mick
06-12-2020, 08:03 AM
As an English major, there are newfangled words and expressions that irritate me. Some are recent creations, others are examples of piling on and padding, and then there are expressions and phrases from long ago that people should stop using. Here are a few examples I've jotted down recently.
Orientated? What's wrong with 'oriented'? (Someone getting paid by the syllable?)
Finalized? We have a perfectly good word in 'completed', as in, "The negotiations were completed."
Exact same? They're redundant, they mean the same thing (which is also redundant).
Whether or not? Whether implies 'or not'. It's verbiage or padding. (Perhaps another writer was getting paid by the word.)
And now a couple from the world of horse racing ...
Locked and loaded. This is a favorite of the track announcer at Fonner Park. "The horses are locked and loaded." I think the expression has a military origin and means the weapon is ready for firing. (Mitch can correct me if I'm wrong.) Perhaps the announcer has a military background or else has watched John Wayne in the "Sands of Iwo Jima" a few too many times. Applied to racing though, it's seems backwards. Doesn't the gate crew load the horses first and then lock them into the stalls? So, shouldn't it be 'loaded and locked'? Maybe that doesn't sound cool enough though.
Wire to wire. This is the one that really bothers me. Honestly, I cringe when I hear a track announcer use it. In the US, we don't use a wire to start races anymore and haven't since the days of Man o' War. We use a starting gate (with the exception of an occasional marathon or steeplechase race at Belmont, Saratoga or Keeneland). So, if a horse wins the race by running in front of all the others, doesn't he go 'gate-to-wire'?
Okay, I feel better. Needed to get that off my chest. Please feel free to disagree or to add you own. "Opinions differ," as Patrick Swayze said in the movie Road House. (Yes, I watched it once but I think I had been drinking.)
Orientated? What's wrong with 'oriented'? (Someone getting paid by the syllable?)
Finalized? We have a perfectly good word in 'completed', as in, "The negotiations were completed."
Exact same? They're redundant, they mean the same thing (which is also redundant).
Whether or not? Whether implies 'or not'. It's verbiage or padding. (Perhaps another writer was getting paid by the word.)
And now a couple from the world of horse racing ...
Locked and loaded. This is a favorite of the track announcer at Fonner Park. "The horses are locked and loaded." I think the expression has a military origin and means the weapon is ready for firing. (Mitch can correct me if I'm wrong.) Perhaps the announcer has a military background or else has watched John Wayne in the "Sands of Iwo Jima" a few too many times. Applied to racing though, it's seems backwards. Doesn't the gate crew load the horses first and then lock them into the stalls? So, shouldn't it be 'loaded and locked'? Maybe that doesn't sound cool enough though.
Wire to wire. This is the one that really bothers me. Honestly, I cringe when I hear a track announcer use it. In the US, we don't use a wire to start races anymore and haven't since the days of Man o' War. We use a starting gate (with the exception of an occasional marathon or steeplechase race at Belmont, Saratoga or Keeneland). So, if a horse wins the race by running in front of all the others, doesn't he go 'gate-to-wire'?
Okay, I feel better. Needed to get that off my chest. Please feel free to disagree or to add you own. "Opinions differ," as Patrick Swayze said in the movie Road House. (Yes, I watched it once but I think I had been drinking.)