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Clichés

'Fashionable' words

Clichés are always with us. They hang around until everyone realises they have been overused, then they disappear. When did you last hear someone say, 'It's raining cats and dogs' ? 


'Delivered'

 Much more recently you will have heard a politician asserting that they will 'deliver on their promises' or accuse another of 'not delivering on their promises' (promises are never 'fulfilled', it seems); projects are 'delivered'; objectives are 'delivered'; plans are 'delivered'; in fact, just about everything that anyone does is 'delivered' - not fulfilled, carried out, executed, achieved, accomplished or attained. I once came across a paragraph in which 'delivered' appeared four times, each instance meaning something different. Surely  it is time to bin this one!


'Shared'

'At the meeting, John shared that he and his team are now overloaded'

Is this a business meeting or a self-help group? People do not 'share' things in meetings, apart from the biscuits – they explain, state, assert, complain, comment, argue, interject, contend, question.... and so on.


Incredible

Is something really incredible? I saw a notice in an art gallery some time ago, thanking a list of very wealthy people and corporations for the 'incredible' support they had given the gallery. Really? Is it really beyond belief that wealthy philanthropists and big corporations would support an art gallery? Does this normally never happen? So it's not really 'incredible' and neither are 99 per cent of the things frequently claimed to be 'incredible'. If the reader can believe it, it is not incredible.


by Frances Follin 27 May, 2022
Misused words!

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