The words of the title are from the lovely lips of Eliza Doolittle in Lerner and Loewe's MY FAIR LADY. Sometimes, researching for my blogs is more fun than writing them. Today I'm blogging about words and expressions that people would like to remove from our language. I knew immediately that I wanted to use Eliza's words for my title, so I searched them out so I could be exact. Then while searching for a "word" image, I discovered this beautiful poster of a young woman wrapped up warmly in words, which, of course, people who love to read and write are. I only wish it was a larger image. Though I will never be sick of "words," there are a few words and expressions listed below, along with a few from FACEBOOK friends, that I have had quite enough of.
My votes for assassination or at least excoriation (isn't "excoriate" a great word. It means "verbally flay") include "fer sure," "to die for" refering to something tasty, "space" in refering to a room (pardon me, I have to go to the bathspace), and "BIG TIME!" Kim Varner Jeffries offer up "true dat," Lora Evans Farber-"crib" as a reference to a living "space," and Nancy Lenzen Davis adds "mega dittoes" and "nuf said." Dr. Paul Werner, D.D. S. suggests the extraction of "awesome," while nurse and novelist Susan Sherrell would scratch out "Yeh, right," the extended "Hello-o-o-o" (or however the hello you would spell it), and "Don't even go there!" Bob Washbon is sick and tired of "it is what it is," and Jamie Pittman would forever end the insertion of "like" wherever it isn't needed. That's a goodly list for publication on the blogosphere, and "blogosphere" is another word that should be forever lost in cyberspace, along with the word "cyberspace." Enough said, and wasn't "nuf said" excoriatable, too.
Jamie Pittman offered up an expression I've known forever, which must be new and obnoxious to him. The term is a "Johnny Come Lately," refering to someone who jumps on the bandwagon or whatever, tardily. I decided to research the expression and discovered that it was first used in the USA in the 1830's in reference to a sailor added late to the crew of a ship. That's interesting, but in my search, I found this fantastic website called www.mindlesscrap.com. I entered "Johnny Come Lately" and it took me to a page that started with the "I's." The first "I" expression? "I don't give a rat's ass!" You gotta love a website with a page that begins, "I don't give a rat's ass!"
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