This has nothing to do with university presses, but I can’t resist a final post on the election — promise!
Every election acts as an incubator for annoyingly repeated catchphrases. Here are the ones I most look forward to never having to hear again:
“Throw someone under the bus.” — This was a conservative favorite. It was a little funny and a tad evocative the first time it was uttered, but the autopilot usage emptied it not only of its punch but of the direness of its implications. If I ever hear some anchor use it again, I vote for throwing him or her under the bus.
“someone, i.e., Joe the something or another“ — Call me Eric the Aggrieved, but this rhetorical device was as noisome as they came. “Vlad the Impaler” is great; “Tito the Builder,” insipid.
“a game-changer” — this is bad enough as a sports metaphor, but it was entirely empty whenever it was applied to campaign maneuvers, VP gaffes, etc.
“hockey mom” — not sure how this is really an improvement over the no-less-creepy “soccer mom”
“First Dude” — This is supposed to indicate the nonsquareness of the “dude” in question, but could any sobriquet sound less hip?
I’d love to see the adjective “mainstream,” as in “mainstream media,” lose its shorthand status for any medium the speaker dislikes and, as a modifier, be re-mainstreamed.
But my nomination for the most cringe-worthy phrase of this election season is “in the tank” (i.e., “When the mainstream media threw Joe the Plumber under the bus it proved they were in the tank for Obama”). The ubiquity of this phrase was a blight on the linguistic landscape. Not to mention that it was entirely misused as a synonymous expression for “in the bag.” Let’s let the lovely old boxing expression, meaning that a fighter has agreed to fake a knock-down, retire to its slangy resting home. Now that would be a game-changer!
