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.
When I am writing I have an tab opened for an online Thesaurus and use it liberally.
ReplyDeleteYes, a big help. I confess to hanging in with the Brits on the Oxford Thesaurus, and their dictionary.
DeleteNo one in Canada would be as out of their depth and our president here in the USA. He's am embarrassment.
ReplyDeleteWe listened to Pres. Trump deliver a speech about the war and it was pretty bland. No audience, is what we decided. He is, you are right on, pretty sad.
DeleteThe English language is rich and nuanced, and yet so little of it is used. Do we fear to appear pedantic if we use vocabulary that is unfamiliar or different? I notice that many people are talking about 'geopolitics' recently. It's a useful portmanteau term, but, as with most such words, it saves people the effort of thinking about, and saying, what they really mean. There are very few public speakers who are truly articulate.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I have taken my lumps over the years for using words not in common parlance. And I agree about the 'geopolitics' portmanteau being only marginally useful.
DeleteBut I love our language, passionately so.
Incredibly and amazingly you caused me mirth, first by the strike through of amazingly, and then your next sentence about the thesaurus. Very well done m’dear. Happy Good Friday and Easter Weekend.
ReplyDeleteAnd the same to you in the month after the birthday month. Family is the finest thing there is, truly.
ReplyDeleteHere in the US, where we have a doddering narcissist with a 2nd grade reading and vocabulary level leading the country (into ruin), that candidate's speech would be tame and blissfully welcomed. And reminiscent of George W Bush, who crowed about getting C's in college.
ReplyDeleteSigh. Would that we had such normalcy here.
'Getting C's in college' sparked a whole roll of ideas and comments for me. Post coming, once I get it organized. Yes, this MP would be preferable to Trumpet; JG got me to listen to his last public utterance and I was, um, underwhelmed, as you comment. Your description is just so perfect. Love it. I hope your spring is creeping in. We have bare spots on the lawn and robins, but the weather is not conducive today to parading in one's bonnet. Even without bees in it.
DeleteGranny Sue said "I find that I have a tendency to over-use beautiful. Simo much of life is, well, beauty-filled. Perhaps i should dig out my thesaurus, Mary. Thanks for the nudge! I think we all get into verbal ruts, particularly with the word or phras of the day. One phrase that rankles me is "let me be perfectly clear". I mean, was the speaker being intentionally vague otherwise, obfuscation their meaning so that they have to tell us when they are being straightforward?"
ReplyDeleteSorry about the weird post. I hit delete by accident but figured how to get the comment back. It is very relevant. I agree 100% with the 'perfectly clear' nonsense. It is frequently not clear to me and can be very annoying.