Words can be woven together to produce phrases and expressions with the power to emphasize our complex thoughts and ideas to others. However, some of the expressions that we nonchalantly inject in our daily conversations are becoming overused to the extent that they start to become hollow until they lose all meaning. The constant use of a word or expression, especially in an improper context, can drain it of its sense of specialness and sincerity. The Menagerie brings a select few of these phrases that are seemingly more said than meant in today’s wide vernacular.
See you again
“See you again” – or any of its alternative forms such as “Talk to you later” and “We should hang out sometime” – is an innocuous phrase used by two individuals who may or may not have had a casual conversation beforehand. Instead of the phrase acting as a subtle compliment or expression of gratitude for a wonderful time spent getting to know each other better, it falls into misuse as a meaningless get-away excuse from any conversation. After deciding to call the conversation off and bid your hearty adieus, what usually happens is that the other person never calls or even makes an attempt to talk to you again. End of story.
Happy Birthday
Birthday greetings are special. When others wish you a happy birthday, it somehow gives you an assurance that they believe that another year of your existence is something to celebrate and be grateful for. More personal birthday greetings may come in forms of a self-composed chorus, a gigantic Hallmark card that plays a “Happy Birthday” tune, or perhaps a video presentation composed of special messages from the birthday celebrant’s friends.
Nowadays, as people become dependent on technological upheavals for more comfortable lives, the most utilized method of relaying birthday wishes is now through social networking sites, most notably Facebook. They allow us to send our wishes conveniently through a simple wall post. However, others abuse this accessibility when they send birthday greetings only for the sake of earning notifications and fulfilling their daily greet the birthday celebrants on Facebook routine. Instead of coming off as a thoughtful gesture, these greetings feel perfunctory and insincere. Being inundated with a barrage of these posts which say exactly the same thing (but with varying trails of smile emoticons and exclamation points at the end to keep it “creative”), especially from your “friends” whom you didn’t know existed before this day can be very unnerving.
And yes, you are obliged to reply to each one of them. With your very own Thank you! (Number of exclamation points may vary) which become meaningless by the tenth post.
Awesome
Slash wondrous, charming, and radical out of your everyday English discourse. Nowadays, everything that is pleasing is instantly labeled as awesome because most individuals are just too lazy to come up with proper adjectives to describe their experiences. How was your day? Awesome. What are you reading? 10 Amazing Things about Cats. Have you played the latest installment of Pokémon games? Yes, totally awesomesauce! When awesome is used to describe a particular object, one assumes that the object made you stop without hesitation to take a second look at it, with your jaw dropping close to the ground as a sense of child- like wonder and awe completely engulfs your very being (which definitely is not close to what you really felt). It may just be more preferable if everything was assigned an awesomeness rating from a scale from one to ten just to clarify things.
I’m Okay
The knee-jerk response to the passing greeting of “How are you?” may probably be the shortest yet biggest white lie that anyone could ever say. For a more convincing act, a straight face and a forced smile is required to hide the fact that the positive emotions are only feigned. Almost all of us are guilty of saying this as a play- safe method to prevent conflict or stop others from worrying about us. We sometimes tend to believe that the other person hardly wants to know anyway, and that he might just be asking “How are you?” as a casual greeting. Furthermore, an “I’m okay” response can also be said when we are feeling too distressed to explain the current situation, or if the person who asked you is the source of distress in the first place.
There may be occasions when the other person cares enough to genuinely want to know how you are doing. One’s body language can help detect the sincerity buried behind these words.
Good luck
This is a completely pointless phrase that we say to another person who is on an endeavor. Rather than acting as a courteous expression of moral support to accomplish a task, it becomes an empty expression because most of the time, the said task does not really involve or require luck to accomplish satisfactorily. No, you do not wish good luck to someone who is asking for directions or studying for next week’s exam.
Sometimes, instead of being a morale booster, the phrase may come across as a condescending remark for others. It could imply that there is lack of faith towards the other person because he cannot fulfill the endeavor at hand with his own strength or creativity, and therefore he must resort to good luck if he wants it done properly. The moral lesson is that hard work and right attitude are the ingredients to success, never sheer luck.
We live in a time where intellectuality is scarce and knowledge is taken for granted. Diligent watch over proper grammar comes across as Nazism and intentional misspellings come across as Kewl. This is not the great human endeavor we have planned. It is collective progress that is the aim, not this half-witted culture that too many have fallen into. If we cannot express ourselves as whole as we can in words, what more in actions? Only in clear meticulous word choices can writers create art, only when we when have a full grasp of language can we truly understand one another, it is only then when we can truly, honestly be awesome.
