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October 20, 2009

Seeking Input for the Mother of All Screeds

Putting together a post on my translation of some of the most useless/odious and otherwise worthy of severe punishment/scorn sayings in the English language. I already have a list, but I would like to get it to 10. Let's see, #11 is, "Hey, let's give this Obama fellow a try. He seems so scholarly and moderate. What's the worst that could happen?" But I jest.

But one of them is ... "It is what it is" ... surely, one of the most evil and vapid phrases ever spoken in the history of mankind. I will translate this for you and soon, since I have learned that no one knows what it means. But in the meantime, please send me any phrase you would like to nominate ... either in the comments below or to dcutter-at-gmail-dot-com.

For your amusement in the interim, please check out this photo from Drudge:



Drudge put the photo over the headline: "Pentagon Chief: Afghan Decision Can't Wait". Beautiful. Nothing like seeing Gibbs in the tool chest, where he belongs. I am thinking screwdriver. What do you think?

Okay, let me have those phrases (single words accepted, too). Must be English. Scunnert, if you need help, see Rhod.

27 comments:

Rhod said...

Get serious, DC. Is that the best you can do? Go crazy somewhere else, we're all stocked up here. Do I look stupid? Sorry 'bout that, DC, but I can't get my mind around it. Anything I can add, and a dollar, will get you a cup of coffee.

Rhod said...

Hey, is that a cigarette in Mrs. Doubtfire's right hand?

GoodnightVienna said...

How about these 3 to be going on with: Lessons must be learned, We need to draw a line under this, I'm a pretty straight kinda guy.
We've been beaten over the head with them for almost 13yrs.

innominatus said...

Let me be clear: At the end of the day, if give 110% and think outside the box, you'll get the low-hanging fruit.

Or maybe you'll be thrown under the bus, which is where the rubber meets the road.

ninnuh said...

In regards to your quote, "It is what it is." I couldn't help but think of Bill Clinton's infamous quote, "It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is." http://www.slate.com/id/1000162/

Starsplash said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kid said...

Since I dream of moving to Texas, here's one from Tejas 'It don't make me no nevermind'.

But one that has to find its way to the the big drain is 'My Bad'. I've never said it and never will, but people all around me young and old say it. Very odd.

I think 'don't go there' is dead now.

I guess my second least favorite is "Awesome'. Everything is Awesome. Wow, look at that flag painted on that rock in the middle of nowhere, its Awesome.
Look at these kids doing kid things, they're Awesome.
Wow, look at that purely mediocre at best -insert any noun or verb - its Awesome.
And if it's not Awesome, its Extreme. Extremely Extreme. Like Extreme Slim Jims that I saw at the store yesterday, or the Extreme vanilla ice cream to be introduced next week.

Starsplash said...

It means to accept the situation for what it is and move on from there. I give my son the credit for coining that phrase five or sixyears ago.

You have to go back deep into my archives in my old blog but you will find an entry about it doesn't matter what you feel but what Is the truth. The truth is what it is.

Ps. Unless you like thinking that some one else is a nut don't read my current blog. Mwha.

Better yet I will give you a direct link to my previous web site.

http://staqrsplash.blogspot.com/

No offense taken.

Kid said...

PS- May I ponder aloud that when life if full of hyperbole, it means that there's not enough reality to go around.

Anonymous said...

I can't stop laughing about the cigarette "in Mrs. Doubtfire's right hand." Whoo, that's a good'n, Rhod.

Thanks for the contributions. I will send them to my editor and get back to you. "My Bad". I am the editor. Ha.

I seemed to have touched a nerve here.

Ninnuh makes an excellent point. Whoever came up with "It is what it is" never met Bill Clinton. Outstanding.

Kid is on fire. Awesome comment.

Anonymous said...

I am pretty straight kinda guy, but ... who the hell names themself "Goodnight Vienna". That sounds like one of Nick's Eye-talian friends. But seriously, my bad (again) ... good points.

And immonyomous, I am taking under advisement your nomination re: "thinking outside the box". That is low-hanging fruit there, for sure.

Starfish, I see you working. But don't try to defend that phrase. It is ... well, already in the Top 10. Brace yourself. I will shame you into never using it again, I tell you.

Red said...

"That's what I'm talking 'bout."

or

"I'm sayin'."

or

"I mean."

Pretty much says something and nothing at the same time. It's a southern thing I think.

Kid said...

DC - Donke Shein

Courtney said...

Ahaha the photo is great. Our troops are waiting on an important decision and Obama and his cronies are doing whatt? Ugh!

Timeshare Jake said...

Do you realize Obama plays with custom basketballs that have the campaign 'O' on them rather than the presidential seal?

Anonymous said...

"We're following a new paradigm."

"What----Ever!"

anon said...

"ebonics" I hate that word. How did that become a word, never mind a language?

"thats just how I roll" I'm over it.

Writer X said...

I can't get those words of wisdom (insert sarcasm here) out of my head uttered by Olympia Snowe last week: "When history calls, history calls..."

I haven't heard anything that meaningless and dumb in a long time--not since "Yes, We Can!"

Starsplash said...

Mwha! I don't use that phrase or rather I really like to use the "truth is what it is".


Secondly. Can't shame a man who has no fear of what others think of that man. The only thing I fear is God himself.

Still no offense taken.

Rhod said...

"Major" as a modifier for anything larger than ordinary...

"Deconstruct", which is blazing among leftards who think it's the same as "to refute"...

Rhod said...

Oh yeah, "we've got to GET IT RIGHT"

The droning, spineless gasbag in the White House deploys this BS to justify his indecision and failures.

el chupacabra said...

You're close: Gibbs IS the tool.

Cbullitt said...

"Benchmarking." and "Best Practices."

The ultimate purveyors of grant-speak bullshit.

Kid said...

Cbuullitt has inspired for one more.

World Class - The ultimate translation of Mediocrity at Best.

Though once at the office we had a bullshit bingo game. Whoever was first to recognize and record 10 of the sacred words won. Examples are World Class, Best Practice, Synergy in any of it's forms, Constant Improvement, A Player, Value Added, etc.

So, here we were in a meeting with a new and soon to be gone exec.

Some chick yelled out Bingo halfway through this dude's presentation and he had no idea. She won a dinner and drinks, which she could have gotten for free most nights anyway.

Anonymous said...

CBull and Kid have us on the precipice of true greatness ... real world class breakthrough and paradigm shift.

Outstanding. "Bingo". Get out of town!

Kid said...

I'm humbled. And Oh Yeah - Bingo, we had to fight back somehow against the endless supply of inane BS we were subjected to that never provided 'added value'

heheh

Soloman said...

"Unsustainable" in any sentence.

Bipartisan.

Oh, snap.