Speaking of the war, what about "Arab street". Have you ever heard of the German Street or the Italian Street?

 

Ranks right up there with,

"You made me do it."

No I didn't. You chose to react and had the fair option not to but chose to anyway.

Sure, but that can work both ways.

Someone might just be trying to blame another person for their own bad behaviour.

Or, an instigator can easily push an innocent person into a particular response, in which case they DID "make me do it".

Fair analysis of cause and effect is difficult for a lot of people, a real struggling point. Because of emotional and social issues they can't analyse the situation correctly using logic.

They "feel" something is right or wrong. Like those idiotic committee brainwashed people who use phrases like "violence is never acceptable"... Really? Then why spend billions on aircraft carriers and smart bombs? Oh I see... When the enemy attacks you it's OK, you should just sit down and have a nice TALK to them about it. Clowns.

 

Not really a catch phrase, but a gesture that needs wiped off the Planet.

I thought it was gone for good, but I watched a comedian use it the other night.

It's that gesture, when people hold their fingers/hands a certain way, when they are telling you about a phone call they had.

You know what I mean.

 

seed as in first seed, second seed in a basketball tournament. What is wrong with place?

stand up. As in stand up a server. I wish people would use install or bring up.

I would argue that "place" and "seed" are two very different things in a tournament. Your "seed" is where you start, while your "place" is where you end.

 

Zero-tolerance, Think of the children as an excuse for not using responsible, logical and proper judgement in an imperfect world.

 

Here are some catch-phrases that make me want to reach for a truncheon.

"At the end of the day"

"We must be PROACTIVE"

"Bilateral or Multilateral Discussions"

"Be that as it may..."

 

Here are some catch-phrases that make me want to reach for a truncheon.

"At the end of the day"

"We must be PROACTIVE"

"Bilateral or Multilateral Discussions"

"Be that as it may..."

I don't know that the first and last are "catch phrases", per-se. Maybe, but not what I think of. But perhaps I equate "catch phrase" with "platitude" too closely.

I admit I tend to use the first one a fair amount. But anything I can think of that makes the same point would also fall into the same category, such as, "When all is said and done."

I tend to lump these types of phrases into a category of communication similar to "jargon", in which common phrases are used to convey an idea or concept immediately without the recipient having to spend any time reflecting one what was actually said. In essence, they form a linguistic shorthand. I suspect that if we really examined how we talk and write we would find that we rely on these types of phrases far more often than we realize. In fact, I can spot several just in this paragraph.

 

I would argue that "place" and "seed" are two very different things in a tournament. Your "seed" is where you start, while your "place" is where you end.

There still had to be a better word to use.

 

"safety first"

 

Not really a catch phrase, but a gesture that needs wiped off the Planet.

I thought it was gone for good, but I watched a comedian use it the other night.

It's that gesture, when people hold their fingers/hands a certain way, when they are telling you about a phone call they had.

You know what I mean.

Sign Language ?

 

Safety first .... too passe for me. To drive home the point I'll say ...
The ass you save may be your own.

 

There still had to be a better word to use.

Hmm.. Can you suggest one? I actually think it is pretty appropriate. To "seed" something means to set up the starting conditions (like seeding a random number generator) from which it then progresses. Sounds like a pretty reasonable description of what a tournament seeding is.

 

Hmm.. Can you suggest one? I actually think it is pretty appropriate. To "seed" something means to set up the starting conditions (like seeding a random number generator) from which it then progresses. Sounds like a pretty reasonable description of what a tournament seeding is.

I don't know. Position, ranking? I don't know basketball all that well to make a suggestion. I just had the word when used it that context.

 

"predicted" maybe, though I like seeded

 

I don't know. Position, ranking? I don't know basketball all that well to make a suggestion. I just had the word when used it that context.

I could see "ranked" being applicable, but it would also be misleading. If you say that a team is the "4th ranked" team, the obvious question will be "which ranking" since there are so many and you would often want to talk about a team's wider ranking at the same time you are talking about their ranking in the tournament. Whereas when you say "4th seed", the connotation is very strong that you are talking about one specific tournament.

Of course, we could just invent a word, but what does that accomplish? Substituting one word for another word only makes sense if the original word causes confusion or is totally objectionable for some genuine reason.

 

This one might have died by now, but, "play action pass", as the American football announcers call it. Based on either running with the ball, throwing the ball, fumbling the ball, kicking the ball, or intentionally grounding the ball.

Play action pass as opposed to what? They never say, "Play action run" or, "play action kick". Is this a play action pass as compared to an "In between plays action pass" or a "practice action pass"? If they don't try to pass the ball, is that just a play action play?

To me, it's just a pass.

 

Not following the game at all, I can only guess. But my impression is that it is to distinction two types of passes, perhaps because once something transitions from a normal pass to a play action pass the rules that apply are somehow different.

 

One that I heard today that always bugged me (and thankfully it is waning) is "Give it up for ...." Usually meaning to applaud. The old "Give a hand", which at least is very descriptive of the action if not technically correct (otherwise you could only give a hand to at most two people in your entire life), is just to passé, I guess.

 

strantor started something about controlling your own mood or attitude. I first heard of Dr. Wayne Dyer in 1976 when he was preaching that you can feel any way you choose to feel. Meanwhile, one definition of mental illness is, "having emotions inappropriate to the situation". My take on this is: No matter how strong you are, you will respond (to some degree) to the reality you are experiencing. I frankly disagree with Dr. Wayne Dyer. The ability to choose any emotion you want in response to any and every thing that happens to you or around you would place you far toward the psychopath end of the personality scale.

 

strantor started something about controlling your own mood or attitude. I first heard of Dr. Wayne Dyer in 1976 when he was preaching that you can feel any way you choose to feel. Meanwhile, one definition of mental illness is, "having emotions inappropriate to the situation". My take on this is: No matter how strong you are, you will respond (to some degree) to the reality you are experiencing. I frankly disagree with Dr. Wayne Dyer. The ability to choose any emotion you want in response to any and every thing that happens to you or around you would place you far toward the psychopath end of the personality scale.

I tend to agree. It's another example of someone that takes a basically sound message or sentiment to ridiculous extremes. I'm sure he would probably say that it was never meant to be taken so literally and, if anything, should be looked at as an example of hyperbole to make a less extreme point. Fine. But that still places it in the "platitude" column for me and I would rather listen to someone that is talking about dealing with reality in realistic ways and not just a bunch of dime-store quality hyperbole that any twit can utter.