9-9-15, 4:25pm
Forgot, and just had to grade a paper where a student used it and remembered--
"baby wearing."
Here is a link to OP's original post title, and what we were all looking for, in a way:
https://books.google.com/books?id=2oRHAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA785&lpg=PA785&dq=if+your+grouse+is+overdone&source=bl&ots=JdqqaSAJq4&sig=tEkIvJsfOT_LJBl4QtPgY2uxd74&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDIQ6AEwBGoVChMIwtOzq-TqxwIVTDI-Ch0gdAU5#v=onepage&q=if%20your%20grouse%20is%20overdone&f=false
"Work smarter, not harder"
Reading the rest of this thread reminded me of a few more:
- "baby mama" or "baby daddy" (maybe I dislike this more for what it says about the person saying it);
- "It is what it is." (Corporate translation: "Lump it. It's not going to change even though it ought to."); and,
- "This changes everything!" (Oh, even like how chocolate goes with spinach?).
Fox News calls Michelle Obama "Obama's baby-mama."
What about all of what I call "hesitant" speech? Even well-educated authors, scientists, etc. on channels like C-Span constantly use language like "sort of" and "kind of" in sentences that should be simple declarative facts.
I was thinking about this and for some reason I flashed on the famous Mae West. She didn't say, "I sort of like you" or "I may be wrong about this but" - she said "Why don't you come up and see me sometime??"
Simple and direct. With all this hemming and hawing today I'm not sure how anyone ever gets together. "Call me, maybe??"
What about all of what I call "hesitant" speech? Even well-educated authors, scientists, etc. on channels like C-Span constantly use language like "sort of" and "kind of" in sentences that should be simple declarative facts.
I was thinking about this and for some reason I flashed on the famous Mae West. She didn't say, "I sort of like you" or "I may be wrong about this but" - she said "Why don't you come up and see me sometime??"
Simple and direct. With all this hemming and hawing today I'm not sure how anyone ever gets together. "Call me, maybe??"
I agree... sort of... ;) Seriously, yes, say what you mean. Think about your use of language. Don't use "just" or "only" to describe yourself. Don't use language to pass the blame off of yourself. Don't use "can't" unless that's true. You won't, or you don't want to. Anyhow, I'm not perfect at this, but I'm very aware of it.
Williamsmith
9-10-15, 5:47am
Advertising and sales........
"Life just got a little more enjoyable."
"Easy and affordable"
"Recommended just for you."
- "baby mama" or "baby daddy" (maybe I dislike this more for what it says about the person saying it);
I agree: this term definitely filled a vocabulary gap that's emerged over the past couple of decades, for better or worse. DH goes nuts when he hears it
Also, maybe it's not an overused cliche, but I also don't like texting/Twitter shortcuts that have become acceptable spellings for words in general: i.e. "prolly" for "probably."
My first thought was, "That sounds like an Edward Gorey title!"
Back on topic: I've never liked "unpack" meaning think about or analyze, as in "there's a lot in this statement to unpack."
Also can't stand all the clickbaity language. You Won't Believe How Misleading This Headline Is! Weird Trick. Personally, those two words cause sphincter cramps. I also object to the email title that's misleading because it's intentionally cut off at a very specific midpoint. Karen, Did Your Forget Your $50 ..... (coupon for overdone grouse? ... nope, didn't forget it, never wanted it, thanks anyway, but clickety click, here I am wondering which $50 I've left behind.)
shadowmoss
9-10-15, 7:12pm
IR:
If that jello dish was the one you posted a few years (decade?) ago in a thread about easy pot luck recipes, it is one I started taking everywhere. This was amazing to me as I do not cook, and for me to show up with not only food, but good food was quite a topic of conversation. Unfortunately, a good friend appropriated it for her contribution as she went to more of these dinners that I did. But, for ease and taste (open two cans and make jello with just the hot water), it is unparalleled. I always gave you the credit.
iris lilies
9-11-15, 2:01am
IR:
If that jello dish was the one you posted a few years (decade?) ago in a thread about easy pot luck recipes, it is one I started taking everywhere. This was amazing to me as I do not cook, and for me to show up with not only food, but good food was quite a topic of conversation. Unfortunately, a good friend appropriated it for her contribution as she went to more of these dinners that I did. But, for ease and taste (open two cans and make jello with just the hot water), it is unparalleled. I always gave you the credit.
haha yes! It IS that jello dish! Which I got from my friend Becky 27 years ago!
"Lean in.." I never really learned what this was all about, and the pretentiousness of the sound of it has caused me to not find out.
When you turn on a motorcycle, you have to lean toward the ground in the direction the bike is already headed - it's counter intuitive and uncomfortable, as the natural tendency would be to decrease that alarming, gravity-defying angle, not increase it. So I guess, "lean in" means push further in a direction that goes against your instinct. I don't like "lean in" as advice because I hate doing it even in the situation that actually calls for it!
rosarugosa
9-17-15, 6:06pm
If you don't go for Baby Daddy & Baby Mama, how about BD & BM, for short? I've seen those used.
I detest "it is what it is," especially when said in serious, pedantic tones, as though the speaker is imparting the wisdom of the universe.
And I'm with Kay on just avoiding the whole "lean in" thing, whatever it may be.
rosarugosa
9-17-15, 6:14pm
Overdone Grouse does indeed sound like an Edward Gorey title or a new scotch. I know there are a few at work that make me cringe, but I'm on vacation this week and can't think of them. I'll check back in on this thread next week. :(
Slightly off topic on my own post >8), I have discovered a new word unique to Tucson: Stravenue. This is a designation used for a few diagonal traffic paths in our primarily vertical avenue/horizontal street grid, that, "intersect a street on one end and an avenue on the other". I would think "road", "place" or "way" might have sufficed.
No problem
I've gotten really sick of hearing this one constantly, mostly from servers in restaurants....
No problem
I've gotten really sick of hearing this one constantly, mostly from servers in restaurants....
Ditto. And can we add "you guys" too? It's all over TV, most recently I've heard it on the HGTV shows every 3 minutes: how do you guys like this house? what do you guys think of the price? we got something else to show you guys. Stop it Now.
SteveinMN
9-17-15, 10:01pm
If you don't go for Baby Daddy & Baby Mama, how about BD & BM, for short? I've seen those used.
Dunno ... "my BM" brings to mind an entirely different set of nouns, none of them pleasant to contemplate. However, given the circumstances of the (former) relationship that brought the "B" into being, maybe it's not that far off the mark.
catherine
9-17-15, 11:27pm
When you turn on a motorcycle, you have to lean toward the ground in the direction the bike is already headed - it's counter intuitive and uncomfortable, as the natural tendency would be to decrease that alarming, gravity-defying angle, not increase it. So I guess, "lean in" means push further in a direction that goes against your instinct. I don't like "lean in" as advice because I hate doing it even in the situation that actually calls for it!
I don't mind lean in, and my interpretation is a bit different. I always thought "lean in" means just aim in that direction--without expecting to be in it 100%. Kind of like a "progress, not perfection" message.
I first heard the term used in the context of going vegetarian. So if you "lean in" to vegetarianism, you start moving in that direction and then you eventually get there.
I feel it's a non-threatening way to improve, change habits, etc. Maybe Sheryl Sandberg meant something different in her book, but she didn't invent the term.
TVRodriguez
9-18-15, 4:45pm
I'm really enjoying reading this thread.
I have succumbed to at least one Miami-ism: "Perfect." I found myself saying it on a conference call with other attorneys the other day in response to someone's suggestion on how to proceed on a sticky matter. He replied, "well, it's not perfect, but it will have to do." I had to explain, "That was a Miami 'perfect.' It doesn't mean perfect; it just means 'good' or 'okay, thanks.'" In talking it over with my assistant today, we decided that actually means anything from "good," to "thanks for agreeing to do that" to "I got it--you can stop talking now."
One that snuck up on me is "I'm good". As in, 'do you want more mashed potatoes? No thanks, I'm good.' I had to be around ESL speakers to realize that this is incorrect and, from their grammatically correct standpoint, a very odd answer. Do you want more mashed potatoes? No thanks, I'm fabulous, in fact I'm moral, angelic and in all aspects, remarkable!! Hmm. Ok. So ... do you want some more mashed potatoes?
Isn't the best answer to "Do you want more mashed potatoes?" " Yes, please. "
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