TV talk dumbs down language

Shut up, sit down

There are many words and expressions out there in the English language. In fact, English is probably the most adaptable tongue on earth. The American English dictionary is said to have twice the number entries as some of its European counterparts.

In spite of having this large mine of resources to draw upon, some people insist on repeating clichŽs that are constantly regurgitated in popular culture.

One example is the inappropriate use of the word "totally," as in, "I'm totally tired this morning." Better usage would be, "I'm totally exhausted this morning," or "I'm very tired this morning."

But no, some people must use "totally" with total abandon. Perhaps there should be a moratorium on the word "totally" for a few years.

Just as annoying is the overuse of popular idiomatic expressions. Many of these originate from TV commercials, possibly the most insidious threat to culture since Attila the Hun.

These expressions include "Been there, done that." (For the even hipper, "got the t-shirt" may be appended.) This phrase is used, and used again by people to indicate that they can relate to an experience one has had, an emotion one has felt, or a fear in the pit of one's stomach.

"Been there, done that" is another way of saying, "Hey I don't want to hear about your problem, I've got my own." What kind of empathy is that?

Similarly, we have the term "that's a no-brainer." This one can be used by the unscrupulous to slough off a task on another poor slob. For example, "Why don't you take care of that, it's a no-brainer."

If it is indeed a no-brainer, does that imply the person assigning the task believes the assignee has no brain? Actually, if one attempted something without the use of one's brain, collapse and drooling would certainly follow.

Here we have the-fill-in-the-blank expression, "It's a (blank) thing" (woman, black, guy, etc.). A billboard on the corner of 7th and PCH, uses "It's a woman thing" to sell cigarettes to young women: Hey, it's a cancer thing.

Another category is the invented expression meant to have a specific meaning. Although originality may have been a mitigating factor in its first use, as time goes on and the phrase is repeated ad nauseam, it becomes at least as annoying as other clichŽs.

The example: "I'm not goin' there" or "I don't wanna go there" or "I'm not even goin' there." This represents the Oprah-ization of the language.

Any silly expression used by her on her parade of sorry guests seems to get picked up by the small army of other talk show hosts and used again and again until the general public is repeating it like a bunch of pet store parrots.

The most insidious of these attacks on the mother tongue is the substitution of the verb "to say" by the incomplete expression, "and I'm all...." For example gone is, "I saw Sally before class and she said that she did well on the test, so I said ÔI don't think I passed.'"

A person might now say, "I saw Sally and she's all, ÔI did well on the test,' and I'm all, ÔI don't think I passed.'" This is not only poor usage but insipid laziness.

What about the use of the phrase "the planet" in an impassioned plea for the environment or other social cause? For some reason Hollywood types are more inclined to use this term than are mere mortals. Try using, the earth, at least while here on the planet.

Shut up, sit down courtesy Ben Stern