On Monday, we went to an event where both a candidate
for our federal riding and the incumbent of another nearby riding were on hand
for a meet-and-greet event. The incumbent got up to say a few words and by the
time these words were finished, I was very unimpressed. What I heard was the
same descriptor used at least five times in as many sentences. And the
descriptor was one of those useless ones that should never be employed as
positives. My memory being what it is, the exact word has now escaped me, but
it was one of ‘amazing’ or "awesome' or ‘incredible’. The welcome received, the
candidate’s quality, the food and ambiance of the venue, the importance of the time,
all were ‘incredible’. It annoys me greatly when such a descriptor is used once,
but the repetition was, if you will excuse my saying so, amazingly very annoying.
I really wished that I had had a thesaurus to hand, to
use to whack this person.
For those of you who are not ancient English teachers,
‘amazing’ as defined in the Oxford dictionary, means causing great surprise
or wonder; astonishing. Similar words include; astonishing, astounding, surprising,
bewildering. Stunning, staggering, shocking, startling, stupefying, breathtaking,
perplexing, confounding, dismaying, disconcerting, shattering, awesome, awe-inspiring,
sensational, remarkable, spectacular, stupendous, phenomenal, prodigious, extraordinary,
incredible, unbelievable, wonderful, marvelous, thrilling, exciting, mind-blowing,
flabbergasting, dumbfounding. A second and informal usage is startlingly
impressive.
Please note that this meeting, while having enough
people so that the seats were mostly filled, was not in any way outstanding,
let alone spectacular. The candidate, a pleasant and qualified person, was not,
for sure, breathtaking. The food was okay. The meeting time was not the best choice,
really, as we were called together over the supper hour. As I think about it,
the speaker may have called all of these things ‘awesome’, as that is another
descriptor that is getting badly overused these days.
People who are elected as our representatives should,
clearly, be prepared to speak to a group, both formally and informally. The verb
‘prepare’ is the key here. I came away convinced that the speaker was either
careless or out of their depth. Not what you would want in a member of
Parliament. I found the speech literally, if you will excuse me, marvelous.
